Chapter 15 - One Long Night (Part 2)

Alone in a bedroom together, lewd thoughts were filling Adalyn’s mind. Was he going to claim her and mate with her then and there? As she looked around the bedroom a bit alarmed, Kai caught wind of her troubled look.

“Relax, I’m not the big bad wolf. You look like I’m going to gobble you up”

Kai took her hand in his. “We can take what happens next at your pace. I actually brought you in here so we can sit down comfortably and talk. Unless of course you’d like to continue what you started earlier and go straight to forth base for a home-run?” Kai asked mischievously.

“Nope, talking is good” Adalyn sat down on the edge of the bed with her hands on her lap

“I thought so” Kai smirked. He walked over to her and then sat on the other side of the bed. He turned her legs towards him so that she faced him. He wanted to see her face and get a better gauge of her reaction once he started talking.

"Okay, let me start" Kai began. "First and foremost, I want to re-iterate that I have strong feelings for you. I want to 'be with you' in every sense of those words. Does that mean that I'm in love you? Honestly, I don't know, as I don't have much experience there, but I do know that I want you and nobody else."

Adalyn looked up at him to take in everything that he was saying. She couldn't help but admire how open and frank he was being with her about his feelings? He seemed steadfast and sure in everything that he said. If he was expecting her to do the same afterwards, she knew she would have a tough time in doing so without getting embarrassed.

Kai continued. "I will and I do have every intention of claiming you as my mate and making it official in all forms. That is inevitable. I'm not typically a very selfish person but on this point I have absolutely no intention of changing my mind about this, even if you decide that you don't want more from our relationship. You need to know now, that is what will happen".

Adalyn gulped at his last sentence. Looking at her face Kai cocked his head slightly. "Still with me?" he queried.

Adalyn nodded, still partially stunned at how straight faced and serious he was as he fully declared his feelings and intentions.

"Okay…" Kai straightened his head satisfied that it was going in.

"As I mentioned before, the reason that I hadn't acted on my intentions up until now is due to some threats that have been made against me. Frustratingly whoever is behind it has been hiding in the shadows like a coward knowing full well that if I find out who they are, they wouldn't last more than two minutes alone in a room with me.” Kai tightened one of his fists. He was annoyed with himself that he still hadn’t made any headway in rectifying this and this was keeping him from having what he truly wanted. Adalyn.

“With that being said” he continued “I'm cautious about bringing you in to my world when I don't know where these threats are coming from or how they might act out on it. I don't know if they confirmed that you're my mate or not from the kidnapping attempt they made, but if not, publicly claiming you would be like putting a target directly on your back and I can't allow that"

Kai exhaled deeply after getting the core of his thoughts and intentions off of his chest.

"Do you understand?"

Adalyn nodded. "So, you think the people involved with taking me are the same people involved in threatening you?"

"I don't have any definitive proof as yet, but I highly suspect so" Kai continued. "This is why I need you to stay here with me for a bit longer. I have someone that I trust looking in to some of this for me. Once I get some more information, we can work out what to do next."

"I see" Adalyn nodded.

"Can I trust you to stay put until then?"

"Okay.." Adalyn nodded again, finally understanding everything. He was really just trying to stop her from getting hurt like he had originally mentioned.

"Good!" Kai smiled in relief. "How are you feeling about all this?" Kai followed up.

"It makes more sense now; I won't try to run anymore. I just know that my family are probably really worried about me. I just wish there was some way that I could let them know that I was alright"

"Give me half a day, my friend should be arriving in the morning with the information I need, then I'll figure out some way to get you back home"

"Okay...thanks" Adalyn agreed.

"Can I ask you another question? Then feel free to interrogate me all you want with yours afterwards"

Adalyn nodded silently.

"Are you from the Southern Territory originally? Or were you born somewhere else?"

"I was born here in the Southern Territory, why do you ask?" Adalyn asked, confused at this new line of questioning.

"Which one of the 8 packs do you originate from?"

"I don't really remember much of my early childhood there, but my aunt said my mother and father were originally part of the Eclipse Fang pack before they passed away, why do you ask?"

Kai opened his phone and opened one of his map apps. He wanted to remind himself of that pack's borders within the Southern Territory.

The continent was split in to two territories.

The Southern Territory also known as Galas, which Kai's family ruled over. The Southern Territory was made up of 8 packs that had formed an alliance centuries ago. They consisted of The Blue Moon pack, the royal pack that occupied the capital of Pherron, then there was:

- the Storm Forrest Pack
- The Valley Banes Pack
- The Steel Tail Pack
- The Silver Crown Moon Pack
- The Star Howlers Pack
- The Eclipse Fang Pack
- and The Timber Wolves Pack

Each pack had its own Alpha that swore allegiance to King Maddox. As a result, senior royal family members effectively became the ultimate Alpha leaders for all of these packs and could use their alpha tone to command all of their subjects within Galas across the 8 packs.

Each pack within the Southern Territory nominated a member that was appointed to Maddox's royal council. More often than not it was usually the Alpha of each of the packs that filled those positions, but it wasn't a requirement. Matias, Kai's oldest brother, was currently the Alpha of the Blue Moon Pack and served on his father's council. If or when Matias became King, someone else would then take over as Alpha of the Blue Moon Pack. In normal circumstances this would usually fall to the next male heir, Elias, but Elias having no desire to rule or lead in any form had already made his intentions clear on that matter. The official title of Alpha of the Blue Moon Pack would then naturally fall to Kai, the third son, but being a bastard child of the King, this was not favoured by many.

