His Highness's little mate

Chapter 1

Rage blazed in her eyes like a furious river as she stared at them. Her anger knew no bounds as she inhaled the air, tainted with the horrid stench of betrayal. Their eyes held no remorse for their treachery; they gazed at her with mocking glares that felt as though they could peel the skin from her body with scorching lava.

Her wolf growled fiercely, her pure white eyes gleaming brighter in the darkness. She dared them to come closer, knowing they wouldn't, for they understood the consequences. Diana, though soft and gentle, wouldn't hesitate to tear anyone apart, especially when they threatened her mate.

"Don't," he whispered softly into her ears the moment she felt her first bone break. She was about to shift, but he halted her, holding her firmly and embracing her from behind to soothe her frayed nerves and anger.

Armed with wooden stakes, they stood ready to eliminate the one chosen by the Moon Goddess to be her soulmate. Hundreds of them, trapped in their fears, hesitated, for they dreaded her wrath and the consequences. She would annihilate them, tearing them apart limb by limb, as her crazed expression suggested. They would pay for daring to use her to lure him into their trap. She would ensure they all tasted her unrelenting fury, but he restrained her with his melodic voice, though it no longer had the same effect on her.

They had lured him to the plains using her as bait so they could kill him without her knowledge, but she would die before they succeeded.

"Don't tell me you want to fight us because of him?" Her brother, a word she now despised, spoke through the mind link with equal disgust in his tone, especially in his last words.

"This vile creature?" He yelled, further fueling her rage as the tension thickened, suffocating the pack warriors who were already fearful. He feared her and her wolf's capabilities but loathed the man standing behind her enough to betray his own sister and sacrifice her happiness to rid the world of him.

"My, my, dear brother. How about I show you what happens to traitors?" She proudly flaunted her ability to converse with others in her wolf form.

"You may be powerful, but I am still your Alpha," he shouted, glaring at his pack members who were already terrified by the unfolding situation. This situation was not part of their plan; she was not supposed to be there. However, they had underestimated her abilities, and now they faced a powerful Vampire king who would tear them apart if they harmed a hair on her head, and she would do the same for him.

He watched in silence, not because he was weak or lacked power, but because his little one's rage had no bounds. If he didn't stop her before it was too late, she would annihilate the entire werewolf race that night.

He observed as she drew a line in the dirt with her paw, daring the entire enemy battalion to take a step forward and face the consequences.

"Attack!" The Alpha commanded, and a rain of silver arrows descended upon them. With their extraordinary speed, they evaded each arrow unscathed, even sharing a brief kiss while dodging the projectiles.

The wolf army charged at them with great force, but it felt like child's play to both of them as they fought side by side, slashing through their foes. Diana fought fiercely in her wolf form, killing with a single swipe of her claws or a bite to the jugular before moving on to the next victim. She pleaded with him through her eyes to find a way to escape, but he wouldn't leave her side.

"Darryl, please, I will take care of them. Just go," she mind-linked him, but he remained resolute on the battlefield.

"They have stakes, my love. I beg of you, just go."

"I won't leave this plain without you," he replied as he dispatched a rogue wolf with his claws.

The Alpha seethed as his sister continued to slay his pack members alongside her mate. He shifted immediately, and the wolves parted, allowing him to rush to the front, ready to face her alone.

"Finally! I was starting to think you'd keep being a coward," she said, even in her wolf form, as she lunged at him. He evaded her using his smaller wolf form to his advantage.

"I am never a coward!" he barked through the mind link. He attempted to claw her abdomen, but she was quicker. He knew his attacks would be futile against her, which was why he had another plan in case she thwarted their scheme to assassinate the vampire king.

"Well, you started acting like one when you brought an entire army against one man," she said, catching his forelimb with her teeth and biting down hard before tossing him away. He howled in pain, fearing she might release her toxic venom through her bite. Other wolves shifted back, hoping to retreat to the pack house with their heads intact.

"How about we invite the vampires too? At least that would bring some balance to the battlefield," she roared, seizing him again, but he rolled away before she could land on him. He rose to his feet, limping on his injured limb as they circled each other. He struck first, but she evaded his attack, swatting him away as if he were a mere fly.

"So disrespectful," Darryl smirked, baring his sharp fangs.

She crouched low, preparing to pounce, but the cunning Alpha shifted and grabbed a silver spear, stabbing her in the abdomen the moment she landed on him. She howled in agony as the silver seared her from within, but it was the sadistic gleam in her brother's eyes that pained her the most. She shifted back and removed the weapon from her body, but the silver had taken its toll. Despite her silver immunity, her body couldn't withstand such concentrated silver. A normal werewolf would have perished instantly, but she managed to slice her brother's eyes with her partially shifted claws.

