Rarely Cortel fucked up. But this time, he fucked up big time. Even if she had not been my potential mate, I would still want her. She had been the Alpha's daughter. The MoonDust pack's princess. That was right. Hesper was the precious princess of two packs. A kind of royal treatment that even I, as the prince, did not get.

True, the pack respected me and the ones I conquered, feared me. But no one held me as a royal in their heart. Not like MoonLight and MoonDust did with Hesper.

A powerful ally she would have been. More powerful than Cortel, but that fucker messed this entire thing. I needed him, he was powerful enough to scare a few wolves who thought they had it all, but that did not mean he got to mess things up. He should know better.

He knew better. That was why without an argument, he went ahead and took his punishment.

"Cailan!" Trish snapped me out of my reverie. "Dad's calling you."

I looked at my sister who stood there with a nonchalant face next to her twin. If there was any resemblance I had with my siblings it would be with Trish. We both shared our father's steel grey eyes and his sharp jaws. Her twin, Tylan shared more features with Ryker.

After Cortel had gone to take his punishment, I reviewed how the battle had gone and the casualties with Aster and Ryker before my twin siblings decided to grace me with their presence. I had another sister, my youngest sibling, but I rarely saw her. She grew up in my mother's lap and my mother had coddled her so much that was she squeamish at the sight of blood.

"What's it now?" I asked.

"Dad found that Archer's mate got away," Trish said, the torches in my camp casting an eerie glow on her features.

Her short hair was in a rugged mess while her clothes were stained with blood of various scents. I knew where she would rather be. In the dungeons. Playing with her new prey. And this battle brought her many. For her and her twin.

"Archer's mate got away?" I echoed. This was a huge mess. I would not be surprised if my father was raging enough to kill his second in command.

As much as he was an ass, I did not want Pax to die because someone who should have been caught was not caught.

"And," Tylan drawled. "Intel says that his mate escaped with their son. The-"

"-heir of MoonLight pack," I nearly snarled.

I looked at the others. "You mean to tell me that the current Luna of MoonLight and their heir is out there? Free?"

Aster looked down on her pretty nails. But who cared about her pretty nails? She had been one of the people who made sure that everyone was caught. And if they were not, she sent my pack after them.

"Aster?" I called. "Care to explain?"

She blinked and there was a sliver of fear in her blue eyes. "Prince, I did send wolves."

"And?" Trish taunted. "Where are they now?"

Aster stiffened. "Perpahs... perhaps Cortel let them go too? He did slip up big time tonight-"

"Don't blame your incompetence on Cortel, Aster," I snapped. "He fucked up, yes. But you fucked up too. I know that you want to be my second in command for a long time," I narrowed my gaze on her as she stood up immediately and bared her neck to me. A clear sign of submission. "But you still have a long way to go if you want to surpass Cortel."

Having Aster by my side was a two-edged sword. She was fiery and could not control her temper. She would die for me, but at the same time, she would be the one to mess things up.

Tylan glanced at her and snorted. "I don't think my brother has to tell you. Go and get your punishment, Alpha Aster."

She went ramrod. Her blond hair swayed gently with the wind and her exquisite features might have even moved her potential mate, Tylan. But not me. Never me.

Aster was a rare breed of female Alpha. The title usually went to the eldest son the Alpha had. But in Aster's family, her father had six daughters before the couple finally gave up and trained Aster as their heir. When MoonSong invaded, Aster became my subordinate. Her CalmMoon pack no longer existed.

"Tylan," I said. "See over her punishment."

His jaws ticked and Trish's eyes blazed. Trish would do anything to protect her brother, but she had to understand something. That Aster would never be Tylan's mate. Not in this lifetime.

He had to forget about Aster and take another mate. I knew what our father felt over this female Alpha. If she had been my mate, he would have allowed her to even be my queen. But, she was not.

I was just saving my little brother.

Whether he understood it or not was another thing.

"That was uncalled for," Trish said once the two left my tent. "Asking him to watch over her punishment is cruel."

Her voice was low, challenging. Something that my wolf did not like. While i was stronger than her, she was more ruthless than me. It was not a secret that the twins were called the sharpest blades of the MoonSong pack.

"You don't challenge the prince, Trish," Ryker said, his hazel eyes holding a fire that he rarely set ablaze. "It won't end well for you."

She looked me in the eye for a minute. Then she walked out. "Come fast."

We were wolves. While the family was something our wolves recognised and fought to protect our pack, it was not outside a challenge. I might sound absurd, but power was everything and only true power was exhilarating. And I intended to bring that power to its knees before me.

Moon did not favour me to do charity and save the weak wolves. It wanted me to bring a new era. An era where all of us were one, not divided by our packs. Cause I always knew that these wolves were not my enemy. The second I became Moon Blessed, I breathed that prophecy to life.

*******

Merikh Aresis was a force to reckon with. He was my role model when I grew up. He personally groomed me to be the Alpha MoonSong needed. His salt and pepper hair gave him an edge that I thought time would steal from him.

His steel grey eyes held mine for a second and when I did not back down from the challenge, his eyes smiled. But never his lips. It was set in a straight line for as long as I remembered. But in his tent, anger was rolling off him.

