Chapter 2 - Changed Arrangements
After they finished eating, Kamryn noticed it was starting to get dark outside. He didn't know the young woman's name, so he decided he would call her angel. He watched as she cleaned their bowls and tidied up the cabin. He could tell she was nervous, as though she didn't know what to do.
"What do you usually do here by yourself?" He asked her softly.
"There's really nothing to do. If I am successful in finding edible vegetation, I will clean it for the next day. After that, I usually go to bed. I don't know who I am or where I come from, but I hope my life hasn't always been this lonely." Anna sat in one of the chairs not far from where he was lying.
Kamryn liked his alone time, but he didn't know how she had gone so long with no contact with anyone. Someone had to be missing her. He wondered where she was from and whether she was a human or something else.
"I'm sure someone is out there looking for you. If you were my girlfriend, I wouldn't rest until I found you." Kamryn saw her face turn slightly red.
"Do you have a girlfriend?" Anna asked softly. She didn't look him in the eyes. It was probably because she had been alone for so long, but she hoped he said he was single. She didn't want to be having certain thoughts about another woman's man.
"No. I've been waiting for the right woman to come along." Kamryn didn't think she needed to know he was being forced to mate a witch he had never met. His heart raced when he saw the look of relief on her pretty face.
"Will you have family looking for you?" Anna wished nobody would come looking for him right away.
"They may, but I take off sometimes for a few days, so they won't anytime soon." Kamryn saw her smile even though she wasn't looking at him.
"At least that will give you time to heal. Are you okay staying here for the time being?" Anna looked at Kamryn with hope in her eyes.
"I think this is the best place for me to relax and get better with no one to bother us. It's peaceful out here. Do you mind taking care of me for a while?" He asked with a smile.
"No. I promise to do everything I can to make sure you get better. Are you tired? I'll sleep on the loveseat." Anna stood up to get some blankets when Kamryn stopped her.
"The loveseat is too small. You can sleep here. The bed's big enough, and I promise I won't move all night." Kamryn moved over as far as he could against the wall to show her there was plenty of room.
Anna looked at the spot next to him, and he was right; there was room, but she was still unsure. She decided there was no harm in sharing the bed because he was too injured to move around.
"Alright. I'll be right back." Anna got the t-shirt and shorts she wore to bed and went to the tiny restroom to change her clothes. When she was done, she returned to the main room and turned off the lights.
She slowly made her way to the bed with her heart pounding in her ears. Kamryn watched as she sat on the bed and lay on her side with her back toward him. She pulled the sheet up to cover both of them.
Anna could feel the warmth from being so close to Kamryn. She found it comforting to have him in the bed, knowing she wouldn't be alone when she woke up in the morning. After a few minutes, she had fallen fast asleep.
Kamryn wasn't able to fall asleep as quickly. His body felt like it was magnetized, being so close to her. He was beginning to wonder if she was his fated mate. It was hard for him to tell while the poison still worked its way out of his system. He decided that if she was his mate, he wouldn't mate with the witch. He would only mate with his angel.
Caprice cried as she looked at her mate Stanley. Their daughter Annabella had been missing for two months, and there was no sign of her anywhere. The weretiger kingdom was tired of their excuses and demanded they send their son's mate to them.
"I don't care about the damn tigers; I just want to find Anna. Someone had to have done something to her. There is no way she would have taken off on her own." Caprice knew her daughter too well. Even if Anna wasn't happy about the arranged mating, she wouldn't have left.
"I know, honey, but we don't have a choice. Let's send Elsie to them. Her magic is nowhere near close to Anna's, but it will get them off our back. Then we can focus on finding our daughter." Stanley looked at his mate, who looked like Anna with the same long dark brown hair and pale grey eyes. He was tall and thin with blonde hair and blue eyes.
"Elsie has always been jealous of Anna, no matter how hard she tried to include her in things. How do we know she didn't have something to do with her disappearance?" Caprice never cared for her mate's sister's daughter. She was sneaky and always trying to get Anna into trouble.
"She may have caused problems in the past, but I don't think she would do something this drastic. Let's send her to the weretigers, and then we can focus on finding Anna. We can disclose the truth if we locate her before the prince mates with Elsie." Caprice still didn't like this idea. She didn't trust Elsie, but they had no other choice.
"Alright, we'll send her and hope she doesn't blow it. We don't need the weretigers as enemies." Stanley kissed his mate on the forehead and hugged her tightly. Where are you, Anna?
Lynette tried mindlinking Kamryn again, but still, there was nothing. Where had he gone? She knew he sometimes liked to leave a couple of days at a time, but it was getting close to him mating with the witch. She had a funny feeling in the pit of her stomach. She ran her hand through her long black hair with frustration.
"I still can't reach him. Are you sure he didn't say anything to you?" Lynette looked toward her mate Randal with her green eyes full of worry. He was tall and muscular with sandy brown hair and amber eyes.
"No, he didn't tell me anything. I got a message that they would send the witch to us in two days. We finally have a name; it's Elsie. If she comes and he's not here, we may have to think of something else. I thought we could have Micha take Kamryn's place if he's not back in time. They won't be as powerful, but still more than other shifters."
Lynette sighed. She didn't want to upset the witches because it could lead to disaster. Both sides held the names of their children they arranged to be mated for safety purposes. They hadn't wanted that information getting out and into the wrong hands.
"Have you talked to Micah about this? I know he's just as anxious as Kamryn was to meet his fated mate. I hate that we are forcing either of them to an arranged mating even though I know it's the best thing for both sides." She looked at the picture of her two sons on her dresser. They could almost be twins, except Micah had dark brown hair and green eyes.
"Yeah, I asked him, and he's okay with it, but he's hoping Kamryn gets back before the mating ceremony." Randal put his arm around his mate's shoulders.
"I guess we don't have a choice. Have you heard anything from the search party?" As King and Queen of the weretiger community, they had access to the best hunters. They had called in tigers from all over the country to help. A missing crowned prince did not happen every day, so everyone was scurrying to get answers. The last time anyone had seen Kamryn was when he left the palace yesterday morning. He had told the guards he was going for a run.
"They haven't found anything yet. I will let you know as soon as they give me any updates. Let's go talk to Micah so he can be prepared." They walked hand in hand to their son's quarters. Please come home, Kamryn Lynette thought to herself.
Santi hung up the phone with a smile. Everything was falling into place. All of his puppets were doing as they were told so he could rule all. No one had found the missing witch, and now the prince was missing too.
He clapped his hand together as he walked to the window and looked outside. It was dark out, and all he could see was darkness, no light anywhere. That's what happens when you've been exiled from your family to live alone for all eternity.
Santi was tall and well-built with light brown hair and dark brown eyes. He wasn't handsome at all, with his face looking like he had a constant scowl. According to his brother, those who are rotten on the inside are rotten on the outside. He would show him. He was responsible for his brother's missing child. Let's see how everything pans out with two imposters as the mated power couple. One of those imposters was a spy for Santi, and he would be able to pull their strings to do whatever he wanted. Then he would no longer be exiled.