Above the Southern Territory was the Northern Territory, also known as Sirran. This territory was originally comprised of two territories that each had their own king. King Nolan of the West and King Zeke of the East, but 12 years ago they had forcibly come together when Nolan slaughtered Zeke and his family and took over the Eastern section.

Nolan subsequently died from a sudden illness 3 years ago and Colton, his only son succeeded him to the throne. Colton was a young king at 23 and had similar ambitions to his father and wanted to unite and rule over all of the territories in the continent. As a result, there were often skirmishes at the borders between the north and south where Colton sought to expand his land further in to Galas.

The Eclipse Fang pack that Adalyn mentioned was north of Galas. It bordered one of Sirran's pack lands and often got caught up in some of the conflicts there. Being on the border, they were a hot-spot for refugee or rogue shifters that left Sirran looking to try and escape the dictatorial rule of Colton and his father before him.

After reminding himself of the location of the Eclipse Fang pack, Kai snapped his phone shut.

"The reason I ask" he continued, "Is that back on the roof, when I was trying to pull you up, I used my alpha tone on you to try and force you to give me your hand, but it didn't seem to have any effect on you. If you were a native subject of Galas, you would have had no choice but to obey me. I was curious to work out if perhaps your parents were refugees or rogue shifters originally from Sirran"

Adalyn looked genuinely surprised by this new information and was now starting to doubt herself "Errr...not that I'm aware of"

"Huh. Okay...I was just curious to know" Kai didn’t want to probe any further and seemed moderately satisfied for now. It didn't make a difference to him where she came from, but there was something different about her and the mystery surrounding her made him even more intrigued. He decided he would do a little digging later, privately, to see if he could find out more.

Silence filled the room as Kai finished his questioning. He had been conscious that he had been doing most of the talking up until point.

"Is there anything you wanted to talk about?" Kai prompted her.

"No, I don't think so. I can't think of anything else right now"

Kai could see that she was tired, it had been a long night already.

"Okay, let’s just call it a night for now, if you change your mind, I'm happy to talk any time"

"Okay" Adalyn nodded as she tried to stifle a yawn.

She was aware that they hadn't really discussed what the sleeping arrangements were and she waited quietly for Kai to confirm what that would be.

"Would you be okay if I slept with you?" Kai asked.

Adalyn's eyes fully dilated. "Wait, are you just outright asking me if I want to have sex with you??”

Kai had to do a double take. "Woah, relax, no! Can you stop jumping to conclusions every time I say something. Believe it or not everything I say isn’t about me trying to get in to your pants. Like I said we can go at your pace. I'm not trying to rush you in to anything. What I meant was would you be okay if slept in the same room with you? Split the bed?”

Adalyn looked a bit dubious about his intentions.

“Don’t look at me like that. I promise, no funny business! Your scent is particularly calming to me. After all that’s happened tonight, it would probably make it easier for my wolf and I to relax if you were close. He still thinks you’re gonna bolt again the second you’re out of my sight”.

Adalyn smiled hearing Kai talk about his wolf's affection for her. She'd have to remember that it was a 2 package deal she was getting here. Kai and his wolf.

“Okay, but no funny business?” Adalyn questioned.

“No funny business!” Kai reconfirmed smiling.

“Okay then...” Adalyn nodded and they both made themselves comfortable on each side of the bed and turned out the lights. They sat in silence in the darkness both staring up at the ceiling.

"Kai?"

Kai smiled hearing her say his name. "Yes?"

"Are you still awake?"

Kai smiled again, but this time even bigger at her silly question. "Yes"

"Have you really just been watching me this past year?" Adalyn remembered back to his impassioned declaration when he was trying to pull her up on to the roof.

There was a long pause before Kai replied. "Yes"

"You know that's kinda creepy right?"

Kai laughed to himself a little. "I can see how it might come off that way to some"

"To some? You mean to all right?” Adalyn rolled on her side to face him.

"You know, creeping around, hiding in bushes, doesn't seem like something a prince should be doing" Adalyn continued with a bit of jest in her voice.

Kai laughed again. "Now you're making it sound like I was camped outside your house like some kind of pervert"

"Is that 'not' what you were doing?"

Kai rolled over on to his side to look at her "Seriously? Is that what you think of me or do you just have incredibly low expectations of all men?"

Adalyn started giggling then erupted in to full blown laughter. It had been the first time in a while that she truly belly laughed. After she calmed back down the quiet resumed.

"That's a really nice sound," Kai spoke softly.

"What is?" Adalyn questioned as she tried to stop herself from giggling again.

"Your laugh."

Adalyn’s eyes caught his. He was looking at her as though she were some beautiful magical creature. She wasn’t expecting that little compliment and not being used to the flattery she rolled on to her back to hide her awkwardness. She wasn’t sure how to respond to it. The silence returned.

"By the way, I don't think I said it before, but…thank you."

"For what?" Kai had rolled back on to his back and was looking up at the ceiling again.

"For coming to get me yesterday."

"You're welcome."

Adalyn rolled on to her side so that she was now facing away from him. "Night Kai."

"Goodnight Adalyn.”