Chapter 51
Seeley’s POV
I was sitting in my study trying to figure out what was going on in my kingdom but Alida’s rant earlier kept taking over my thoughts. Yes, I was an absent father to her, but I had a Kingdom to run and her mother wouldn’t leave the states. Yes, she was abducted under my orders, but her mother broke our deal knowing there would be consequences. I guess I could’ve sent her a birthday card or something. Would that have really made a difference though?
I was lost in my thoughts when I heard a knock at the door pulling me back to reality. “Come in.” I said.
Harold’s head popped in before coming completely in and shutting the door behind him. “Good evening sir. I have come with an update from the village.”
I motioned for him to sit and he walked over and sat across from me and then cleared his throat.
“Sir, I have some, not so good news? Maybe good news? I’m not sure which it is.” Harold began.
“Well don’t beat around the bush Harold. Just give it to me straight.” I said.
“The vampires are around the area. From what we could gather and piece together, there was a group of them that had planned on staking us out and then fighting.” Harold started.
“Was a group? What do you mean by was?” I asked.
“That leads me to the next thing. Collin’s here.” Harold flinched at his name and I let out a groan.
“What the hell is that bastard doing in my kingdom?!” I growled.
“Sir, word is that he put a stop to that group and is holding them up and have them on lock down until further notice.” Harold said.
“What? That doesn’t sound like the Collin I remember.” I mumbled more to myself but I knew he heard me.
“That’s what through us for a loop as well. Jessica even had some truth potion or some witchy thing, that she started slipping people and other vamps and they still said the same thing. So either her skills are off, or…”
“Or they’re all telling the truth.” I finished his sentence for him. “Ok good work Harold. I will take it from here. Sounds like I need to contact an old friend.” I rolled my eyes at that last part. We were anything but friends.
I dismissed Harold with more questions than answers now. Not only did I have my own daughter upset with me, but allegedly people were disappearing from my kingdom, and now I got to deal with these damn vampires. I rubbed my hands up and down my face a couple of times before running them back through my hair.
What the hell was I going to do? My lycan was going crazy, and that’s saying something considering he’s been completely unstable since I walked away from my mate.
“Kill them all!” He growled, referring to the vampires.
“I’m not going to start a fight with them. Most of my people have never fought them so they would have no idea how to defend themselves you baboon!” I retorted.
“I am no baboon!” He growled again.
“Oh shut the hell up and let me think.” I yelled. “I guess first thing to do would be to call Collin and see what’s going on.”
I got up and left my study and headed back to my office. Everybody I passed bowed their heads out of respect but nothing was said. I’m sure the look on my face told them all they needed to know, and that was to stay away. Once I was back in my office, I sat at my desk and stared at the phone for a few minutes before I picked it up and dialed Collin’s number. It rang 4 times before someone answered.
“Kamusta?” A voice on the other end answered that I didn’t recognize.
“I’m looking to speak with Collin. Is he available?” I had no idea if this person understood what I had said, because next thing I heard was some muffled voices. Something along the lines of ’Ang ilang kaawa-awang kaluluwa ay tumatawag kay Collin.” (Some poor soul calling for Collin.)
“Hello?” A second voice came across the line.
“I am King Seeley Romanov. I am needing to speak to Collin.” I said sternly.
“Ah, Seeley. Yes. He has been waiting for your call.” The stranger said.
“Well, here I am. Put him on the phone.” I snapped. I was already annoyed and wanted to get this over with as soon as I could.
I heard the phone being passed again before Collin finally answered, “Seeley! Is that really you!?” He sounded all to much excited for my liking.
“Yes it is jackass. Now what the hell is going on with your vamps and why the fuck are they on my land?!” I growled.
Collin started laughing, “Whoa calm your fluff your highness. I have taken care of the situation. There was a rouge group that was turning humans to build their numbers. All have been accounted for. You have nothing to worry about. Well, from us at least anyways.” He chuckled.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” I snapped.