"Cailan," he said. "I hope the twins told you what we are dealing with?"

I nodded at him and then at Pax who took a glass and poured whiskey for me. As he slid the glass across the table to me, Trish straightened. That's all they were to him. Twins. As if Tylan and Trish were not his children too. Had it not been for Trish's matching features and Tylan's behaviours even I would have suspected an affair. But then again, for a wolf to get pregnant, she would have to be Marked by her mate.

A Mark said that the two wolves were equal and it gave them the gift of procreation. But when the balance between the couples tipped, all sorts of things that tainted the bond grew. Like my father's power and my mother's lack of. It allowed him to take whatever wolf he wanted to his bed while my mother could only watch.

But then again, it boiled down to compatibility. The higher the compatibility, the lesser one was to disrespect the bond.

"Yes," I said. "Aster slipped up tonight."

"So did Cortel," a smooth voice rolled off from the dark. I knew whose voice that was. Axel Snow. I did not know much about him. My father rarely kept quiet about his council members, but Axel was someone my father never opened his mouth about. "Two people slipped tonight, Prince. Two of your people."

I bit back a snarl. As much as I got to punish them, they were under me. My people. No one got to talk shit about them.

"I have already punished them," I said smoothly, hoping my voice matched the darkness lingering in this tent, but then again, as the Moon Blessed, it was never my forte. "No need for you to worry."

"They messed up big time, Cailan," my father's voice was hard and his eyes cold and calculating. "A lot of mess to clean up."

I raised my head, ignoring Axel Snow. "I will clean it up. As much the Luna and heir were out free, we still have the Alpha. I will make them come here."

Pax slid into his seat. "MoonLight has been a pain in the ass. As long as the last Alpha blood is alive, they will come back. Lowes had proven that."

Many wolves still today spoke about the Alphas of MoonLight with reverence. They held an important position. That was why we had to strike the pack hard and suddenly. Had it been something they knew, we would not have won.

We lied to trap them, but they had been too trusting to think that we had actually thought of a treaty. Not our fault.

"I will get them back, Alpha," I said. "One way or the other."

*********

When I walked out of my father's tent, Meira joined me. The scent of fresh blood on her told me how badly Cortel was injured, but he deserved it. A small slip and Axel was judging me.

I did not like it when they judged if I would live up to the title the Oracle gave me. I was the one with power, not them. But they sure loved to play with it as if they owned it. As if they were the Moon Blessed.

Ryker shadowed me while Trish left me the second I left the tent. No doubt to vent her anger on our newly acquired prisoners. She loved to break people and our father gave her free reign in that aspect.

I walked where the prisoners were temporarily held in the camp before we moved to our pack borders.

A couple of wolves lowered their head in submission. One sniff and I knew where the Alpha of MoonLight was kept. If he submitted to me right now, I might allow his mate to live, but if not, I could not guarantee how she would end.

He was given a tent for himself, as he was an Alpha. Not because he was important, but this tent held runes etched on its clothes to contain an Alpha without allowing him to contact his pack.

Having a witch by your side sure helped sometimes.

Archer was chained to the pole and a circle of runes was drawn around him. Not to mention the silver chains that bound him. Too much seal. This just told me how powerful this wolf was. No matter what, he could not walk out of this tent. Or his chain.

"Hello, Alpha Archer," I dragged my syllables. "Hope you are doing well."

He opened his eyes and his brown ones were blazing with a fire that could render my pack to ashes. Though he was bound by silver and Witch's runes, he acted as if he was my Alpha. Not even my father behaved that way to me.

"I wish I could tell you the same," he smiled. But the blood and the cut on his face made the smile creepy. "Cailan Aresis."

"I am your Alpha now," I said.

His eyes held a smile as if he was watching a child throw a tantrum. "Are you?"

I was. Cortel had been like him once. But look where he was now.

But I imagined his features to be soft. Would Hesper look like her brother or look completely opposite of her brother?

I smirked. "Your sister..." his amusement fell through. "Is my mate. It would not take long before she becomes my whore."

A darker shade of fire roared in his eyes, but he did not take the bait. "Then you have not met my sister."

She would throw herself in my arms. She should. I would make her.

"Let's see," I sneered. "Let's see when she begs me to let you go. Begs me to exchange herself for you."

Fury simmered in his face and for a minute the Moon herself would have fled from him. "Don't get caught up in dreams, Cailan. You will have a hard time crashing to your nightmares."

"You have high expectations of your sister."

So high that I would have mistaken that he was a ruse and Hesper was groomed to be the heir had I not gotten the thorough information.

His smile sent coldness creeping down my spine, but I held my ground. I would not let a half-dead, sealed wolf get better off me. "Let's see if she would run to my arms for you or save you."

I did not bother with his reply. I knew that it would be perfect for me to kill Archer and let a small kid be the Alpha. Killing that small kid would be easy. But if Archer died now, there would be no control over Hesper.

Tylan carried a whimpering Aster in his arms as I exited the prisoner's area. The punishment had gone well if Aster could not walk.

"Aster," I called, ignoring Tylan's warning. "I have a mission for you."

A/N: What are your thoughts about Cailan? 

What do you think about the characters so far introduced?

Until the next update,

~Quill