Chapter 124 BAD NEWS

Chapter 124 BAD NEWS

\- ENZO DAVENPORT -
They brought me through the door, welcoming me into the throne room. The Lycan palace patrol bowed as I walked past, mounting the throne. They beat their chests and greeted before they raised their heads to look me in the eye.

"What news do you have for me today?"

"The cults are still rampaging. They're blaming you for the death of their leader, the prince, and they are insisting you own up to your sins and step down."

I hissed.

"Someone tell me something I actually care about."

The officer stepped back. Another one came forward.

"The border fences are weakening because more and more refugees are coming in. The refugees are wolves, which makes things worse. The patrol is trying not to resort to violence and attack, but they are forcing our hand, fighting the garrisons and causing stampedes."

"Remind me again where exactly all these wolves are coming from?"

I crawled through the tablet on the armchair.

"They are coming from the kingdom of Alpha Frederick Lancaster. Ever since Alpha Frederick Lancaster was banished and the throne was taken by Lycan King Mutheran, it has been hell over there. Wolves are fleeing their homes because the Lycans are seizing them."

The others nodded their heads in affirmation.

"What do you think? Should we open the gates for them? We did promise that we wouldn't be like other packs. We would be generous, good, accommodating, blah, blah, blah."

They chuckled.

I grinned.

"Let's be serious now. What do you think we do to those wolves? They are not exactly our enemies. They are in trouble just like our kingdom was before under Lycan King Mutheran's rule."

"I suggest we give them a place to be. We let them in, but we don't allow them into the city of our people."

A voice suggested.

I scanned the officers before me to find the speaker. I couldn't.

"Who said that?" I asked.

They looked at themselves, hunching shoulders and waving heads. Every one of them wore the same confused expression.

"Nobody spoke."

Someone finally said.

My brows furrowed.

"I heard a voice. Are you saying I imagined it?"

They looked at themselves again.

"But nobody actually spoke, King."

I watched them. None of them seemed to be lying to me.

I stroked my chin.

Could it be that Ethan is back then?

No.

"You're right."

I frowned.

"Captain Shaw."

One of the officers came forward.

"Open the gates to the throne room. There's someone waiting to be let in."

He bowed and hurriedly went to the gate. He opened it wide and stepped aside.

Ethan walked in.

I shook my head.

"Everyone, could you give us a moment? I will attend to you all shortly."

The officers bowed and left together with Captain Shaw, the gates closing behind them.

"You have a habit of using our minds like this. It pisses me off."

He chuckled.

"What are friends for?"

I came down from the throne and hugged him.

"It's been a while, old friend. How are you?"

"I've been well. I guess it's a given, since I don't die."

Ethan said.

"How about you and King Davenport? I see you are a king now. It still surprises me. Everyone knows how much your whole family hates and fears you."

"My whole family is dead now."

His smile vanished.

"What? Enzo, did you—"

"No, I didn't. I simply planted the seed of discord in their minds, then let them kill each other. Mother was the last to go. She went mad in prison and cut her own throat."

"How are you?"

I thought the question was funny, but I didn't laugh. It felt wrong to, for some reason.

"I will live. Anyway, I have a feeling you are not here because your heart bleeds for my family."

He clicked his tongue.

"I'm afraid not. I have a much worse reason."

"Which is...?"

I stepped back, attempting to return to my throne.

"Melissa is in trouble."

I stopped abruptly.

"What?"

"You heard me. A few weeks ago, Lycan King Mutheran found me in my home pack. He sent his people to bring me to him. He asked me to help get the beast out of Melissa's body. His people briefed me about Melissa on my way there. They did awful things to her. So many awful things."

I spun around, nearing him with fear in my eyes.

"I thought Lycan King Mutheran loved her. What the hell happened? I thought the beast was dead too."

"The beast isn't dead. Here, just sit down for a moment. Let me tell you everything."

"No. No."

I dodged his hand when he tried to touch me.

"If Melissa is in trouble, we need to go to her now."

"It's not that simple. If you go there, you will start a war. Lycan King Mutheran has the support of his kingdom, the Wolf Kingdom, and several smaller kingdoms have bowed their heads just so he won't invade them. Melissa is his war trump card. You can't just pick her out of the Wolf Kingdom like some tumbleweed. You need to know what is going on before you act."

He placed a hand on my shoulder.

I let him.

"Calm down. She will be fine. I've got someone of my own in there. She'll hang in there. She's tougher than she looks. I told her you were coming for her. She's not hopeless.”

I heaved distressfully.

It did give some ease to my frustration, but I was still very worried.

"Okay, go ahead. I'm listening."

"Good. Melissa's son was kidnapped by Alpha Frederick Lancaster. He lured her to the Wolf Pack, humiliated her before the pack, and locked her up. The whole plot was actually Martin Mutran's idea. He needed to have everyone betray Melissa so the weight of the betrayal would cause her heart to break and the beast would get out of its cage and take her body. But Martin Mutran is obsessed with her, so he figured out a way to fuse her with the beast instead."

"That's worse."

"Yeah."

Alpha Ethan sighed.

"But he wants Melissa so badly that he's not thinking straight. Then there's something else."

"What?"

I kept my gaze fixed on him.

"Martin Mutran has a spirit guide."

My eyes widened.

"Impossible. Lycan King Martin Mutran is the most evil Lycan I know. Spirit guides bring goodness. Overwhelming power, yeah, but goodness. And spirit guides are tied to people from the Junerian Pack. Mine is tied to Melissa. This doesn't make any sense at all."

"That's because Martin Mutran's spirit guide is an evil spirit. I think whoever that spirit guide is tied to is dead. Martin Mutran must have killed that person so that he and the spirit guide can be free of the link."

"That's freaking sick. Melissa is there with that psycho."

I massaged my temple.

"How do we get her out of there?"

Alpha Ethan patted my shoulder.

"Right now, Martin Mutran thinks I gave Melissa a spell that makes her love him for ten minutes every day. I told Melissa to pretend it's working. Martin Mutran thinks that each day Melissa is slowly and slowly forgiving him, and soon she will give him permission to use the beast. He's waiting patiently for that day, which is good."

He paused before continuing.

"We have to join our kingdoms' forces and go after Martin Mutran. We have to do it soon because Mutran—because the Lycan King—just reached out to me asking for a spell that expands the time from ten minutes to twenty minutes. I have a feeling he's planning something. Something ugly."

His expression darkened.

"We need to get Melissa out of there before then.”