“Alarick everything is going to be okay. He is like her little brother.” Garret says from behind me. I spin around and glare at him.
“You knew?! You knew all this time and didn’t say anything, didn’t you?” I yell at him. He looked down and that was my answer. He knew and didn’t say anything to me. I grab him by his throat and push him against the wall. Onin pushes forward with his own line of questioning.
“You knew she was my mate! You hid her from me!” He yells and starts to squeeze. Garret is struggling to breathe, but tries to talk anyway.
“I knew she was the shadow, not that she was your mate.” He says and Onin drops him satisfied with the answer, but I was not. He lied to me about the shadow, about her. Before I could start my rampage on the others I smelled her scent. I see a hospital bed with machines being pushed with her. They take her into a room and I try to follow, feeling the need to see her, to touch her, to know that she is alright. Before I could enter the doctor steps in my way and I let out a low growl.
“Your majesty. Luna LeeAca will be fine, but she has been through a lot. The dagger she was stabbed with was silver, and coated in wolfsbane. By all accounts, she should have been dead the moment the knife was fully inserted.” The older doctor said to me, I freeze. Silver? Wolfsbane? That is prohibited in the challenges. How did that woman get both past the guards? Unless her grandfather had something to do with it. I feel my anger start to boil and the doctor takes a step back and bows her head to me. I am letting out my aura and I don’t care. I turn around and walk out the hospital doors, looking for one person in particular. My conflicting emotions putting me even more on edge with the need to kill.
Alarick’s POV
I ran to the meeting room and sure enough I found all of the council members there. Bingly is screaming about getting justice for the murder of his granddaughter. Onin lets out a loud roar that shuts everybody in the room up. I see Bingly with a small smile on his face when he sees me. He knows what he did which enrages me further. I go up to him and pick him up by the throat, and start to squeeze. All the elders erupt in yells, but I don’t listen.
“YOU DARE TALK ABOUT JUSTICE WHEN YOU ALLOWED YOUR GRANDDAUGHTER TO USE SILVER AND WOLFSBANE?!! MY MATE IS IN THE HOSPITAL NOW FIGHTING FOR HER LIFE!” I scream and throw him across the room.
“Mate? She hardly won the challenge if she is in the hospital. Plus it isn’t like that monster should be allowed to live, let alone be our queen.” Bingly said in a sneer while standing up and coughing. Onin lets out another roar.
“SHE IS MY MATE! YOU WILL NOT TALK ABOUT HER THAT WAY!” I yell and Bingly looks confused. One of the other Elders speaks up.
“King Alarick. Why did you not say anything before about her being your second chance? The challenge would not have even been in the cards. Her rightful place would be next to you on the throne, no challenge necessary.” Elder Chadrick says calmly. This calms me down a little, but then irritates me more.
“Because I didn’t know she was my mate until the challenge. She was hiding it from me.” I say and they all look confused and shocked.
“Whether she is your mate or not, which seems rather convenient now, we still need to deal with the fact that she has murdered hundreds, if not thousands of people.” Bingly sneered again and I growl, but I know deep down that he is right. LeeAca is the shadow. The monster that I have been hunting down for years, but could never seem to catch. The one that would keep me up at night wondering where it would strike next. Before my thoughts spiral and any conversation continues, one of the Elders, who never says much speaks up.
“Before we talk about that. We need to talk about what YOU did, Elder Bingly.” Elder Janessa says and Bingly looks confused, as well as the others. Elder Janessa is a special wolf. She has the ability to see things in the past, present, and future. She was an Omega but once word got out about her gift she was trained to be an Elder. She lived a good life with her mate, who died 10 years ago. After which she started her duty as an Elder, even though she is only 60. She is the youngest of the elders.
“What do you mean what I did? I haven’t done anything.” Bingly scoffs and Janessa just shakes her head.
“Before the match even started you gave a silver dagger and wolfsbane to Alyssa. I saw it. That is the reason you wished to be the spokesperson for today. To give you an alibi. You forget, Bingly, I may be younger than you, but I have seen more than you can even fathom. You will be removed from the council and demoted to Omega. You may keep your house and anything that is in your name, but your businesses will be passed to your children and if they decide to help take care of you then they shall, but if not, you are on your own. Now Leave this instant before I let the King kill you.” She says without seeking a vote from the others. Normally there is a meeting and a vote about this sort of thing. This is the first time that Janessa has done anything like this, that any of the elders have done anything like this.
“You can’t do this. There needs to be a vote! And a meeting about punishment, not just you delivering it. Your word is not law. Breaking the rules was the price to pay to solidify my rank” He says and some of the elders are taken aback, he just indirectly admitted to doing it. Bingly’s eyes widen as he realized what he just did. Janessa smirks, then looks around the room to everybody.
“All in favor of the punishment I have spoken, raise your hand and say I.” She says and everybody raises their hand and says I. That’s why she did it. To get him to admit that he did give his granddaughter the silver and wolfsbane. His anger rises and he begins yelling at everybody.
“I HAVE BEEN SERVING THIS COUNCIL FOR 30 YEARS AND YOU TAKE THIS B*TCHES WORD AGAINST MINE!” Two guards come in and look to me. I nod my head to signal for them to remove him.
“Take him to the dungeons to await the stripping of his title.” Elder Chaderick says and the two guards nod their heads. Bingly is still screaming as they drag him out the door. Once the door is closed Elder Franklin looks to Elder Janessa.
“I would have given him a harsher punishment.” He says to her. She smiles a little.
“Trust me when I say that that punishment will be harsher than killing him. And the demotion of rank is more painful than any person thinks it is.” She says and everyone nods their heads in understanding. She knows and sees more than we could ever know.
“Now onto the matter of your mate.” Elder Chaderick states and he motions for me to sit, indicating that this will take a while. Dred fills me as I take a seat.
Lucas’s POV
I am pacing back and forth in the waiting area. When King ALarick comes bursting through the doors. I feel his anger and anguish and freeze when his eyes land on me and I hear a growl. The look in his eyes tells me that he is going to kill me.
“Alarick everything is going to be okay. He is like her little brother.” I hear Gamma Garret defend from behind the King and the King whips around and grabs the Gamma’s throat, pushing him up against the wall. I freeze not knowing what to do.
After a few words have been said King Alarick leaves and the doctor is still standing in the hallway. She turns to me and walks closer, lowering her voice so that only I can hear.
“What you told us to do is working. Did she say anything else?” She asks and I shake my head.
“Her body is littered with scars indicating that she has been through a lot. Do you know what happened? It will better assist me in taking care of her.” The doctor says and I can feel her worry and pity for LeeAca.
“Yes I know. But it is not my place to share her information. She is doing better, so you do not need the information. I trust that you and your staff that have seen her will not share any of what you have seen.” I say sternly and give her a look. I can feel her irritation, but don’t care.
“Of course not! We are not in the business of gossip.” She scoffs then turns around to leave. I grab her arm gently and she turns back around to face me.
“My apologies. I just needed to ensure that her well being is safe. That includes what she may have been through. I do have to ask though, is she in a hospital gown?” I ask and the doctor looks at me in confusion.
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