AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Groaning, I rub my temples. Atlas is right. If we don’t leave soon, the queen will send someone to escort us there, and it will be much less pleasant than the conversation we’re currently having. “Guys, please,” I plead, not having the energy to argue with them.
Joel grumbles his annoyance behind me, but I know it’s not aimed at me. “Scott,” he practically barks, “this is out of Laelia’s hands. Don’t make it harder for her.” There’s a short silence that follows his order, and I watch the myriad of emotions that flash across Scott’s face—frustration, sadness, confusion, and regret to name but a few. Huffing out a breath, he shakes his head like he’s trying to clear it and gives me a short, apologetic nod.
Releasing me from his hold, Joel moves his hand to my shoulder and gives it a gentle squeeze. “Finish your story.”
“Quickly,” Atlas adds, glancing towards the door as if he’s expecting someone to walk through at any moment.
“The queen told me that I have to prove myself suitable for the job of ‘saving them all.’ I’ll have to face a set of challenges, and I’ll be given a team to help me. That’s where you guys come in I assume.” I shrug and give a shaky smile, trying and failing to look nonchalant.
Joel looks like he’s about to ask more questions, but Atlas clears his throat. “This is a lovely chat, but we really need to go.” His voice and expression are back to being full of disgust as he speaks, and I figure out what’s happening half a second before I hear a noise outside.
Guards open the door wide, and I realise that Atlas was trying to warn us and we really are out of time. The room fills with guards like a swarm of bees, their eyes narrowed as their attention goes straight to Joel and Scott, assessing them as the biggest threats in the room. They are all wearing weapons, mostly swords strapped to their waists, but none of them are drawn. Instead, their magic fills the room, the scent of it almost choking me. Star doesn’t growl at their presence, but she does stand to attention, her ears forward as she watches them carefully, and I know she’ll attack at the first sign of violence.
Thankfully that doesn’t seem to be on the cards for today, and one of the guards clears his throat, taking half a step forward. “The queen requires you to join her in her rooms.” It’s said as a statement, but the order behind it is clear, and from the way they watch us, I know Atlas was right—if we don’t follow, we will be dragged there.
I know the queen doesn’t want this to happen, since it wouldn’t look good when she’s trying to convince everyone that I’m on her side and support her claim as monarch. Part of me contemplates acting out, just to foil her plan, but I won’t lower my pride and allow myself to be dragged through Haven. Glancing at Joel, I silently tell him to let me take the lead on this and to follow what I do. Although the message won’t pass through the bond in as many words, he should get the general idea. He dips his head to tell me he understands. I just have to hope that Scott trusts me and lets me manage this. Turning to Atlas, I nod once, and we file out of the room and into the now empty ballroom.
We walk in silence, Atlas stalking forward at the front of the group, followed by myself and a group of four guards who surround Scott and Joel. I soon recognise the corridors that lead to the queen’s rooms, and as we step inside, we’re met with a blazing fire in the fireplace, making it almost unbearably hot. Kano stands at the back of the room, his face a mask so I’m unable to make out if I should be worried about this meeting or not. My stomach twists in knots as I’m reminded about the armed escort to make sure we attended as required.It’s probably not just a casual discussion about the weather then.I feel delirious, and I almost say the passing thought out loud, but I manage to curtail it at the last moment.
As usual, she’s draped across her couch, a hand twisting lazily through her hair as she watches us enter, her eyes lighting up as they land on the two werewolves. If she looked at them with disgust, I’d be angry, but I would expect that from her, even indifference would have been fine, but that’s not how she watches them. My first thought was that she was happy they are here as it fits into her plan, but no, she watches them with a hunger that’s unmistakable. The scent of her arousal reaches me, and I know Scott and Joel have sensed it when they stiffen behind me.
Jealousy rears up inside me like an ugly tidal wave, and before I can stop myself or control my wolf, Star snarls at the queen, her lips pulled back over her teeth as she prepares to pounce. Yanking on my control over her as hard as I can, I curb her actions until she’s silently sitting at my feet. It’s over before it’s really begun, but everyone noticed. Locking her eyes on my wolf, the queen arches a brow, and when she brings her gaze up to mine, she shakes her head slowly in mock disappointment. However, I see excitement shining in her eyes, and I know she just took my show of possessive jealousy as a challenge.
She purses her lips to try and hide her excitement, her eyes glimmering as she nods towards the males behind me. “I see you’ve met some of your support team for the challenges.”
“Some?” I bark as panic wraps around me like a vice. Who else does she have? My father? My friends? No, I’m sure she would have lorded it in my face before now if she’d managed to get hold of my family. My eyes flick to Kano who stands behind her, and he gives me the smallest shake of his head, which I take as a reassurance.
