Replacement Bride for the Alpha of the North - Chapter 26

Chapter 26: IF YOU DIED, IT MEANS, I WAS DEAD
“Not bad, huh?” Zenith pinched her nipple, which made Dawn gasp. “I want to know who you compared me with.”

Dawn blushed even more. He knew that she had no one to compare him with, but then he made her situation even worse when he whispered in her ear.

“I will do better next time,” he said darkly. It sounded like a warning, but also a promise, which made Dawn look forward to it.

Dawn shook her head internally, it shouldn’t feel right to look forward to it, right? But, then she remembered that she would sleep next to him.

“About the bedroom…” Dawn barely opened her mouth when Zenith kissed her again, effectively silencing her, as he spoke against her lips instead.

“You will sleep with me. In my room. In my bed.” Zenith brushed his tongue on her lips. “There is no room for negotiation or discussion.”

Dawn felt timid. After the pleasure she got from him, she felt like she wanted to run away and hide from him for a few weeks or months.

However, his kiss was very tempting, she was at the point where she didn’t want to let go.

Therefore, she was startled when suddenly Zenith pulled away from her before pulling down her dress into place, covering her exposed legs.

Swiftly, Zenith also pulled away his hand from her chest and tidied up her dress, so it didn’t look very obvious about what they had done earlier, but the sweet smell in the air around them gave it away.

“Should I give you five more minutes?” Axel asked.

Dawn screeched and pressed her face into Zenith’s chest. She was too engrossed with his touch, until she did not realize that someone was approaching them.

This was humiliating!

“No. Tell me what it is?” There was something in Axel’s voice, which indicated this was something urgent that Zenith had to know immediately.

“King Zander sent a letter,” Axel said, as he approached Zenith and Dawn, who were still sitting on the frozen grass, with the alpha hugging her from behind.

If it was Darius, he would make a big fuss about this, since they had never seen their alpha being lovey dovey with anyone, but Axel was all business. This matter needed Zenith’s attention quickly.

Zenith got the letter and read it, because of her current position, Dawn could read the letter too, since he didn’t intentionally hide it from her.

“Five days?” Dawn frowned. “Does it mean the King will be here today?”

Zenith growled dangerously. He didn’t see this coming. Even though he knew, there would be some point, Zander would get back at him for the chaos and panic he created throughout the continent with the monsters.

In his opinion, his brother deserved that after the stunt he tried to pull to kill Dawn. Zenith was not yet done with him.

But, it was a bold move from him to come here directly.

“Close the gates,” Zenith said.

“What?” Axel was startled. “Zenith, I know you are pissed, but no matter what, he is still the King.”

“Close the gates and don’t open until I said so,” Zenith repeated his order, this time, he didn’t leave any room for discussion.

Axel shook his head and then left to relay the alpha’s order.

“Zenith, what are you doing?” Dawn could feel Axel’s frustration, she was also afraid of what Zenith wanted to do. “What if the King gets angry? You can be punished for your actions, even though he is your brother.”

Zenith stared at her for a while, as if he tried to contemplate something before finally he decided to tell her.

“The rogues and the beasts were sent by my dear brother. He wanted to kill you. So, while he is here, you need to pay close attention to your surroundings. Make sure that you are never alone.”

“What? What did I do? Why did the king want to kill me?” This situation was getting weird. Dawn had never met any of them, but why did these two brothers have some advanced feelings about her?

“You don’t need to worry,” Zenith said, he released her body and then stood up, he stretched his hand to help her to stand up too.

“How can I not worry? The King wanted to kill me, should I be honored instead?” Dawn frowned. She didn’t like this situation. She was confused and wanted to know the truth. “Why did he want to kill me?”

“Because I chose you to be my mate.”

Dawn didn’t expect him to answer her honestly. “Can you not choose me then? I want to live.” But then, something clicked in her mind. “Is that why you made me train hard so that I can take care of myself if someone tries to kill me?”

