Discovery of a Queen: Chapter 18

A few days of intense magical and physical training later, neither of which involve Caleb, I’m sore, bruised, and exhausted. I’m heading down for breakfast, my stomach roaring almost as loud as my dragon. But I feel much better about my ability to defend the community when we go head-to-head with the demons again. After our conversation in the gym the other day about the Council collecting supernaturals, Caleb has been avoiding me. Being slapped in the face with the truth does that to people.

I firmly stand by what I said. The Council spits in the face of everything past queens stood for. I understand I’m the only one left, but even if I wasn’t, what’s going on is a horrible way to honor all the queens did for the supernatural community. I’ve made a decision over the last few days. It’s time for me to step the fuck up, put my big girl panties on, and be a damn queen. I’m not running anymore, so I’m going to trample all over the damn patriarchy like the fabulous unicorn I am. Destroying the patriarchy with glitter and sass sounds so wonderful. I evil chuckle mentally.

I don’t put the full blame for how the Council currently operates solely on Caleb’s shoulders. The representatives could very well have said something or prevented any of this from happening. But Caleb needs to be man enough to acknowledge his part.

, my dragon points out.

It was an impossible position to put people in. I can understand wanting to protect rare and powerful species or individuals, but they should be given an honest choice and should be coming to those they feel can help them. Not the other way around.

I try to shake my thoughts away as I walk into the dining room to find Kelly, Olivia, Connor, Malcolm, and Dante seated at the table. Dante has a wine glass of blood in front of him, and the others all have plates piled high with food. Good. They’re taking care of themselves.

“Where’s Patrick?” I ask as I grab a plate of my own and start scooping up eggs, bacon, and waffles.

“He just left. He wanted to check on his packmates that are still recovering. He was thrilled to learn that the healthy members of his pack weren’t tainted.” Kelly hands me a mug of coffee, that’s how I know she loves me.

“Speaking of, how many did I see the other day? I forgot to ask with all the training we’ve been doing, and they’re all sort of blurring together.”

“You saw around fifteen hundred.” I did what now? “It was really impressive. You just got into this zone and went through them like you were on speed.” Kelly chuckles.

“And there are a thousand injured?”

“About two hundred of those injured are Rocky Mountain Pack members, the other eight hundred are Council. But the Rocky Mountain Pack lost about two thousand members in the fight. From what I’ve been able to gather, only about three hundred of the Council group died.”

Well, shit. This brings our total count to roughly five thousand, two hundred members. That’s a really solid community. And I’m in charge of all of them. Fuck. No pressure.

“Have you been able to neutralize the demon talisman?” Caleb’s voice knocks me out of my shock and mild panic. He strolls into the dining room, his eyes narrowing on me as he moves to get food. Oh, right, that’s a thing.

My dragon is not being very helpful today.

I want to stick my tongue out at her, but then I’d get weird looks from around the table.

“Yes! Thankfully, because we knew the demon’s name, it wasn’t difficult. But it’s been buried and warded just to be safe.” Kelly pulls out her phone to show me a video of the process she used.

“That’s perfect. Thank you.” My reply sounds sheepish. I should have been more on top of all this.

“No need for thanks! This is what betas are for! You needed to rest, and we needed to do something. The Rocky Mountain Pack is eager to take the blood oath.” Despite it being called a blood oath, no blood is actually exchanged.

“We can do the oath tonight.”

“Great! I’ll let Patrick know.” Kelly gets up and heads out to find Patrick, Olivia following her.

Well, this is awkward. I glance over at Caleb to find him glaring at me across the table. I want to stick my tongue out at him now. Stupid male. I go back to ignoring him, eating quickly before departing.

I make my way to the infirmary. I have a moment alone, and I relish the silence. The last few days haven’t been quiet, and I’ve missed the silence of my office. I groan internally, knowing I need to check my phone. I snap my fingers and my phone appears in my hand. I wince at the twenty missed calls and over five hundred emails. Attempting to make a mental list of things to do today, I almost run right into Patrick.

“Alpha!”

“Hi, Patrick. I’m on my way to see your injured pack mates. I’ll do their screenings. I figured we could do the oath tonight for the healthy members. I don’t want to put too much strain on the injured right now.”

“Let me walk with you?” I nod and he falls into step beside me. “Thankfully those who were seriously injured are well on the mend now. I think they should be able to attend the oath tonight.”

“It really isn’t an issue if they can’t. I don’t want to cause any additional injury or stress.” We enter the infirmary, and I’m pleased to see most of the people are sitting up in bed and chatting with each other. A few are sleeping soundly, but they look to be in good health.

