Lyanna
Vino, come see me in the garden.
Am I right to trust Vino? He has reasons as well to hate me and Knox because of Yara, however, my gut instinct tells me he is the best person to accompany me.
Vino arrived and I explained to him the morning's events. He was apprehensive to comply at first as his loyalty is first and foremost to his King. But, when I told him that I will do it with or without him, he changed his mind and agreed. I apologized profusely for involving him and thanked him with all my heart.
I took lunch at my room to make it seem all is normal and told the guards that I would take a long nap and so not to disturb me. Vino and Myla found a way to tuck me out of the castle through the food delivery van. I wore a tee and a beige hoodie partnered with jeans and booths. I kept the letter in my pocket.
Vino met me three towns ahead and I transferred to his car after which. I needed to calm myself because Knox would feel any intense emotions and would know something is up.
We reached the forest and had to go by foot. It was quite a hike. Harper, I am near sweetie.
An old cottage is onsite. My heart beats fast. What if this is a trap? Have I been foolish to go? Here goes everything!
Vino had no intensions of knocking and being civil, he barged open the door! I dashed inside.
"Ly! You found me!" Harper said happily. What the heck?
My tears fell as I held Harper, "baby girl are you okay? You scared me but it does not matter, are you hurt, sweetie," I kissed her on and on. Vino checked the perimeter for ambush.
"The bad people scared me a lot. I am okay now, they took good care of me."
"Who, sweetie? Who took you?" I got very nervous.
A bedroom door creaked.
"YOU! How could you?" I cried out of disbelief and rage. "How can you do this to a child? She did nothing but love you? You will pay dearly for this!" I am getting hysterical now.
"No, no, Lyanna! Do not fight them!" Harper defended with two outstretched hands.
Lyanna, WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU? TELL ME I AM DYING HERE! Oh Goddess, Knox!
I am fine. I am with Harper now. I will explain soon. You cannot get involved. Forgive me. I love you. I blocked the mind link. Oh, what chaos!
"This is the reason why it has to be you who come and get Harper. You yourself thought of the worst of us without even hearing the full story, what more if it was our son who found us with Harper?" Alpha Magnus defensively stated.
"Harper, love, go inside the room, the adults need to talk. Okay?" Luna Amanda told Harper and winked at her as she passed.
"We did not kidnap your sister. How could we? We love her. We love you and Knox." Luna Amanda said calmly. "Sit, Queen Lyanna, if you want to know the truth."
I could feel their sincerity and so I obliged.
"In all the years that we have been away from the royal pack, my wife and I tried to live a normal life. We did stay in Australia for some good years but when we heard of Knox's blatant disrespect to the Mood Goddess, we decided to come back to the country. It so happened my wife here, is a keen observer. She makes a hell of a good spy and I became her strong arm. We lived out our lives mostly in disguise, spying the packs, and rouges and time and again giving the King some tips through our trusted people. " King Magnus narrated.
"Yesterday, two couple enticed your sister to come with them secretly by saying they are our trusted servants and we wish to see Harper in a special fun place. Your sister's love for us became her downfall. She came with the strangers with an innocent heart that trusts that it is us who she will meet soon. You can ask your sister the veracity of our story, surely she will not lie to you.
Those couple are from the Hematite Pack. Their newly hailed alpha female is a direct descendant of the late Princess Jada. She intends to bait you and the King through the innocent child. She seeks vengeance for what King Knox did to her great great grandmother. The pack has nurtured and passed on to generations that hate. What better revenge than to do to you, Lyanna, what was done to Princess Jada? Knox will surely kill himself too if that is to happen, Moon Goddess forbid." Luna Amanda continued.
Vino came inside and his eyes went big upon seeing the royals. "It is fine, Vino, all is well here, please stand guard outside." I requested.
"We have been watching closely that pack. They work secretly and cunningly. We believe they have something to do with the death of the three lunas who were in alliance with the king. They seek Knox's downfall. They deem him unworthy of the throne and the title because of the blood in his hands and his scandalous reputation. Now that he has been blessed with a mate, their plans took urgency. And they started their first attempt yesterday, with Harper." Alpha Magnus said.
"How did Harper end up with you?" I asked.
"We as spies have little "birds" here and there as well. A little bird from the royal palace informed us that Harper has gone missing. Believe me, we were also alarmed and saddened by the news. We also found out how distraught you were. Surely, we will not just stand by. We set forth our birds to find out what ever they can about Harper, starting with our number one suspect, the Hematite Pack!"
"True enough, they got Harper in a secluded cottage at the end of their border. They were shouting at her because she kept wailing. Our birds told us of this and how the pack members snared the child. At nightfall, through the help of our trusted people in that pack, we were able to penetrate the border and go to Harper. We had to sedate her so she would not endanger the rescue plan. In the morning Harper woke up with people she knew and trusted. We told her you will come to get her soon and she calmed down. She had many questions and we tried to answer her." Luna Amanda finished.
"Queen Lyanna, they may fail this attempt but unfortunately they will not stop. They will not stop until Knox is dead or deranged. You, Harper, and Knox must be very careful or you may fall into their traps again." King Magnus warned me with concern.
"Knox always thought you wanted him to fail and even die. You were protecting him all along. You cared. I see he has been wrong, but you did nothing to correct his perception of you, his parents." I accused.
"It is all my fault. My family came to ruin because of me." Alpha Magnus looked heartbroken. "I intentionally disregarded my first born because of my ego. An elder in the royal pack foretold that Knox will be a great king, greater than anyone before him. He will suffer tremendously but his destiny is greatness and the prosperity of the werewolf kingdom. I made him feel worthless and unloved. No great king comes from an unloved and twisted family. I stopped his mother and brother for ever showing care for him. I made him feel he is alone and unwanted. When Lucian took his life in my very eyes, I saw his despair and accusing look. I realized at that moment how cruel I have been to my entire family. Knox's hate caused me and my wife to lose both sons. And his hate is all because of me. I gave the crown to Knox and left him because I was ashamed. We visited him once and all I did was point out his vulgarity. He hated me more. Your coming, Lyanna, gave me and Amanda hope. Hope that our family could start mending. But our son's wound is too deep. This is our reality." Alpha Magnus was embarrassed to wipe a traitorous tear.
My heart bleeds for the old couple. If only Knox could hear all of these.
BANG! The front door went flying! And there stands a fuming Alpha King.
His almost black eyes scanned the room.
"I knew it! You meant to hurt my mate! I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU, FATHER!" Knox growled mightily.
Everything happened so fast that the three of us stood but were stunned to our places and quickly Knox shifted to his raging black wolf. Oh my Goddess! This is what the letter warned, that if Knox gets involved blood will flow as hate flows. His wolf intends to attack and go for the kill. I can still vividly see in my head what his wolf did to Yara's father. I cannot let Knox kill his own father, his father who has been Harper's savior.
The wolf leaped straight to the direction of Alpha Magnus. Alpha Magnus covered his face with his arms. He will not fight back, not this time.
I did what my mind and heart dictated. I ran and threw myself in front of Alpha Magnus and screamed, "nooooooo," in hopes that he will realize it is I, his beloved mate.
Knox blinked but it was too late. His claws made contact with my upper shoulder and almost ripped my entire left arm off. Blood oozed in no time.
I saw thick red but soon gave in to the black.....