He went in close, blocking the side kick aimed at his middle and the fist coming for his face. Grasping the extended arm, he unbalanced and used his opponent's momentum to throw him to the wall. Turning with the throw he followed his friend as he struggled to move.

"Enough!" Their fighting instructor called out.

Andre shifted his stance until he was relaxed and ready and watched his friend scramble up to stand besides him and face their training master. Richard kept a wary distance between them, aware that the master could call for a continuance without warning.

"Andreas," he addressed him. "The king requests your presence in his office. Go."

Andre frowned. The king would know he was in training which meant it was something serious for him to call on him. King Fredrico valued training in his pack and those who came to be under his care for various reasons. He avoided calling upon them when they trained.

"Do I have time to change?" He asked. One didn't go before the king in training clothes and with sweat soaking said clothes.

"No." The master left no room for argument in his tone.

Andre nodded. Exchanging a look with his friend, he took a wet towel and wiped himself as quick as he could. Richard tossed him a clean shirt and with a grateful nod he removed his wet one, wiped even more sweat and wore the other on his way out.

The halls of the palace were as empty as expected at this time. Most of the people in the training part of the warriors' wing were closeted in their training rooms with their trainers. There weren't as many guards in this part of the castle since warriors frequented it, but they could still be seen.

He marched his way to the office wing which, though it was a distance, was close to the warriors' wing for safety's sake. The guards on his way eyed him, but kept their posts as he walked the office wing. The closer he got to the royal offices, the more the guards were.

They were impassive, their flinty gazes sharp and missing nothing. He knew each of them had taken note of what he wore and checked him for any signs of a weapon. Luckily for him the training clothes left no place to hide anything otherwise he was sure he'd be searched.

He smiled at the thought.

To get to the king's office, one had to first enter his secretaries' office and the guards at that door opened it without his having to knock. Inside the overly large office held two desks. One each to the side of an ornate door that held the royal crest and the king's name on it.

Two guards each stood on both sides of the door with others lining the room. Even the two secretaries were well trained guards themselves. Everyone's eyes trailed to him as he entered and one of the secretaries took up her phone and put a call through to the king.

"Andreas is here." She informed, then listened for a moment. "Yes sire." She dropped the phone them nodded to one of the guards at the door.

The guard opened the king's door and Andre walked into the king's sanctum. The place was ridiculously huge. Vaulted ceilings with exquisite paintings of royal exploits gave the room a touch of timeless beauty against the modern setting of everything else.

A pale oaken desk dominated the room, framed by huge pillars with platinum scroll works leading to a huge balcony. Behind it, a private and lush garden brought the rich scent of nature into the room.

Books lined the walls of the room and sturdy but expensive pieces of furniture decorated the rest of it. For all they were big, the size of the room made them seem cozy and minimalistic.

Andre was surprised to see the crown prince with the king but he kept his face passive. "Your majesty, your highness." He bowed to the royals.

"Andreas." The prince acknowledged.

"Come forward boy," the king commanded and Andre winced at being called a boy but no one corrected the king. He did as asked. "Good news my boy, we found your mate."

His heart squeezed inside him, a rush of adrenaline washing through his body as his skin dampened. His hands trembled as his knees became weak before he stiffened them. Anger swiftly swept over him at all that treacherous female had put him through.

"Where is she?" The question came out hard and uncompromising.

The king looked him over with a puzzled expression before it cleared. "Oh no, I don't mean your true mate, though we did find her too. Come sit and I'll explain."

Andre took the indicated chair besides the crown prince facing the king. He hoped he wasn't as stinky as he feared and wouldn't be leaving his unpleasant scent on the expensive chair.

"You have been suffering your true mate's betrayal for some ten years." The king pointed out as a starting point and Andre balled his fists to stop the instinctive need to lash out that truth always brought in him. "Well, there is a certain young lady who has been suffering with you."

