"Black?" Alpha King Rylan glanced over at the blonde as he led a very docile Juniper out of her room early in the morning. "Where're you heading?" He asked, staring at the large rucksack on his back.

"I'm taking Juniper up Mount Blagmoor." He said, pulling Juniper's jacket further around her, zipping it up for her. "Don't worry." He rolled his eyes, having caught Rylan assessing his bulging grey backpack. "I haven't got any alcohol on me."

"You've got your phone with you, right?"

"Yep." Black nodded, weaving his fingers through Juniper's own. "And if I'm not back by nightfall, then I know the whole cavalry will coming up the mountain to rescue me."

"Which route are you taking up?"

"109." Black said, smiling slightly as he wrote the information down. "I'll see you in a bit."

"You'd better." Rylan smiled, watching as the two climbed into Black's car, disappearing in a screech of tyres.

The drive wasn't very long, but by the time they'd reached the visitor's information centre at the base of Blagmoor Mountain, Juniper had perked up a bit. "Where are we going...?" Her soft voice broke the tense silence that had fallen between them.

Turning to face her, Black blinked in shock, a small smile appearing on his face as he helped her out of the car. "I thought we'd have a light trek up Mount Blagmoor, and check out the view." He shrugged. "From what I hear, it's very romantic."

"What?" Juniper tilted her head. "Being covered in sweat and dirt and freezing your butt off as you stare across a city that's too dark to see, because, by the time you've gotten up there, it's the middle of the night."

"Hush, Pookie Bear." He pressed a finger against her full lips. "You'll see."

"Don't call me that in public." She grumbled. "It'd ruin my street cred."

"You're a Princess, Pookie." He said. "You don't really have any street cred."

"Didn't you see the amount of people that ran away screaming in Ishgard when they learnt I was in that pub?"

"That's not something you should brag about."

"Why not?"

Black rolled his eyes, wrapping his hand around her tiny one, pulling her up onto the trail marked 109. "Come on, Pookie Bear." He said, smiling gleefully. "We've got a mountain to climb."

"You mean your ego?"

Black paused, laughter breaking out from his lips. "Pookie, you really crack me up sometimes..." His hand tugged hers, pulling her into his rather well-defined chest. "Are you really OK with everything?"

"Everything?" She tilted her head.

"Me. Blagmoor Castle. The Alphas. This little outing..." He said, staring at her intently. "The Dating Games, as Blaze and Blaine would call them."

"I suppose... I mean, I did see myself getting kidnapped, so I was prepared for that much..." She shrugged. "I'm not gonna roll over and let you mark me, just like that, though." She snapped her fingers. "You'll have to win my heart first, little mate."

"Little...?" He smirked. "Pookie Bear, if there's one thing I'm not, it's little." His lips brushed her ear. "You should've felt that for yourself..." He said, glancing down at his pants.

"Hmmm." Juniper followed his gaze, smiling devilishly. "Maybe I should check again...?"

"Be my guest, Pookie. Be my guest." He said, his brown eyes twinkling with mischief. "But we should probably go somewhere more private..."

"The top of the mountain would do, wouldn't it?"

"Somewhere along the way would be fine." Black said, pulling her up the trail, twirling her around under his arm before they began their long trek up the scenic route of the mountain.

Following the trail proved to be fairly easy for the pair of them, seeing as they were both in peak physical condition. They reached the half-way point with little difficulty, the pair of them sitting down on the well positioned benches overlooking the city. Mount Blagmoor wasn't incredibly tall, but the view was still spectacular.

"Look." Black spoke between munches of his sandwich, pointing at the large grey stone castle still clearly visible, its thirteen turrets and towers of varying sizes, each connected to the main building of the castle by a mix of light and dark grey stone and hewn oak beams. Light reflected off some of the humongous glass windows overlooking the expansive grounds that the Outer Wall enclosed.

"That wouldn't be very helpful if enemies attacked..." Juniper mumbled, staring at the large glass panels that basically formed the walls underneath the slate roof.

"Oh, you mean the Bridge?"

"You call that thing the Bridge?!" Juniper blinked. "Have you named different parts of the castle or something... because that's kinda sad..."

"OK, Miss Defense Expert. I get it." He said, a smile still lighting up his face as they ate their lunch halfway up a mountain. "Wanna know where my room is in that lovely humongous castle I call home?"

"Why? You want me to come and visit?"

"Preferably at night... wearing considerably less than you are now..."

"Only in your dreams." Juniper scoffed. "But seriously... where is your room?"

"Third floor of the main building." He said, wearing a wide grin. "I'm opposite Rylan's room, overlooking the pool..."

"You have a pool?!" Her eyes lit up.

"Duh. Doesn't every castle?"

"No." Juniper said. "No, they don't."

"Is that another defence fault?" One blonde brow quirked.

"No." She said, handing her empty lunch box back to him.

"Besides..." Black said. "All us Alphas are strong enough to defend ourselves without the help of that castle. The Alpha Trials proved that to us, and the public."

"The Alpha Trials, huh?" She mumbled, resting her head on her hand. "I've heard a lot about them, but I've never managed to get a hold of any of the tapes..."

"You're not missing out on much." He smiled, looking into the distance wistfully. "All that's on there is all of us completing various challenges to prove we're strong enough to lead the Pack. There's a reason people respect us – and it all began with the footage on those tapes and discs... I'm fairly sure we have a copy back at the castle. You can watch it later, if you really want, but it's not incredibly interesting... Rylan's trials – the Alpha King Trials – were probably the hardest out of everyone's... In fact, Blythe and Leopold's narration of the whole thing is probably why most people watched it."

"Meh." Juniper stood, stretching out her oddly stiff limbs.

"You ready to continue?" He asked, smiling invitingly at her.

"Let's climb this thing." She muttered, looking less enthusiastic about the whole ordeal. "I can't wait to have a nice warm bath after we get back..."

Black was at her side in seconds. "Do I have an invitation to that?"

Juniper winked. "I'll send you one on Furbook."

-----

ILLENIS HERE

Yes. They have a version of facebook in a fantasy world where technology actually exists.

Yes. They are about to climb a mountain.

Yes. I am draining my inner sarcasm reserves to write this.

You might see a few phrases from the internet in this book, purely because I used them to help me keep up the levels of sarcasm.

Oh, and I've been meaning to say this for a while, but  @JasmineVoosen thank you so much for all your support on my books so far. It means a lot.

:)

Until the next chapter.

-----