“You sent out three guards. They were attacked by my warriors as per regular pack protocol. However, once I had them in questioning I realized they were not on my land to threaten me and I invited them to my home for supper. It was a long shot and I knew that, but two of the men decided to stay with my pack. To this day Mister Reynolds and Miss Fowler live within my pack and they both are quite happy with their arrangements though they always remind me the conditions are far from worthy of the royals,” he teased, smiling again.
“And the third guard?”
Ryan just sighed softly and shook his head. “He refused to go back to the king empty handed. I offered to let him go free, not punishing him for trespassing as I understood that he had been ordered. We roughed him up a bit, trying to scare him and he fought hard, but there was no way he could take on my whole pack. Once he realized my pack was not a bunch of deranged wolves and that he had no chance he took off into the night. I have never seen him on my land again,”
“You didn’t kill him?”
“No, I didn’t want to. He was just following orders,”
“Do you have proof?”
“I have plenty of witnesses and if you feel inclined to dig up my entire packland you won’t find a body,” Ryan answered.
“So you’re not a murderer?”
“I didn’t kill the guard.”
“Oh?” the guard began smirking, almost like he had won. “But you have killed someone else?”
Ryan stared at the audience for a moment and for a fraction of a second I saw his lower lip tremble.
“Yes,” he replied honestly.
Chapter 56
Everyone was quiet for a moment after Ryan’s confession. I couldn’t really blame them. I had already been told that he had killed his brother, and I knew the reason he had done it was noble enough, but I was still stunned all over again. I could understand why everyone in the room, people who had never met my mate, were staring at him jaw dropped, their eyes flickering over to me as if to gauge my reaction. I tried to keep my face as neutral as possible, but I wasn’t sure if it worked at all.
Finally, after what felt like forever, Ryan sighed and sat back. His usually happy and light expression was deeply saddened now.
“I know that most people in this room already labeled me as a crazed killer, but I’ve only ever killed one person in my life. I wish I hadn’t had to do it, but I also don’t regret it at all,”
Then he went on to tell a room filled with people possibly the darkest secret he carried and I could do absolutely nothing to help him through the difficult confession.
He explained everything from the beginning. He talked shamelessly about how he grew up as a rogue, how no one wanted him or his family. It was heartbreaking to hear again, my dear mate and his family struggling just to stay alive between starvation and the violent packs that wanted to tear them to shreds when they came too close to territory lines. He speculated that Ares had some mental health issues growing up, some rage problems that might’ve been avoided had they been in a normal pack with the resources to help them. Then he told everyone how his brother banded all of these rogues together into a small pack.
I watched people straighten up at this as it was something that had never really been done before. Rogues were seen as hard to control and unpredictable, but it sounded like Ares had ruled with an intense amount of cruelty which kept them all in line.
I listened intently to the whole thing, slowly learning more about my mate and I was so focused on him I forgot we were in a room full of strangers and their verdict would decide my future.
Ryan went on and explained some of his brothers attacks on packs, though he never had a lot of detail because he wasn’t heavily involved. And he talked about the decline of his mother’s health and the effect her passing had on Ares. There was a moment where he took a deep, shuddering breath in between sentences and I almost leapt off my chair to go and comfort him, but my father gently laid his hand on top of mine, reminding me to stay calm.
But the gentle moment was broken; Ryan removed any emotion from his expression and began explaining how he murdered his brother. It was graphic and awful. I felt sick just listening to the words that left his mouth and when it was too much, I would turn my attention to the audience for a couple seconds.
Many of them looked ill. I even saw a retired royal guard in the back row cover his mouth in horror at the murder scene being described. It was bad enough to know that two brothers had fought each other to the death, but knowing exactly how it happened was much worse.
When he finished he let out a long breath and leaned about in his chair, looking exhausted and defeated. Letting out the secret had been too much for him. And it seemed to be too much for everyone else too because we all sat in stunned silence for a few minutes, just staring at him.
The guard in charge of questioning cleared his throat, trying to get everyone’s attention but it was obvious he was shook up as well.
“So you took over his pack, with all the violent rogues?”
“Many of the wolves he had forced to be in his pack were much like my family had started out, alone and lost. Some he had even kidnapped from their previous packs. They were no more violent than anyone in this room. And the violent rogues were killed that night as well. Many of them fought with my brother. The wolves that sided with me defended me,” he explained.
“Alright, the final question: if you become king what changes do you see happening under your rule?”
“I won’t let alphas dictate who lives and who dies by having the power to name who is a rogue and who is not. If wolves are to be exiled from packs, the wolf in question and their alpha will have to come before the king and queen and we will decide if they are fit to be in a pack or not. It’s not fair that men with too much pride get to decide everyone’s fate,” Ryan announced.
The room was silent for a long time and I wanted to weep. My mate, my sweet mate hadn’t convinced these people to follow his cause.
Then, all the way from the back of the room I heard someone begin clapping. My attention snapped to them immediately and as I stared at the man intensely, realizing I had seen him before. As he slowly stood up, still clapping boldly in the otherwise quiet room, I gasped. It was Ryan’s beta. I wasn’t sure if he had been invited in or if he had snuck in through all the chaos, but my heart soared at his standing ovation.
