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“Let me worry about that. Where are they meeting?”
Bonne shook his head, he thought it was a bad idea, but he could see I had my mind set. “The Palace,” he told me. “This can govery wrong, Luke. Things are fine now. Why don’t you just let them remain fine?”
“I don’t know, Bonne. But I must do this,” I said and stood up. I took the last gulp of my coffee and stepped from the kitchen counter towards the door. Bonne followed me. “Tell Jade I said hi, okay? And tell him to hold on tight. It will soon be time.”
“Are you going to be here for it?” he asked me.
“Of course. He is my godson. I would not miss his coming to wolfhood for any reason.”
“What if you’re out there chasing phantoms? Chasing girls you shouldn’t?”
“Trust me. This won’t take long at all. She’s just one girl.”
“Good luck out there,” he said and closed the door behind me.
The cold of the night hit me in the face as I started my journey toward the Palace. I have been there just once before. It wasn’t as impressive as everyone seemed to think it was. It is a big contrast to the building around it, and that was what made it appear so majestic. It wouldn’t be if it didn't have literal shacks around it.
It had rained earlier in the night, and I had gone to Bonne’s to share a cup of hot coffee and rum because of the cold. The walk to the Palace took about ten minutes, and during that walk, I couldn’t get the girl out of my mind. Bonne was right. I should let this go and live the quiet, uneventful life I had become accustomed to in the past three to four years, but this wasn’t a yearning for conflict or drama. However, I wouldn’t deny the thought of having something interesting to do again—some real-life hunting—after a while was enticing. But this was about her. I have to find her before any other person does and before they kill her.
When I got to the palace, a wolf guard by the door stopped me. He was young and couldn’t be more than seventeen or eighteen. He looked very green, and I was tempted to fight him, break a bone or two and show him not to mess with an older wolf, but that would be counter-productive. Besides, I wasn’t that kind of wolf anymore. I left that life behind a long time ago.
“I heard there are calling for hunters here,” I told him.
“And are you one?”
“I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t.”
He squinted at her, trying to appear tough. “What pack do you belong to?” he asked.
“I am a lone wolf,” I told him, and his tough boy act broke a bit. I saw fear skim across his face, but he was quick to hide it. I don’t know why they are scared of us. They think we are unruly scavengers. They think we are predators with a hunger for the chase and the kill only. But they are very mistaken because that’s what it means to be a werewolf.
“I don’t think they’ll want lone wolves in there,” he said after getting himself together.
I smiled at him. “I think I want myself in there,” I said and showed him he could let me in, or I could force my way in. He moved out of the way, deciding that if I were going to be trouble at all, I would be trouble to the people inside.
“Thank you,” I said and walked into the Palace. It was just as I remembered it. It was a sturdy and dour structure on the inside. So many arches and beams, and it appeared more like a church than a king’s court. But it couldn’t have been called a chapel, so I understood why they chose to call it a palace instead.
It was busy that night. It was almost always busy. No one can commit a crime here and get away without getting caught or at least getting seen. If she evaded all these people, then she must be very skilled. Maybe even more than I could imagine. I walked past the garden and towards the throne room. I could hear the noise coming from inside it and knew the meeting was happening there. No one stopped me as I approached the room. One would think that a group of people whose leader was just killed would care more about security. But they are werewolves, and that isn’t our way.
The boy in front of the Palace was just a formality. Each person is obligated to be their own security. I pushed open the door to the throne room, and the chatters stopped. Eyes fell on me, and people whispered to themselves, no doubt wondering what a lone wolf was doing inside the throne room. No one moved to question my presence, so I simply ignored them. There were about twenty people inside the room, and from their appearance, I could tell they all were there to fill up the hunter vacancies. I took a place removed from the others and looked at them. Some of them I have seen around, but most of them I didn’t know. One of them stood out to me, though. Buff. I have seen him around and even gotten into a couple of scuffles with him. I stood as far from him as possible, but he found me and walked towards me until he was standing beside me.
“What are you doing here, lone wolf?” he asked me as we waited for this new Alpha called Viper—what a strange name.
“The same thing you are,” I told him.
“Do you really think they will allow a man like yourself to go for the hunt?” he asked.
“A man like myself?”
“A low life, a runt in the pack. A lone wolf. Disgusting to nature.”
All those adjectives for me. I looked at him, and it was a wonder his head didn’t smoke; that must have taken a lot of imagination for him to come up with. In my experience, men like Buff don’t have much in that department. He was a brute who loved to do as he was told and to hate anything he couldn’t understand or that was simply different.
He was trying to get me mad. I ignored him and moved away. He was a persistent one and stepped closer to me.
“You should leave,” he said.
“Why don’t you make me?”
