Noah ate his food quietly, seeing as the alpha had taken it upon himself to feed him personally. At this time, he knew not to push his alpha for more affection as he believed that it was only due to him being bedridden again that Gael was treating him well.

Noah saw that the bowl was empty and cleared his throat before saying, "Please allow me to continue training with the others." He didn't want Tol to think he had backed out of their agreement.

As he asked this, he noticed that he couldn't look his alpha in the eye. He mentally scoffed at his behavior. He finally became the meek and stereotypical omega that he had been pitying a while ago—he really deserved a medal for his behavior.

After a long moment of silence, Noah finally gathered the courage to look at his alpha, only to receive a blank stare in return. 

Gael could see the bright hazel eyes still waiting for his answer, as they tried to convey how important it was for him to go.

Gael stoically looked at the omega before muttering a single, "No."

Noah could feel his world collapse at those words. He could see Tol shaking his head at him now, saying how he had been right all along.

"... why?" Noah clenched his hands tightly together, almost drawing out blood.

"You can't do this! I... I need to go! " How can I stand proudly next to you as your soul-mate? How can I prove myself to others? But most importantly, how can I get you to accept me? What can I do to get your recognition, to get your love and affection?

At that moment, Noah felt extremely defeated. His wolf whined in unhappiness. His throat felt tight and itchy. He didn't want to be in the same room as his alpha anymore or he may end up saying something he would regret.

A huge tension built up between them. Or maybe he was the only one who could feel it.

"Could you at least tell me why?"

Sigh

"Is your mind dull? What could you possibly do with a sprained ankle?" Gael said as he looked at the omega with a face of exasperation, the most emotion Noah had ever seen the alpha show towards him since they left his village.

Noah remained silent. He watched as Gael placed the empty bowl down. His hopes were dashed. He closed his eyes to avoid any more conversation with his alpha.

"Move over," Gael said in a curt tone.

Stunned, Noah opened his eyes, pushing away his reluctance as he could only comply with his alpha's wishes. He decided to face the other direction, unwilling to look his alpha in the face lest he make more of a fool of himself. It was enough not being taken seriously by the alpha; any more embarrassment and he wouldn't be able to live with himself.

"When's your next heat?"

Noah was silent for a moment before speaking, an obvious flush staining the tips of his ears from where Gael was facing him.

"Um... I-I don't know."

Gael's eyes narrowed at the response, he didn't say anything in return. Mate is upset...comfort him...his wolf scolded him, Gael could feel a headache coming on but refused to succumb to it.

Noah didn't know when he fell asleep, but when he woke up, it was bright outside. He cautiously attempted to stretch his body, and when he felt no aches, he sighed in relief.

He noticed Gael was standing outside the door talking to someone. His eyes widened when he saw that it was the Queen.

What on earth are they talking about? Hopefully it wasn't about him.

"I've signed you up for special courses. I'm sure you will enjoy working with Noah. The physician spoke to us yesterday, saying that Noah wasn't getting the amount of affection he needed. To omegas, that is like a death sentence. " She stated clearly to get the point across to her son's thick skull.

She continued to speak—seeing as though her son made no move to say anything.

"The first lesson starts today. I'll prepare a coach for you two to take to get there. The courses have changed a lot since the last time I was there, but I'm sure the events following the classes will be worth it. Be sure to make it on time, and don't do anything drastic to Noah in the meantime; his survival is pure luck. " With that, she left—the sound of her heels clicking down the hallway until no sound could be heard any longer.

Gael stared dazedly at the spot his mother had just stood in with an impassive face. He tried to comprehend all the information he was given in such a short amount of time. He scoffed, furrowing his eyebrows in distaste at the whole situation. It was as though he were the protagonist of some kind of drama. Why did his mother have to make such a big deal about this?

'You know why,' his wolf grumbled out.

"Alpha?" He heard the soft voice call out from behind him. His wolf swooned at the curious voice of their omega.

Gael turned his head around and gave the omega a once-over, scanning for any more potential injuries, or fever-like symptoms.

Mate... better... his wolf said to him.

"Get dressed. We're heading out. " Seeing as the omega opened his mouth, he said, "You'll see when we get there."

Noah closed his mouth and nodded. "I don't have any clothes to wear." This was too sudden. He was not prepared in the slightest, nor was he given any early notice that they would go out and travel.

