Maltin's POV
It was midnight, yet I couldn't sleep. Fleeting images of the girl kept creeping into my head.
Her face, her fragile voice, her scent, and those eyes that made my heart dance in a way I couldn't understand. The elders' words, the war, and the entire incidents occurring lately all collided in my head like a battlefield.
I stayed up all night thinking about everything that had happened throughout the day. The elders' words. Most especially, the girl.
I had checked in on her after my meeting with the elders, and she was still not awake. I instructed a guard to get a new maid who would attend to her when she woke up, since the previous one sick before leaving to attend to other things.
I had also decided not to return to the east post that day, and I also sent words to Kylian to return for an emergency. After meeting the elders yesterday, I realized that there are more stakes than I had recognized. I knew at that moment that I needed to stay back and get some matters sorted out before returning to the east post. Likewise, a lot of unsettled kingdom duties from the past days clustered on my desk, waiting to be cleared.
Though Kylian, my beta, had taken care of most of the duties, the crucial ones that needed my attention still awaited me, particularly the new trouble I had in my court.
I returned to my war chamber in the morning to meet with the warriors and restrategize with my commanders. With the fast minds of Kylian and the commanders, the meeting yielded an impressive end by the end of the day, as they had already mapped out instructions for the warriors and made the necessary equipment ready before the meeting.
I only had to instruct them on the new strategies, and we mapped out the territories at the borders of the pack that needed more security attention before I dismissed them at dusk.
The warriors bowed before leaving the chamber, their footsteps slowly fading away until I was left alone.
I needed alone time to think.
Everything was happening too fast, and time was what I did not have. I needed to be prepared. I needed to find a solution to end this long war.
And somehow, I needed to find answers about the girl.
I stood alone in my war chamber after the guards had left, questions and a series of thoughts orbiting my mind. The image of the girl surfaced again, her graceful features appearing so clearly in my thoughts as though she were standing right in front of me.
Then there was her scent.
That intoxicating scent had lingered in my mind since the moment I found her.
It was almost impossible to breathe and think.
She wasn't just torture. She was intoxicating, that sweet melancholy that I wanted to run away from, yet desperately wanted to be with.
"What is happening to me?" I spoke to myself, running a hand through my hair. "I can't seem to lose my mind over a lass I barely know. What has she done to me?"
I shook my head, trying to dismiss the thoughts.
There were more important things to worry about. The war. The borders. The elders. My pack.
I couldn't allow myself to be distracted by a strange girl who had somehow found her way into my life.
But the more I tried to push her out of my mind, the more her image returned.
I clenched my jaw in frustration.
At that moment, I needed to clear my head. I needed something that would help me think straight. I had the pack's affairs to take care of. I couldn't be drowning in thoughts about a strange girl.
I needed to think of a way to relieve myself of the sensation I was feeling.
Or better yet, cut it off.
I walked toward the small closet attached to the chamber and grabbed a bottle of wine. I proceeded to my desk, sitting back on my chair before pouring some of its contents into a glass.
I stared at the dark liquid for a moment before downing it in one go. I poured another. And then another.
The warmth of the wine spread through my chest, but it did nothing to silence the thoughts.
Her eyes were still there. Her voice was still there. Her scent was still there. I slammed the glass against the table and leaned back in my chair.
"This is madness," I muttered.
I remained oblivious and restless when I finally returned to my chamber. I needed to catch some sleep, but I couldn't.
She was still in my head, messing with my very being.
I stayed up all night drinking and trying to tame my beast that had been at the surface. It had been restless since I encountered her, constantly pacing inside me as though it knew something I didn't.
I didn't understand it. I didn't understand myself.
I finally got myself drunk and managed to get some sleep in the early hours of the morning. It couldn't have lasted more than a few hours.
I was discussing with the head guards when the unexpected news came.
"Alpha." A guard's voice interrupted our conversation. One of his knees was on the floor, his head lowered in acknowledgement.
"What is the problem, Theodore?" I asked, watching him intently.
I could sense a wave of fear rolling off his body, and his hand trembled slightly.
I knew at that moment that something was wrong somewhere.
"It's the girl, Alpha. The stranger. She is not in the chamber. The maid who had gone in to attend to her this morning…" He hesitated, swallowing hard.
My eyes narrowed.
"What about her?"
"She found the chamber empty, Alpha."
For a moment, I said nothing as the words seemed to echo in my head.
Empty.
The girl was gone.
I felt a new wave of anger wash over me as the guard delivered the message.
"How could she escape under your watch?" I snapped, fury visible in my eyes. "Four guards could not watch over a girl?"
"I'm sorry, Alpha." The guard trembled in fear.
I rose slowly from my seat. My beast stirred immediately. But beneath the anger, something else had already begun to take hold of me.
Fear. Not for my pack, not for the war, but for her.
A strange sensation suddenly filled my chest, and my heartbeat quickened. I could feel that something was wrong.
The girl was in danger.