Chapter 256

Andrew shut himself in his home office the day after the ruined marriage ceremony. He kept his phone on the desk and watched it anxiously for any word about Princess Aurora’s condition. He reached across the desk to set his Newton’s cradle into motion, but even that could not soothe his frazzled nerves.

He had not been this upset about an attack since Crystal was kidnapped and thrown to vampires. How had vampires gotten so far into his territory, let alone into his city? He had set up guards on the northern borders to prevent them from getting as far as the northern territories, let alone this far south.

He double-checked the reports he had been sent on vampiric intrusions by the Werewolf Council. None of them indicated the vampires migrating so far. There was no way for Andrew and his guards to have prepared for such an attack.

It all seemed far too coincidental for Andrew’s liking. What were the odds that the vampires would just stumble upon the very temple that he—the Alpha King—was getting married in and cause chaos? Especially the two vampires who had survived attacking Crystal the last time?

Andrew shook his head.

No. There was no conspiracy. It was only a horrific vampire attack, one that he had to ensure would not happen again.

He glanced at his phone again. He thought that he would have heard something by now. It had been hours since King Frederick had taken Princess Aurora to the human world; they had to be settled in with a prognosis for her injuries by this point.

Just when Andrew thought that he could not take the waiting any longer, his phone came to life, buzzing its way across the wooden desk. It lit up with King Frederick’s number.

Andrew jumped at the phone and answered it.

“Hello?” he said.

“Alpha King Andrew,” King Frederick replied, his tone stiff and formal.

“How is she?”

“She is recovering.”

Andrew sighed in relief.

“Thank the Moon Goddess. How long do you think that she will need to stay in the human world?”

“Permanently.”

Andrew was taken aback, both by what King Frederick had said and how coldly he had said it.

“What do you mean, permanently? What about the wedding?”

“There will be no wedding.”

Andrew opened and closed his mouth a few times before he finally responded.

“I don’t understand, King Frederick. I thought that we had agreed that this marriage would be the best for all of us. You had insisted upon it, in fact.”

“How can I let her marry you when you failed to protect her when she needed it most?” King Frederick shouted over the line.

Andrew cringed.

“We had prepared for every realistic threat. We had no way of knowing that vampires would intrude so far south—”

“Do not give me excuses! Your first priority should have been protecting my daughter. Instead, you left her entirely vulnerable.”

“There were too many vampires. We had to get rid of them and tend to the wounded as quickly as possible. There were not enough of us.”

“Then why didn’t your guard stay on her like he was supposed to?”

Yes, that was a good question.

Jeffrey should have stayed on Princess Aurora rather than attacking the vampires. He had told Andrew that once he had transformed into a full wolf, his wolf had forced him to attack, telling him that it was the best way to protect them all. Andrew could not blame Jeffrey for something that his wolf made him do.

“There were more than 20 vampires attacking a room full of panicking humans, werewolves, and hybrids. He made the best decision that he could in the moment,” Andrew said.

“And Aurora almost died in the process,” King Frederick hissed.

“You don’t know how badly I feel about that—”

“Do you know how badly Aurora feels about it? Or how badly I feel about it?”

Andrew’s stomach twisted in knots.

“Do you know what it feels like to see your daughter in the emergency room, attached to all kinds of machines and IV bags, and be told that you’re lucky that she even survived? That you’re lucky that she’s such a fighter or else she wouldn’t be alive right now?”

This was the most emotion that Andrew had ever heard in the voice of another politician. It took him back to when he had learned that Lisa had been a victim of a car bombing. He cleared his throat before speaking again.

“Yes, King Frederick, I do know what that’s like. I can’t image anything worse.”

“Then you know why I am calling off the engagement.”

Andrew did not respond.

“And why the trade agreement between humans and werewolves is on the rocks as well.”

Andrew’s eyes widened at this statement.

“King Frederick, please, you cannot punish our peoples this way,” he said. “I can understand if you no longer want to sanctify my and Princess Aurora’s union, but the trade agreement is mutually beneficial.”

“I have felt for a long time that the trade agreement disproportionately benefits werewolves over humans,” King Frederick snarled. “With this recent threat to my own daughter, I cannot help feeling that werewolves are trying to gain the upper hand over humans.”

“That’s preposterous, Your Highness. We want nothing more than peace and cooperation between our species—”

“Then how do you explain the anti-integration protestors?”

Andrew rubbed his eyes with his forefinger and thumb.

“Yes, there are some werewolves who have backwards views of how our relationship should work, but I assure you that that has nothing to do with the vampire attack or how our trade agreement works. If there is anything about the trade agreement that you feel is not fair, then we can talk about it like the intelligent, level-headed politicians that we are.”

King Frederick sighed.

“I’m afraid that it’s too late for that, Alpha King Andrew.”

Andrew’s hand curled into a fist. The more that King Frederick used his title, the more that Andrew knew that their friendship was destroyed.

“If you would just listen to reason—”

Before Andrew could finish his sentence, the distinct click signifying the end of the call rang through his ears. He groaned and lowered the phone. He hoped that those would not be his final words to the king of the human world.

Andrew decided to try and message Princess Aurora one last time. He had to get his side of the story to her before King Frederick twisted it and turned her against him. He didn’t want her opinion of him tainted forever.

He pulled up Princess Aurora’s number on his phone and started to compose a message.

I’m sorry, his text began. I should have protected you better. It’s my fault that you are in this position, but I swear that I will find a way to avenge you.

You’re going to hear that our engagement is off. It’s true. Your father called it off because I failed to protect you from the vampires.

Do not think that it’s because I don’t care about you. I always will. If nothing else, remember that.

Again, I’m so, so sorry.

Andrew clicked the send button, but the message did not go through. He rubbed his forehead and sighed.

He had been blocked.