Chapter 70: Chapter 70

The past few days I have learned so much about myself. I was sitting outside at a small table drinking coffee, reflecting on the last few months. I was a scared, heartbroken “human” who had no hope. I was thought of being wolfless, but in reality, I was not only a Lycan but a Royal Lycan. I went from being a rejected wolfless human wanting to end it all to one of the most powerful people in our world. I was a Queen with hidden talents, blessed beyond belief from our Moon Goddess. My cousin, Miranda, would also be powerful if she accepted Brent and became a Lycan. She would be strong and powerful.

I sipped my coffee, listening to the birds, mentally preparing myself for today. Today was the trial of Dexter. He was guilty, we all knew it, and the voting on his sentence would be a landslide verdict. He would be put to death. He would answer for all the crimes he committed. I closed my eyes as I felt tears beginning to sting the back of my eyes and I took a deep breath. Images flashed through my mind of the famines affected by his actions.

I opened my eyes as a single tear ran down my cheek. He left a trail of destruction from his territory to ours. He recruited on threats and most of his men flipped on him once help arrived for them. The ones who didn’t were already dealt with. I sighed and finished my coffee, standing and turned to walk inside. I slid the door open and was met by Everest, who seemed to be brooding.

“Morning.” I looked up at him as he was blocking my entrance inside.

“Morning. What are you doing?” He looked down at me with a brow raised.

“Having my coffee in silence.” What was with him? He was acting strange.

“Ah, I see.” He stepped forward and with his motions made me step back. He closed the door behind him and moved in my direction again.

I don’t know why and I couldn’t explain it but something felt off. Something didn’t seem right. I sniffed the air and couldn’t get a scent.

Was he hiding his scent? Why would he hide his scent? Was he not wanting to have his scent spread considering we would be in around a large crowd of people soon with the trial going on?

“You seem, well, nervous.” He told me as he smiled down at me.

“You are acting weird. Not yourself. Are you okay?” I frowned up at him.

He simply nodded his head. “You should go get yourself ready.”

He turned and walked away. I dipped into his mind as I followed him back inside.

Red flag, red flag, red flag! I don’t know who this is, but it wasn’t Everest.

Charlotte shifted immediately and lunged at him. He was quick and turned, knowing he would have been caught. With a flick of his wrist he used magic and froze me in mid air. I linked everyone I could to warn them of the impending danger; Everest, Jameson, Ted, Amber, Claire and Josh.

“Send help. Danger. Magical beings who can shift to appear like others. Trust no one, unless they say our code word knockout roses. But only then should we do this by linking one another, so they do not catch on to our quick plan.”

I felt heat radiate through me, anger driving my magic now. I looked at his face. That handsome face which was contorted into hatred as he glared up at me. I felt the tingling sensation in my muscles as the magic in me began to surface. I let out an ear-piercing scream. A burst of magic left my body, riding the frozen spell that had a hold on me. Blasting into the person who was impersonating my love. He went flying back and I used this moment to attack him.

When he flew back, he crashed into the wall. His body slid down and he sat there, still and unmoving. I took a step towards him. He was still breathing. Charlotte leaned down and picked him up by his throat, digging our claws into his throat as b***d began draining out from where our claws had punctured him. She slammed him back into the wall with a growl as he coughed and pulled at the arm that was holding him up. Slowly the magic he had used began lifting and his true features began to show through.

He was a young man, with jet black hair and pale skin, his eyes were as black as his hair, and he had an evil grin on his face. “It is true then. You are the all magical being. You belong to us, your power is our power. They know you are here, there is nothing you can do now. They can see through my eyes. They’re watching you now. I may or may not be the only one that has been watching you all,” he said to me.

Miranda walked around to the corner and stood looking at him. “Gerald?” She looked like she was in disbelief.

“It is me, you lycan loving traitor.” He spit in her direction. “Don’t worry, these oversized mutts will soon be…”

Charlotte lifted him from the wall and slammed him back into it. Something cracked and he let out a painful scream. Charlotte’s hands went to either side of his neck and twisted it. Snapping the life from him before he could say anything else. She dropped him to the ground and we shifted back to my human form. I looked over to Miranda and she looked at me. She seemed horrified at what she had just witnessed. If it was finding this Gerald character or me murdering him, I would never know.

“They know.” She looked at me and I nodded my head at her.

“Yes, they do.” I told her.

“Dexter,” She said, and our eyes went wide. Did they let him escape?

We rushed downstairs and, and thankfully, he was still locked away in his cell. He was laughing uncontrollably. It was creepy. It wasn’t a normal laugh but a weird, wicked laugh. He was also rocking back and forth. Something was going on, something had happened.

“You know, you know. You know what I know. You have seen what I have seen. They know you know. We are the ones.” He kept repeating. Everest and Brent joined us finally and we all exchanged knowing looks at one another.

“Could this be the work of the witches council?” I looked at Miranda and she shrugged.

“I don’t really know, I mean it could be?” She turned to watch Dexter.

Everest looked at Brent. “He has a trial today.”

Brent nodded his head. “That he does. He could be faking it.”

“But how would he fake it? Unless Gerald came down here and messed with him?” I looked back at them and they exchanged looks again.

“On duty warriors!” Everest yelled loudly.

The warriors came in and bowed down to all of us.

“Who has been in here today?” He questioned them.

They stood tall and looked confused. “Only you, your grace.”

“Are you sure?” He questioned them again.

“Yes, your grace.” The other warrior spoke and they nodded their heads.

“Thank you, you are both dismissed.” They walked away to stand back at their post.

