Chapter 75: 76: The Prisoner’s Fate

VIVIAN

I insert a claw into the keyhole and jiggle it until I hear a satisfying click.

I release the lock, then push the heavy metal door open.

It’s almost pitch dark inside, the only light coming from the two pinpricks of dazzling light—Xavier’s eyes.

My eyes slowly adjust, and I see his arms are bound together with silver manacles, leaving burn marks around his wrists.

As I enter the cell, he takes a step back. “What are you doing?”

My father’s words reverberate in my head.

~Use your claws. Tear his throat out.~

I can feel my wolf wanting to come out. Wanting to prove itself.

~Wanting his blood.~

But the more I listen to the growling wolf, I realize…

My wolf is telling me NOT to do it.

She’s fighting with my father’s voice. Growling and scratching, attempting to drown him out.

She’s trying to keep me from making a mistake.

I have to act quickly. The more time I stay here, the more likely I will be caught.

I could finish the job right now and sink my claws into his neck…

But my wolf anchors me.

~I can’t do it.~

“You need to go, run, hide…”

Xavier smirks. It’s clearly not his style.

I take a step toward him to undo his chains.

“You’ll need the key,” he says. “There’s silver inside that keeps us from changing.”

“Not a problem for me,” I say.

My father, in his infinite wisdom, at least told me I had a few benefits of being partly human.

While I have the wolf’s heightened abilities of sight, scent, and sound, I’m not affected by their aversion to silver or wolfsbane.

I insert a claw again, and one of the shackles springs open.

Xavier gives me a puzzled look. “Who are you? Why are you letting me go? I don’t even know you…”

I insert a claw into the lock on his other hand and try to get the rusty inner mechanism to turn. “You don’t know me, but you do know my father…”

He looks more confused than ever.

“He wants you dead. I should kill you. But I won’t.”

“Why not?”

“I’m not a killer.”

Xavier laughs. “Anyone can be a killer.”

I ignore his remark. “You have to disappear. If Alex doesn’t find you, my father certainly will.”

“Why does he want me dead?”

“He considers you a loose end. You know too much about his ‘friends’…the Hunters.”

Xavier’s eyes light up in understanding. He must know who my father is. And he must know the flow of information he’s trying to stem.

The second shackle springs open, and Xavier is free.

I check that the guard hasn’t returned yet before he steps out of his cell.

“All right,” I say. “Go.”

Without another word, Xavier pushes past me.

I watch the silhouette of his hulking figure disappear down the corridor. ~What have I done?~

I’m supposed to be negotiating a long-lasting peace between humans and werewolves. How does sowing chaos work toward that goal?

ARIEL

I wake up, back in my bed, to the feeling of Alex kissing my neck. I snuggle closer to him as he tightens his arms around me.

Images of last night float through my memory.

The mating ceremony. The secret training room. The sex.

I sigh. ~It was a perfect night.~

“You okay, babe?” Alex says. “What’re you thinking?”

“Just happy,” I say. “For Amy and Marius. For you and me.”

Alex makes space behind me so that he can turn me onto my back.

He looks me right in the eyes, propped up on his elbow next to me.

“You liked the surprise?” he says. “You didn’t think it was a dingy old war room?”

“It ~is~ a dingy old war room,” I say. “But, I love it.”

He grins.

“Nobody knows what I need like you.”

“You know what I need too,” he says. “Usually before I know it myself.”

“True,” I say. “And that’s why I gotta ask… How’re the negotiations going? It must be a lot of pressure. They’re a big deal.”

Alex exhales. “I don’t know.”

“What do you mean?”

“The treaty hasn’t fallen apart or anything,” he says. “But, I have to make concessions that I’m just not comfortable with…”

I raise my eyebrows as an indication for him to go on.

“The president wants to patrol our borders with his military. On both sides. He wants me to allow human troops on Royal Pack lands.”

I bristle at that but make an effort to remain collected. I know I’m not exactly unbiased when it comes to humans.

“I know this treaty was important to my father,” Alex says. “But I feel out of my depth. I don’t know what the right call is…”

“Alex,” I say, reaching out and running a hand along his jaw. “You are a strong king. This isn’t about what your father would do. This is about what you think is right. Trust your instincts.”

“I don’t know,” he says. “I don’t want them to occupy our land. But—”

“Then you don’t need them,” I say. “We have things under control here.”

There’s a rap on the door, and we’re yanked out of our conversation.

~It must be my family. They’re the only ones rude enough to knock so early in the morning…~

“We’re busy,” I say, raising my voice. “Whatever it is, you can tell us later.”

“How busy?” To my surprise, the voice on the other side of the door is Dom’s.

If he’s interrupting us this early, there must be important news. And it must be bad.

Alex stands up and hands me my robe.

“One second—” I say, fastening the tie around my waist. “Okay, come in!”

