Not long after telling Valerio I would find the room myself, I wandered up the stairs to the second floor. I was a bit surprised to only see two doors there, straight across from one another. The actual guest rooms had to be on the third floor, making me wonder why I hadn't gotten a room there.

I stood between the two doors, switching my gaze from left to right. I had to guess which room was his and which one was mine. I opened the door to my left and looked around, the room was huge with a king sized bed and accompanied bathroom. It was styled the same way as the rest of the house, except there was a lack of decorations. I made my way over to the other room, which was almost exactly the same, only with more colorful decorations. Valerio's nice cologne could be smelled in both rooms, but I decided this room was meant for me. He didn't seem like the type who liked decorations.

My luggage was placed in the hallway so I grabbed it and placed it in my room. Searching through my clothes I groaned as I realized I'd forgotten to pack my pj's. I put on one of my t-shirts, leaving my underwear exposed, brushed my teeth in the bathroom and went to bed.

When I woke up a couple hours later, I had slept surprisingly well but I was still tired because of the short night of sleep. I sat up, hoping I had chosen the right room, otherwise Valerio would be pissed, and hopped out of bed. I quickly showered and put on a comfy pair of black sweatpants, matching it with a cropped black hoodie and black sneakers. 

I walked downstairs to the kitchen to grab a glass of water, only to see Valerio standing next to the kitchen island making,

pancakes?

I cocked my head confused. Why was the big bad alpha baking pancakes? At 7 am on a Monday? With his work attire, otherwise known as a blouse and trousers, on? I could only come to two conclusions, either he loved pancakes for breakfast or, he felt guilty.

"Your father left a note for you." He said with his back turned to me, clearly noticing my presence.

I walked over to the island and grabbed the yellow post-it.

'Hey kiddo,
I'm off early to work on the investigation, I need to do it alone so I won't need your protection.
Instead, I want you to have fun this week!
Go mingle and make some friends!

Love,
Dad'

I rolled my eyes, pretending to be annoyed by him leaving me alone. My father saying he wanted me to mingle and make some friends was actually him telling me to gain everyone's trust in order to find out if they were capable of murder. I crumbled it up and threw it in the trash. It made sense he didn't need my protection, if he got murdered for investigating the case in either kingdom it would reveal who did it.

"Not liking the instructions he gave you?" Valerio chuckled, he had clearly read it.

"Aren't you supposed to be working instead of baking pancakes?" I asked while searching the cupboards for glasses.

He tapped on the one above me right next to him and I opened it, grabbing a glass. I filled it with water and gulped it down, ready to walk out of there when he stopped me.

"I'm the king, I work when I want to. Now sit." He commanded, motioning to the bar stools next to the island.

Letting out a deep, annoyed sigh I sat down on one of them. He stacked some pancakes on top of another and pushed the plate towards me. 

"Eat." He commanded, turning off the gas and making himself a sandwich.

I stared down at the stack of pancakes in front of me, there were six of them, with syrup dripping off it and strawberries next to it. There was no way I could eat that right now, breakfast and me did not go well together, maybe I could save it for lunch.

"I'm not really a breakfast eater." I hesitantly scratched my neck, not wanting to have another angry conversation.

He leaned against the counter across from the island, eating his sandwich. "I've noticed, it's not a good thing when you train as much as you do. Now eat it."

"Worked perfectly well so far." I shrugged. "No one else has a problem with it."

"Well you're in my kingdom now and in my kingdom you have to eat breakfast, so eat." He said firmly.

"Fine." I groaned, raising my hands out of frustration. I grabbed my fork and took a small bite of the pancakes, which were fucking delicious, but I had trouble swallowing it down because I wasn't hungry. I glared at him while chewing slowly, this was a very bad way to start my morning.

After eating the extremely big amount of exactly one pancake, I pushed the plate away from me, holding my stomach with my other hand. "I can't eat anymore. I'll safe it for lunch."

I couldn't help not being a big breakfast eater.

He had finished his sandwich already and rolled his eyes, grabbing the plate and putting it in the fridge. He turned back to me, looking judgingly. "What are you going to do now?"

"I thought I would hit the gym like I usually do." I placed my elbow on the island, leaning my head on my hand.

"We don't have a gym." He said casually with a hint of amusement in his voice.

I frowned. "Then how do you train?"

"Come with me, I'll show you." He ripped of his blouse, breaking the buttons, throwing it to the side as he walked out, leaving him shirtless.

I looked at him confused, holding up my hands.

Such a dramatic exit, and for what?

"Lead the way." I mumbled before going outside where he was waiting for me. 

To the left I noticed a long line of people waiting in front of an iron box guarded by four guards and multiple cameras. I mentally slapped myself, I completely forgot the signing up period for the conquest would start today. There were at least a couple of hundred people waiting in line to put their form in the box, people of every gender and age. I wondered if there were as many volunteers in other kingdoms as well. It amazed me, they were all just volunteering to basically die. I was convinced Valerio would win, especially after what I witnessed last night. Sure, for dramatic effect the final battle would go down between the two kings but Valerio would kill Haimon with ease if he wanted too. The throne was pretty much there for him to take.

