Chapter 60 The Safest Place

Chapter 60 The Safest Place
CHAPTER 60: The Safest Place

''Aric's POV''

The makeshift command center was suffocatingly quiet. I stood over the massive, unrolled map of the palace with my fingers digging hard into the edges of the heavy parchment that the wood beneath it splintered.

My mind wasn't on the charcoal lines marking our shattered defenses. It wasn't on the rebel factions gathering at our borders.

My mind was entirely on the safety of my mate.

Suddenly, the doors swung open.

I snapped my head up, a sharp reprimand already on my tongue for the interruption but the angry words died instantly in my throat.

Caspian and Lyrin walked in first. Their expressions were grimmer than I had ever seen them in all our years of fighting side by side.

Maya followed closely behind, her head bowed in deep distress but my eyes locked entirely on Seraphine. She stood in the center of their protective formation, looking fragile.

Her beautiful face was covered in a thick layer of gray soot, her clothes were torn, her eyes red and swollen.

The claw of the wolf tore into my chest ferociously. He growled with an unrestrained rage, threatening to destroy anyone responsible for placing such sheer horror into her face.

"What happened?" I yelled and threw away the map of our plans and strode three steps across the cold stones towards her.

"Is she hurt?“

"She is not physically harmed, brother," said Lyrin.

She moved aside, letting me finally approach my Seraphine.

The second I tried to embrace her, Seraphine flung herself into my arms without hesitation. She held on to my shirt with a white knuckled grip as her head pressed tightly to my chest.

I kept one arm securely wrapped around Seraphine’s shaking waist, refusing to let her go and turned to look at my Beta.

Caspian walked over to the heavy wooden table and dumped a leather pouch upside down. Silver coins spilled across the map, clinking loudly against each other.

Lyrin dropped a stack of folded parchment covered in tight, erratic writing and finally, unrolled a thick, black cloth bearing the silver crescent of the rebellion.

"We found a hidden compartment beneath the floorboards in the abandoned eastern servant's quarters," Lyrin explained.

Her golden eyes burned with a cold, calculating fury. "Varak didn't fund this rebellion by himself. Those are human coins from the southern territories. They’ve been planning this exact night for months but that isn't what broke her."

Caspian reached into his pocket and pulled out a small piece of parchment. He had hastily sketched something on it with black charcoal and handed it to me.

I stared at the crude drawing. It was a jagged circle, pierced by three downward pointing daggers, tightly wrapped in thorny vines. I frowned, my mind completely blanking as I searched my memory.

"What is this?" I asked, looking between Caspian and Lyrin.

"This isn't a rogue crest and it's not a Lycan mark at all."

"It's a human extremist cult," Caspian replied darkly, crossing his massive arms over his chest. "They call themselves the Hunters of the Silver Blood."

I felt Seraphine stiffen against my chest. She pulled her face away from my shirt as her tear filled eyes stared at the piece of parchment in my hand.

"Aric," she whispered.

"That is the mark of the men who killed my parents."

The world seemed to completely stop spinning.

I froze and the charcoal sketch crinkled loudly in my tightening grip. I looked from the drawing down to her pale, tear-streaked face.

"What?" I breathed, shaking my head in confusion.

"No. Seraphine, the town guards said it was a random robbery. It was just a home invasion by desperate bandits."

"They lied," she sobbed quietly as a fresh wave of hot tears spilled over her cheeks.

"I wanted it to stay dead. I wanted to believe that part of my life was completely over but they didn't steal anything, Aric. They wore iron masks, slaughtered my mother and father and before they left, they painted that exact symbol on the inside of our front door using my father's blood. And now... now that exact same symbol is carved into the foundation of your palace."

The dark realization hit me like a physical blow and all the air instantly rushed out of my lungs.

The human hunters hadn't funded this massive, coordinated rebellion just to help some purist wolves take over a kingdom.

They wanted her. They had infiltrated my home, bypassed my guards and slaughtered my people, all to get their bloody hands on my mate.

A terrifying, blinding rage washed over my vision, quickly followed by a crushing wave of guilt.

She had been carrying this horrific trauma alone and I hadn't even known. I hadn't protected her from her own nightmare.

"Caspian. Lyrin," I growled.

My voice dropped into a dangerous, vibrating Alpha frequency that made the wooden beams above us groan in protest.

"Get out."