“Kelly had us move the beds around. All of my pack are in this building, and the councilmen are in the building next door.”

“She’s fantastic like that.” I grin and slowly make my way down the center aisle, my magic flaring out around me. So far, so good.

When we get to the final room, I stop about halfway down the aisle. There are two male shifters at the end of the left-hand row that are tainted. Thankfully, they don’t seem to think anything is wrong with my being here.

,” I blast to Kelly, Olivia, and Caleb.

The barracks is the building we use to house our prison cells. We don’t have any issue with crime here on pack land, but during times of war, they’re often used to hold the enemy. During times of peace, they’re used to house the drunks who celebrate a little too hard. I look over at Patrick, and he’s noticed something is wrong. I flick my eyes to the two men at the end of the row. His eyes follow and widen, but not in surprise, it looks as though he’s fitting puzzle pieces together. I’ll need to ask him about it once we’ve secured these two.

Olivia’s tone is edged with steel.

I start slowly making my way down the row again to avoid any suspicion.

Patrick follows next to me, keeping up some inane babble. The man is smarter than he lets on. We’re closer to the two tainted shifters when one suddenly shifts into a giant grizzly bear. He crashes through the wall of the infirmary and makes a run for it, his friend a bit slower on the uptake. I don’t need to relay that the grizzly has broken free. I kept the bond open, and both pack members and councilmen are on his tail.

My hands thrust out and stop the other shifter—fox, by his scent—binding his ability to shift. Patrick moves in quickly, smashing his fist into the guy’s face. Not necessarily called for, but I’ll let him have it. Patrick wrestles the shifter’s arms behind his back before turning his head to look at me.

“Shane and Kevin, they were friends with Sean. Shane here is a bit of an idiot,” Patrick sneers. Condemning words.

As all the commotion dies down, I inhale deeply to get Shane’s scent better and I freeze. The shifters from the fighting ring My dragon claws at my skin, wanting to get out and show this flaming piece of garbage what those females must have felt. If he was at that fighting ring, he at the very least knows about females getting sold. He’d be exceptionally stupid not to. But given the demonic taint the clings to him like a second skin, he knows more than that. I bet good ole Kevin knows more too.

“Let’s take our new best friend Shane, here, to the barracks. I have a few questions for him.” Shane goes pale at my words, and I don’t bother to hide the bloodthirsty smile that spreads across my face.

“Ayla, we need to send trackers after that bear,” Olivia announces as she steps through the hole in the wall, Caleb following her. “Kelly was able to put a quick tracking spell on him, but she doesn’t think it’ll last long, we need to get people out there now.” I nod to Caleb, letting him know I’ll let him handle this. He nods and strides off.

“Olivia, show Patrick where the barracks are. I need to go change my outfit.” I gesture to the sundress I picked out the other day and never got to wear. “This isn’t appropriate torture attire. I really don’t want to get blood on this dress.”

Olivia chuckles loudly when Shane let’s out a low whimper before taking his arm to lead him and Patrick to the barracks. Slowly lifting my hands, I magically repair the infirmary wall. I’m glad the building is a ranch-style and only consists of one floor. I don’t need to worry about any debris falling on someone. Why do the bad guys always have to make such a mess when they escape?

For once, I’d love a thoughtful villain who didn’t feel the need to ruin literally everything they touch. I’ll add that to the course offerings in my villain school. How to be a Thoughtful Villain: Step one, use a damn door.

Once I’ve changed into something a little more appropriate, a pair of leather pants and a leather corset, complete with knee-high, leather platform boots—so I might have moonlit as a dominatrix a lifetime or two ago, who hasn’t?—I head to the barracks to talk to Shane. I wasn’t kidding when I said torture. While I don’t want to hurt anyone unnecessarily, Shane’s allegiance is with the demons. He forfeited any shot at leniency when he sold his soul.

I get the sense he’s just a lackey and won’t know much, but I plan to bleed every drop of information from him. Shane was at the fighting ring the night I saved Sasha, the night I realized that Morgan was selling females. My mind is whirling with the implications. Shane was a friend of Sean’s, could he have also been an associate of Morgan’s? An intermediary? There has to be some sort of link, it’s too coincidental.

When I finally get to the barracks, I pause outside the building. While I might want to rip Shane to pieces for putting the community in jeopardy, physical torture isn’t something I’m overly eager to engage in. Given that he’s been tainted, I don’t think physical torture will be the most effective method either. But diving into his mind will get me everything I need, every tiny detail, even things he wouldn’t have thought to be important. I’ll know it all. If he’s left a vegetable at the end? Oh, well.

