CHAPTER 19

"I'm sorry. You want to do what?" Nick asked surprised.

"I don't just want to, I'm going to do it." Nick and I were in our room discussing my decision to release Gia, Garret and Miranda from our cells along with the other two rogues my uncle sent. We came back an hour ago and were currently sitting on the window seat in the room.

"Kiara..."

"Nick, nothing you say will change my mind. I have my reasons. You'll understand later. I'm gonna go change then go release them." I got up from his arms and walked into the closet to change. I went to leave the room when he took my hand and stopped me. I turned round to face him.

"Are you sure about this?"

"Yes, Nick. Very sure. I gotta go."

"Ok. Be careful." I kissed him then left for the cells. As I walked there, I could feel the presence of someone following me. I kept on walking but stayed alert till I got to the cells. I told the guards to bring the ones I wanted to see out.

I sat in the chair provided for me till they were brought in.

"What's going on? Why are you here?" Miranda asked.

"Take off their cuffs." I ordered.

"But Your Majesty..." One of the guards started to say.

"Now!" I said raising my voice.

"Of course, Your Majesty." The guards then did as I had ordered.

"Now leave us. I don't want anyone around. Leave to the pack house and come back in an hour. (The guards bowed then left. I waited till I couldn't feel their presence anymore then I turned to face the wolves in front of me.) Sit down." I gestured to the seats in front of me.

"Thank you. To what do we owe the pleasure?" Garret asked.

"You're all free to go." I informed them. They all looked at me in shock.

"What?!" They all asked.

"I didn't stutter, did I? You heard me."

"Why are you letting us go?" Camille asked

"Because neither of you belongs here. At least not you two." I said pointing to Samantha and Camille.

"What does that mean?" Samantha asked.

"It means you two don't belong to this pack only these three do, through their mother. But I don't think the pack will welcome them after all that they've done even if I put in a good word for them which I won't."

"Kiara..." Gia started to say.

"What have I said about calling me by my name? I told you once and I will tell you again, you three have lost the right to call me by my name. Only my family can call me by my name. You three lost the right to be called family when you decided to side with your father to attack this pack and kill my parents."

"Technically we had nothing to do with the death of your parents. That was all our father." Garret said.

"I don't care. Now before you go, I have a message for your father and leader. Tell him that I'm ready for him. That he will pay for killing my parents, for hurting Auriana and for deciding to touch this pack. Tell him that he shouldn't worry. I will make his death short and quick to spare him the suffering. That's the only mercy he'll receive from my sisters and I. Now I want you to leave this place. I know that you'll go back and join Richard because you have sworn your allegiance to him. But know this, I won't hesitate to end either of you if I see you on his side on the battlefield hurting any member of this pack. You have my word on that. Now get out of here. (The siblings looked at me with sad eyes and got up with the other two wolves then left the building. I got up after a few minutes then proceeded to leave. Just when I stepped out of the building, I got the feeling of being surrounded. I stopped in my steps and let my eyes survey the area around me. I made out the shapes of wolves hiding in the woods surrounding the building.) Why don't you guys come out here and show yourselves instead of hiding in the woods?" The wolves decided to come out of hiding and surrounded me. I quickly took in my surroundings and counted about 15 shifted wolves.

"Hello, Your Majesty." I turned around to the voice behind me. It was one of the wolves in his human form.

"Who are you and what are you doing in Shadow pack lands?" I asked calmly.

"You look calm for someone surrounded by 15 shifted rogue wolves. I think you know what we are here to do, Your Majesty." The wolf said.

"And why wouldn't I be calm? I don't see any threat. Now I'll ask one more time nicely. I won't be as nice next time I ask. Who are you and what are you doing here?"

"If you must know, my name is Glen Walker. I was sent here by my leader to bring you to him. You could come with us quietly so you don't get hurt." He said.

"Trying to take me out before the time he set himself. Now what would I expect from a manipulator like Richard? And why would I come with you quietly? If anyone's getting hurt it will be you all if you do not leave here now, while you still can."

"You think you can take us all on without backup?" He asked cockily.

"You think you pups can take me on without backup?" I asked back.

"We'll just have to see now won't we? Your guards won't be back for the next 30 minutes by which time we would be gone with you."