Caspian hesitated, his hand dropping toward the hilt of his sword. "Alpha, we need to plan the defense. If there's a tunnel…"

"I said get out!" I roared, the sheer force of my voice shaking the glass in the remaining windows.

"Take Maya and lock the doors from the outside. Do not let a single soul disturb us until I command it."

Lyrin gave Caspian a sharp, understanding nod. They didn't argue further.

Maya cast one last sympathetic, worried look at Seraphine before the three of them quietly slipped out of the room, pulling the doors shut with an echoing click.

We were entirely alone.

The terrifying Alpha rage instantly melted away and left only a desperate, terrified mate behind.

I tossed the drawing onto the table, picked Seraphine up into my arms and carried her over to the side of the room where a small ceramic washbasin rested on a stand.

I set her gently on the edge of a sturdy wooden chair, grabbed a clean linen cloth, dipped it into the warm water and wrung it out.

I knelt on the cold stone floor in front of her. Completely abandoned my pride, my posture and title. I was no longer a King fighting a war but just a man absolutely terrified of losing his heart.

"Look at me, little bird," I whispered softly.

She opened her eyes, blinking heavily through the tears. They were wide, full of a heartbreaking mixture of guilt and sorrow.

I reached up with the damp cloth, gently wiping the dark soot and dried tears from her cheeks. I moved with agonizing slowness, treating her like she was made of the thinnest and most delicate glass.

"I am so sorry Aric," she cried, her hands coming up to grip my wrists.

"They are tearing your kingdom apart because of me. I brought this to your door. I brought this horror to your people."

"Stop," I said firmly.

I paused to look directly into her eyes. My voice was a low, fierce rumble. "You did not bring this. Varak made his treasonous choice and those human cowards made theirs. You survived a nightmare, Seraphine. You were an innocent child. This is not your fault."

"But they are hunting me," she whispered, her bottom lip trembling.

"Let them try," I rumbled, my eyes flashing a brilliant, deadly gold in the dim candlelight.

I tossed the dirty cloth aside and cupped her clean face in both of my hands.

"Listen to me very carefully. I do not care about this throne and I do not care about the banners or the palace or the crown. You are my kingdom, Seraphine. You are my home. If they want you, they will have to burn me to ashes first."

A stifled sob escaped from her lips as she leaned closer to rest her forehead against mine.

For a few brief moments, everything else around us disappeared and it was just her heart beating steadily in my ear. It was a necessity of a valley of calm in between two roaring storms.

But the calm could not be eternal.

I withdrew myself slightly, placing my hands on her shoulders firmly. "And because they are chasing after you, you have no choice but to obey me. You will go with Maya to the underground vault immediately. It has no windows, only one entrance.and it is surrounded by reinforced iron."

Seraphine’s eyes widened. She immediately shook her head, her grip tightening on my arms.

"No! No, Aric, please. Don't lock me away in a cage. I want to help. I can help Maya treat the wounded, I can…."

"Seraphine, please," I begged.

My voice broke in a way it never had before. I let her see the unedited terror in my eyes.

"I cannot fight out there if I am constantly looking over my shoulder. I cannot lead my warriors if I am terrified that a human assassin has slipped through the shadows to put a knife in your heart. Please, give me the peace of mind to end this."

She stared at me, searching my face and I could tell she saw the genuine desperation of a mate who was on the absolute brink of losing his mind. Finally, the heavy resistance left her shoulders and she gave a small, reluctant nod.

"Okay," she whispered. "I will go to the vault but you have to promise me you will come back."

"I promise it on my soul," I whispered, leaning down for a searing kiss upon her lips. That was my promise made in the darkness.

I got up, helped her onto her feet, clasped her hand firmly and headed straight for the doors and pushed them open.

Caspian and Lyrin were waiting for me right there in the corridor, standing at attention.

"Escort her to the iron vault," I commanded Caspian, bringing back the tough sound of an Alpha once again.

"Four of our best men on guard at the door. No one goes in and no one gets out unless I say otherwise explicitly."

"Yes, Alpha," Caspian responded.

"Tell me about that tunnel you discovered under the floorboards in the servant's quarters. Was the shaft collapsed?"

Caspian's face hardened considerably. His voice dropped low, making sure that he spoke only to me.

"The shaft is already collapsed but it does not matter, Aric. The rope is already up and the mud footprints are too fresh. It looks like they have stopped their attempts at getting inside the palace."

Caspian looked down the long, shadowed corridor of the palace, his hand resting heavily on the hilt of his sword.

"They are already walking our halls.“