Fangless: The Alpha's Vampire Mate-Chapter 293: The Perfect Plan That Fails

No matter how much Roderick argued, pleaded, or probably considered poisoning Kaan out and locking him up in the dungeon, it didn’t matter. He had his reasons, and in his mind, they were perfectly logical—whatever ’logical’ meant in Kaan’s world.

Then came the smile. Kaan clasped his hands together, looking at Roderick with an expression that sent a shiver down his spine. Roderick had served him long enough to recognize all of Kaan’s smiles, and this one wasn’t relief, nor was it joy.

No, this was pity. The kind of pity you’d give a baby chick proudly declaring it was going to move a mountain. A deep, tragic, oh-you-poor-thing kind of pity.

"You will leave tomorrow. Be ready before sunset," Kaan ordered, his tone leaving no room for debate. "It’s cloudy here anyway—if the sun doesn’t make an appearance, we might even leave earlier."

Roderick, however, was not about to give up that easily. He had a plan. A brilliant plan. What if he just... casually appeared in the carriage? Kaan wouldn’t actually throw him out, would he?

Or better yet, what if everyone just assumed he was part of the entourage? By the time Kaan appeared, the group heading towards Asvaldur would already be too far for Roderick to catch up.

And then, he would have no choice but to ride in Kaan’s carriage. There would be no other option but to go with Kaan to wherever he was heading. It wouldn’t be his choice, and there would be plenty of time to nag Kaan into submission.

It was genius. Flawless. Except for one small problem.

Kaan knew him too well. Roderick was about as subtle as a fireworks display in a library. Every thought, every half-baked scheme was plastered across his face in real-time. He had all the poker skills of a man holding a hand of five aces while sweating profusely. Kaan had seen it all before.

After a nice, solid day of beauty sleep, Roderick woke up, refreshed and fully prepared to execute his master plan. Everything was in place. It was time.

And then—

"What did you just say?" His eyes widened so much they nearly popped out of their sockets.

"His Majesty left after sunrise," a knight answered, completely unbothered. He had no idea why Roderick looked like he’d just witnessed the end of the world.

But of course, he wouldn’t know—he wasn’t privy to Kaan’s psychotic tendencies, nor did he have any clue about Roderick’s behind-the-scenes efforts to keep said psychotic tendencies in check.

"After sunrise..." Roderick exhaled, staring into the void. Unbelievable.

Kaan had outmaneuvered him. Just... vanished while Roderick was still drooling into his pillow. How had he not seen this coming? Why had it never crossed his mind that Kaan might ditch him first? Why had he been so sure he’d be the one leaving first?

Well. It didn’t matter now. Kaan had gone to the Zacharia castle alone. And, as you all already knew, he handled his business alone.

And oh, how he loved solo missions. No one to nag him. No one to slow him down. Just him and Thessara—his dream team of two highly questionable individuals, unburdened by pesky things like morality or witnesses.

While Roderick was back home spiraling into an abyss of worry, pacing holes into the floor and mentally drafting Kaan’s public speech for an apology just in case, the emperor himself was having an absolutely fantastic time.

Honestly, Roderick wouldn’t have completely opposed the idea of killing werewolves. He wasn’t a saint. But he would have insisted on a proper reason.

Because vampires, despite their dramatic tendencies, liked to think of themselves as rational, logical beings. Sure, they despised werewolves, but wiping out an entire werewolf mercenary family required some level of justification. A flimsy excuse. A memo, at least.

But, lucky for Kaan, Roderick wasn’t here.

Which meant he didn’t have to listen to any of that moral high ground nonsense. And as long as he covered his tracks, Roderick would never know what had gone down at Zacharia castle.

Because it was burned to ashes. There was no one left to complain about it.

Before he completely wiped out everyone, though, he managed to discover where that beast had taken Riona. He went to Wintertooth, only to find it in the same state the Zacharia castle was in. The forest surrounding the village was burned down completely.

Before he could finish his latest mass extermination project, Kaan managed to squeeze out one vital piece of information—where that flea-ridden mutt had taken Riona.

So, naturally, he headed straight for Wintertooth, expecting to finally get what he came for.

Except... surprise! Wintertooth was also a smoldering ruin. The entire village looked like it had been through the world’s angriest bonfire, and the once-thriving forest was torched. Not a single tree left standing.

Kaan saw red. Again.

Once again, the universe had personally conspired against him. Another opportunity, gone. Another lead, snatched before his hungry fangs. He clenched his fists so hard he nearly shattered his own bones.

He did the only reasonable thing—he punched the ground with all the force of a tantrum-throwing god. His vampiric aura exploded outward, sending a shockwave so powerful it rocked the ocean.

A massive wave rippled across the water, and birds, who had absolutely nothing to do with this mess, shrieked in terror and scattered like they’d just received a death sentence. frёewebηovel.cѳm

Not that Kaan cared.

But there was nothing left for him here—no one to threaten, no buildings to dramatically destroy, no werewolves to rip apart. No Blood Moon power to hijak.

So, still furious, still grumbling murder under his breath, he had no choice but to storm back to Asvaldur, the picture of a man one minor inconvenience away from committing war crimes.

"Your Majesty!"

Roderick bolted across the courtyard, because—of course—the emperor had decided to grace them with his presence completely unannounced. No letters. No updates. Not even a vague Hey, I’ll be back soon—try not to die of stress while I’m gone. Nothing.

It had been weeks of absolute silence, during which Roderick had repeatedly assured himself, No news is good news... right? Wrong.

The moment the guards announced Kaan’s arrival, the entire palace erupted into pure panic. Servants scrambled like headless chickens, nobles scattered like cockroaches in torchlight, and Roderick? Roderick ran straight toward the disaster zone.

And oh, what a disaster it was.

The moment he laid eyes on Kaan, it was crystal clear—things had not gone well. His emperor was seething. Radiating pure, barely contained murder.

Roderick didn’t know what exactly had happened on his brilliant solo adventure, but if history had taught him anything, it was this: when Kaan was in a bad mood, Roderick had to fix it.

Or at the very least, try. Because, frankly, he was very attached to living.