“So Gerald was in here, impersonating you then.” I asked and Everest nodded his head.

“So what does this mean?” Miranda asked.

“We need to get back to our territory as soon as possible. We will fly back after the trial tonight. It will be faster this way. We then will need to make our preparations for you becoming Queen. Well, I mean if you still want to be my Queen? You will need to have my mark, which then means you will turn into a Lycan,” Brent told Miranda and she nodded slowly.

“I still want to be your Queen. I still want to wear your mark. I want to be with you.” She looked at him and smiled. He returned the smile to her.

It made my heart happy and sad all at the same time. She was going to make an awesome Queen. I was just sad that she would be leaving. Miranda may be my cousin, but over these last two weeks she has grown to be a close friend and sister. She has helped me through my growing process and I would forever be thankful for all she has done for me. It would be up to me to gather my strength and work on my magical abilities through the elements.

With the news, Everest linked us to meet in the extended private conference room of his office. We were instructed to act normally as we walked down the hallways back into the castle. When we passed people, we smiled and nodded our heads as they bowed to us. When we entered Everest’s office and the door was completely closed, Miranda spoke out first “What the hell are we going to do?”

I didn’t know the answer to her question and was at a complete loss. We looked over to our mates as they exchanged glances with one another. Everyone’s energy seemed to be anxious and panicked.

“Okay, everyone. We all just need to breathe, calm down and breathe.” I told them all and in unison they all inhaled and exhaled a calming breath slowly. “Okay, now that that’s done, let’s come up with a plan. We obviously need to ready our troops again. We can’t do this until you two are both back in your Kingdom. It is time to raise the banners. We need the same ones, obviously. Let’s come up with a design that we all can agree on. Then we can go from there. All we need is a Lycan symbol and the colors. I can send it in and it can be done within the next week. I will have it shipped to you guys.”

“Okay, what colors then?” Miranda looked at me, then back at the guys.

“Blue and orange,” Everest said, and he got weird looks from all of us.

“Blue and orange? Really?” Brent said with a questionable brow raise.

“I like the colors?” He frowned.

“I think we should do red, black, and silver,” I said, and they all pondered for a moment.

“What about black, red, and gold?” Brent suggested.

“I like it,” Everest said.

“Me too.” I agreed.

“Seems like a strong and powerful choice.” Miranda agreed with everyone.

Everest leaned over and hit a button that buzzed.

“Yes, Your Grace?” a female voice answered at the other end.

“Would you mind grabbing our banner designer. We are going to be changing our banners.” He sounded calm and collective.

“Right away, Your Grace.” Clicking sound as the connection was cut off.

A few minutes later, the door opened to the room and in walked our designer for all things kingdom related. He had a pad of paper in his hand and a box of different pencils. He bowed to us before sitting his things out on the table.

“My King, my Queen,” he said to us both.

We all watched curiously as he began to draw the outline of how our banners appeared on the large pad. He looked back up at us. “A change in the banner?” He peered over the top of his black square framed glasses at us.

“Yes, we need there to be two Lycans to appear as they are joining forces together.” Everest looked up at him. He glanced at us all, wanting to ask why they were joining forces, but he only nodded his head and began drawing.

When he was finished, there were two Lycans standing together. It was obvious that the two Lycans were of Everest and Brent’s beasts. It was beautifully drawn and will be beautifully displayed when we join our forces, front and v of our line.

“What colors have you chosen?” He looked at Everest.

“We have chosen the colors red, black, and gold.” He told him.

“Very bold colors. I like it.” He pulled the colors out and began coloring in and shading the colors. It took him around an hour and a half to do the detailed work. When he was done, it was perfect. Red and black with the trimming of gold around the lycans.

“This is perfect, thank you very much.” Everest told him and he bowed his head in thanks.0

“Thank you, My King. It is always a pleasure to do any work for our kingdoms.” He spoke to us all and none of us corrected him.

“If you do not mind, could we please make sure that this is done within the week. Double the order and send half of the Southern Kingdom to King Brent and future Queen Miranda?” I looked at him and he bowed his head down.

“Of course. We will have the order done and shipped out in a few days.” He told us.

“Thank you for your hard work and your dedication.” I told him as he gathered his things up.

“It is my greatest pleasure.” He left the room and we all sat down with a breath.

“So now what?” I looked at the guys.

Everest looked back at me and Brent said “Now we are going to the trial and then we will go home. We will be in strict communication with one another over the next few weeks. We will train and work with our members and warriors together in intensive training. The witches council is in the southern part of our territory. They obviously know that we know, but how much they really know is unknown.” He sighed.

“Okay. The trial is still two hours away. We are going to grab lunch and we will see you later.” Everest told them both.

“We will see you there,” Brent told us.

“So you have officially decided to attend?” Miranda looked up at him.

“I have. He may be my brother, but he is a monster and I want him to be held in the highest contempt. What better way to show the people they have my support than testify against his crimes myself?” He looked down at Miranda and smiled at her. He leaned to her and placed a k**s on the top of her head.

“As long as you are comfortable with it, I will be here for you throughout the entire trial.” She leaned into him as his arm was wrapped around her.

“In any matter we fully understand, regardless of what you choose,” I offered, and he nodded.

“Thank you Queen Avalynn, you are very kind and understanding,” Brent said, turning to Miranda and leaving the room with her.

The trail was in a few hours and we grabbed our late lunch and went to get ourselves ready. It was going to be hard to contain my emotions and not let them get away from me. He deserves everything he has coming to him today.