My eyes left him and darted to a young woman in the middle of the crowd who had also gotten on her feet and was applauding. Her face was red as if she had been crying and a man stood up beside her, pulling her body tight against him before he joined her applause. After that, a family stood up, then a single woman, followed by two men, and gradually, little by little the whole crowd was on their feet, clapping their hands in approval at my rogue mate.
Chapter 57
Ryan was escorted out after his speech and the crowd quieted back down a few seconds later. I, on the other hand, was so delighted with what had just transpired that I could barely sit still. My heart was pounding in my chest and my foot was bouncing with impatience.
If I had any less self-control or if my father hadn’t been sitting beside me, I would’ve jumped up and ran to Ryan to celebrate our victory together. I wanted to kiss him and chase away all the awful confessions he had made in light of his success, butt I forced myself to remain aware of the cameras everywhere and my father beside me.
A few moments later Lucas was brought in.
I thought everyone’s attitude towards him would’ve changed now. I expected them to scoff at him as they had all made their choice to side with my mate. They must’ve known he was a liar by now. Yet, when he walked in the audience didn’t shout at him or belittle him. They didn’t even look the slightest bit displeased at his entrance. They all just sat and watched, content as they had been the first time he had come in. It made me furious all over again, but I didn’t bother to say anything. My mate had done his work and I doubted my whining would sway the crowds at this p
oint.
Lucas’s second part of the trial went significantly faster than Ryan’s as there was no awful tale of struggle in his early years. He had been born to the right-hand man in the palace and was given nearly every luxury possible. It seemed he knew that his upbringing would not cause anyone in this room to side with him after Ryan’s grand speech and his retelling of his childhood. So Lucas went directly to the only story he had that would pull on heart strings.
He went on and on about how his beloved mate had been murdered by the vicious alpha who had just been sitting in his spot. No one moved to correct him as he hadn’t heard Ryan’s explanation so he rambled on for several minutes, diving deep into details that I hadn’t expected from him. Not the gory kind like Ryan had shared, but the softer, sweeter side of life that I had nearly forgotten he could’ve experienced in his life.
I would be lying if I claimed that it didn’t pull at my heart strings a bit, especially because he was no longer directly accusing my mate. I couldn’t even fathom having a life without Ryan anymore and we had only been together for a couple of months. Lucas had been with his mate for three years before the attack. Mates truly completed a werewolf. Ryan was everything to me now, so much that I would turn my back on my family and give up my crown if it came to it. The thought of knowing that my sweet mate had been murdered senselessly because of some power hungry rogue was enough to make me grip the arm rests of my throne. I don’t think I could bear living through the tragedy myself.
As he continued on with his story, telling everyone the hardship of moving on without a mate by your side, and trying to run a large pack all by himself, I felt my anger slip away bit by bit. He might’ve been free from a harsh upbringing in the wild, but he had his struggles too. And they all came out at once, seemingly out of nowhere. From the way he spoke it sounded like he was always on the verge of tears and I noticed a few wolves in the crowd wipe their eyes. No one wanted to even consider what he had been through.
The trial was coming to an end and the royal guard turned to Lucas and asked him the same question he asked Ryan: “If you become king what changes do you see happening under your rule?”
Lucas forced a smile through his saddened eyes. “I don’t have an intention of changing much. I know much about the inner works of the current royals because of my father. They rule kindly and fairly. It would be hard to follow their footsteps, certainly. So, I don’t really want to think of this so much as change and more of holding tradition. Never in the history of the werewolf community has a rogue been a king or a queen. It has always been two wolves who come from pack life, who understand what packs need and crave.” Lucas stood up from his seat, looking softly at the people in the crowd.
“I’m not asking to be king; I’m simply asking that as a community we should have more dignity and pride than to let a blood thirsty rogue be king.”
I thought my rage would come back in full force with a comment like that. He was tearing a strip off my mate that he was wrongly accusing of murdering his mate, and he was doing it in front of all these werewolves, people who were soon going to be deciding my fate. But I stayed quite neutral, only becoming mildly irritated at his comments.
Ryan had explained his side of the story. He too had pulled at people’s heart strings and I think everyone now understood that I was fighting for my crown with a good, honest man by my side. And even if I wasn’t able to make these people trust my mate completely at least Ryan wouldn’t be feared and hated as harshly as he was now. I might not end up being the next queen but I think we had pleaded our case enough to live in peace and harmony with the other packs.
I would’ve been content to let the people choose their own leader if I hadn’t seen the doctor burst into the ball room just as the guards began escorting Lucas out. No one seemed to notice the panicked look on the doctor’s face other than my father who held his hand up, signalling that everyone in the room should remain as still as possible until further notice. And every single werewolf obeyed the king, allowing the doctor to quickly dart through the congested area until he reached our thrones.
“Is she alright?” my dad asked.
I knew he was trying to sound cold and certain of himself, but my mother pulled that off much better than he did. He sounded sick with worry.
