"Understood, Princess..."
The warrior could no longer find the words to dissuade Addison. When he t her gaze, all he saw was unwavering confidence and quiet authority, an air that made protest feel futile. He wanted to stop her, to argue, but his voice refused to obey him.
Though he did not know what plans were forming in her mind, he could feel instinctively that she had everything under control. And so, as her subject, he did what he was bound to do.
He lowered his head in a deep bow, accepting her decision without further objection. After excusing himself, he turned and hurried away to find Levi, determined to carry out her command without delay.
After the warrior left, Addison sank into deep contemplation as she gazed out the window. She had said she was prepared, yet a part of her still wrestled with Chase’s unpredictable actions.
Even though she had already braced herself for the worst, it felt... strange, as if he had co for a purpose other than killing her. Or perhaps it was just the naive part of her wanting to believe in sothing good, a thought she kept pushing aside.
"Aurora..." she whispered, calling out to her wolf, hoping to stir it awake. If it answered, it would give her the courage she needed to descend to the dungeon. After all, being wolfless in her current state was unnerving; her mates treated her like a fragile doll, but she wasn’t one.
Although she understood why everyone treated her with such caution, Addison couldn’t bring herself to always stay behind, letting others shield her from danger. She knew from the very beginning that she wasn’t ant to be a ruler who watched her subjects fall one by one. She was ant to be a warrior-queen, leading from the front.
Staying in the back made her feel useless.
Yet, she also knew her current weakness limited her. No one could take her seriously in this state. And with Greg — who had long planned her abduction and knew every detail about her — any chance of hiding was already compromised.
Once he discovered the true missing princess was none other than her, Addison, he likely spread the word that she was a wolfless oga. Though she bore the title of princess, everyone on his side now knew she couldn’t shift. Hiding in the back wouldn’t change that.
Instead, she needed to focus on awakening her wolf, uncovering the true mastermind behind the plot, and understanding their motive. Was it simply to seize the future monarch of the werewolf kingdom? Or was there sothing more sinister at play?
While Addison was lost in thought, unaware of how much ti had passed, Levi ca running back, his body slick with sweat. He must have sprinted at full speed, and given the distance from the lakeside, he likely ran in his wolf form.
Since Addison didn’t see the warrior who had called for him, it was clear the man couldn’t keep up with Levi’s pace and had fallen behind. Levi, however, hadn’t waited; he had co straight to her.
Addison couldn’t bla him. After hearing that she planned to face Chase, he must have been gripped by worry, so much so that he pushed past his usual limits just to reach her as quickly as possible.
"You’ve arrived..." Addison said, a small smile on her lips as she watched Levi struggle to catch his breath, his chest heaving violently with each deep inhale. His eyes, however, never left her; they were dark, swirling with emotions she could almost feel: anger, worry, and sothing else he was holding back.
She chose to ignore it, focusing instead on explaining her thoughts.
"Chase seems to have co here for a reason," she began carefully. "Whether it’s good or bad, we won’t know until we face him. Even if we try to avoid him, he’ll still co, and no one can stop him then. So it’s better to take the simplest path. Besides, it’s not like I’m going in unprepared..."
Addison rose slowly from the leather chair and moved toward the door where Levi stood. She barely even registered his naked form; her mind was consud with the gravity of the situation. More than anything, she wanted him to understand her reasoning, to keep him from acting on his anger before she could act.
"But... he could have co to kill or abduct you..." Levi said, his voice rough and hoarse. He pursed his lips as he watched Addison approach and stand before him. She gently placed her soft hand over his chest, and the touch worked like a balm on his frayed nerves.
Instantly, he felt his overly agitated wolf begin to calm, its wild thrashing within his ntal barrier slowing. The growls that had demanded to be unleashed softened and restrained, at least for now, by her presence.
"It could be," Addison said calmly, "but as soone with Alpha blood, he could easily break free from the dungeon and still find his way to . When that happens, we won’t know where he’ll co from, and he could catch us off guard and carry out his plan. That would surely lead to a bloodbath. So instead... why not hear him out?"
Her lips curled into a confident smile, and as Levi watched her every expression, it suddenly clicked. Addison had a plan.
After spending so much ti with her and serving as her Gamma for three years, he knew better than anyone that she wasn’t reckless. She was ticulous, always thorough in her planning, and unwilling to step into a disadvantage.
The more she knew about the path ahead and the circumstances she might face, the more she would prepare. When Addison acted, she acted with confidence, and that confidence was never without reason.
If she weren’t so thorough, the Alphas from the nearby pack from the Midnight River Pack, could have easily outmaneuvered her in the negotiations, swallowing up most of what they had to offer or bullying their declining pack into submission.
While such actions were frowned upon in the kingdom and might have warranted punishnt from the Alpha King, they could still be carried out in the shadows. Without evidence, no one could truly condemn them.
Yet Addison had managed to prevent all of that. Especially with so many eyes constantly watching her, waiting to mock her every move or put her in her place, she had maintained control and kept potential threats at bay.
Knowing her character, Levi realized that Addison’s confidence ca from being prepared. Even if she couldn’t shift into her wolf form now, she must have a safeguard capable of overpowering Chase. If that was the case, what did he have to worry about?
Understanding her thought process eased his tension. He took a deep breath and pulled Addison into a hug, as if he wanted to rge her body with his own.
"Alright... we’ll do as you said. And thank you for waiting for before coming down to the dungeon," Levi said, his voice gentle and trusting. He was grateful that she considered his feelings; if she had gone without him, he would have felt useless, as if she had sidelined him because he was weaker than Chase.
Such an act could have shaken his confidence even further, but now, seeing her thoughtfulness, he felt reassured and grounded.
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