He shouldn’t have climbed in bed with demons.

Malcolm and Caleb are standing in front of Shane with their arms crossed when I enter the holding cell. Olivia is leaning against the wall as though she doesn’t have a care in the world. If only Shane could feel what I can through the bond, I have no doubt the man would piss himself. Frankly, I’m surprised he’s looking Malcolm in the eye. Smart of him to not tempt fate by meeting Caleb’s gaze.

When Shane sees me walk in, looking as though I’m about to string him up by his dick, he goes deathly pale. Caleb turns to look at me, a vicious growl leaving him when he notices how I’m dressed. He comes over, grabs my arm, and leads me back out of the room.

“What the hell are you wearing?”

“Are you telling me you don’t like this outfit?” I’m mildly amused by the shade of purple he turns as he struggles to answer.

“Why are you wearing that?”

“I just need to set the mood.”

“The mood…” He repeats it as though I’ve spoken a foreign language, or I have brain damage, hard to tell.

“Yes. I want him to understand that his balls may be severed from his body.” A surprised laugh leaves Caleb.

“Ball severing attire aside, why did you feel the need to wear this particular outfit?”

“Why are you so focused on my outfit?” I adjust the corset slightly so my boobs are pushed up a bit more. “Is it the boobs? Are you too distracted? I mean, I get it. They’re kind of amazing.”

Caleb snarls before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.

“Don’t worry your cute lil’ penis, Alpha. I’ll be able to get answers out of Shane dressed like this.”

I roll my eyes at him. “Caleb.” My tone turns serious. “I need you to trust me. I can get what we need.”

“But dressed like that?” He sounds exasperated, which only makes me happy.

“For the love of the goddess. Yes! Dressed like this! Now are you going to keep being a damn problem, or can I go torture the bad fox in the other room?” I make sure to ask about torturing Shane loud enough that he’ll be able to hear me through the door.

“Fine. But I swear—” I cut him off with a look.

“If you do anything, , to compromise what I’m doing in there to get answers because you’re butthurt, I will personally make sure that you’re truly butthurt for a very, long time. Am I clear?” He snarls again, so I pat him on the chest. “Good Alpha.”

I push past Caleb and back into Shane’s cell. Caleb follows me as though he’s my damn shadow. Shane has resumed his stare down with Malcolm while we were out of the room. My dragon releases a low, sinister growl, reminding Shane of who he should really be focused on. The fox shifter seems to shrink into himself, his eyes lowering to the floor. Good, I need him off-kilter. It’ll be easier for me to dive into his mind if he’s scared out of his pants. There’s an extra chair by the door, so I drag it over next to Malcolm. Caleb stays by the door, his arms crossed and eyes narrowed. Gracefully lowering myself into the chair, I cross my legs and pick at an imaginary piece of lint on my pants, taking all the time in the world before deigning to speak to Shane.

“This is how it’s going to go, Shane,” I chirp, acting friendly, as though I’m about to share a fun little secret. “I’m going to go digging through your brain. If you just happen to turn into a vegetable after, I don’t think anyone here is really going to care.”

“Y-You c-can’t d-do th-that.” Stuttering already, Shane looks to Malcolm for support. “T-The Council w-won’t l-let you.”

“Oh, honey, haven’t you heard? I’m a . I don’t have to listen to the Council.” A slow, toothy, predatory grin spreads across my face. “If my pals Malcolm and Caleb here don’t approve of me digging through your lil’ noggin, they can certainly discuss it with the rest of the Council. But it’s not going to stop me.” I widen my eyes slightly, emphasizing the crazy. “Nothing can stop me, Shane.”

“By all means, do what you must, my queen.” Malcolm grins and gestures at Shane, while Caleb remains a silent guardian at the door. “Given the attack on the Council and the Rocky Mountain Pack, we’re willing to allow for an unorthodox method of retrieving information.”

“Wait!” Shane screams. “I’ll tell you what you want to know, just ask me, I swear!”

“The problem with that, Shane, well…” I sigh. “I’m not going to fucking believe a word that comes out of your sorry tainted mouth. Are you, Malcolm?”

“Nope.” Malcolm’s lips pop on the “p.” “Not a damn word.”

“Caleb? Olivia? Chime in any time if you feel like Shane’s going to be a good little trooper and be honest with us.” Their silence screams throughout the cell, a damning answer. “Strap in, dickface, this is going to be one hell of a bumpy ride.”