Darryl was instantly at her side, cradling her as she slumped to the ground. He hadn't expected that, and he felt as though his heart had been torn from his chest, though he didn't possess one. He carried her, disregarding the Alpha's cries of agony as a result of the poison-laden claws.

Some brave wolves attempted to corner them, but he dispatched them while holding his wounded mate, fighting through the sea of wolves to reach safety. Some were successful in stabbing him with stakes but never came close to his heart. Hell! He would choose a stake to his heart that seeing his mate wounded severely. With his heightened speed, he departed the plains, leaving a trail of both lifeless bodies and living ones in search of them.

"Diana! Please, look at me!" he implored as he gently laid her on the bark of a tree upon entering the woods.

"You didn't call me 'little one,'" she smiled weakly, her strength fading. His cheeks flushed with red as tears stained his face.

"Little one," he said, kissing her forehead.

"Go. Leave me alone. It's just silver; I'll survive. Decanal won't recognize you once the silver reacts with the sealed poison in my body," she murmured, her skin growing paler as she touched his face with her cold hands. Her poison was taking over, ready to release the one she had sealed to prevent harm or bloodlust. Once unleashed, the legendary black Wolf would awaken and show no mercy.

"No. I will find a witch; we'll seal the poison again, and Decanal will never take control," he whispered, feeling her body weaken in his arms.

"It's too late, my love. I'll live. Just go; they know what to do," she cried, summoning her remaining strength to kiss him.

"No, little one," he said after the kiss, but she pushed him away.

"Promise you'll visit my dreams?" she asked, and he shook his head in refusal. Both of them tensed as they sensed the wolves entering the forest, closing in on them.

" Let me seal the malevolent part of decanal again. I can..." she cut him off. " And lose half of your lifespan again? No" She said.

"Go, Darryl. We'll meet again," she said for the last time, kissing him before using her last strength to blast him away from her. He landed on a tree forcefully far away from where she was or where the werewolves could find him, his shoulder caught on one of the branch painfully as he watch that man, Howard carry his unconscious mate away from his sight.

He removed his arm from the tree branch with a painful before he sped out of the forest in the opposite direction. He felt the mate bond weakening as he fought back the urge to scream. His mate would survive!

Chapter 2

.

" You are here again," She said with a smile immediately he walked elegantly into the forest clearing. He strides in happily with a smile that brings out his temples that accentuate his handsome face. To her, he is the most perfect man in the world at least the only one she knows but even if there are others, she did not think they could ever compare to him.

She knew everything including him was a dream but she didn't even have an idea of who she was and everything around her until the strange handsome with red eyes intruded on her space and since then he has kept her company in the Dreamland even though she didn't know who he is. Every time he told her his name, the wind carried it and it faded out of her brain until she couldn't remember anything but his face and his signature red eyes.

" Little one" He whispered immediately calloused hands found themselves on her cheek. They were cold and she wondered why. Everything about him was always cold even though he made her insides warm. There was something familiar about him, a fuzzy feeling that gnawed her thoughts and made her feel they had known each other for a very long time but she remembered nothing.

" You promised you would be back soon but you never returned" She pouted but he grazed his fingers on her lips shutting her up as her heartbeat grew faster.

" Things I wish to do with those rosy lips little one" He mumbled under his breath out of her hearing but she heard the words lips. She became confused as she furrowed her eyebrows. Seeing the confusion written on her face. He chuckled and removed his hands as he replied to her last statement.

" I had a lot of things to do little one but here I am now"

She sighed and sat down on the dried leaves, he sat beside her and used his hands to tilt her head so she could rest on his shoulders. His expression always gave nothing but affection toward her. To her, she felt he was hiding a lot of things with those affections but even if he had told her anything, the strange wind would blow and she would end up not remembering anything the next he came back to the clearing.

" Why do I forget all our previous interactions? Sometimes I wonder if I'm going crazy or if they never happened at all. But every time you come back, I recognize you as the only one who visits me here but never anything that happened in any of those visits" She rambled on and on while he watched her in fascination.

" You always ask this question and I always answer but today will be our last meeting so I won't answer," He said brushing a strand of her hair aside.

" What do you mean?" Alarmed she whipped her head to face him and asked with fears evident on her face. She wasn't prepared for his sudden farewell. Is she going to be lonely again? Her heart beat wildly as a stupid beeping sound surfaced in the background.

" It is time for you to wake up little one," He said with a serious expression placing his hands on her shoulders. The word "no" rang in her ears and she watched his face morph, his sun-kissed skin became paler as his elongated canine made its way out of his mouth. His red eyes shone and he looked different from what she recognized. He looked scary but at the same time made her heart flutter; like she loved the appearance and her head hurt as she tried to remember something.