He frowned at that. His mate wouldn't have suffered with him, she was the one betraying him, finding pleasure in other males. Had she become a whore? Or had she simply chosen another male? Was she being held hostage by someone who forced her each night? Andre realized he was about to find the answers to the questions that had been tormenting him for all these years.

"It seems your true mate has a younger twin and decided to take her sister's mate."

Andre closed his eyes, pain stabbing at his heart. He'd been abandoned, considered unworthy site unseen. As painful as the thought of her being captive all these years had been, he'd have preferred it to this. And for a female to be so callous as to take her sister's mate?

"What happened to the sister?" He chose to ask instead of dwelling on the betrayal he'd spent a decade fixated on.

His jaw hardened as he listened to all that was happening and had happened in the Darkpaws pack. He'd been betrayed simply because his grasping true mate had wanted to be a luna. She hadn't even wanted to wait to see what rank he might have been. Even if she had loved the second alpha a decent person would've waited for his appearance before trying to exchange mates.

The sad thing was Andre had been close to the highlands ten years back when the excruciating throes had gripped him. Chances were, he would've met his true mate then and all this could've been resolved. But his true mate hadn't cared. He doubted she'd given him a moment's thought if she could deliberately hurt her own sister.

"What is her name?" He asked after all was said and done.

Not knowing who he meant, the king provided him with the names of both females. "The elder twin Clarissa is known as Claire and the younger is named Carissa and everyone calls her Cari."

Cari. He whispered the name in his mind. His wolf stirred with interest at the idea of her. He'd met a lot of potential mates at the palace, females whose mates had died before they met or even after. He'd even met a few whose mates had desired others and came to the palace with said mates to petition the king.

None of them had sparked his interests as the mere thought of Carissa did. He knew that as the twin of his true mate she'd be as close as he could ever get to a bond like with his true mate. He wanted to see her, he needed to.

"Do you have a picture of her sire? Of Cari?" He asked.

The king passed an open folder to him and his eyes fell onto her face, her eyes. He stared into soulful brown depths devoid of all emotions. Eyes that seemed to see into the bottom of his soul without any remorse. They were frank eyes, for all they showed nothing.

His heart squeezed its sympathy at the depths of suffering those eyes telegraphed. He knew that pain, had felt it for so long it was now a part of him. It hurt more that she had had to suffer it. Andre would give his arms if he could go back in time to save her. He'd rather have his heart carved out with silver than see the hopelessness in her beautiful eyes.

Her gaunt face was starkly beautiful. It etched its delicately fine lines to his heart so that he felt his heart open to her. His soul cried to her, for her. "She's strong." He stated, his voice scratchy as if he'd spent the past decade in silence.

"Yes." The king agreed in a solemn tone.

Andre realized she'd had no one. Whilst he'd had the support of his family and made friends with other mateless Cari had been left alone. Deliberately. She'd been callously set aside by an alpha and had another trap her in the hell hole of a pack.

He wanted to lash out, to raze every trace of the Darkpaws for the pain they'd willfully caused her. He wanted to sink his claws into the second alpha and rip his that out.

"Do you want to see a picture of Clarissa?" The king asked.

Andre kept his eyes on the picture of the female he had every intention of claiming. "Doesn't she look like Cari?" His question was soft spoken.

"No. They're fraternal twins. They have some differences though they resemble each other quite a bit."

"Then no." He stated. "I do not want to know anything about such a cold-hearted female."

"As you wish." The king agreed.

Silence reigned the room as Andre kept his eyes glued to her photo. His throat was clogged, his wolf pacing impatiently and all that seemed to keep him intact was the sad photo before him. "What do you wish now sire?" He asked knowing that he was at the mercy of his king regardless of what he wished.

"As you can see, she's not in the best of heath. I've ordered that she be sent away from the pack to recuperate. Once her father assures me she is better, we will visit the Darkpaws."

Andre's heart sank. The idea of being away from her for longer than necessary was painful. Now that he knew of her, he needed her. Needed to assure himself that she was okay, to shelter her.

