Chapter 66

Jack’s POV

The whole week had been dedicated to celebrating that Hunt Festival and now that it had ended I was very exhausted from the consecutive events I had to attend just because I was a king. I think being an introvert in this position wasn’t helping me, I need to work on my personality.

Now thinking about how busy the previous week had been brought me back to the present. A week had passed since I saw Marie, had she left without informing me? No, I doubt she would ever do that. But she looked pretty upset the last time I asked her to leave, maybe she had quietly slipped away without saying goodbye because of how upset she was.

I went to her room to confirm my suspicions, only to discover that her door was locked. I shifted my hand into a paw and used my long nails to pick the lock apart then I stepped into her room. Everything was still in place, it didn't look like she was gone, or maybe she decided not to leave with any baggage. As I cast my glances around I noticed her favorite keepsake was not in her drawer as usual. Maybe she had left because there was no reason for her to leave that keepsake behind.

But why didn’t she say anything to me? I picked up my phone and checked her last seen. It was a week ago. She had even sent me a photo of herself in her camouflage. She had captioned it,

“Still mad at you but admire my beautiful face.” I caught myself smiling.

That reminded me that Marie wouldn’t leave without telling me but where was she? Did she get lost in the forest? I linked the army commander to find out if there was anyone left in the forest.

“There's no one here, we’ve made sure of that.” He replied.

Now I was getting worried, if there was no one there then where was Marie? I left her room, closed the door, and dashed for the senior security officer's office.

He was happy to see me, but I wasn’t in the mood for a chit-chat. I showed him Marie’s picture.

“But I already know her, what has she done?”

“Did she go hunting with the rest of us?” I asked.

“Yes, I saw her in the assembly with her backpack on her back.”

His reply indicated that Marie hadn’t left, something may have happened to her, and I was getting worried. Had Warren done something or had Ivan done something to her? No that would be impossible Warren was with me the whole time and when he left my side at a point he was escorted by the security team he wouldn’t have had time to do anything without being caught.

“Can you do a quick search through the woods and the forest for her? She may be trapped somewhere.” I said.

“Yes, Your Highness.” He replied.

My next stop was at Warren’s bedroom door, he was still asleep, probably very exhausted from the week-long festivities but I woke him up unapologetically.

“What is it?” He asked in the groggiest voice ever.

“Do you have any idea where Marie has disappeared to?” I asked.

“Disappeared?” He echoed, “Isn’t she in her room?”

I shook my head, he looked sleepy and confused, but I wanted answers.

“You said eyes were on her wherever she went so you must know where she is,” I insisted.

“We’ve been so busy with the festivities I genuinely forgot to check on her.” He replied.

I sighed deeply and headed for the exit, “I will get a team to search for her then.” I muttered.

“I think you should let me handle it,” he replied “I will ask Ivan, and then if he doesn’t know anything I will search for her myself. The last thing we want is for the whole kingdom to know that there’s a stranger in our midst.”

I don’t know but he sounded suspicious, he knows something or has something to do with her disappearance, For the first time since I’ve been here, I can’t trust Warren.

“Nobody has to know if she’s a stranger or not, they just have to find a missing person.” I countered his point.

“Okay, fine, if you insist.” He replied.

Maybe I was thinking too much about it, he may be as clueless as me on the whereabouts of Marie.

I strolled out of the room as questions ran through my mind. Marie barely had any friends or acquaintances in the pack house so I don’t think she made strong enemies who would want to get rid of her, no that’s where I’m wrong, she had enemies. At least one powerful one: Scarlett!

Scarlett was the only one who wanted her completely gone from the get-go, they even got into a fight once and I took Marie’s side, why won’t she hate her? A conflict erupted within me,

My wolf defended Scarlett, he believed that she was too meek to be guilty of making someone disappear, but Scarlett is a wolf just like the rest of us, she will tear down anyone who crosses her territory and this is why I believe that she knows something about Marie’s disappearance.

Another thing that made her suspicious was the way she acted a few days before the festival, she was jumpy and tried to avoid me when in the past she was all over me and never wanted to leave my side.

Maybe I should question her, or maybe not, what am I supposed to do? Monitor her movements? Should I send a spy after her? What am I supposed to do?

“Hi, my love!” I heard Scarlett’s sweet voice call from behind me in the hallway while I was plotting against her.

I slowly made a 180 and forced a smile back at her,

“Do you know where Marie could be? I’ve been looking for her, I need her help with something.” She said to me.

Uh-huh, I suspected the wrong person, it’s not her.