The Alpha Prince And His Bride
Book 2 The Alpha’s Forbidden Bride – Episode 27

~JAMES~

“We’ve been searching everywhere.” I growled. “If we keep taking this long to find someone, we will never get to Eden in time.”

Eden’s words were still scars in my heart. Hearing her say those things to me was one of the most painful things that have ever happened to me in my life. And I’ve been through a lot of painful experiences in the past. I knew that I made wrong decisions but not once did I ever do it without thinking about her first. Each step that I took, I did it because I thought it was the right thing for her. She was everything to me and all I wanted was to have her in my arms but I didn’t want to lose her while trying to make that happen.

I knew what I felt and I knew that she couldn’t possibly be thinking of a life without me in it.

We were mates. We were lost without each other.

Even if Eden was willing to give up on us because of our situation, I wasn’t about to. She was my woman and I wasn’t about to let another man take her from me.

“It’s not every day that you see a hybrid woman without a pack.” Austin pointed out as he turned to look at me. He gave me a knowing look; he’d been through this already. He must have known how desperate and hopeless I was feeling right now.

“I still think we’re looking in the wrong place.” Lucas said as he took a bite out of an apple.

What was even the right place to look? We’ve been searching through the village for over three hours now and there was no sign of a woman with both vampire and werewolf b***d in her veins.

Why did Gideon even ask for a woman that was half vampire?

I would have expected someone like him to want someone pure and strictly werewolf. Power was everything to him however; maybe he thought that his grandchild may be stronger that way.

“Where do you suggest we look?” Austin asked.

“If she’s a hybrid who doesn’t have a pack, I’ll assume she’ll want to live deep in the woods. Away from everyone. Like a rogue. . . Just less insane.” Lucas answered.

He did have a point. Maybe that was why we weren’t getting any luck in finding someone.

“We already searched the entire village with no luck, I say we check the woods like you said.” I agreed.

There wasn’t really anywhere else that we could go looking.

“Look who it is.” Lucas said suddenly. I followed his gaze and stiffened at who I saw.

Archer Blackner.

Why the hell was he still around?

“Easy there boys,” he said as he held up his hands. “I’m not here to cause any trouble. I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation. You’re looking for a hybrid woman?”

Austin and I glanced at each other, did he really not know or was he just playing dumb to hear what we had to say?

“If that’s the case, I’m guessing my father is still trying to find a woman to have my brother’s baby.”

“How do you not know that he hired us to find her?” I demanded suspiciously. I still didn’t trust him.

“I told you my father threw me out, didn’t I?”

He did. But none of us believed that.

His eyes studied me closely. “You seem on edge. Where’s Eden?”

My entire body tensed at his question. For one, I didn’t want a reminder that Eden wasn’t here with me. Then there was also the fact that I hated the way he said her name.

“It’s the reason why we’re working with your father. Eden is tied to the council and because of it she’s being forced to marry Hunter. We need your father’s help to take both the council and Hunter down.” Lucas answered as he gained an angry look from me.

I didn’t want Archer knowing all of this.

“I’m sorry, are you trying to tell me that the council is forcing that innocent girl to marry such a beast?” He demanded. I didn’t like how worked up he got about this. “I know where you can find the hybrid woman you’re looking for.”

I narrowed my eyes. “You do?”

He nodded. “My father asked the same thing of me. I purposely kept her location hidden because I didn’t want to do it to the poor girl; she looked like her life was already hard enough. Plus, I didn’t want to put my brother through that either. He doesn’t know that father is searching for a woman to have his baby. I tried to hold everything off for as long as I could, I knew it was only a matter of time before he sent other people to do the job instead.”

“So where exactly can we find her?” Lucas asked.

“She’s deep in the woods. Not as far in as my home is located though.”

“Looks like you were right Lucas.” Austin praised him.

“Tell us all we need to know.” I insisted, suddenly impatient. “We don’t have plenty time left.”

“Her name is Gabriella Sawyer.”

Gabriella Sawyer.

“What do we know about her?” Austin asked, taking a step closer to Archer.

“Well she doesn’t have a pack like father wanted. I have no idea who are her parents but she definitely is a hybrid.” He said. “She’s always in the woods, barely steps into any area that’s too crowded. She’s strong. . . But she’s also a thief.”

I quirked a brow. “A thief?”

I wasn’t expecting that.

“Ever heard of Robin Hood?” he asked. “She’s a modern day Robin Hood. She steals from the rich and gives to other werewolves without a pack.”

“Well I have to say, it’s not what Gideon will be expecting.” Lucas said with a grin. “But she does fit his criteria well and she’s the only one we got.”

Austin nodded. “She’s the only one we have. Do you have any papers as proof of her existence? Even a picture maybe?”

“It isn’t that easy. If you want my father’s help, you’ll need all the proof you can gather. You’ll need to carry a video to prove that you did find the girl.”

“What are you suggesting we do?”

“I’ll take you to her. You’ll have to walk with plenty of cash. That way we would lure her out. Remember, we’re not doing the kidnapping. All we need is a video proof. When father sees how well she fights as well as the fangs in her mouth, he will surely accept her . . . Which is what you need for him to help you. He never goes back on his word so you don’t have that to worry about.”

I turned to my brothers and they both nodded for me to agree. It wasn’t like we had a lot of options left.

“Alright, lead the way Blackner.”

We followed his directions, he was definitely right, wherever we were going; it was deep in the forest.

“We have to be careful from here onwards.” Archer informed us. “She could be anywhere.”

We decided that Lucas and I would go alone when we neared the area she did most of her stealing in.

She would find it safer to attack just the both of us rather than all four.

I kept the tiny camera hidden in my shirt with a small hole for everything to be seen.

“You sure he’s telling the truth?” Lucas asked as we continued to walk further into the woods. The pungent scent of the forest filled my nostrils, preventing me from picking up the scent of anyone strange around us.

I was thinking the same thing as Lucas however. What if this was all an ambush and we were falling straight into a Blackner’s trap?

“I don’t know but this is the best lead we have.”

He nodded and pulled out some of the money from his pocket. “I’m sure glad dad gave us all of this money to do with as we please.”

He was playing along with our plan, we needed her to know that we had plenty cash on us. She wouldn’t attack us unless she knew that she would profit from it.

My eyes widened as a girl with shiny black hair and torn clothing came into our view while swinging on a vine.

“Lucas look ou-“

Her feet connected with my brother’s chest before I could finish my sentence. Her long hair was flowing all around her as she landed gracefully on her two feet like she’d done this a dozen times before.

“Give me the money and no one gets hurt.”

I quirked a brow as Lucas lifted himself off the ground and grinned at her. “Nice kick. . . For a girl.”

Her eyes narrowed and she bared her fangs at him.

I held my breath.

She was definitely our little hybrid thief.

That was all of the proof we needed. Now we needed to get out of here without harming the girl.