Chapter 46 Border of Lies
Adrian’s POV
The forest was still black with night when a low, vibrating growl ripped out of my chest and cut through the frost.
“Liana?”
I stepped out from the shadows of the pines, moonlight sliding over the steam rising from my skin. I had only shifted back seconds ago when Derek caught the scent…heat still clung to me like a second heartbeat.
My eyes narrowed on the small omega frozen in the middle of the path, trembling like a leaf in a storm.
“Your Majesty,” she whispered, gaze dropping so fast I heard the crack in her neck. She bowed so low her forehead nearly scraped the snow. “I…I didn’t know you were running. I’m sorry, I—”
“What are you doing out here at this hour?” My voice came out pure gravel. I inhaled sharply, nostrils flaring. Something foul clung to the air behind her…rotting meat and old blood. Wrong.
Dangerous.
“And who were you with?”
Her head snapped up, eyes wide with shock. Then she looked behind her, and around before looking ahead.
“Who? I’m alone, Your Majesty. I just stepped out of the palace. I needed to cry after what happened to the princess.”
Her knees hit the frozen ground so hard I smelled the skin split.
“You should behead me, Your Majesty. It happened on my watch. The princess collapsed while I was serving her.”
“We should behead her,” Derek snarled in my head, voice dripping with hunger. “She’s practically begging for it. End her.”
He pushed hard, teeth bared, ready to rip through her throat himself.
I shoved him back with everything in me. No. Kira wouldn’t want that.
Tears spilled fast…real ones…silver streaks rolling down her face like she’d been crying for hours.
Watching her fall apart meant she’d been gone far longer than she claimed.
If she hadn’t, she would’ve known my mate was already awake.
My eyes stayed locked on her, observing her carefully. Her hands trembled. Her gaze bounced everywhere but up. And the shivers running through her weren’t just from the cold.
What the hell was she hiding?
And of all places to cry…why here?
“Of all places to cry, Liana, why this part of the forest?” I growled. “What is an omega doing this close to the border?”
She dropped her head so fast her forehead touched the snow.
“Your Majesty, I swear on my life… I only came out here to scream into the night without disturbing anyone. I’d never lie to you. I know the price for that. I just feel horrible about what happened to the princess… I promise to be more careful.”
I could taste it. She’s hiding something, but I decided not to push further. That foul scent behind her was distracting, getting stronger…thick, rotten, wrong. Like something dead was waiting in the dark.
“No need for all that,” I snapped. “You’re relieved of your duties henceforth.”
She broke instantly, sobbing. “Your Majesty, please… don’t replace me. She needs me. I know her better than anyone. I’ll do better. Please.”
I didn’t even hear the rest.
Derek was clawing inside my skull, fur standing on end.
That stench wasn’t wolf. Wasn't an animal.
It carried something else. Something twisted.
Dark magic?
“You do know that the only reason I spared you was because of my princess. So, I’ll ask one more time,” I said, letting my royal command rumble out of me like thunder. The ground shook beneath us.
“Who were you with, Liana?”
She shook so hard her teeth chattered. “N-no one, Your Majesty… I swear on my life. Maybe rogues passed through. The smell—”
Rogues.
The single word lit something feral behind my eyes. A slow, cruel smile curved my mouth.
Of course it has to be rogues. Dark magic was banned from the kingdom a long time ago.
Derek growled in my mind, stretching with hunger. Ready to tear through bone and snow.
“Get back to the palace. Now,” I snarled. “Don’t stop running until you’re behind the wards.”
She didn’t wait. She bolted, a terrified blur vanishing between the trees.
I turned toward the darkness she’d come from, rolling my shoulders once.
Good. Let there be rogues. Thousands. Let there be something to rip apart. Tonight I didn’t want the warriors to step in. Didn’t want to share the feast. I wanted the kill to be private…fingers around throats, blood steaming in the snow, spines snapping under my jaws.
Derek surged forward. Bones cracked. Fur exploded across skin. In one heartbeat, the monster took my place…a massive black wolf, eyes molten gold.
We tore through the forest.
Past the tree line.
Past the warning zones.
Past the places even warriors avoided at night.
Nothing.
No tracks. No heartbeats. No fresh blood.
But the stench had been here…thick, wrong, like a corpse left out in summer.
Derek growled with disappointment, pushing deeper until the trees thinned and the ground sloped sharply downward. Snow swallowed us to the belly. One misstep here and even I could find it difficult to crawl out.
We burst onto an old mountain road buried under fresh snow, searched beyond the tree lines desperately for a kill.
Still nothing.
After searching for hours and coming up with nothing, we gave up. At the edge of a half-frozen stream I shifted back, muscles twitching.
The cold never bothered me. I walked straight into the water up to my waist and sank under. Ice cracked around me. Steam hissed from my mouth when I surfaced.
I stayed there longer than intended, eyes closed, letting the burn scour everything away…guilt, rage, the memory of Kira’s pale face, her heartbeat slowing hour by hour.
I must have drifted, because Derek snapped control back with a furious snarl.
Time to go home.
Time to do what had to be done, as long as our mate won’t die.
Derek sprinted. Miles blurred beneath massive paws. The palace walls rose as the first pale streak of dawn bled across the sky.
Warriors in the yard froze mid-spar, dropping to their knees as we thundered past.
I shifted mid-stride at the foot of the grand staircase, ignoring my naked body. Servants scattered. Two guards at the entrance to the royal wing snapped to attention.
“Your Majesty,” they chorused with confusion.
I stormed past. “Why are you staring like you’ve seen a ghost?”
One guard spoke cautiously. “Sire… you’re just returning now?”
I turned, irritation flaring. “Are you blind?”
He tapped his chest. “Then… Your Majesty… If it’s really you….what’s my name?”
I snarled. “I don’t have time for games, Dom—”
Both guards staggered back.
“If you’re here,” Dom whispered, horrified, “then who the hell just came in like three hours ago… looking exactly like you?”
Like me? What the hell… Ice flooded my veins as soon as the realization dawned on me.
I looked up the staircase toward our room.
“Fuck. Kira!”
I took the stairs four at a time, naked, roaring, every guard jolting awake behind me as my growl shattered the morning.