Chapter 88: What Have We Here?

Chapter 88: What Have We Here?
Beta Maxwell's POV:

I stood there in the main entrance for a bit until I saw His Highness start to ascend the stairs on His way to His chambers. There was no doubt in my mind that He was going to attempt to get our newfound Luna situated. However, it did make me wonder how long it was going to take in order for all of us to be made aware of this newfound information, and by that, we could openly call her that very special title.

Not everyone had the luxury of being the Mate to His Highness. Many have wished to fill that particular role, but His Highness was not interested. He only wanted to find his truly Bonded Mate, and now that He has, I without a doubt that he would bring to justice all those who placed her in that particular position in which we found her.

That, for certain, was a grand question of all. I did look forward to being able to have a Royal Luna. When that time came, we would all soon be able to call her 'Her Royal Majesty'. Only I knew it would certainly take some time for her to recover until that day finally came about.

I turned to head off in a different direction to begin to deal with the news I received earlier while I was still at the Imperial Clinic. The news that our travel party came back from the rival land with captives. It made me wonder how many were brought back. However, I was sure I would find that out soon enough. I just needed to make my way to the Booth Hall.

In the Booth Hall, there were many different Booths, or rooms for that matter, for all the various needs one might need when it came to dealing with captives that might be brought back from time to time. Some Booths were supplied with stretching racks, while others were equipped only with a single chain post to hold the captive at bay until we best determined how to deal with them. Granted, these different Booths were not advertised, as it was not common knowledge to anyone but those who needed to know they were there.

As I made my way to the upper section of the dungeon, where the Booth Hall was located, I had random thoughts going through my mind in that moment. I wondered how involved I would be in dealing with this new situation. However, before I did any of that, of course, I would need to discuss this concern with those in charge of the travel party to ensure they had encountered no issues during their journey.

Also, I wanted to personally see to their medical needs. To oversee such a thing, I needed to make sure they received care if necessary. Poison could be inserted in the tiniest of scratches, if they encountered such a thing. Our Warriors who traveled in these kinds of 'parties' were always well equipped to handle just about any situation they came across. However, I always ensured I personally oversaw medical needs, as I would be the one to convey that information directly to His Highness Himself.

When I reached the level of the Booth Hall, where we conducted interrogations among other things, I headed for one of the main Resting Booths. This particular room was where I was going to meet with the ones in charge of the travel party. They were usually held up in one of the Resting Booths and awaited to be addressed before they went on their way to address other pack needs related to our Grand Nation's security. In other words, sort of a debriefing, if you will.

I walked into the room, and the men were all sitting around a table in the center. They all seemed in good health at first glance. Even if some of them were previously injured, the abilities our Wolves gave us were to heal rather swiftly, so there was not much downtime needed. However, when they saw me enter, they immediately ceased speaking, stood to their feet, and bowed slightly in respect. They were now waiting for me to take a seat before they sat back down.

"How many captives were brought back?" I asked my first question, as I needed to know what we were looking at here, as I took a seat at the head of the table, which was the position closest to the door.

"Well, Sir,.." Denton, a younger member, began speaking, then he suddenly stopped before responding next.

"23," Maddux, another, more Senior Warrior sitting at the table, responded as he turned to scowl at the first member who spoke previously.

'That seems to be a bit of an odd number of men.' (Marx, my Wolf, scoffed at the number in the back of my mind.)

Marx usually remained quiet, unless it was necessary for him to speak and make himself heard, giving me his thoughts about things. When he did speak, he always made a point about something I hadn't previously thought of, which is why he spoke about such matters. I then thought about the number of men that Maddux mentioned. Something did seem to be a bit odd about that number, but what could it mean exactly?

I looked at both of them as I leaned over to the left side of the chair I sat in. I then placed the web of my left hand above my mouth, right over my lips, as I smirked to myself. It made me wonder what we were going to do with 23 new captives, from this one rival land no less. Granted, we had more than enough room for them, as one cell could certainly hold more than half of them. We also had many other cells down in the lower depths of our dungeon, but the question still remained.

"However, there's news about one of them in particular...," Maddux spoke up once again, regaining my attention as I looked over at him without speaking as he continued with his next statement. "One of our Travel Party thought he recognized one member of their Warrior pack."

'When did we last have a travel party venture out to our rival packs before now?' (Marx asked, rather confused as to the reference.)

"How could that be?" I asked plainly under my breath, as the thought caught me off guard.

"I'm not certain," he started to say. "Although Lawrence seemed pretty sure about the recognition of this particular individual. He did not sway from saying he knew him previously."

It really made me wonder who this individual could be if one of my older Warriors recognized him. Granted, Lawrence was in his mid-50s, but he was still a valued member of our Warriors and a great trainer, even in his elder years. He could certainly outmaneuver any one of the younger Warriors on any occasion. It brought a smirk to my face at that thought.

'Something is not adding up. I don't like this.' (Marx mentioned, a bit annoyed, trying to fully involve himself in this conversation now, which was not all that common for him.)