I raised my hands in front of my face and let my eyes travel along the spotless skin. Nothing indicated that anything was wrong with me, yet I knew something wasn't right. Almost invisible tremors shook my hands and my entire body felt like I had stuffed myself into an additional layer of skin. Every single gesture I did, took an added toll on me.
Despite it already being two hours since Kasey dragged me back to Silver Moon, a part of me still felt like I was inside Allium. Back in the practice meadow with Darlene's crazed laughter ringing in my ears.
"... tell her?" A female voice pulled me back from my thoughts.
I was sitting on the small bed, in the even smaller guest room Vivian, Judy, and I had shared during our first stay in the werewolf castle. My back was facing the wall while I was turned in the direction of the softly open doorway. It was the reason why a set of voices from the outside managed to flood my ears.
"The Alpha King forbade us to tell her anything." A whinny edge clung to what I recognized as Vivian's voice.
"I'm not one of his mutts, so he can't order me around. I'm telling her." The other voice belonged to none other than Kasey. "You don't need to come with me if you don't want to."
"No, I'm staying. I just... Promise, you'll protect me with your magic if needed."
I blinked a couple of times at the wooden door. I wondered what Theo thought he could keep hidden from me while the two sets of footsteps stopped right on the other side of the door.
"Wait." Vivian lowered her voice. "What if we get Rob to tell her. The two have always been close."
Silently I slid off the bed and walked over to the door. Without pausing, I grabbed the knob and pulled the door wide open. Just outside the doorway stood Vivian and Kasey, with the former tugging on Kasey's arm.
The moment I opened the door both of them froze and their eyes jumped over to me.
"What is Theo keeping from me?" I crossed my arms in front of my chest and leaned against the side of the now open doorway.
"Well, you see..." Vivian glanced at Kasey with pleading eyes.
"Darlene's been pronounced as the High Priestess." Kasey shot the words straight out.
I blinked a couple of times, not able to comprehend what she was telling me. This couldn't be real. I hadn't felt anything. Surely I would have been aware of not being the High Priestess anymore. They couldn't just take my title without me knowing.
Then I remembered the strange weakness still gripping onto my every muscle. Could it be that this was the reason I was feeling so strange?
"She also sent a message to the castle, demanding for the werewolves to give you up. It means you're now a wanted witch. And if the werewolves don't do as said, she'll declare war among our two species."
"What are we going to do?" Vivian took a hold of Kasey's hand.
"What else? I'm going after Darlene."
Without another thought, I pushed past the two and continued to march down the hallway. There was only one goal on my mind. To find Theo.
I couldn't believe he thought he could keep a thing like this hidden from me. It was, after all, about my own people.
"You can't leave the castle!" Kasey shouted at my retrieving figure.
She and Theo were both becoming predictable. Of course, they wouldn't allow me to walk out of the castle and face Darlene on my own. However, no matter how they felt about this, it was exactly what I was going to do. There was no way I would idly stand by while Darlene harmed my own people and tarnished the position of the High Priestess.
The first place I could think of to find Theo was the throne room, which is why I headed up the staircase. The double door leading into the said room was wide open, so I entered without stopping. Instead of a pondering Theo, however, I was met with a group of four unfamiliar werewolves. Their bulky bodies told me they were all pack warriors, and I was even sure I had seen one of them posted as a guard somewhere around the castle during my initial stay here.
The moment I froze two steps into the room, all four sets of eyes snapped in my direction. For a second none of us moved. Then all four of them jumped into low bows.
I had expected them to instantly mark me as the wanted witch and ship me off to Allium. This is why I was taken aback by their formal greetings. Especially since I had never had anyone bow to me before.
"I'm—" I cleared my throat to get rid of the raspy undertone. "I'm looking for Theo... I mean, the Alpha King. Do any of you know where he is?"
"I'll mind-link him right away, Luna Queen." One of the warriors bowed again.
I nodded and then squished my lips into a thin line. I pretended to observe the room while feeling their piercing eyes burning through my skin. It was on the tip of my tongue to tell them I wasn't their Luna Queen, but I forced myself to remain quiet.
After all, I was already marked and mated to Theo.
"I can't reach him," the same werewolf said when his eyes returned to normal.
"Can we help you with something instead, Luna Queen?" the only female warrior among the four asked.
"No." I shook my head, but then forced myself to continue before they could think me too rude. "It's between Theo—your Alpha King—and me."
"Of course." The she-wolf nodded and then exchanged quick glances with the other three.
"What's going on?" For the first time, I wondered what they were doing inside the throne room. Especially without Theo being present.
