CHAPTER 13

I was sitting in Nick's office with him, both of us engrossed with paperwork, mine concerned with the kingdom while his concerned the pack. It's been two months since we came. The Shadow wolves have improved and are way better than when we came. They could now fight almost as well as any member of the royal guard, some even better and it seemed that since we came, there have been little to no attacks. And it unsettled me and put me on edge a bit. A knock on the door brought me out of my thoughts.

"Come in." Nick said. I looked up to see Ezra, the head warrior's brother, entering.

"Your Majesty, Alpha." Ezra greeted.

"Ezra, aren't you supposed to be on patrol duty right now?" Nick asked.

"Not really. My shift just ended but before I left my post, we encountered a problem at the border. 3 rogues showed up and attacked us but we managed to subdue them. They however aren't responding to any of our questions. They said they will only speak to you and Her Majesty." Ezra informed us.

"So where are these rogues now?" Nick asked.

"They're in the cells now, Alpha."

"Alright, thank you, Ezra. We'll head down there now. You may go." Nick dismissed. The young wolf bowed then left the office.

"This is strange." I muttered almost inaudibly but Nick heard me.

"Kiara, what's wrong?"

"It's just.... Since we arrived there has not been a single attack and just as we are nearing the completion of the whole helping you out thing, this happens. Don't you think it's odd?"

"True. Well, at least now we can find out what's really going on." We both stood up and headed to the cells where they were keeping the rogues they had captured. It turned out the rogues who had been captured were three girls. I couldn't help but notice the similarities between one of them and two people in the pack. I eyed them suspiciously as Nick and I took our seats in front of them. "Ah, Your Majesty, Alpha Mendez. Lovely to see you both." One of the girls said with a sly smile.

"Who are you? What are you names?" Nick asked.

"Well, my name is Camille. These are my partners, Miranda and Samantha." The oldest of the three answered.

"What do you want? Why did you attack my men at the border?" Nick asked.

"We came to deliver and a message to Her Majesty from our leader. We heard she was in town." The girl next to Camille, Miranda said.

"And what is this message you bear?" Nick said. I still hadn't spoken. I was silently gauging them. What Camille said next almost made me lose control of my anger.

"Now I hope you don't dismember the messengers. This is what he said. You will die like your parents did when I ripped their hearts out. Enjoy what little time of happiness you can because, after the next full moon, you and your sisters will join your parents so I can claim what's rightfully mine. Think of it as retribution for being cheated out of my birthright by your wretched father." I forced all my emotions back and maintained a blank face.

"What does that mean?" Nick asked her.

"Oh don't worry, Alpha Mendez. The queen knows what it means." Samantha said as she and her partners smirked evilly.

"Who is your leader? Tell me!" Nick slammed his hand on the table in frustration. The girls just kept on smiling maniacally without flinching.

"Well, that's for us to know and for you to find out when he decides to make an appearance." Camille said.

"So I suppose you were supposed to report back to whoever your leader is to assure him that his message has been delivered and received, right?" I asked in a deadly calm tone.

"That is very right, Your Majesty. I guess this is the point where you release either one of us or all of us so we can deliver a message of yours to him." Camille said cockily with a smug smile on her lips. I smirked as well which confused the 3 rogues.

"Mmmm.... Now why would we do that when he's been listening in on our conversation through that listening device and camera installed in your dresses? (The smug smiles and smirks on their faces suddenly dropped and the color drained out of their faces.) You girls are looking a little pale there. Do you need something to drink?"

"How did you know?" Miranda asked, getting scared now.

"Oh honey, I wasn't born yesterday. I studied in the military and secret service when I was young. I know how to spot things like that. I also noticed that there's an invisible earpiece in your ear through which you heard the message which you relayed to me. I could hear the voice of the person and I can still hear the person asking you what is going on since he cannot hear or see what is going on now anymore because I disrupted listening device and camera. You see that's what happens when you go into a mission blindly without all the facts. Now you're at our mercy and you will continue to be at our mercy and subjected to series of torture unless you co-operate with the guards and Alpha Mendez by answering their questions beautifully. Now let me tell you how this is gonna work. The chairs you're sitting so comfortably in right now as well as the clamps which are holding you down, are all connected to a directed unfiltered source of electricity. You may be immune or indifferent to filtered safe electricity but you aren't when it comes to the pure raw form which by the way could kill you. Every time you refuse to give an answer to a question or you lie, no matter who lied or who isn't answering, you'll all be shocked. So get ready, because tonight is going to be one hell of a night for you. (I stood up then and looked to the wolves behind me and at Nick.) Have fun boys." I left then.

