She had been plagued by nightmares, when she fell asleep the previous night. But waking up after such a comfortable sleep now, she felt refreshed. In fact, since she left her pack territory this was the best sleep she had. So comfortable that she did not open her eyes yet trying only to cuddle some more in the warm bed with the smell of fresh flowers and a familiar comforting smell of musk with tinges of lavender.

This was strange she thought, she did not have fresh flowers in the guest room so why could she smell fresh flowers and musk? Trying to clear her mind, she hugged a bit more the pillow in her arms when she felt a soft moist touch near her temple. It almost felt as a feather like kiss.

It startled her and she immediately opened her eyes and looked in the direction of where the touch came from, only to look straight in the pair of deep blue eyes of his majesty.

But this was not the most embarrassing thing. No, the most embarrassing thing was that when she moved so suddenly like that, not only were their eyes locked looking at each other, their lips had locked together also.

She was so stunned that, even though their lips were still touching, she did not move back. She could not even breathe in this moment, and her heart felt like it would jump out of her chest any moment now. Not only because of this unfortunate accident, which was the smaller problem perhaps... but most importantly because his highness had not moved as well.

After a few more moments of this immobile state, she suddenly moved back regaining her senses. Looking at her surroundings, she discovered that she was in his highness's indoor garden and, until she let go and moved back, she had been cuddling in his arms sleeping. The comfortable pillow she had held was his waist and chest.

Her face was flushed red. Why did she think she would be in her bed when she clearly went into the garden?!

"I-I am sorry your highness I touched..!" She was trying to apologize, but she fell silent as she could not utter with her mouth that she had hugged and accidentally touched his lips also.

"But I am not sorry!" He calmly affirmed looking straight at her.

She was looking down apologetically, as she spoke with stuttering words, not daring to meet his eyes directly. But his words made her instinctively look at him and, seeing his serious eyes, her body and face froze. What was she supposed to say after hearing his words?

She stood silent for some time, feeling suffocated by his eyes that seemed to have captured hers. It felt like it was impossible to break eye contact. He did not speak, but his eyes felt like they were ordering her to not look away.

"I did not mean to touch your highness's..." She apologized again with great difficulty. Perhaps she had only misunderstood the meaning of his words. Her mind was not functioning too well at this moment after all.

"That was not a touch." He interrupted her not permitting her to brush it off as an accident, even though it clearly was.

"It was a kiss." Salas continued with a hoarse determined voice.

She widened her eyes, as her face flushed even more than it did when she realized what she had done. He dared to say the word she avoided. A word she had only referred to as a touch, only a contact between their skins, he so easily unembarrassed used.

"That was not! I..." She tried to refute with difficulty, she was barely capable of choosing her words at this moment. How could she do such a thing to a man she barely knew, not to mention the king.

"What is a kiss Celia?" He asked, as his generally gentle voice seemed to have changed its tone. It was like he was implying something.

She could not answer. How could she say the definition of a kiss with her own mouth, it would only confirm his words.

"What is a kiss Celia?" He repeated his question, still with the same tone.

He never left her gaze making it impossible for her to blink or think. Making all the sad thoughts from before vanish like they were not in her mind in the first place.

"What is a hug Celia?" He inquired again, not leaving her any time to calm down. She did not even manage to answer the first question, but he reminded her of the hug also.

By this point her breathing stopped altogether and, feeling like her heart could no longer bear his presence, she did the only thing that felt logical.

She got up and ran away with all her strength, forgetting she was a patient, forgetting that he was the king so it was rude of her to walk away from him.

She ran and ran, only stopping when she reached her room and closed it off.

Still pressing with her back against the door blocking it, she breathed heavily. It seemed she was compensating for the air she could not breathe in his presence.

As her legs gave out under her weight, she slid down until she sat on the floor. She could do nothing about what happened. She was the one who hugged him first, so she could not refute even one of his words. But why did his highness not try to brush it off as an accident? That would have been the polite thing to do and he had been nothing but courteous and polite so far.

In a span of almost two days he had managed to make her change her opinion of him each time she saw him. First he was gentle, then stern and now incomprehensible. Which one was the real him and why would he show her so many kinds of faces? And lastly why would his face and touch linger in her mind dominating her thoughts so?

