The Alpha Prince's Maid. (Book 1)

“Death has arrived!!” The head servant's voice sliced through the air, sending the entire palace nerves on edges. Death was another name for him. Prince Axel. And today him and his army were on their way back after so long.

Their return meant victory for the Imperial Dynasty pack, but it also meant that everyone within the palace walls had to walk on eggshells. Prince Axel was a hard man to please. He carried a quick temper that burned and scatter.

Though he rarely showed his face outside the palace, the whole town knew of the prince who roared like a beast and cater little for anyone–not even his father, the Alpha king.

The war had lasted a few days, and the palace staff had enjoyed the rare leave his absence provided.

Now that he was returning, dread and tension thickened the air once again. Servants moved in hushed panic, head bowed, hands trembling. No one dared to breathe too loudly.

No one dared to look too long.

……..**........

Prince Axel was presently on a leisurely ride back to the palace, though nothing about him appeared leisurely. Blood drenched him from shoulder to boot, soaking through the thick leather of his tunic, crimson slicked his arms, his sword still dark and dripping by his side.

Tied to the saddle of his black warhorse was a heavy leather bag–inside it, the broken teeth of twenty men from the enemy pack–Kingdom pack–Twenty teeth for the twenty lives Axel had lost.

His silent offering to the dead, and a brutal reminder of his rage. Beside him rode Sebastian, his right-hand man and long-time best friend.

Behind them tailed his army, still looking as much as they did before the war started, but with the loss of twenty men now. They were a grim, battered line of Warriors–and behind them, their spoils: a hundred enslaved people, carts heavy with gold, and barrels of oil.

Villagers lined the streets, singing hollow victory songs as they passed, their voices trembling beneath the suffocating weight of the prince’s presence. Mothers clutched their children tighter.

Men averted their eyes. All of them knelt down in fear, hoping to avoid notice. Axel barely glanced at them. He had underestimated Kingdom pack–a grave mistake.

They were small but savage, willing to die with blood still in their hands. Axel's jaw flexed as he rode, the muscles in his arms tensing with the effort it took to rein in his black mood.

He had failed his men.

“You shouldn't look so grim.” Sebastian said, voice cautious.

“We won.” Axel turned his head slowly, his face like a blade.

“To me, we lost.” His voice was low, cold, final.

“I lost twenty men.” Axel added.

“It's our loss.” Sebastian corrected quietly.

“The whole dynasty will mourn them.” Axel said nothing, his knuckles whitening around the reins. His grandfather's words echoed in his mind.

“The most dangerous man is the one who has nothing left to lose.” Kingdom pack had fought like rabid dogs, and Axel had paid dearly for underestimating them. His men–brothers he had trained with, bled with–had fallen like wheat before a scythe. After a long silence, Sebastian added,

“We crushed them Axel, we have their gold. Their oil. Their people. Kingdom pack will never rear its head again.” Axel's lips curled in a humourless sneer. He did not care for gold.

He did not care for conquest. He cared for the men who would never ride beside him again. Without another word, he pressed his heels into his horse’s sides and rode ahead, the heavy bag of teeth thudding against the saddle with each step.

When they reached the palace gates, a swarm of officials and servants awaited them. The alpha king and his queen were absent, but the lesser members of the court has gathered to celebrate.

Robert Dellman, the minister of culture, stepped forward, his face split with a sycophantic grin. He bowed low, his voice simpering.

“My prince. On behalf of the Imperial Dynasty cabinet, congratulations. When the word of your triumph reached us–”

“Silence.” Axel's command cracked like a whip across the courtyard. Instantly, every tongue stilled. A heavy, choking silence swallowed the air.

Axel swung down from his horse in a single fluid motion. Blood splattered the stones at his feet as he landed. He stalked forward, and the crowd recoiled, parting as if he carried plague and death. The minister bowed his head even lower.

“Look at me.” Axel ordered, voice low and cutting.