“More or less.”

Dawn stood up, she swatted his hand. “You put my life in danger! I don’t know why your brother wanted to kill your chosen mate, but I don’t want to die, okay.”

“You will not die. If it ever comes to that, it means I was already dead.”

Dawn frowned, she didn’t like the sound of it. “What are you talking about?”

“No one will be able to harm you as long as I am alive.” Zenith took her hand and walked back to the pack house, but Dawn stumbled after a few steps. She looked embarrassed, thinking he would taunt her, but the alpha actually put his arm around her waist to steady her and didn’t say anything.

Two hours later, just before the sun set, the guard at the gate reported to them that they spotted a carriage that carried the royal insignia. It was not a big entourage, but you would know it was someone from the royal family.

They reported this to the alpha, but Zenith didn’t allow them to open the gates.

“How should we answer them, Alpha? We can’t ignore the king,” the guard looked worried. They needed to follow their alpha’s order, but the king was an entirely different story, they couldn’t ignore such an important figure.

“Did you spot the royal beta?”

“Yes, Alpha.”

“Ignore them.”

The guard sneaked a look toward the beta, asking for his help, but Axel simply waved his hand and dismissed him. “What are you trying to do now? If this is the dispute between you and your brother, you shouldn’t make your pack members lose their lives. It’s not fair.”

“Nobody will lose their lives.”

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“So, he doesn’t want to open the gates?” Zander asked his beta from inside the carriage. He still had that creepy golden mask covering his face. “Is he trying to straight up ignore me?” The king tilted his head.

“I think your brother literally said; fuck off.” The beta didn’t even filter his choice of words.

However, the king didn’t even bother with that. He didn’t need to be told about what his brother was trying to say. He knew about it already.

Not long after, the king came out of the carriage. He stood next to his beta and stared at the high fortress.

“If he didn’t want to meet me, I should be the one to go to him, right?”

“Zander, you are pushing him too far.”

“I just miss my brother.”

Even under the mask, Pyro could tell that Zander was pouting his lips right now. “You don’t miss him, you just want to mess with him.”

“Same thing.” Zander shrugged his shoulders. “Create the portal.”

Pyro was Zander’s beta, but he was not a shifter. He was a magic user, which was against the rules, but he was the king, he was the rule maker himself. He could bend the rules as he pleased and not even the highest fortress in this continent could stop him from seeing his brother… or to be precise, that woman.

It was not hard to find Dawn, since Zander had one more spy that Zenith failed to notice. This warrior told the king where Dawn was right now, currently, she was with Kynes and Pyllo, walking in the greenhouse.

“Good, take me there,” Zander said to his beta.

The greenhouse was the only place in this northern pack, where you could see various flowers thriving through the harsh cold weather. Magic was necessary to keep those flowers alive and it was a refreshing sight for Dawn to see aside from the boring bleak sky or the frozen river.

More so, there were not only flowers, there were many other plants in this huge greenhouse, where she could learn about herbs or… poisonous plants.

Yes, Dawn had this weird interest in herbs and poisonous plants, but mostly the latter.

In the Moonlight pack, the women didn’t have training like they had here, so in her free time, Dawn used to explore a few things on her own.

However, all of a sudden Dawn sensed someone else’s scent, so did her two maids. The three of them immediately turned their bodies toward the source of it and caught the sight of this man, in his golden mask, adorned in a luxurious cloak and carrying a regal aura around him.

Kynes and Pyllo were shocked, as they immediately knelt down to greet the king.

Dawn remembered what people said about the king. Not many people had seen his face, because he had been wearing this weird golden mask since ten years ago.

He started to wear this mask ever since he lost his destined mate when he was only nineteen, right after he was crowned as the king in this continent.

No one knew the reason why he wore this mask. There were a lot of rumors about it, though…

“I see… it seems, my brother has not marked you yet.” His voice was deep and dangerous.