She was still crouched down on the floor several hours later. She was at least thankful he did not pursue her, but how would she face him for the rest of the time she was here?

"Knock! Knock!"

Her heart jumped at the sound, but managed to calm down when she heard a maid's voice.

"Miss Celia! May I come in?" The polite maid inquired, then waited patiently for the answer.

She got up from the floor not answering. She had locked the door when she came in. Only now realizing it was rude of her as this was not her home.

Taking a deep breath to calm her still erratic mind, she slowly turned the lock trying to not make a sound. She was quite silly to do so as the maid was also a werewolf and most likely heard the door unlocking, but she was still not thinking clearly. Then with the same naïve thoughts, she stepped away from the door and went toward the bathroom.

"Please come in!" She permitted a bit louder, as if she had stepped out of the bathroom, feeling awkward at her own actions.

"Miss Celia. I have brought dinner for you!" Replied the maid entering with another maid caring the tray with food.

"Thank you!" She thanked still awkward, not even daring to meet the two girls' eyes. She was wondering what to do if she had to face him at dinner, but she could see that there was only enough food for a person. If indeed she was to eat alone, how wonderful that would be?!

"You are welcome. His highness had to leave for the day so he instructed us to bring the dinner to your room. Unfortunately he will not be able to dine with you tonight." The maid explained smiling, even though she did not ask.

"Ahh... It is alright." She affirmed just because she felt it was the polite thing to do. But she was really wondering why the maid felt the need to explain further. It was not necessary to do so.

Late into the night, after eating a few bites of her dinner and preparing to sleep, she was still perturbed. Her mind kept jumping from thought to thought, when she was interrupted.

"Celia!" Two voices were enthusiastically calling out to her, causing her to snap out of her thoughts.

"Waning! Crescent!" She quickly replied in her mind overjoyed.

"Yup. It's us!" Crescent affirmed playful, while she was jumping up and down in her mind.

"Are you alright?" Waning asked worried, she was the calmer one of the two of them and was just sitting down.

"Yes I am. I was so worried! You did not reply to me!" She quickly said.

"I am sorry it took a long time to heal you, so we needed a rest." Waning replied apologetic, they had never been disconnected from the human side for such a long time.

"Yup! Yup!" Crescent affirmed as well.

"She will not believe us with you jumping all around like that." Waning said chuckling to the enthusiastic wolf.

"But I need the exercise. It is been so long since I was out and even longer since I shifted." Crescent stated restless still jumping around.

"I can understand the need to shift, but exercise? We don't have a body at the moment so what exactly are you exercising for?" Waning reasoned calmly.

If Celia had a poker expressionless face, Waning was even more like a statue, but it never bothered Celia or Crescent. That was her natural way of being. She had a cold personality, but only meant the best for the other two.

Crescent pouted but was not really upset.

Seeing them like this in her mind, Celia giggled putting a little bit her mind at ease.

They spent the night like this with Celia talking to her wolves.

But this relaxed state of mind unfortunately was not carried to the next day. In the morning, while she was getting ready for breakfast, she could feel her heart rate going up. Last night she felt more at ease, but now she was alone again. Her wolves needed some more rest and had only woken up because they felt her changed mood.

"Knock! Knock!"

She heard knocking at the door, making her jump from the sofa on which she was seated. It felt like the sound was made by something actually hitting against her heart, rather than the door.

"Please come in!" She said with a higher pitched tone accidentally, while she was trying to abstain from showing her preoccupied state within her words.

"Miss Celia we have brought breakfast for you!" The maid informed her, just as cheerful as the day before, as she was entering and opening the door more for the other maid to come in with a tray.

She breathed relieved, she had thought that she would have to see the king again soon, but it seemed like he was avoiding her too. Her heart felt a pang when she thought the last part.

Why was she disappointed of him avoiding her when this was what she wanted?

"Thank you!" She simply said, hoping her emotions could not be seen. This was not the time to think of such things. Wait... she should never ponder about this, she convinced herself.