"In the meantime, you will be given her phone number so that you can communicate with her. Her father informs me she's in a very fragile state so I don't want her overwhelmed. You will establish a bond with her before the necessity of meeting. That way she can get used to the idea of you."

"Yes sire." He agreed.

Even though he could see the sense in what the king said, he wanted nothing more than to be with her. But as the king had said, she needed to be handled with care. He knew how overpowering the idea of a second chance would be.

As people denied a living mate, their chances of finding another were slim as the existing true bond was always calling. Now here they were with a new hope that only distance would flame doubt to. He wanted to shout with joy, wanted to hide away and hold close to that hope as fear that she might also reject him took hold.

He walked the halls back to his room in a daze. He was sure some of his fellow trainees that he met tried to talk to him but he didn't hear anything. A mate. He had a mate and she was beautiful!

In his small room, by palace standard, he sat on his bed and once more stared at her. At her long chocolate brown hair that fell straight like a river down her back. She was curvy even in her emaciated state, her clothes baggy and her body language listless.

Even then, she couldn't hide how graceful she was. How she stood straight backed and regal. A sense of calm competence ringed her and there was no mistaking her innocence. Or maybe he wanted to assign her that innocence compared to the selfishness of her sister.

A hand on his shoulder brought him out of his deep study of her . He reacted with a hard shrug that dislodged that arm and followed with an attack that halted as he saw his friend.

"Damnit Richard!" He swore.

"Who is she?" His friend questioned nodding at the picture.

Andre didn't want to tell him, wanted to keep the knowledge of her to himself but now that his friend had seen the photo. "My mate." He ground out.

Richard whistled his astonishment at that. "Do you remember meeting her? Was she kidnapped like you thought? Is that why...?" He left that question unvoiced knowing what a sore spot it was.

"No." He hated having to explain. "She's the twin of my true mate. Who took her mate."

His friend swore sulphurously at that. "Why would she do that?" He demanded. "A true mate is sacred!"

Andre laughed bitterly. He understood where his friend was coming from. Richard had lost his mate on the day he'd met her. There'd been another were who'd been obsessed with her and had stabbed her with a silver dagger when she shared her joy. He'd then turned the blade to himself and died besides her.

Even after seven years, Richard was still bitter that her murderer had died with her in his arms instead of him. Only his honor had kept him from taking his own life. Even as he now hoped for a second chance, Richard still missed his love.

"He is the second alpha of their pack." The bitterness in his tone was scathing. "She didn't want to chance I'd be of a lesser rank than him." His friend blinked at that irony. Andreas was the second prince to their kingdom. Richard swore again. "I don't want to dwell on this selfish female." He stated. "I just want to concentrate on my mate." He looked down on the photo he still held."

"You know you'll still feel the pull towards her right?" His friend cautioned.

Andre turned cold eyes to his friend. "I will not allow myself to feel anything for a female so devoid of decency that she'd hurt her own mate and sister in this way. A female so power hungry she'll destroy anyone in her way."

"Once she finds out who you are, she'll want to leave the alpha for you. She might even harm her sister."

Andre smiled. "No one will know who I am until Cari and I are mated."

"How will you manage that?"

"It's a good thing no one outside the royal pack knows who I am. Fredrico Andreas Salvatore Argyros-Castellanos is the kingdom's second prince. Andre Argyros is a warrior trainee."

Richard laughed at that. "Are you sure that will work?"

Andre nodded. "People know the royal family as the Castellanos family, the Argyros name is forgotten even when people say it all the time."

His friend nodded thoughtfully at that. "When will you meet her?"

"Grandfather thinks it'd be best if I give her time to heal. He gave me her number so I can talk to her in the mean time."

"That's rough."

With a smile Andre took out his phone and sent a quick message to his mate. "Much as I hate it, I think he's right." He'd get to know his mate, seduce her before they met.