“Oh you don’t know about the fight do you?” Collin was mocking me now.
“What fight?!” I yelled into the phone.
“It has nothing to do with me. Although depending on the outcome of it, I might be in the market for some new real estate.” He laughed again.
“If you know of some attack against me, then you better tell me NOW!” I growled.
“All I know is there’s supposed to be a fight and that my kind will not be involved.” He was still smirking. I just knew it.
“Well then if that’s all you know, thanks for nothing.” I said and hung up the phone before he could say anything back.
That man always seemed to find my last nerve and danced on it every time. If I could end him, I would, but unfortunately I couldn’t touch him. Some old law about the leaders of each species, and trust me there are a lot of them, not being targeted or some shit.
I ran my hands down my face again and groaned. What fight was he talking about? I didn’t have no fight planned so that meant it was against me and they were going to try to surprise attack. Just then the vampire’s words from the beach echoed in head, “traitor amongst you.”
“JAXSON!” I yelled through the mind link.
“Yes sir? Is everything ok? What’s going on?!” Jax responded instantly.
“MY OFFICE! NOW!” I yelled and cut off the link.
Jax was knocking on my door in seconds. He knew better than to keep me waiting when I was pissed.
“Come in!” I said.
“What’s going on sir?” Jax said as he closed the door.
“The other day on the beach with that vampire. Remember how he said we have a traitor amongst us?” I questioned.
“Yes, sir.” Jax nodded once.
“Then you stood behind Alida when we…” I trailed off.
“Sir, with all due respect, I was standing more in the middle of you guys. I couldn’t choose between my King and my future Queen. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but she kinda scares me when she gets mad and I don’t want to be on the receiving end of her brutality.” Jax was as serious as could be. I looked for any hint of lie to come from him but didn’t find any.
“She truly is her father’s daughter ain’t she?” I chuckled, sitting back down and somewhat relaxing.
“That she is sir, but I will not be the one to tell her that. Not after her little episode earlier.” Jax said shaking his head. “Anyways, what was the urgency you called me in here for?”
“Oh right.” I sat upright again, “Apparently someone is planning to attack us. Have you heard anything about this?”
Jax’s eyes when wide as baseballs, “What the fuck?! No this is the first I’m hearing of this!”
“I had Harold go do some snooping, more or less, to find out about the vamp’s threat on the beach. What he came back with prompted me to contact Collin.” I started explaining what had happened.
“Collin? The vampire’s leader? That bitch ain’t dead yet?!” Jax asked, his voice laced with annoyance.
“Unfortunately, no. But he’s the one that told me about this fight that’s supposed to happen. He didn’t say who or when though.” I through my hands up frustrated with everything.
“What should I do sir?” Jax asked.
“Start your own investigation. On your own. Nobody else involved. I want to know who this traitor is and I want them found sooner rather than later.” I ordered walking around my desk towards the fireplace.
“Yes sir. But may I make one request?” Jax asked.
“What’s that?” I turned to face him.
“Can I please involve Alida in on this? If she’s to be the Queen she should know how to handle this type of situation.” Jax requested.
“Hmm. You have a point. I know a lot of the older generations aren’t to happy with her taking over and not being full blooded, so it is likely that once she takes over, she would have to deal with traitors.” I mulled it over for a few minutes. I knew she didn’t trust me much less care for me in any way. Maybe involving her in this investigation will help gain some of her trust. “Yeah go ahead. But you two ONLY!”
“Yes sir. I will take her out tonight to show her the borders and how the patrols work and while we’re out, we will question all everyone on patrol tonight.” Jax nodded and stood up.
“Sounds good Jax. Thank you. You’re dismissed.” I said waving a hand towards the door.
Jax bowed and then left. If someone was truly planning to attack, then they had another thing coming. I am always prepared.
