The Alpha's Temptation

After sitting all alone in the throne hall for more than an hour, Mintaka went back to his bedchamber. Even though he was fretting inside about the way Eltanin humiliated him in the court, he knew it was the right time to back down.

When he reached his bedchamber, he was expecting to see his wife, sleeping or sobbing or angry, instead he saw her pacing the room. He took his cape out and ignored her. This wasn't the time for argument. So he went to bed and lie down on his back with his hand on his eyes in order to get some sleep.

Alina watched him as he went to bed with disgust. She came storming to him and said, "Don't you have a kernel of respect for your own respect? You allowed that wretched man to insult you in your own court, in front of your own courtiers!"

Without removing his arm, Mintaka gritted his teeth. "Shut up, Alina. I don't have time for all this nonsense. Tabit has gone with gifts to Lerna and the matter will end."

There was a long pause in which Mintaka became suspicious. He removed his arm from his eyes and narrowed them to look at Alina. She was biting her bottom lip. "What have you done?" he growled.

She looked away from him and took a few steps back. "I did what was right as a king and queen of a kingdom."

Mintaka's face became ashen white. He rose from the bed and swung his legs down. "What have you done, woman!" he snarled. "Speak it clearly!"

Alina took a deep breath in and said, "I didn't let Tabit go to Lerna. Instead--" she hesitated. "Instead, I sent Draka's tattered flag to King Eltanin."

Mintaka lunged at her. "Alinaaa!" He struck her hard on her face. She shrieked and fell on the floor, slipping some ten feet away. Mintaka stormed to her and grabbed her by the throat. "On whose permission you did that!" he shook her wildly.

She coughed and wheezed as she gasped wildly for air. "I--" She caught his wrist. "I-- I did it for the kingdom!"

Mintaka struck her again. She screamed in pain as she fell down on the floor with his face planted down. Her lip split and it started bleeding. She started wailing.

"You didn't do it for the kingdom, you fucking bitch! You did it for yourself! You have put me in this mess because of your foolish and inflated ego!"

Alina grabbed his collar. "It was for you also. You have been insulted!"

He backhanded her and she slammed across a table, her forehead splitting. She screamed in pain.

"Who are you to decide that, you dimwit? Because of you Orion is under a threat so dangerous that--"

A heavy knock on the door sounded.

"Who is there?" Mintaka growled as anxiety pierced his chest.

"Your Highness!" a guard's urgent voice came.

Mintaka got up and rushed to the door. When he opened the door, he saw a guard standing with a tray that was covered in blood soaked red velvety cloth. With caution, with dread, he stepped towards the guard. With trembling hands he pulled the cloth away and was mortified when he saw the blood soaked flag of Draka lying in it. "Whose blood is that?" he asked, his voice trembling.

"King Eltanin's," the guard replied, equally trembling in his place.

Mintaka stabbed his fingers in his hair in frustration.

The guard continued, "King Eltanin is waging a war on Orion as we speak!"

Mintaka's eyes grew wide. His entire world shattered in two minutes of his life. Goosebumps lined his skin. His mind became numb. He was never going to win this war. "Go away!" he said to the guard. Then he opened his mind link with his General and others and informed them to be prepared for the war with the Draka army. He was going to meet them in half an hour.

He called his servants to prepare him for the war. As he was getting dressed, Alina sat in the corner, huddled, crying, but she wasn't crying because Mintaka was going to the war, she was crying because he had hit her. And he had hit her wrongly. Anyway, she had taken her revenge.

Mintaka stomped out of the palace with his guards following him. A soldier was waiting with his horse on the portico. He mounted his equine and rushed to the borders where he was fearing that the Draka army had already infiltrated.

---

Fafnir knew that entering the Orion Palace at this time would be rife with dangers. At first, he planned on sending his soldiers to retrieve Tabit, but he knew that if they made one mistake, the soldiers at Orion would come to know and that would only add to the trouble. After that it was possible that Tabit would be guarded more in order for negotiations, since her importance would increase. So, he decided to infiltrate the palace on his own. Alone.

While the Draka army was preparing for the war, Fafnir dressed as a common man. He applied mint oil on his body to hide his smell and then ate a lot of garlic.

Taking advantage of the mess, he slipped through the gates of the palace. He knocked a soldier and dragged him to a corner. In the next five minutes, he took his clothes out and changed into them, dumping his naked body.

As he walked inside, cautiously, he padded his way to Tabit's chamber, according to Rigel's information. There were way too many guards and soldiers, stomping in and out of the palace. He kept to the corridors, but walked with confidence in front of every soldier. He overheard a soldier saying, "The Draka King has declared a war on us!"

He reached the wings where the princess was. And for some reason, he realized that there were more soldiers than required to protect her. He reached one of them and said, "His Highness has called you all for the war. You better go to the grounds. Now!"