Her Unwanted Mate On The Throne

#Chapter 28 A midnight stroll

Doris woke in the middle of the night to find William sound asleep beside her. It was a nice and safe

sight, she hated waking up to find him already gone or awake. He was always such an early riser.

Sweat drenched her skin, her dreams rattled her wide awake to the point that she could barelycatch

her breath. It all happened in quick flashesthat she could barely grasp onto.

There was... fire. A lot of fire and fighting butnone of it was clear to Doris. What was on fire?

Was she trapped in it—or did she start it? Itdidn’t make sense to her, she wanted to dissecteverything

about it but it was already fading fastfrom her mind.

All she knew was that it would be hard to fall back asleep with the whisper of death on her skin.

The clocks told her that it wasn’t far pastmidnight. She slowly got out of bed and put ona silk robe to

cool her skin.

“Must you walk around instead of just closing your eyes again?” Cordelia groaned inside her. “ Alec

isn’t even awake yet.”

“T can’t sleep. I don’t feel even an ounce bit tired.” Doris said quietly. She glanced out the window to

see the kingdom was sound asleep like she should have been. She checked in on Alec to see him

bundled in all his blankets. He was already growing out of his onesies and it made her sad to see him

grow up so fast even though he was still super tiny. She wanted him to stay this small forever.

Suddenly her adrenaline felt higher than the ceiling. It would be so nice to run through the forest and

feel the cold air on her fur. The room felt stuffy and tight even though it was one of the biggest rooms in

the entire kingdom—she couldn’t explain it.

She felt Cordelia sigh. “You want fresh air? Would that help you sleep if I let you run?”

“Yes, a million times yes.” Doris whispered. She tried not to think about the note that fell out of her

shifter book when she picked it up to read last night.

Daemon encouraged her to take a little more power than Cordelia gave... but Doris wasn’t sure if it was

the wisest thing to do even if it felt good.

She felt like a different person entirely when her wolf gave her power. She no longer felt small and

helpless to the world—she felt as if no one could stop her even if they tried.

Daemon wanted to see her push herself to be the best she could, but an uneasy ache hummed inside

her whenever she thought of him. She knew that she couldn’t trust him... not at all.

Cordelia didn’t say a word, only pushed Doris towards the balcony and made her open the door.

Silently, she closed it behind her.

“What are you doing?” Doris asked. It was much colder than she expected it to be.

“We're going on a run.” Cordelia said simply. “ That’s what you wanted, isn’t it?”

“Well, yes! But we’re stories high, Cordelia. I can go down the stairs—“

“And risk his guards following you or waking William to let him know that you left in the middle of the

night? He would tear through this forest to find you.”

“How can I possibly make this jump? We would die!” Doris said.

Cordelia laughed. “Perhaps in your human form, but not in your wolf form. Drops like these are nothing.

You’ll see.”

Without another word, Cordelia ripped through Doris like never before. The pain was over in an instant

and before she knew it, she was already on all fours ready to take the leap.

Cordelia didn’t have to push her. Doris leapt from the balcony and landed on one of the lower roofs

below before she leapt off that one too. The guards didn’t even notice or hear her when she landed in

the grass below. Cordelia shot off through the trees before any of them could turn and see her.

Doris knew that she gave her some power without her having to ask. She felt it through her bones and

noticed how she glowed a bit in the darkness.

Would she have been able to land that jump without her power? Doris guessed not.

She felt like lightening flickering through the darkness as she moved. It was so odd being able to see

everything clearly when normally she would have been blind to the darkness.

“Tonight, I want you to try something but it might be risky.” Cordelia said.

“What is it? I’ll do it,” Doris said without a hesitation.

“The reason why it might be a little risky is because of how much noise it will make.”

Cordelia said and had her stop in a wide clearing. “ It’s also dangerous, which is why I brought you all

the way out here where no one else would be around.”

Doris sat in the middle of the clearing and looked around. She could hear everything from miles away

but most of all she heard peace. She closed her eyes and took in the feeling that was rare to catch.

“What am I to do?” Doris finally asked her wolf.

“This one will be loud, so you might have to run back to the palace and try to get to your room before

anyone catches you. ] want you to practice a move that could win battles.”

“Are you referring to the white wolf’s power push?” Doris asked. It was one of the many moves that she

had read about in the book Daemon had given her. It was also one of the many moves that she had yet

to try.

“Yes, I want you to try it here where it can’t hurt anyone, though it might drain you since you’re not at

full power yet.”

“Ts it true that this move can bring down full armies?” Doris asked.

“That depends on how strong you are. Normally it is used to give you the upper hand. It can take out a

good number of people closest to you and perhaps even far away.”

Doris stood and planted her paws on the ground. “ Teach it to me.”

Cordelia was silent for a long moment. Doris could feel the power flow through her and it felt like a sort

of rope she could pull on. Doris grabbed on and held tight. She knew she could pull more if she

wanted... and a big part of her did.

“Careful, now.” Cordelia said. Cordelia pushed Doris forward and rose her up high on her back legs.

Just before she slammed them into the ground, Doris yanked on that rope in her favorite and a surge of

power rocked through her body.

“Wait — « It was too late.

When Doris’s paws hit the ground, it shot out a wave that rippled the ground and sent trees toppling

over. Doris was in awe, it felt as if she was watching it all in slow motion. Her power was strong enough

to send a tidal wave along the ground and knock down anything in its path— And then she heard the

screaming.