Jax’s POV
“That was a close one,” I thought to myself as I walked to the hall to grab some food. Now to fill Alida in on the latest and what the plan was going to be now. I knew she would meet up with me sooner or later. I was just giving her space at the moment after she exploded on the King.
I had just started eating when she came zipping through the hall and plopped down next to me and muttered “2 hours” and then took off again. Damn it, here I thought I’d be able to actually eat like a normal person and not scarf my food down. I tried to get her attention to tell her about the conversation I just had but she was gone before I could.
After finishing my food, I headed out to the cave where she said to meet. She was in such a rush, saying we were just out for a run if anybody had asked and with that she was off and shifting before I could say anything. Damn it.
After we found her pack and the rest of the warriors and got them settled in, I was sitting around a fire and was lost in my thoughts. How was I going to pull this off with the King? I have got to talk to Alida about this, but every time I tried someone else was coming up and greeting her. Then it hit me. We can mind link!!!
“Keep doing what you’re doing and don’t react. The King called me to his office. He knows about the fight, but not who it is or when it’ll happen. I am supposed to question everybody and you are in this investigation with me. I told him we would run the borders tonight and talk to the warriors on patrols about it. So be prepared if we get called back to his office for an update.”
I saw her look in my direction with a knowing look and she just nodded slightly to confirm she understood without interrupting the person talking to her. Phew, ok now that, that was taken care of and we had our stories straight, least I hoped we did now to get these people settled down and get back in for the night. I mind linked her again to tell her that we should go and then made sure she got to her room safely. Once I was sure she would be ok, I headed to the training grounds.
I was working off some stress when I heard someone walking towards the grounds. I decided to ignore it until the footsteps ended behind me. I stopped what I was doing and slowly stood up with my back still facing whoever it was. I could tell by the scent it was a male but which one was beyond me. As I slowly turned around, I was kind of shocked. It definitely was not who I thought it would be at this time of night.
“Harold? What are you doing here?” I questioned.
“I need to talk to you, but privately. I don’t know where it’s safe anymore.” He said rubbing the back of his neck.
“Come, sit with me. What’s on your mind?” I waved him over to where I was and he sat on the bench while I grabbed my towel and wiped sweat from my face and neck.
“It’s really a family matter but the family is so divided, I can’t really talk to any of them about it. I thought that since you’ve been the King’s right-hand man for so long, that you were my next best option.” He shrugged.
“I don’t know much about your family Harold. I try to stay out of all that stuff. I’m just the top warrior. But if you need to vent, then I’m here to listen.” I said sitting down next to him.
“I don’t know what to do Jaxson. My family is torn between the King and Alida. Some are on his side and others are on her’s. We all know about the prophecy and we’ve all heard about her wolf and the talk about her being the chosen one. Thing is, I want to be on her side. I’m tired of this place and I want out! But I’m afraid if I go against the King that he’ll have my head, family or not.” He slumped over and put his head in his hands.
“Well, you are old enough to make your own decisions Harold. You have to do what’s best for and your mate and kids. You do have kids right?” I asked. There was so many of them, I couldn’t keep them straight anymore.
“Yeah, we got pups.” Harold chuckled.
“What’s your mate think of this? Have you even talked to her?” I asked.
“We have talked about it. She wants to leave also. She is worried that if the war does happen that she’ll lose me and of course she’s coming up with all the worst outcomes.” Harold said sounding defeated.
“Well, to me it sounds like you both want the same thing. To get out of here. A little word of advice?” I offered.
“Yes of course!” His eyes lit up.
“Leave. Now.” I deadpanned.
“It’s happening isn’t it? The prophecy?” He asked, the light draining from his eyes.
I didn’t confirm nor deny but just stared at him hoping he could read my face. After a few seconds of silence, Harold nodded his head and looked out over the grounds.
“Where would we go?” He asked.
“Get to Iceland. Tell them Alida sent you.” That’s all I said before standing up and walking away, leaving him sitting there by himself.