Chapter 155 - Alpha's Order
King Conall had an unusually big smile even when his son lost the duel. He felt proud that the newest member of the pack turned out to be one of the strongest. And the more number of stronger wolves in the pack, the stronger the whole pack would be. After all, werewolves were the creatures that thrived as a pack.
And the King fixated his gaze on his nephew and began to praise him, "Prince Nigel, I would like to speak on behalf of the pack. Even though you just turned less than a month ago, all of us are impressed by how fast you picked up the pace. It took Wulfric three years to reach his current level and… you were just incredible. I am glad to have you in my pack."
Nigel placed his fist over his heart and fell on one of his knees. This was a way to show respect to the King of Aberdeen. "Thank you, for your kind words, Your Majesty. It wouldn\'t have been possible without all of your support." He stole a quick glance of Rhea and smiled.. "And the major credit goes to my teacher Rhea for teaching me everything from scratch."
Rhea blushed and her lips curved up to form a smile when Nigel praised her in front of the powerful members of the clan.
King Conall was quick enough to speculate that their pack might be getting a set of mates soon. But he kept that thought aside and then moved his glance to Wulfric. "Crown Prince Wulfric, you also displayed a great combat skill, especially in your wolf form. I am glad to know that you are improving day by day. And with Nigel around, I hope that both of you will motivate each other to improve and grow."
Wulfric was almost jealous of his cousin for getting all the attention and praise from the King. But when he spoke good words about him as well, he was high on the moon. He also kneeled down and thanked the King, "Thank you, Your Majesty. We will work on each other\'s lacking and we will try our best to meet your expectations for us."
Nigel blinked twice and thought, "I won\'t be around from tomorrow though..."
But the next phrases from the alpha were going to prove him wrong.
King Conall gestured the Princes to rise and when they stood up with their arms at the back, he looked serious all of a sudden. And he focused his gaze on Nigel again. "Prince Nigel, you have stayed with us for almost a month now. You have met several other wolves of the pack and… I hope you have developed some kind of bond with them?"
The King waited for Nigel\'s answer so Nigel smiled and said, "Yes, Your Majesty. The ones whom I have met till day were very kind and hospitable towards me. They all accepted me as a member of their family and made me feel right at home."
That was what the King really wanted to hear. He had a smirk on his face. He finally stopped beating around the bush and got straight to the point.
"Nigel, I am sure that by now you know how we are very protective of our secret as well as our every member of the pack. And we all have witnessed that you are one of the strongest wolves. That being said you are now counted as an integral member of the pack. So I, the alpha of the pack, order you to return back to Aberdeen after attending that test in Wyverndale. All of us want you to stay with us... for the rest of your life. You know we are one big family and we do not want our family members to stay away from us."
The smile that Nigel had just a moment ago suddenly faded away like footprints on the seashore. He was stunned that his alpha had ordered him to return back and… stay here forever. How could he even say that? How could he ask a Prince of another Kingdom to abandon his home and return back? Yes, he liked his stay here in Aberdeen but leaving his Kingdom was one thing which he couldn\'t imagine doing.
Nigel was angered by that order but he tried to calm himself down as much as he could and slowly uttered, "I am sorry, Your Majesty but it is not possible for me to return back again. I have my own duties as a Prince of Wyverndale. And father wouldn\'t allow me to stay here if I get chosen as the future ruler of Wyverndale. Even if I wasn\'t selected, I would still not be allowed to leave the Kingdom."
King Conall never thought that making Nigel agree with him would be an easy task. And the things he was going to say were sure to annoy Nigel even more.
He tried to speak in a calmer voice so as not to sound like a tyrant, "Nigel, I don\'t want to sound like a rude uncle who is trying to take control over your life but we cannot allow you to be the next ruler of Wyverndale. We cannot have a werewolf ruling another Kingdom so I need you to fail the test."
"Fail the test?" Nigel exclaimed in fury. He could not keep on hearing the nonsense that his uncle was spewing.
"Why would I intentionally fail the test that I have been preparing myself for my whole life?" Nigel clenched his fists and shouted at the King without caring if he sounded rude. If the King could be rude to him, why couldn\'t he do the same?
Nigel took a step forward while looking intimidating. The guards that stood by the side of the King also took a step forward while placing their hands on their swords. They were ready to tackle Nigel at any moment now but the King raised his hand and gestured them to stop.
Nigel didn\'t care that the woman he wanted to impress was standing not too far away from him. And he growled at the King with fury, his eyes glowing like fire. "How can you be so inconsiderate and selfish? Do you have to go to such an extent just to protect the secret? And why don\'t you trust me? Do you think that I am stupid enough to go around transforming in front of those people who don\'t know that we exist?"
And his mind suddenly began to imagine the clan killing Adeline just to protect their damn secret. He had always had that fear at the back of his head. But when his alpha gave out orders to him so calmly to leave his Kingdom and to fail the test, the fear that he had buried deep in his mind started to play tricks on him, the fear of them brutally killing his dear sister.
And without even realizing it, Nigel began to transform into his wolf form again. The maids who were close by began to run for their lives, they didn\'t want to be near an angry wolf. The elders were quietly enjoying the show. And Wulfric, Rhea, and Fenris were worried about what was about to come.
Rhea wanted to stop Nigel and help him calm down but the King had already leaped the great distance between him and Nigel and was already standing in front of Nigel.