Smiling, the queen tilts her head to one side, her expression predatory as she gets to rub her control over me in my face. “Yes, you have these two… wolves, the lovely Atlas, and the one who changed, what was his name? Michael?”
“Nicolai,” I grind out, knowing full well that she’s aware of his name.
“That’s right.” She waves it off and then clicks her fingers as if she just remembered something. “And of course, the mad one in the cells. I don’t know how much help he’s going to be, but it seems clear that you won’t be at your full potential until you have all of your mates with you.” Clucking her tongue, she shakes her head. There’s annoyance in her voice, as though me not being at full strength without my mates is something I’m deliberately doing to cause trouble.
I ignore it, focusing instead on controlling my irritation at her referring to Syn as “the mad one.” She’s only calling him that to annoy me, and I don’t want her to know it’s working. Raising my chin, I meet her gaze. “Where are Nicolai and Syn?”
They should be here, especially if this conversation is about the challenges we’re going to be facing together. Six pairs of ears are better than one, and they could pick up something that I miss. If this is going to be anything like the werewolf trials, then they are going to be difficult and potentially life-threatening.
“Nicolai is in his room, resting from the transition,” she begins with a light smile, “and the mad one is locked away, where he belongs.”
My lips pull back in a snarl, and Star shifts at my side, ready to jump into action. “Stop calling him that. His name is Syn,” I demand. The twitch of her lips says that I’ve given her exactly what she wanted, but frankly, I don’t care. I won’t let her treat Syn like that. No one else is locked away, and they could be just as dangerous. “They should be here,” I continue once I’m sure that my voice is back under control. “You said I could be with all my mates.”
Snorting, the queen drops her fake façade and leans forward incredulously. “You really think I’m going to be foolish enough to let you be with them altogether all the time?” Throwing her head back, she laughs loudly enough to make me grit my teeth. When she looks back at me, her eyes glitter with mirth. “You can spend time with each of them, and the wolves will have their gifts blocked, but the only time you’ll be allowed to be together is during the challenges. I’ll even let you choose which male you’d like to spend each day with.”
The darkness in me twists and writhes, feeding on my anger and outrage until it’s filling every pore of my body. I feel like I’m going to explode with the pressure of my sudden hatred for the woman sitting opposite me, and my magic reacts to that. If I’m unable to calm myself down, then something terrible is going to happen, and I won’t be able to control it.
Ivar’s shadowy form appears in the corner of the room. I had no idea he was even in here, his movements so quiet not even his breathing seemed to make a sound. He moves across the room, gliding to the queen’s side. Taking up his place just behind her, he puts his hand on her shoulder in support. The action is a warning. Despite our new friendship and the sympathetic smile on his ghoulish face, he will protect the queen from me if he needs to, even if that means taking me out.
The atmosphere in the room has become charged. My mates are on edge, and Star growls quietly, her fur on end as she reacts to my buzzing emotions. I need to get myself under control before I do something stupid. Unfortunately, the darkness inside me doesn’t want to be calmed and whispers seductive, dark statements to me.She’ll always be a threat to you and your mates. She’ll never stop. She wants you dead. The thing is, I believe every one of the things the dark presence tells me, but if I succumb to my anger, I’ll be likeher, and I won’t sink to her level. Instead, I will trust that the goddess has a plan and that with my mates, we can get through this together.
The queen seems to realise that something is happening that she’s unable to sense and glances up at Ivar, and then back at me. I sense her magic surge as she tries to discover what’s happening, her mouth opening to demand answers.
Thankfully, Joel seems to realise that I need a distraction and clears his throat. “What are these challenges?” he asks. With everything happening and the tension in the room, the question feels out of place, but his voice is that of an alpha and doesn’t allow for his query to be ignored.
The queen blinks as though peering through a dense fog, and she slowly turns her head to see him. Her expression shifts, and she looks at him like she’s surprised he’s able to speak and that she’s actually able to understand him. This makes me mad, the darkness in my gut swirling once more, but I bite my tongue and hold myself back.
The queen glances up at Ivar who slowly nods, giving her the all clear. He doesn’t return to his shadows in the corner, instead stepping back until he’s shoulder to shoulder with Kano at the back of the room, sensing that tensions may well rise again.
The queen clucks her tongue and tilts her head to one side as she looks over Joel in all his alpha glory once more. Her shrewd eyes spot where his hand is on the small of my back, narrowing a fraction, and I start to think that she’s not going to answer his question.