"Ok. Come and get me then." I smirked at them tauntingly. Glen signaled his group to start attacking before shifting into his wolf. I successfully dodged all their attacks while staying in my human form till one of the wolves scratched me on my stomach. I felt light-headed for a minute but I shook it off and switched to offense. Under five minutes, all the wolves were down unconscious with their chi blocked. I immediately stumbled away still weak from the scratch the wolf gave. I wondered why I wasn't healing. I managed to get to the front of the pack house before everything went black causing me to fall down on the lawn in front of the house.

Kara's P.O.V

Nick, Nicki, Korra, Alec Rae and I were all in the living room watching a movie when I caught the scent of blood. I bolted up from my position on the couch causing the others to look at me.

"Do you guys smell blood?" I asked standing.

"Yeah, I can smell blood? Where's it coming from?" Alec said.

"It smells familiar but I can't quite figure out whose blood it is." Nick said. I closed my eyes and concentrated on tying an identity to the blood. My eyes shot open when I realized whose blood it was. It seemed Korra had also figured it out since her expression matched mine.

"Oh no. Oh God, no." We both said rushing out of the living room toward the front door causing the others to call out to us confused. We stepped outside and found her sprawled on her side on the lawn in front of the house.

"Kiara." I exclaimed, running down the stairs with Korra to our sister's side. We rolled her to her back causing her to groan and we saw three claw mark gashes on her stomach.

"Oh my God, Kiara. Hey, hey, wake up." Korra said tapping her cheeks.

"Oh God. Nick! Nick! Nick, get out here now!" I yelled and took of my plaid shirt to apply pressure to her wounds. Nick came rushing out the house with the others behind him to our side.

"Oh my God, Kiara? What happened?" He asked. I ignored his question.

"We need to get her to the pack clinic, now. Nick, take her. I'll call Auriana to get here as quick as she can because there'd something in her wound that's causing her not to heal." I said. He nodded and picked Kiara up then started walking in the direction of the pack clinic with everyone else following behind him. I exhaled sharply then called Auriana.

5 minutes later, Auriana was by Kiara's side on the medical bed, scanning her with her magic. The rest of us stood behind her waiting for her to tell us what was wrong.

"Ok, thank goodness, it's just that." Auriana said, dropping her hands.

"What is it?" Korra asked.

"The wolf who scratched her had wolf lichen on their claws and it's what's preventing her from healing." Auriana answered.

"Wolf lichen? How is that good news? It's one of the plants that can kill a wolf." Nicki said.

"It's good news because it could have been argentium. If she had that in her system, she'd really be in trouble because that could kill her." Auriana replied her.

"And the wolf lichen won't?" Rae asked.

"No, it won't. We're immune to wolfsbane and wolf lichen only weakens us till it's out of our system. One of the poisons that can actually kill us is argentium." I explained.

"Yeah, so we could either wait till morning for it to drain out of her system or we can flush the lichen with a blood transfusion." Auriana added.

"Let's do the transfusion. I'd feel better when she's up and about on her feet sooner rather than later." Nick said. Auriana nodded and looked to the doctor who had been standing on the side waiting. He nodded in understanding and went to gather the equipment needed. As we waited for the doctor, the doors opened letting one of the Shadow wolves, Maren enter.

"Your Highnesses, Alpha, Beta." She greeted.

"What is it, Maren?" Nick asked.

"Alpha, we found 15 rogue just outside the entrance to the cells, all unconscious." She informed.

"What?"

"We moved them to the cells and locked them up. The strange things is when some of them came to, they said they couldn't move their limbs. They can feel their limbs but they just can't move them and their bones also haven't been broken. And according to them they hadn't been paralyzed."

"What? That doesn't make sense. If they're not paralyzed and their bones haven't been broken, how are they not able to move their limbs? Those are the only ways to cause a person to be unable to use their limbs." Alec said.

"No, they're not the only ways to cause a person to be unable to use their limbs. I think these are the wolves who tried to attack Kiara." I said.

"Ok, but that doesn't explain why they can't move." Rae said.

"She used a method called 'chi-blocking' to take them down." Korra explained.

"What is that?" Nicki asked.