"So are you gonna tell me what that rogue meant in there?" (I heard Nick say from behind as he entered the pack house gym where I was mercilessly hitting a punching bag with excessive strength.) Kiara, will you please stop and talk to me? What did she mean?" I stopped punching the bag and held onto it for a minute.

"It's nothing, Nick."

"Oh please, don't give me that. If it was really nothing, you wouldn't be hear letting out all your anger on that poor punching bag which I'm surprised hasn't split or burst yet with the force and strength you were hitting it with." I scoffed and took a swig of water from my bottle.

"Nick, I'm telling you, it's..."

"Kiara, we have a problem. We need to go back home now." I turned my head to the entrance to see Kara walking in with a worried expression.

"Why? What's wrong?" I asked when she got to where Nick and I stood.

"It's Eliara. Auriana called and said she was attacked and injected with something which is killing her by the minute. Auriana and the girls need our energies to help them so they can see what's wrong and heal her. Elissa and Carissa are already here to teleport us home." Kara said.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go. Eliara needs us."

"Hold on, will you come back?" Nick asked grabbing my hand as I was about to walk away.

"I don't know, Nick. But we still have to go help Eliara. She's family." I replied.

"Ok. Stay safe." He cautioned.

"Always." He gave me a kiss on the forehead before letting me go. Kara and I then ran to the house where Carissa, Elissa and Korra were all waiting for us. Elissa then snapped her hand immediately teleporting us to the infirmary in the castle. We saw Auriana by Eliara, who was sweating profusely and wincing every now and then. Auriana looked at us and sighed in relief.

"Good, you're here. Let's begin the poison is spreading. She's getting weaker." We formed a circle around the bed Eliara was on, holding hands before Auriana, Ellie and Rissa started chanting. Eliara soon began convulsing before finally shooting up awake and spitting something greyish on the floor. We all backed up breaking the circle till she was done puking whatever the greyish substance was. I grabbed a syringe and drew a bit of it to see what it was.

"Is that what is think it is?" Korra asked.

"What? What is it?" Ellie asked.

"Argentium. Liquidized silver." Auriana replied.

"That's not all there is. I can smell wolf lichen and wolfsbane in it too." I said.

"Oh my God, were they trying to kill Eliara?" Kara asked.

"I'm not too sure about that, in fact, I think they just wanted to weaken her body." Carissa said.

"Why do you say that?" Kara asked. I set the syringe down on a bedside table.

"All three substances in this syringe when used individually would normally weaken or kill any wolf except we royals of course who can't be affected by wolfsbane. But most times the effects of argentium can be slowed down by wolfsbane and wolf lichen." I explained.

"So what you're saying is whoever injected me wasn't trying to kill as Rissa said. They just wanted to weaken me." Eliara said in a weak, tired voice.

"Yes, but that's not the confusing part. What's confusing is that the dosage they gave you wasn't that much. It's like they knew you could be saved if they gave you that amount. Like they knew we had three powerful witches who could draw on the strength of the Royals to heal you." Auriana said.

"I think there's a mole here in the castle. We have to find the person fast." Kara said. We all nodded in agreement.

"Something still doesn't add up. Why inject Eliara with a poison whose effects have been somewhat lessened and with a low dosage if they knew we could save her and help her get her strength back?" My eyes widened in realization.

"Because it's all a distraction. They just wanted us away from the Shadow pack. The pack is on high alert because they wouldn't want it heard that the Queen and her family were hurt while they were in their pack. They knew we'd come home immediately we heard that Eliara is in trouble. She wasn't the target, the Shadow pack was. They just wanted us away. Kara, Korra, you need to get back there now. Ellie, Rissa you need to teleport them there now." I ordered.

"Wait, aren't you coming?" Korra said.

"I'll come later. There's something I have to discuss with Auriana first." They nodded and went off.

"Why don't you go shower and change? I'll meet you in your office so we can talk." Auriana suggested.

"Ok." I nodded.