“The Queen will be fine. I just thought that it would be wise of me to tell you my findings,”
“Yes of course,” my father encouraged the nervous man.
The doctor swallowed hard, his eyes flicking in between myself and my father before he whispered, “She ingested a small amount of silver, I am led to believe it was mixed in with her breakfast food,”
“That’s impossible,” my father scoffed, “there has to be another explanation. Our kitchen staff would never do such a thing to my wife.”
“Who brought your food in this morning?” I asked, cutting my father’s rant off.
“Preston did, why?”
“Did he sample the food this morning, in front of you like he’s supposed to?” I continued.
I felt blank. My brain was whirling madly but I spoke with precision and no emotion as the pieces slowly fell into place.
“No, he was in a rush this morning and naturally upset about what was going to be happening to his son so we didn’t push it. What are you going on about, Adeline?” my dad snapped.
“Who used royal tone on Lucas and Preston as a tool to make them tell the truth?”
“Your mother,”
“Did you know that silver inhibits royal abilities, such as royal tone, father?” I asked tightly. I clung to my arm rests for the millionth time today, but this time it wasn’t to restrain my emotions. It was to restrain my wolf that was forcing my nails to elongate and my teeth to sharpen in my mouth.
My dad launched to his feet, no longer looking like a king. Instead, he looked more wild and furious than Ryan ever had. His green eyes were blazing and I saw that he was just as close to shifting as I was. Seeing my dad like that was terrifying.
“I want Preston brought in here now. I don’t care if you have to drag a dead body in here, just bring him to me and make sure that that little bastard,” he jabbed a finger towards Lucas, “doesn’t so much as breathe until his accomplice is brought in.”
Chapter 58
“Addy,” Ryan breathed as soon as he saw me walk into the small room where he was being held.
When I saw him, I instantly forgot about my father’s orders to get him to the ballroom as soon as possible and the guard who was awkwardly trying to do his job of surveillance without interfering. My sweet mate looked happier than I had ever seen him. His whole face was glowing, he wouldn’t stop grinning broadly and his eyes were sparkling with delight. For a moment I forgot entirely about Preston and Lucas and the trial that was still in the works. I just threw my arms around Ryan and squeezed his body as tightly as I could.
“I think I did good,” Ryan whispered into my hair, “I really think that I did okay. Maybe we won’t be able to be king and queen, but at least the whole world wouldn’t be against us anymore,” he gently eased me away so he could look at me, those gorgeous eyes falling on mine.
“Would you be happy with me? Would you really be happy with me if you couldn’t be a queen but you had to be a luna to my pack?” he asked.
“Oh yes, Ryan I would be so happy to be your luna,” I breathed back.
I lifted myself up onto my toes and shut my eyes, my lips softly meeting his in delight. He had no idea how much I loved the idea of spending the rest of my life with him. Ryan kissed my back just as softly, his hands pressing against my back to keep me against him.
Unfortunately, I had been given orders by my very angry father and the last thing I wanted to do was upset him more. The whole trial had gone sideways at this point and though my dad was a kind man someone had harmed his mate. He would be on a war path now, one that could easily be misdirected. And I didn’t want that rage coming towards myself or Ryan. So I slowly lowered myself back down and took a
step back, trying to collect myself.
“What’s wrong? Do you not want to be my luna?” Ryan asked, suddenly very confused.
His brow furrowed and he reached out to touch me, but stopped, worried it would make it worse.
I ignored his hesitation and grabbed his hand tightly in mine. “Come, my father has requested your presence in the ballroom again,” I explained.
“Oh God, is it bad?” Ryan demanded as I began tugging him behind me.
“It is, but it’s not against you,” I answered.
Then I went on to detail the whole situation that had unfolded in a few short minutes. I told him about the silver poisoning my mother had been given and how enraged my father was. But I couldn’t tell him why he had been called back and though I was trying to be calm it bothered me. I didn’t like dragging my mate into something that he couldn’t prepare for again today.
Ryan was calmer than I was and gave my hand a few squeezes as we neared the double doors that led to the ballroom.
“Addy, relax, at the very worst we will be the alpha and luna of my pack and life will go on without Preston and Lucas,” Ryan reassured me just as I reached for the door handle.
I couldn’t speak, so I just nodded my head and pulled open the door.
The room was deathly silent. So quiet that Ryan and I didn’t even move into the ballroom, we both just stood in the doorway, watching a wild scene unfold. My mother, who looked deathly pale and weak was propping herself up in her throne. She looked quite near death and I briefly wondered if I had looked significantly worse when Ryan had found me as I had had a much larger dose than she.
But my attention soon moved off her and floated to my father. My dad had always been the gentle one. My mother often said that she was the more emotionally driven one while my father could always shrug everything off and slip right back into a smile. Now, it seemed to be quite the opposite. He was pacing angrily in front of the thrones, his eyes down and his mind obviously working very hard to control the beast that wanted to slip out and behave in a less than royal manner.
The Princess and the Alpha: A Shifter Romance Page 22