Chapter 50

Russel spent the next several hours interrogating everyone he thought might have even the slightest chance of betraying them all to the Harvenks. When most of his questioning yielded no results, he started to pull in higher and higher ranking officers. The way the Harvenk spy had coincidentally been able to traverse the entirety of his kingdom and then the capital, including his well-fortified and guarded castle, convinced him thoroughly that there was a traitor. Someone was feeding information to the Harvenks and because of that leak, Lola had almost been killed. He could barely contain his rage in his various interrogations and had yelled, slammed his fists down on things, and even threw something at the wall many times.

All that time and he got nothing.

Not one person knew what he was talking about or had any idea who might have leaked information to the Harvenk “mongrels,” as everyone put it. They even looked disgusted at the thought of betraying their kingdom. Russel made sure he listened to the steady thumping of their hearts, knowing that if a person lied it would typically cause their hearts to beat much faster. It wasn’t a sure thing by any means because some had developed a real knack for controlling their hearts so adeptly that they could easily fool any wolf. Others, no matter what authority figure was questioning them, were just too nervous anyway for that to be effective. Most, however, simply elected to not lie. It was easier that way.

“How long have you been Commander of the Watch?” Russel asked his latest suspect. “And state your name and rank.”

A woman around Russel’s age stared back at him. One of her ears was missing and thick scar tissue ran from that side of her head and spread along her cheek and jawline. Her golden-brown eyes stared unwaveringly at Russel as she was interrogated. She also had a calm demeanor, as if being torn from her command and brought in for questioning in the middle of the night was an ordinary occurrence.

“The better part of six years,” she replied, pausing for a disrespectful amount of time. “Your Majesty. And I am Commander Jordan Ospry.”

Russel let the snub go but not before noting it in the back of his mind. Clearly the woman was less than thrilled with the recent change in monarchies.

“You were loyal to my father?” Russel inquired.

“I was loyal to the powerful and commanding King Carter Polver of Oclan, yes,” she stated. Her voice was flat but there was a flicker of malevolent glee at snubbing Russel yet again.

Russel looked at her calmly, taking and judging her insults. She was a wolf herself. He knew that much. The damage done to her ear must have been before her first change then. That told him she’d already been through and seen a lot at a very young age.

It almost meant she was probably mentally strong. A toughened soldier that was affected by very little.

Russel continued to stare at her, nodding his head at her answers. Outwardly, he kept his face impassive.

And then he abruptly erupted into movement, too fast for anyone to stop him or even flinch. Commander Jordan Ospry could only stare as the new king, a king she was sworn to protect with her life, came at her in a blur of claws and glowing blue eyes. Pain blossomed from her shoulders as the king’s claws sank into her flesh. Then they were falling backward and she was powerless to stop it. Her head smacked into the stone floor while above her, Russel’s part wolf and part human face, snarled at her.

“In the future, you will do well to show some respect to your king,” he growled, his voice a low rumble of menacing, deadly threat. “Show contempt for me again and I will be happy to impress upon you the error of your ways. And believe me when I say, it will be a thorough session.”

Commander Jordan felt her own rage explode inside her. Her jaw clenched and her eyes flashed with a bright, amber glow.

Russel roared directly in her face and dug his claws in deeper. The blue of his eyes got brighter and brighter.

“Do we still have a problem, Commander?” Russel said, still with that low growl at the back of his throat.

The Commander glared at Russel for several long minutes and then finally shook her head no. His face immediately went back to normal and he jerked his claws out of her. To her credit, she didn’t let out a gasp of pain or even wince.

Russel went back around the table in the little, make-shift interrogation room and sat back down. He waited for Commander Jordan to pick herself up and sit back down as well. He could smell the blood from her wounds but a few seconds later and they were all healed. She looked a little more comfortable and just by her body language alone, Russel could tell she had a greater respect for him now.

Which was the whole point to his show of power. With a lot of werewolves, a show of outright power and dominance was the only way to gain their trust and loyalty.

“Now that we have that out of the way, Commander, have you seen or heard of anything suspicious with any of your soldiers?”

“Am I not under suspicion?”

“If you wanted to harm this kingdom, you would have had more than enough opportunity to do so in the last six years. And I don’t think you would have been as blatantly hostile to me for taking over as king and killing my father in the process. You clearly respected the man, even with all his…faults.” Russel didn’t go into detail on those faults. He didn’t need to. Carter Polver was a strong leader and had kept the peace during his reign through sheer intimidation but in life, he’d been a cruel person. Everyone knew it. Especially to humans. In the days, months, and years to come, Russel knew there were going to be a lot of people happy with the change but there were going to be a lot that hated him for it as well. He would deal with each in due time.

“I have spent almost my whole life fighting and protecting Oclan. I would never betray it.”

“Then help me find out who did,” Russel said, leaning forward. “They are putting the lives of everyone here at enormous risk.”

“What would you have me do, Your Majesty,” she replied.

“What have you seen? No matter how small or insignificant you think it might be. We need to find this traitor before something worse happens.”

Or they finally do manage to get Lola killed, Russel thought but didn’t say.

Lola sat on the bed in her room, her mind still dazed and shocked over what happened with Nora. She tried to gingerly poke at her memory, hoping to figure out how the Harvenk woman had been killed. And how she had miraculously healed her damaged, broken body. Even now she could still feel the phantom twinges of agony she’d experienced from all the broken bones, slashes, and worse she took in her fight.

It wasn’t so much that she killed that upset her and put her into such a state of unresponsiveness. Nora had been intent on killing her. There was no other way around it at the time. If she hadn’t done…whatever it was that she’d done, then she would be the one in pieces now, not the Harvenk werewolf. The guilt at murdering a thinking, living person was bad and it hurt her to know she had done that, but again, the rational part of her mind still soothed her. The rational part of her mind told her it had been a killing out of necessity. Of self-defense. Even with that knowledge, however, it still felt like part of her had been ripped away.

All of that was bad, but the worst thing was the sheer horror she felt. After everything was said and done, the horror left behind was what truly sent her into a semi-catatonic state. It kept careening through her mind, ripping things apart and crushing her soul. The worst part was that she wasn’t even sure what the horror was really attached to. The image of Nora’s shredded corpse? Knowing that somehow, she had turned into some kind of monster? That she had killed a living, thinking, sentient person?

She had no clue and it was eating away at her. With every second that ticked past, she felt more and more of herself slipping away. The pain of losing everyone she loved in Gloucester seemed so much smaller in comparison and she couldn’t even figure out why.

She suddenly wished Russel were there. The handmaidens had long since gone and she was left alone with the crushing weight of her thoughts and pain. Outside, she knew, were some guards but she didn’t need protection right then.

She needed him.

And she needed to know how she, a human girl, had managed to kill a werewolf.