Chapter 151

NOLAN

It was another sleepless night working with his team, and though Nolan felt mentally alert, he found it impossible to remain seated or even to stand still. He wound up pacing the length of his office tirelessly for hours as they talked, strategized, debated, and gave and received updates to and from others outside the palace.

The prince was busy making choices, confirming instructions, and delegating tasks. Sounding confident and commanding on every phone call. Being the calm voice of reason.

But his wolf just wanted to run. The large muscles in Nolan’s thighs were screaming, tight with the pain of inactivity, and his joints felt stiff and aching, needing to be stretched and engaged.

But even if he did have time to run, Nolan no longer had any means of leaving the palace privately anyway, having sealed off his secret passage to the forest. Since Adan had been the one to show him the passageway in the first place, Nolan couldn’t risk leaving it open. A breach of the palace was one of the worst possible scenarios that Adan could be plotting, and Nolan was taking every measure he could to prevent it.

Morning found Nolan once again visiting his bedroom briefly for the purposes of hygiene and a fresh suit only. The idea of lying in bed and attempting to sleep felt completely absurd. He took a fast, scalding hot shower, had a servant come in to give him a thorough, proper shave, dressed quickly, then was having breakfast with his mother and both their teams in Luna’s dining room an hour later.

The breakfast meeting was rather pointless, at least in terms of advancing any strategy. But it did give Nolan an opportunity and reason to consume a full, hot meal, and he found after doing so that he’d been needing it severely. He briefly considered that might have been his mother’s purpose in calling for the meeting in the first place and holding it in such a setting.

Nolan had his meet-up with Alaster planned immediately afterward. And despite the mountain of work that was now waiting on him 24/7, the prince was not going to miss this appointment.

This was his closest and oldest friend in the world, a man who had been like a father to Nolan. And while the doctors never wanted to worry Nolan with bad news, anyone with eyes could see that the old man was deteriorating rapidly and didn’t have much left of him to spare.

The prince’s office was bustling with activity. Nolan left his team working and departed for the nursing home. But he made just one quick stop back to his bedroom, first.

Nolan had been carrying a weapon on him ever since Adan announced his position. The prince felt moderately safe within the palace walls, but he knew very well that the fortress had vulnerabilities. And though Nolan was surrounded by guards when out in public, there was always a chance his clever brother could find a way to get him alone and cornered.

But Nolan could not carry a firearm into either a nursing home or an orphanage. It would be reckless. He took his pistol out of his jacket and stashed it inside a shoebox in the back of his dressing room. He flipped the dressing room light off behind him and was almost on his way.

But then he paced backward and turned the light back on again.

He gazed at the shoebox, suddenly worried.

This was a decision that could leave him vulnerable.

But, he considered, the possibility of a successful attack on the prince while he was inside a moving vehicle surrounded by a motorcade was practically zero. And surely even Adan would not open fire on a nursing home or orphanage.

That was the conscious thought in Nolan’s mind. But his instinct and a twisting feeling in his stomach gave him pause. His older brother could be very malicious indeed. This, Nolan recalled vividly from their childhood.

An image came into focus in Nolan’s mind as he considered the boundaries of Adan’s cruelty. The mysterious photo of Adan with his human girlfriend. The human bar owner had claimed, “They were murdered, the both of them…” while pointing to the image of Nolan’s half-brother, who was of course very much alive.

Nolan had never been able to track down any information about Adan’s activities in the human world, related to the murders or otherwise. Adan had left no trace of his life there behind him.

But deep down, Nolan knew for absolute certain what had happened to that human woman. Adan had killed her. And someone else, too, who he staged as himself in order to fake his own death.

But how depraved did a man need to be, how heartless, to endanger children – babies, even – and the sick and elderly? Too many innocent civilians would be around in the nursing home and orphanage, and in small, confined spaces. It would be too far, even for Adan.

“How are you doing, old friend?” Nolan smiled as the old man blinked his eyes open, registering whose voice was speaking.

“Nolan,” he croaked.

“Let me get you a drink.” Nolan filled a cup with water and brought it back to Alaster. He helped the old man take a few sips, patiently waiting out the coughing fits in between each one, then took a seat at his bedside and asked, “Still up for our field trip to the orphanage today?”

The old man smiled. “Of course. I told them to let me sleep in so that I’d be well rested.”

Nolan nodded approvingly. “Good plan.”

A nurse knocked quietly on the open door. “Ready to try eating, Alaster?”

He groaned, frowning. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

“Here.” Nolan assisted the nurse with the food tray. “I’ll help him get something down.”

The nurse blushed when she met Nolan’s eyes. She thanked him quietly then shuffled out of the room, stealing one last glance at the prince before closing the door behind her.

Alaster observed this and chuckled quietly. “So, young man. Tell me, what is happening with you and Yena? Have you reconciled with your lovely bride yet?”

Nolan sighed. He started getting the food tray adjusted into a comfortable position over the old man’s lap. Alaster waved him off, taking over.

“I’m afraid not,” Nolan answered as he sat back down in the chair. He wiped his mouth with his hand. “She left. She wanted to study abroad in the human world, and I had to let her go. I love her too much to try to make her stay.”

“She left? Already?” Alaster asked, raising his eyebrows slightly.

Nolan studied his watch, nodding. “Yes. Her flight leaves today, and very soon. I’m sure she is already at the airport right now. Maybe even onboard the plane.”

“Hm.” The old man looked away pensively, narrowing his eyes.

“What? What is it?”

“I’m not sure.” Alaster’s voice took on a quiet, dreamy quality. Then he turned to look at his young friend again. A slight smile appeared on his lips, and Nolan glimpsed a twinkle in his eye. “I just have a feeling,” the old man continued, “that it is not over yet between you two.”