Luna Queen's Fury

9 It's Time

Chris

Leaving Jess with her friend, I decide to check up on everything I let slide while she was ill. Mack nods as I pass her, Derek and Shoen waiting just outside her door.

"Feel like paying a visit to the guards?" I ask, feeling Cyrus get excited. The beast was torn between dealing with the men who abandoned her and his mate, but Jess always wins.

"I thought you'd never ask," Derek replies darkly and falls into step with me.

Jess' words about the guards ditching them only confirm my suspicions. Officially, the report I received from the Captain of the palace guards was that Jess asked for an escort, Aiden assigned her six men, who returned alone a short time later saying they were dismissed.

Aiden didn't buy their excuse and threw them in a cell immediately so he could deal with the crisis at hand. Securely contained, they've been left to rot while we focused on what was important... Jess.

Instead of going left, we head right, away from our other problematic prisoner.

One problem at a time...

The musty, dank space is uncomfortable, but the thick scent of blood sets me on edge. Derek picks up his pace, no doubt noticing it too. At the end of the hall where the cells are, we stop dead in our tracks.

The cells are unremarkable from any others here, bare stone walls, iron bars, and a plain steel slab that acts as a bed or bench, but the red staining the ground has all of my attention. On the far side, Ryker stands staring at the blood-soaked stone, a pensive look on his face.

"The fuck man?!" Derek accuses, snapping the palace guard out of his thoughts. Ryker's frown deepens as he takes us in.

"I don't know," he growls back at Derek.

"How do you not know?!" I snap, feeling Cyrus push to take over. He may not be sad that they're dead but he's pissed it's not by his hands and after he got the answers he wanted.

"I came down here to get answers like you and they were still cleaning up the bodies," he huffs, crossing his arms.

Derek scours the area but nothing other than blood remains. "I'll ask again, what happened."

"None of this makes sense!" Ryker snaps. "The prison guards said that Jones went nuts and started killing the others, by the-"

"Wait, you had them all in the same cell unrestrained?!" Derek cuts in, glaring at the man. "Fucking idiot."

"It wasn't me, asshole!" Ryker shoots back, shifting his stance to match the Guardian. "I came down here for answers like you did!"

"Oh really?" Derek drawls. "And what might those be?"

"Clearly nothing now!"

"Enough!" I boom, barely keeping the reins from Cyrus. "Can you two not for once?!"

Both men take a deep breath but stand down. An eerie silence settles and stretches as they practically sulk.

"What I want to know is how is it that six of YOUR men were assigned to my mate and left her?" I ask, struggling to keep my voice even.

"I was here for the same answer," Ryker finally admits. "None of this makes sense, in no scenario. Even if Jess dismissed them, should they have left her out there... I've been clear that she is not to be unescorted outside of the palace..."

"And yet, they bailed," Derek digs.

I flash Derek a pointed look, warning him to back off before I turn my attention back to Ryker. To study the man, shock is written across his face and his mind looks to be racing.