"You are welcome. His highness left early in the morning today so he did not want to wake you up and only ordered us to bring your breakfast when you wake up. But do not worry he will be dining at the palace in the evening." The maid cheerfully informed.

She nodded her head not acknowledging with words. Although she did not understand why the maid informed her each time about the king, it was not like she could ask her this directly. So she brushed the matter over, only trying to enjoy her meal... at least for now.

She got through the breakfast time successfully and it looked like there was also no problem for lunch, but the troublesome matter was what she would be doing at dinner.

***

In the car, typing on a laptop and reviewing some documents, Salas was at the same time listening to reports from Micah.

"Your highness there have been movements from the Council again. I was informed that yesterday Yvonne Riemann landed at the airport." Micah said with a usual tone, among other things. 

"So?" Salas asked uninterested in the matter. Yvonne Riemann if he remembered correctly was one of the granddaughters of the third councilman, Marik Riemann. She must have wanted to visit her grandfather. Why was there a need for him to know?

"She did not come to visit her grandfather." Micah explained more as if reading his thoughts.

"I was informed that she came at the command of the head councilman. She does not have a mate as he died soon after they met some years ago and she is one of the leading candidates that the Council selected to be your mate." Micah stated with more details, as Salas appeared to still not get what he was trying to explain. At least this was how he saw his expression as being.

The air in the car got suddenly chilly, as Salas realized his meaning. Salas's aura was something difficult to bear for Micah and the driver, even though they knew his anger was not directed towards them.

"Inform the Council that they must prepare for me the reports from the investigations of all watcher related problems from this year and also a preliminary report on their budget expenses for the next three years. They have until the last day of this year." Salas ordered expressionlessly, after what seemed like a lifetime. If those geezers had so much time, then he would make sure it was filled to the brim with work. At least like this, he could get his revenge.

"Yes. I will do so." Micah confirmed. His highness was ruthless as always, the reports he had asked for would take a month or two to compile if they worked constantly without interruptions. Normally the Council would give his highness the reports by February of the following year, but now he was taking all the free time they had, including their winter vacation.

"Also inform the palace guards, nobody can enter the palace today without my knowledge." Salas commanded simply, before restarting to read documents. Celia was in the palace alone, he really did not want the old man to meet her. What if he suddenly thought of some bright ideas?

And also, Emery was capable of bringing that woman directly to the palace for him to see, without letting him know first. He knew this with certainty, it would not be the first time after all. If Celia met that woman, what if she thought of him as a casual relaxed man. A man who just had flings without a care. It would be the worst, if she formed a bad impression of him.

Visualizing her upset face did not sit well with him, but thinking a bit more about the beautiful woman who had stolen his lips, a small unnoticeable smirk appeared at the corner of his mouth. He never thought she would be that daring, hugging him like that. It meant that in her moment of weakness, she thought of him as her support, right? It also meant she liked him, right? She did kiss him after all, of her own accord.

Dreaming some more with eyes wide opened, he felt that he did not know what best course of action should be from this point onwards. How to use this opportunity to change things for the better?

He searched in his mind, and sighed when he finally realized he had no other choice but that man. He had no other person who could advise him on what to do unfortunately. Well, that guy had always bragged about his relationship to everyone, he must have done something right to get his mate... he hoped.

"Gabriel, are you home right now?" Salas asked as the call was answered on the other side of the phone call....

If Celia would have known Salas's true thoughts, the whole idealized imaged that she had formed about the first ranked werewolf, the most powerful werewolf in the entire kingdom, would plummet to the ground. Her opinion of him as a stern and somber man... would shatter into pieces.

***

The rest of the day quickly passed by and, even though Celia knew his highness was not in the palace, she did not dare leave the guest room. But she was still not relaxed at all. As the hour for dinner came she still had not managed to figure out how to face the king.

She paced left and right more and more, dreading the knock that would be heard any second now, informing her of dinner. She thought to refuse, perhaps she could tell the maid she had no appetite to eat, but what would she do if the king decided to still come to her room to check on her. What other reason could she use to not go and eat?

She was still pacing in the room when a sound made her turn towards the door.

"Knock! Knock!"