Noah had brought clothes with him, but he felt as though they were inadequate and would embarrass the royal family's reputation. He was fine with the clothes that his parents had bought for him with their hard-earned money. However, Noah had no idea what the nobles would think of it if they saw it. Would they make fun of Gael after finding out that his true-mate was a commoner? 

Now that he knew Gael was a prince, he could feel the gap between their statuses increase, and it left him feeling uncomfortable. He would much rather stay in the village, living his life out, albeit with the memories of his assault, than deal with all this stress. The ambiguousness of their relationship made his heart roll around in turmoil. He wanted to hear what his alpha thought of them being together, but it seemed Gael did not even want to listen to him speaking.

"It's fine. A maid had come last night to bring your outfit. It's already in the closet. My mother, the Queen, had ordered a maid to prepare it for you while we were sleeping." Gael said, but that was only half the truth.

Since young Gael had always been a light sleeper, His instincts were stronger than the average alpha, giving him heightened senses. When he was younger, more often than not, he was forced to share a room with his younger sister—who was afraid of the idea of monsters hiding under her bed.

It was given to you to take care of your siblings when you were the eldest, but his already heightened senses made it so that with every whimper that came out of her mouth, Gael would immediately wake up. This led to many sleepless nights; it didn't help that his younger sister liked to move around in her sleep. Once they were old enough, he immediately banned her from entering his room. He loved his sister, but there were things even he could no longer take from the younger omega.

He swore to himself on the day he became captain of his own troops that he would be the main night-watch when he and his troops went out on dangerous missions, but ever since Noah had begun sleeping with him—or anywhere near him, he had been out like a light.

That time it would've been the same case, but the intruder had made so much noise that even the average person would wake up easily. If they were an assassin, Gael was sure he could have easily killed them without the assassin's knowledge. Except, the omega beside him did not stir one bit. This made his wolf become overprotective... protect... mate. To Gael, it made him even more wary of the person who had so easily entered his room without knocking and receiving proper permission.

As the intruder clumsily made their way through the darkness of his room, he immediately reached out for the blade he always carried around with him, stashed underneath his pillow before he decided to go to sleep. He was poised to attack the intruder at any moment should they decide to come any closer. He ultimately decided the best course of action was to pretend to be asleep—his wolf's hackles grew louder the longer the intruder stayed in the room.

Last Night

... Creak... Rustle... bang...

Gael's eyes widened into slits at the sound of random noises—a dark figure could be seen wandering in the background. He reached underneath his pillow to pull out his knife. Relying only on a silhouette to aid him, Gael discovered that the outfit the person was wearing were clothes that only the maids serving their kingdom wore. He held himself back, seeing as though it was a maid, but kept himself on guard. He waited for the 'maid' to make a move, but decided to throw caution in the wind when the intruder began rummaging through his drawers, bumping into his armor stand—causing it to fall down and make a loud noise. 

"What do you think you're doing?" He said this with barely suppressed rage.

The intruder gave a gasp of surprise.

Even if it was a maid, it was dark and all Gael had in order to protect himself and Freckles were his sense of smell and sound. He lamented the fact again that Noah was so weak and unable to protect himself in times of trouble.

A feminine voice spoke out in the silence. In Gael's mind, it sounded as though it were Shelley's. However, he couldn't tell as it was too dark. 

He ended up chalking off his findings as it being another maid, as he remembered that Shelley had been sent to the dungeons by his mother just a few days prior. If that were the case, how would she have been released so quickly from the dungeons? He felt it was too reckless to let someone who tried to frame Noah out and about.

"Pardon me, Prince Gael. The Queen had ordered me to place your clothes in your closet to prepare you for your journey tomorrow. I'm sorry for waking you up." Her voice was shaking—She quickly did as she said and left the room, not before cleaning up the mess she made.

Gael's wolf stopped growling, but as a result he had decided not to sleep for the whole night. Unable to shake off the weird feeling he received from the maid, he decided to diligently stay awake. He would be ready if the maid decided to come back while he was incapacitated, or if they decided to bring some backup to overpower Gael. 

When morning came, just as the maid had said, his mother had come to tell him about his upcoming journey out of the kingdom. And yet, he did not understand why the maid could not wait until the morning to hand the clothes to him personally. If he were not in the mood, he would have easily killed whoever decided to intrude upon his territory.

He snapped out of his reverie. Gael looked towards the now dressed omega, "Come." They walked to the front gates of the castle, towards the coach his mother prepared for him. Out of courtesy, he then reached out his hand to help the omega board the tall coach. He would see for himself if these 'courses' were worth warranting himself being sent there with no prior warning.