Dom opens the door, cautiously at first. He looks from Alex in his boxers to me in my robe and smirks. Then, as if remembering his urgent news, he begins.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but—well, there’s no easy way to say this—there’s been a security breach.”

“What type of security breach?” Alex says.

“The type from inside. The prisoner, Xavier, has escaped. There’s no sign of him. I’ve sent a message to General Dave, and he has a squad looking, but so far…nothing.”

A sudden memory flashes through my mind: Alex dismissing the guard from the dungeon so that we could enter the secret tunnel without giving its entrance away.

I look at him, and he has a grim expression on his face.

He reads my mind: “Yeah, it might have been then… But still, he’d have needed help getting out of his cell, not to mention his shackles.”

“There’s no way he could have done it himself?” I say. “While the guard was on a break?”

“No,” Alex says. “He was well secured. There was no way out without assistance. He had help from inside the palace last night.”

~An inside job. Someone has betrayed the kingdom.~

Dom exhales. “So our suspects are just the...hundreds of people in the palace last night.”

“Right. It must have been during the commotion of the mating ceremony,” Alex says. “It was the perfect distraction for someone to take advantage and spring him loose…”

ALEX

As touching as it is that Ariel believes in me, her faith is misplaced.

I most certainly don’t have things under control here. This is the very opposite of control.

A fugitive is on the loose, and it’s at least partly my fault.

Scratch that. I’m the alpha and the king—it’s entirely my fault.

It’s my job to keep my pack and kingdom safe, and I’ve failed.

The most dangerous criminal in the kingdom has escaped from right under my snout. And he was aided by someone on the inside.

~Possibly someone I trust...~

This is precisely why we need humans on our side. We need their military assistance, whether we like it or not.

~I can’t even look after my own fucking household.~

I turn to Dom. “We need to mobilize a larger search party. One squad won’t do. This is our top priority. There’s no telling who let him out or what their plans are…”

Dom nods. “I agree. We can’t forget. This is the culprit who poisoned the alphas. This is the werewolf who works with ~Hunters~.”

I’m glad we’re on the same page. “Exactly. We can’t be too careful.”

I need the president’s help too. I can’t deny that now.

Xavier’s escape is such a glaring example of my incompetence as a leader. I’m sure refusing military assistance now would make the humans think twice about signing a treaty with such a foolish king.

~I can’t let my ego get in the way.~

And yet...I can’t help it. A small part of me thinks about how weak this will make me look—not only to the humans but also to the entire werewolf kingdom.

I’ve let my mate’s psychopathic ex-mate escape from within these walls.

But as weak as my position is, it would be worse to do nothing. It would be worse not to accept help when it’s offered.

“I wish I knew who it was,” Dom says. “I’d like to give the traitor a piece of my mind...”

“I know who it is,” Ariel says. “I know exactly who did this.”

Without another word, she storms out of the royal suite, leaving the door swinging on its hinges.

~Oh, shit.~

I have a feeling I know where she’s going. I could tell by the look of rage on her face as she swept out of here in search of vengeance.

~This is going to be messy.~

I know she has an excellent reason to make this assumption, but is it only that—an educated guess? Or does she know something I don’t?

Dom raises an eyebrow at me as I hesitate.

I know it’s my job as the king, and as Ariel’s mate, to sort this out. But it’s the last thing I want to do right now.

I exhale, anticipating what’s about to come.

I follow my mate out of the room and down the hallway. Dom follows close behind me.

Ariel has already located the culprit before we make it down the hall and into the guest wing.

“Nataliaaa!” Ariel’s voice reverberates down the corridor. “Natalia! Get out here…”

The threat in her tone is palpable. I actually hear a growl at the end of her outburst.

~Ariel is ready to go on the warpath. She might kill Natalia if she loses control.~

As her sister calls her name, Natalia emerges from her bedroom looking as if she hasn’t slept a wink.

~Could it have been her?~

Xavi begins to cry from within her room, but she doesn’t turn around.

“What?” she says. “You’re waking the whole castle.”

Ariel’s eyes ignite with the fire of wolfish anger. “You. Set. Him. Free.”

Ariel charges forward, pushing Natalia back into the room.

Their bodies crash together as Natalia resists, but Ariel takes hold of her sister’s shoulders and throws her against the wooden bed frame.

Natalia pushes off from the frame and rushes at Ariel, slamming her into the wall so hard it leaves a mark.

Xavi’s crying intensifies at the display of violence.

I hear Dom take in a sharp breath as Ariel grabs Natalia by the hair and tosses her back into the hallway.

“Why did you do it Natalia?” Ariel screams.

I can see the animalistic fury building between the two of them.

There is silence as the she-wolves stare each other down, and then pandemonium breaks out.

Natalia roars, extends her claws, and leaps forward; Ariel does the same.

If I don’t stop this now, they’re going to tear each other apart.