Suddenly he sank his teeth into her neck and she waited for the pain but they never came as he held her closely in his arms. He looked at her for the last time without a trace of blood on his mouth, he didn't do it yet. He gave a look that said " Brace yourself for the pain" before he did what he wanted to do in the first place. Raw pain invaded her body as his teeth penetrated her skin but his hold calmed her down a little bit.

" Find Decanal" He whispered to her with her blood still in his mouth. Her eyes struggled to stay open as her body trembled violently but his words kept on repeating in her head.

" Find Decanal"

" Find Decanal"

Who is Decanal? She asked but it seemed he was gone already. She couldn't feel his presence anymore.

The annoying beeping sound became louder in her ears, She could hear a lot of background noises which sounded a lot like other people's voices. What is happening to her? She couldn't open her eyes, she felt her body become heavy as she struggled to move her limbs.

" Oh my God she is waking up" a tiny female voice shouted.

" Call the Alpha! She is moving"

The noises, the voices, and everything was driving her crazy as she tried and tried to open her eyes but they wouldn't budge.

" Thanks the moon goddess"

Finally, her eyes flew open but she shut them instantly because of the bright light. Where is this place? What is going on? Why is she not in the clearing anymore? She opened her eyes again and then blinked to adjust to the light. Everywhere was blurry at first but it became clearer as she made out shapes and images in her sight.

" She opened her eyes!" Somebody screeched beside her and she cringed at the noises. Who are these people?

" Brittany shut up for once! Diana, can you hear me?" A man asked and she moved her neck to look at her surroundings but she couldn't recognize anything. The white Walls and the strange wires and equipment failed to suggest anything to her memory. Who were Brittany and Diana? The beeping sounds continued but were slower now but she felt like flinging whatever was making those sounds out of the room.

" Diana?" The man asked again but got no response from her as she stared at him in confusion.

" Who is Diana? And can you please make that sound stop?" She croaked out surprised at how rough her voice sounded like they had not been in use forever.

" It's just the heart monitor. I'm sorry" The man dressed in white apologized but did nothing to the beep nor answered her question. She stared at him as her vision was now clearer and he didn't look like the stranger in her dreams. She was right after all, nobody could come close to being perfect like the man. She smiled at this.

" Hello?" The lady is probably Brittany. Said bringing her out of her trance.

" She just woke up from a coma Brittany, She doesn't need your loud voice" Another feminine voice called out from afar.

" Ben just ran some tests so we can determine her condition. Seems she lost her memories seeing that she doesn't remember her name. Diana, can you hear me? Nod if you can" the older feminine voice barked putting the orders as she moved closer to the bed Diana was on. Diana nodded in her answer even though she wasn't sure if the woman was talking to her.

The door suddenly opened as another man barged in. He was big, tall, and intimidating, not like her handsome stranger at all. A scar ran from his forehead down his left eye which was covered with an eye patch. She suddenly felt a strong feeling of hatred at his sight but said nothing as she wondered why.

" Diana?" He said emotionally as he moved closer to her bed. He looked genuinely worried and happy to see her but she still couldn't explain the feeling of hatred gnawing her mind.

" It seems she lost her memories Alpha. Please wait, we need to run some tests to see if she is okay" The older woman said stopping the strange man she called Alpha.

Chapter 3

.

The gnawing feeling of hatred in her throat intensified as the one they introduced as Alpha Leonard moved closer to her. He was her brother or so he explained to her but she couldn't help the feeling. Her mouth watered as she thought of elongating her canine but they never came. Something big was missing in her body and she shuddered as she thought about what it was.

The heart monitor beeped faster as she started panicking. Her eyes grew wider as her heartbeat sped up, her body and mind were on opposite sides. Her instincts were directing her to do things but her body won't comply. Something was missing, she suddenly felt empty as the pack doctors tried to hold her down and stabilize her.

Alpha Leonard was asked to leave but he protested trying to command them with his Alpha tone but he had to when he saw the crazy look on Diana's face. He shuddered at the amount of hatred that fumed in her eyes. Even as she fought her consciousness, she stared at him with a killer intent. The doctors finally put her to sleep to calm her down.

" Does she remember?" He muttered to himself on his way out. She wasn't supposed to remember anything about him or anyone at all. Even the pack doctors had confirmed that she lost her memories earlier. Why was she staring at him with that death gaze? The same gaze she gave him at the plains three years ago.