"It's a form of martial arts that enables a fighter to take their opponents down by hitting certain pressure points on the body. Hitting those points cause the energy flow there to be interrupted thereby creating a feeling almost similar to being paralyzed. But in this case instead of getting just a numbing sensation like when you're paralyzed, you feel both pain and numbness." Auriana explained.

"A chi-block's duration depends on the one who caused it. Some people, like Kiara, can cause a chi-block that can last for a whole day." I added.

"Ok. I'm going there to talk to those who are awake, notify me when she wakes up." Nick said making his way toward the doors. I didn't need to look at him to feel the anger radiating off him. I moved quickly to shove him into a wall to prevent him from leaving. He partially shifted and roared in my face. I flashed my silver eyes and also roared, louder at him causing him to back down and lower his head in submission. I exhaled heavily.

"You are going nowhere. You are gonna stay by Kiara's side, she needs you. Korra's gonna do the transfusion so she's gonna be here with you along with Nicki. Alec, Raelynn and I will head to the cells to interrogate the wolves. You're too worked up." I ordered.

"Fine, you're right." He said. I let go of him then turned to face the rest.

"Maren, lead the way. Alec, Rae, let's go." With Maren in the lead the four of us left the clinic and ran to the cells.

Nick's P.O.V

After they left, I sat down one of the chairs by the bed Kiara was on while Korra sat on the one opposite me. The doctor came over with his equipment then set up for the blood transfusion. Auriana excused herself to go back to the castle since her work was done.

"She'll ok, Nick. This is Kiara we're talking about. Nothing can keep her down for long." Nicki said rubbing my shoulders to comfort me.

"Yeah, I know. We're talking about the girl who kicked my ass and put me on my back on her first day of school. The girl who put Brittany Daniels and her minions in their places for hurting her family."

"Let's not forget she also stood up to Brittany and threatened her as well on her first day." Korra added with a smile. The doctor began packing away the transfusion equipment.

"Well, the bitch had it coming. Can't say she didn't deserve it." We heard Kiara say from beside us. We turned our heads to see her sitting up and getting up from the bed.

"Whoa there, missy. You're not going anywhere." Nicki said, moving to push her to sit on the bed.

"Yes, I am. I need to go help Kara interrogate the wolves who attacked me." Kiara said.

"Wait, you..."

"Yes, I heard everything that went on once you bought me in. The lichen only weakened my strength not my senses." Kiara said, cutting me off mid question.

"Kiara, sorry, but I'm kinda with Nicki on this. Let Kara handle this. We'll tell you everything when she's done." Korra said.

"Fine." Kiara asked.

"That was easy. Anyway, let's get you showered and in clothes which haven't been stained with blood so we can go see mom and dad." I said.

"Ok, let's go." We got and left the clinic to our room where she showered and changed her clothes. I told Nicki to tell our parents to meet us at the gazebo in the backyard while Kiara was dressing up. I also changed into a different shirt since my shirt had her blood in it. She stepped out of the closet dressed up with her hair in a loose plait.

"You know, you look beautiful even without trying, Karen." I said.

"Thanks. Hold on, since when do you call me by my middle name?"

"Since now. You told me once that, no one calls you by that. And I wanted a name to call you by, one that no one does."

"Oh so you want to be unique. I can understand that. Very well, you have my permission to call me by my middle name."

"Why thank you, Your Majesty." We both chuckled.

"Come on, let's get going. I'm sure your parents are waiting for us." I nodded and took her hand then together we left the room.

"Kiara, mija. It's so wonderful to see you." Mom said when we got to the gazebo, coming forward to hug Kiara.

"Hi, Rayla, Antonio. It's good to see you two too. Haven't seen or heard from you since my sisters and I left the pack 4 years ago minus the condolence card you sent us when our parents died. I missed you." Kiara said, hugging dad, as well.

"We missed you too, mija. You've grown up to become quite the remarkable woman and queen." Antonio said.

"Thank you." We spent the next 3 three hours just talking and catching up on the four years, leaving certain details out before we went back into the pack house for a 'family' dinner as mom called it, then we all went to sleep. Then the next morning, I drove my parents to the airport with them promising to be back in time for the wedding.