"We..." The she-wolf cleared her throat and another round of darting glances followed. "We're looking for the Alpha King as well, but he's nowhere to be found. Can you... Would you mind helping us instead?"
I hesitated for a second and then nodded. "Sure."
"We're searching for a wanted witch," the werewolf who had mind-linked Theo said. "The witches claim she's hiding inside our castle and their High Priestess is prepared to declare war if we don't hand her over."
I froze at his words, wondering if all of this polite business was only a trap. "What kind of witch are you looking for?"
"We're not sure," one of the other two warriors said. "All we've heard is that their High Priestess wants her."
I paused for a moment and took a deep breath. "I can help you with that."
Flames of hope lit their eyes, but they vanished the moment I opened my mouth again.
"I'm the witch they're after."
Their tense expressions and wide eyes told me they honestly hadn't been expecting this one.
"I'm not going to put up any resistance," I said. "So you can freely hand me over to the witches."
Before any of them even had the chance to open their mouths, let alone form a coherent thought, a booming voice reaped through the room. "Get the hell out! Now!"
Without even a second to spare the four warriors scurried out of the room. The door shut behind the last of them with a loud bang which left Theo and me alone in deadly silence.
I slowly turned around to where his voice had come from. He was looming a single step away from me, with his eyes shining bright silver. A burning sensation pulsed off his body and absorbed straight into my own veins. I felt a need to move; a need to break something.
"You really thought you could keep something like this hidden from me?" I allowed his leaking anger from the mate bond to fill my resolve.
"It doesn't matter." He diminished the little step of distance between us. "You're not going anywhere."
"There's no way I'm allowing Darlene to harm any of my people. I have to put a stop to her madness."
"You aren't going anywhere." His voice lowered into an ice-cold growl. "I've allowed you to get things your way and look where that landed us. I'm done playing nice. From now on you're going to listen to me."
"You're the Alpha King. As such it's your duty to first think of what's best for your own people. You can't put your mate before the lives of your fellow werewolves."
Instead of at least pausing at my words, he only huffed. "It's in every werewolf's nature to protect his Luna Queen. No one will even blink at me for refusing to hand you over to the witches."
"You can't expect me to hide here for the rest of my life." I glared at him. "I need to stop Darlene before she harms anyone with her channeling of life magic."
"You mean you need to take back the position of the High Priestess."
"So what? We both know you would do anything in your power to gain back the position of the Alpha King if anyone took it from you. Why is it so bad for me to want the same?"
"There's nothing wrong with that." He shook his head. "I'm just not allowing you to do this on your own."
"Allowing me?" No one needed to allow me to do anything. Not even him.
"You know what I mean." He rolled his eyes.
"Oh, I know what you mean." I stabbed the tip of my finger into his chest. "You're the Alpha King, so you get to order everyone else around. If you think—"
"I won't allow you to put yourself in harm's way. That's what I mean. You're my mate and my Luna Queen." He grabbed my finger, preventing me from digging it any further into his shirt. "I heard what the wizard saw. You barely escaped death last time."
"You really expect me to sit here while Darlene is out there channeling life magic?" I tried to pull my finger out of his hold, but it refused to budge.
"I know how dangerous Darlene is. I promise we'll do everything in our power to stop her. But we will do it together."
For the first time since he entered the room, I stopped. "You have a plan?"
"Not yet." His hold on my finger loosened, which allowed me to lower my arm. "But we'll figure something out together. So, promise me you won't try to do something stupid."
Despite how much I wanted to see Darlene burn for taking away what was rightfully mine, I understood where he was coming from. If Skylar's vision was right, then I needed to be careful. More so than I thought.
"I promise."
*
The rest of the day passed in a whirl of motion as the two of us tried to form a plan on how to take on Darlene. But we didn't come far. Every idea I had he shot down, claiming it was too dangerous.
It wasn't until late in the evening when I was lying in bed that I finally had some time to myself. Because Theo was still taking care of some of his Alpha King business, I was left alone in the giant bed. I lay on my side, facing his empty side of the bed.
I was slowly drifting off when a horrible ache squeezed my heart. My eyes snapped open and my fingers dug into the mattress. I tried to force myself to keep breathing normally, but the air squeezed through my throat in small gasps.
The flash of pain disappeared as quickly as it came and in less than half a minute I was back to breathing normally again.
Despite never having experienced the feeling before, I knew what it was.
The suffering of my people.
I threw the blanket off me and ignored my bare feet and the skimpy outfit I called my pajamas. All I knew was that I needed to get to Allium.
I needed to help my people.
***
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- E