" She is harmless. I couldn't smell her wolf anywhere near, the witch did a clean job" His wolf Luca whispered in his mind. He breathed in a sigh of relief. He had promised to make everything better the moment they found her on the brink of losing herself to her wolf inside that forest three years ago. If they had found her later than that, the date of the entire werewolf race could have been disastrous if Decanal broke free from the seal the vampire king had placed on her.

" Your plan was stupid though" His wolf voiced out again but he shut off the link. He had to check if Decanal was still safely sealed away from Diana. He was gone for a while before he came back again when he was told that she regained consciousness again.

Diana's eyes fluttered open, blinking away the haze of unconsciousness. The room was unfamiliar, bathed in the soft glow of muted moonlight.

A sharp pang of fear gripped her heart as she struggled to make sense of her surroundings. She tried to move but found herself restrained by an array of tubes and wires connected to machines that monitored her vital signs. Panic began to well up within her.

"Easy, Diana," a calm, soothing voice said from her side. She turned her head, her vision blurry, and focused on the figure approaching her. It was a man, tall and imposing, with piercing blue eyes that held a hint of concern.

"You're safe now."Diana tried to speak, but her throat felt dry, and only a raspy whisper escaped her lips.

"Where am I? Who are you?"The man, dressed in a tailored suit that seemed oddly out of place in this sterile environment, offered a reassuring smile.

"My name is Leonard. You may not remember, but I'm your brother.

"Brother? Diana struggled to process the word. She tried to recall anything about her past, her family, but her mind was a blank slate. Panic crept back in as she grappled with the unsettling feeling of not knowing who she was. Leonard must have noticed her distress because he quickly continued,

"It's okay, Diana. You've been through a traumatic experience. The doctors here are taking care of you. You're in our pack's territory."

"Pack?" Diana's mind raced, trying to make sense of the unfamiliar terminology. She glanced around the room, noting the presence of a heart monitor, the sterile scent of antiseptics, and the faint hum of medical equipment. Nothing felt right.

"Your memory," Leonard began, his voice gentle, "it's been affected by the attack.

"Attack? The word resonated in Diana's mind, sending shivers down her spine. Vague, disjointed images began to flicker in her thoughts – flashes of teeth and claws, snarling creatures, and pain. She clung to these fragmented memories like lifelines in a sea of confusion.

" The vampire attack. They took everything from us including my eyes" he said pointing to his eyes covered in a patch. She blinked in confusion. Who are the vampires and how could they do that to them? She believed his tales and he got braver to continue.

" I lost my eyes trying to save you from the vampire King. He was the one who led the attack. They killed so many that we couldn't continue with your wedding" He continued monitoring her expression closely to see how he would react to him mentioning the vampire king.

" Wedding? I was about to get married?" She breathed out slowly trying to push the pieces of the past roaming through her mind away. The vampires were so cruel.

Leonard took a step closer, his eyes filled with an odd mix of relief and trepidation. "You were about to marry Howard," he said, his tone softening.

"He's our pack's Beta, and he loves you dearly. The two of you were inseparable."

"Howard." The name echoed in her mind, triggering more elusive memories. She could almost grasp them, but they slipped through her fingers like sand.

"The wedding," Leonard continued,

"It was just days away when the vampires attacked."

"Vampires." The word sent a chill coursing through her veins. Images of fanged figures, their eyes burning with hunger, surged in her mind. She couldn't remember the details, but the fear they invoked was palpable.

"You were injured," Leonard went on, his voice growing somber.

"And it's because of that injury that you can't recall your past. The trauma erased your memories."

Diana's heart pounded in her chest as she tried to absorb the weight of his words. She felt like a character in a story she couldn't quite grasp, her past a foggy enigma. She looked into Leonard's eyes, searching for the truth, but they held a sincerity that was difficult to doubt.

"You're safe now, Diana," he reassured her.

"We'll help you remember everything. You're with family."

"Family." The word resonated deep within her, tugging at something primal. She nodded, trying to reconcile the warmth in Leonard's eyes with the unsettling feeling that her memories were locked behind a door she couldn't access.

As Leonard continued to speak, weaving a tale of her past, of love and happiness that had been stolen by cruel vampires, Diana clung to his words as the only semblance of truth in this bewildering world.

But deep down, beneath the surface of her uncertainty, a nagging feeling persisted – a feeling that the truth was far more complex and dangerous than the story she was being told. Her heart ached with a sense of loss she couldn't quite place. She had no choice but to accept this new identity and the web of lies that surrounded her, unaware that the threads of deceit were growing thicker, concealing the dark secrets of her past.

" Lies lies lies " a very faint voice whispered in her mind. The voices sounded like they were scratching their way onto her mind. It was really low like someone turned their volume to the Lowest at the back of her mind.