Maybe that was his plan all along, maybe they murdered the king and queen, betting on it leading to a conquest like this. Although Valerio didn't seem like the scheming kind of king, he was giving off a 'I-face-my-problems-head-on-with-brute-force' type of vibe.

No, scheming seemed like Haimon's cup of tea and he may very well have set up the werewolves for the murder, because it would appear like they got the most advantage out of the situation, hoping the case would be solved before any conquest, excluding the werewolves from it as a result, giving him easy access to the throne by winning it. Maybe the vampires did it, even though Haimon's pride appeared to be too high to pull off a dirty scheme like that.

My head was spinning just thinking about the possible scenarios. They both could have done it, but they also had reasons not too. Suddenly, I was fucking glad I wasn't a detective like my father and I immediately understood the severe burden of having to solve the case. If he made a mistake by choosing the wrong offender, a full on war would be on his hands.

"Hello? You there, Buttercup?" Valerio waved his hands in front of my face, looking very confused and bringing me back to reality. "We're here."

I had unknowingly continued to follow him to an open field behind Roman's packhouse. On the field, the strongest pack members were fighting each other in wolf form. I recognized three wolves from the chandelier incident, a smaller light brown one with a pink nose, a slightly bigger dark brown one with white spots on its butt and the biggest one on the field, a silver grey one with black socks. Remembering that the more powerful the wolf was, the bigger it's form, the biggest one had to be Roman, although his size did not even come close to Valerio's. The smallest one, who seemed to be around the regular werewolf size in comparison with the others, had to be Beren, leaving the middle sized one to be Azim.

They were divided in different groups, I guess selected on the level of skill or strength they had to even out the training. Roman would show different kinds of moves or techniques and then select two wolves per group who had to practice in the circle their group created. They were really going at it, fighting until one of them no longer could. Luckily, they healed soon after, otherwise this would have been some shitty kind of training, injuring half your men.

"We train by fighting each other, usually in wolf form like right now. Sometimes I join or train them when I have time. People love to test their strength against a king." He said smugly, overlooking the training.

"Yeah, I'm not really able to shift into a wolf so I'm going to have to pass on this one. I'll go for a run instead." I said motioning to the training, bummed with the fact I had to go for a run every morning while I would be here, I loved variation in my training.

He grinned, putting his hands on his hips, flexing his perfectly defined muscles and I mentally slapped myself again for looking at his abs a little too long. His grin got even bigger. "I'm going to give you a day to adjust to the kingdom, but as of tomorrow you're joining those pack members during training regardless of their form, whether you like it or not buttercup. It'll allow you to mingle."

Even in wolf form? Such a low blow.

"Well, that's gonna suck." I blurted out, raising my eyebrows.

He chuckled, looking really satisfied with what he just accomplished. I couldn't exactly refuse him here with his strongest men close by, he was the king after all, so I had to play along for now.

I knew he was testing me, a consequence of me not telling him what was going on. The universe really couldn't give me a damn break from this man.

"You can stay and watch if you want. I've got work to do." He started walking in the direction of his house again.

"If you weren't going to join them, why did you rip off your blouse?" I crossed my arms, joining him. I wanted to stay, but I had to go and change for my unexpected run.

"Because I can." He shrugged smugly.

"Right, how could I forget." I said sarcastically, mockingly tapping my forehead with my fingers.

I took the run as a chance to discover more about the pack territory, I ran through the woods, jumping over branches and little creeks, ending up at the border where a couple of angry wolf guards were keeping me from crossing it. I ran to the other side, through the city, discovering more and more houses and buildings, every single one with a suburban look. The pack must be huge.

Eventually, I stumbled upon an open field and my mouth fell open. It was beautiful, fully covered in white snowdrops and lilac cyclamen, with a view of a waterfall in the distance. I closed my eyes, inhaling the fresh air, the nice scent of the flowers hitting me in waves. I couldn't help but smile, it was so peaceful and for a second I forgot about the shit from the past couple of weeks and felt completely at ease. 

Until I heard someone rush through the bushes, circling around the field. It was a wolf, one I didn't know yet. I sighed annoyed as fuck, I didn't care who it was, the son of a bitch had literally disturbed my only moment of true peace in weeks.

It launched at me from behind and I casually stepped to the side, making it miss me. It turned around and growled at me viciously, showing its teeth. It was the most basic wolf I had ever seen, small, brown and not really intimidating.

I rolled my eyes, a judging look gracing my face. "Hate to disappoint but I don't have any treats on me, so go bother someone else you mutt."

The wolf tilted it's head up, cocking it to the side, the vicious expression fading from its face, or snout? It slowly backed up all the way to the edge of the forest, where it shifted back into its human form. 

