+Chapter 33+

Mari woke up to a loud thud that made her sit up quickly, her eyes going wide at the figures standing in her doorway. Both Kings went quiet, King Kade coming up behind King Lucien.

Mari’s shock quickly changed to scared concern, “G-Good morning, Your Highnesses.” She forced out, remembering that King Kade told her to use her words.

Even as they both stepped into her room, both of them clearly pissed off, Mari told herself that this was a dream, it had to be. Because they were in Wolfden, King Lucien couldn’t be here…

“How did you sleep?” King Kade’s gruff voice broke into her train of thought.

Mari clutched her blanket tightly, wishing that her nightmare would come to an end immediately. She also didn’t appreciate how lucid and self-aware she was. “Okay,” She mumbled, falling silent.

She risked a glance at King Lucien to find him staring intently at her, she was already skittish from waking up to find them both in her room first thing so it was easy to be paranoid.

“I-Is something wrong?” She blurted out when the silence stretched on. It seemed less and less like a dream the longer it stretched on, Mari really wished it was.

Kade turned on Lucien, “Yeah, is something wrong?” He asked darkly, his arms crossed. Getting dragged out of bed by reports of the South King showing up to his palace was not how he wanted to begin his day.

“Doesn’t look like it,” Lucien shrugged, completely unbothered.

Kade’s black stare bored a hole through the back of Lucien’s head as he strode out confidently like he owned the place.

“W-Was that King Lucien?” Mari asked without thinking, needing some clarification.

King Kade moved to the doorway, “Unfortunately,” He snarked before walking off as well.

Mari placed a hand on her forehead, very confused. She would be more concerned if she actually knew what was going on but right now, she was just lost.

*Why was King Lucien in Wolfden? How had he also managed to show up in one night?* A glance out of the partially opened blinds told her that it was barely dawn but there was no chance of her going back to sleep again with what just happened, so she slowly laid back down and stared up at her low, dark ceiling.

-+-

Kade strode right after Lucien, his expression dark. “You still didn’t say why you are here.”

Lucien stopped and leaned against the wall, a dark-hued wallpaper covering it. “You were so pissed to see me that I was convinced the witch was dead,” He said lightly, masking how he actually felt about that.

“I don’t like unexpected visits,” King Kade said through gritted teeth.

Kade knew well that his anger was a little unwarranted as Lucien was allowed in Wolfden and his palace as well but just the way he couldn’t explain why he was so ticked off, he also couldn’t tame his anger.

“Then, I’d like to pay a visit,” Lucien said, able to effortlessly keep up his charming personality now that he had seen Mari again.

“It’s too fucking late-”

“Not going to even offer your guest a room?” Lucien cut into Kade’s pissed-off growl, pushing up from the wall. “I’d like the room next to Mari.”

Kade nearly ground his fangs flat in anger, his black eyes flashing but he couldn’t deny the South King and Lucien knew it from the smug look on his face. He just turned around and walked off, needing some privacy to regulate his emotions.

Lucien watched the other werewolf King angrily walk away, not surprised that the North King wasn’t happy with being given a taste of his own medicine. But he didn’t think that he had seen Kade ever get that visibly upset before, even with how dangerous their rivalry got. He wasn’t bothered by it though, following right after King Kade to get information about the witch from him.

Kade drew in a deep breath at the sound of Lucien walking behind him with a languid pace. They quietly walked past Marion’s room and Kade had to force himself not to peek in the witch’s room.

“This isn’t your first time in my palace, you don’t have to follow me around like a toddler,” He grouched, stopping in front of his room.

“A simple ‘What do you want?’ would have sufficed,” Lucien said tightly, starting to get ticked off by Kade’s irritable tone.

Kade didn’t humor him with a response, looking over a shoulder to shoot Lucien a flat look.

“Don’t you think you owe me information on the witch’s progress?” Lucien cocked a brow.

“She’s learning to control her powers,” Kade replied vaguely, opening his door.

Lucien studied the ornate door that Kade had slammed in his face with a thoughtful expression, finding his reaction interesting. He was used to Kade being a big slab of black ice so it was quite a shock to see him actually express emotions, even if said emotions was only anger.

He walked past the witch’s room again, this time he stopped at the door to the room on the other side where his luggage had been arranged in, the room already prepared for him. Kade must have already known that but Lucien liked to stir up trouble.

He sat on the bed and leaned against the pillows propped against the headboard. He felt more like himself than he had all day yesterday, there was no denying it this time, the witch had something to do with it, and from the look of things, Kade was also affected. A sly smile lifted his lips, this was looking to be more entertaining than he previously anticipated.