“I dare not, my prince.” Robert stammered. Axel stepped closer until the minister could feel the blood-slick heat radiating off him.

His next words were a death sentence wrapped in silk.

“I would have your eyes cut out and placed beside my bed, that way, you would look at me for the rest of your miserable life.” The minister trembled. He knew Axel was not a man to bluff. The teeth of the dead men that clattered to the floor proved it. Slowly, shakily, Robert raised his gaze. Axel's pale eyes, sharp and cold as broken glass, pinned him in place.

“The army has just returned from a war that cost twenty lives.” Axel said, voice low but deadly.

“And you think to call a celebratory meeting?” The minister opened his mouth to protest, but Axel's silent fury slammed into him harder than any words could.

“Get out of my sight.” Axel shover the man aside like a discarded rag and stalked into the palace. Behind him, the army rode in, the clatter of hooves and rattling chains heralding their grim procession.

Some servants dared to lift their heads to witness the spoils: gold, oil, and broken, defeated people. Yet none dared to breathe too loudly until the prince had disappeared through the towering palace doors. Even then, the air remained heavy with fear.

Axel marched down the brand arched hallways, his boots leaving wet bloody prints against the polished marble floor. Sebastian followed at a respectful distance, his own face grim.

The farther they walked, the more the sounds of the celebration faded into silence, and Axel's temper cooled–only slightly. Sebastian quickened his steps as they neared the prince’s chambers, hurrying to open the heavy doors before Axel could reach them.

Axel glared at him as he passed through but said nothing. His mere presence was enough to choke a man’s words in his throat. The room was large, lavish, but cold. Empty. Axel stood in the center, his gaze sweeping the space, the stink of blood and sweat rising from him like steam.

“Didn't we send word that I was coming?’ his voice low as a cold, rumbling threat. Sebastian cleared his throat.

“We did. Well–you did.” Axel's eyes narrowed.

“There is no woman here.” His tone was flat, deadly. Sebastian swallowed the immediate urge to offer excuses, Sebastian himself hated excuses, but he wondered why his friend looked at him like he was the source of the problem. Instead of saying that, he just decided to ignore it.

“I'll fetch Jessica.” He said.

“In the meantime–perhaps you should relax. Calm down. No woman wants to share a bed with a man carrying death in his bones.” For the first time in a while, something close to a smirk tugged at Axel’s bloodied mouth.

“Only a man who knows nothing of women would say such a thing.” The moment passed as quickly as it came, his face hardening once more into its usual ruthless mask.

“Get out.” Axel said.

“I'll go take my bath now, but I want Jessica naked on that bed before I return.” Sebastian bowed slightly and backed away without another word. He knew better than to linger.

Axel turned towards the adjoining bathing chamber, pulled off his blood-streaked armour piece by piece, each motion slow and deliberate, like a man shedding layers of rage.

By the time he entered the steaming bath, the bag of teeth was gripped tight in one blood-soaked fist.

He would not forget. He would not forgive. And by the time Jessica was summoned to his bed, the prince of the imperial Dynasty pack would be washed clean of the blood on his skin– but not the blood on his soul.

As Red trudged up the Imperial Dynasty palace halls with other captured kingdom pack slaves, she realized with saddening clarity that she had never felt so out of place in her life.

She wasn't an orphan but when she was 15 she had lived away from home working menial jobs to survive and cater to her old parents.

Before the war she was working in Kingdom pack palace for about 2 years as the Queen's assistant but she had a feeling that the Imperial Dynasty would be different. The palace was as huge as the old tails had described and she marveled at how rich the land was.

On their way to the Dynasty she had noticed the citizen lived in such opulence and plenty. The palace was a different world altogether, she had never seen a building so big the whole of Kingdom park could fit into the palace and they would still be enough space.

Has she and the unfortunate others followed the seething Mrs Julius down the endless hallway, she gaped at The polished floor lining ea