An auburn haired girl walked out fully clothed, telling me she had planned this little encounter as she had placed clothes there. She stopped at a safe distance from me, crossing her arms, a scowl on her face and jealousy radiating off her. "I saw you and the king together at the training and I wondered what the fuck you were doing with him."

"Have you been living under a rock? It was announced in advance my father and I would come here for the murder investigation." I raised my eyebrows, knowing where this conversation was going.

She put a hand on her side. "I know, but it wasn't announced that you were going to hang out with him. Let me make something clear you whore, he might not be my mate, but he's mi-"

"Nope." I cut her off, shaking my finger in front of me. "We're not going to do this. You can save the whole 'He's not my mate, but he's mine because I called shotgun on him and I'm hoping my one-sided obsession for him will make me his Queen' speech for someone who actually gives a fuck. Because let me make myself clear, I don't care about mates, I don't care about your obsession and I sure as hell don't care about desperate basic bitches like you."

She blinked a couple of times, clearly not knowing how to respond, and I walked away. Her presence alone was killing the flowers.

I strolled through the city, many people smiled at me with a genuine smile instead of a fake one. I was stopped in my track when an overly excited young girl jumped in front of me.

"Oh my god, you're Iola right?! Your eyes are so beautiful." She squealed. She couldn't be older than sixteen, had bright blue eyes and light blonde hair.

"Thank you." I smiled, I wasn't used to getting sincere compliments, especially about my eyes, so it felt a little strange.

"Don't mind her, even though she's right. She's just a little kid." A young man with the same kind of blue eyes and blonde hair said, rubbing the little girl on the head, messing up her hair. "I'm Isaac Heroux by the way, and the monster over here is my little sister Erryn."

I laughed, something told me I was going to like these two. "Don't worry about it, I've had worse monsters attack me."

They laughed and after a short conversation we went our separate ways. I arrived at the house, smelling an amazing scent which could only mean one thing.

My father was making his god-tier pasta carbonara.

He was an amazing cook and every dish he made pretty much made me drool at the simple thought of it. I immediately sprinted to the kitchen, and hugged my father from behind while he continued to cook.

He chuckled. "I knew this would brighten your mood. How was your day? Did you meet anyone?"

I sat down at the island. "It was fine, on my way here I met two siblings, they seemed nice. During my run however, I met my new best friend."

"Really?" He turned around surprised.

"Yes definitely. Really kind girl, nicely tried to attack me, growling and showing her teeth. Oh and the accusations she made, those really were the cherry on top. Such a pure soul that one, how could I not become friends?"

"Sounds like real charmer." He snorted, placing a full plate of pasta in front of me, before joining me for dinner.

"Who is?" Valerio's voice boomed through the kitchen and he grabbed a plate of his own.

"Some auburn haired girl who gets quite possessive when someone dares to breathe the same air as you." I stated, eating a big spoon of pasta.

"Oh, for fuck's sake." He groaned, closing his eyes. "Not Narcissa Tempest again."

That was my father's cue to leave the room and finish his pasta elsewhere.

"Her name's Narcissa?" I snorted and he nodded. "Well that explains a lot."

"What did she do?" He said blankly, eating some pasta and looking down in surprise because of it's amazing taste.

"Nothing much, she just tried to attack me, called me a whore for talking with you and then said you're hers even though you aren't her mate." I shrugged, eating another spoon of pasta.

"Please ignore her, Buttercup."

"Oh, don't worry, she won't bother me again." I blurted out.

He raised his eyebrows. "You didn't kill her, did you?"

"No, I didn't." I rolled my eyes. "I simply talked to her."

He narrowed his eyes at me, deciding to drop the subject and change it. "Who else did you meet?"

I played with my food. "A boy with his little sister. He was kind of cute."

"You're not here to go out with my wolves. I forbid it." He glared at me. 

This wasn't Romeo and Juliet, and even though he was incredibly intimidating, he wasn't my king so I liked to see him try.

I pointed at him, pretending to think hard. "No, you're right, I mean what am I here for? Oh wait, I remember, apparently I'm here to mingle with them. That could mean anything, really." I grinned, eating another spoon of pasta.

He let out a low growl and snapped his fork in two.

I cocked my head and frowned. "Now what did that poor fork do to you to deserve such treatment? If you win the conquest you're going to have to deal with more women who won't sit down and roll over just because you command them to."

Pun intended.

"Cut the crap, I know you're getting back at me for forcing you to participate in the pack workouts this week." A wicked grin appeared on his face and he leaned forward over the island. "But the truth is as long as you keep hiding things from me, I'm going to have to find ways to punish you until you tell me."

It was cute he thought the workouts were punishments for me, I loved fighting. Sure the wolves were a new thing and they could possibly hurt me, but I'd hardly call it punishment. It was more like a challenge.

"I'm going to bed." I shrugged, standing up and making my way to the door.

"Have a good night's sleep, Buttercup! You'll need it." He called out behind me, a little too happy.

I definitely did, knowing him he would make sure I would have to fight a lot of rounds tomorrow. I couldn't help but smile as I walked up the stairs.

I was going to win them all.