Chapter 127: Chapter 127

“You want to go on a walk now?” Micah looked at his mate, who just nodded her head in response.

“I’ll come with you.”

But Abby was quick to refuse him with the excuse that he should continue his conversation with James, not to mention there were Samuel and Mirella as well at the table, which made her mate contemplate.

Seeing him frown, Abby swiftly added, “I’ll take Alyssa with me!”

The king had no choice but to let her have her way, as he understood what she wasn’t saying out loud. She wanted to be alone, which was proven right when she darted out of the kitchen as if her hair was on fire, making her personal maid run behind her as well.

[Send two men to keep watch on her,] Micah immediately mindlinked his royal gamma, and only dived back into the conversation with the people at their table after catching two guards rushing in the direction Abby just left in from the corner of his eye.

Meanwhile, Alyssa had this worried look on her face as she followed her master to this rather dilapidated place behind the pack house, where you could see a bunch of warehouses standing in a row.

This place was quite dark and gave a spooky vibe, while the air around them was disturbingly quiet.

It made the maid feel worried for her queen.

The girl couldn’t understand what had gotten into Abby all of a sudden, but the queen chose to come here instead of going to a more pleasant place. After all, didn’t her master come out for some fresh air?

So what was she doing standing in front of that almost collapsing building, as if she was thinking about something really important?

Little did she know, calling that place important would be an understatement in Abby’s ears.

Because she was looking at the very place where she first met Micah, her destined mate and her eyes moistened at the fact how her life had completely changed after that.

She didn’t know how long she stood there, but when she did move again, the air surrounding her wasn’t that depressing anymore.

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Abby didn’t remember when she returned to the guest bedroom, but the moment her head hit the pillow, she fell fast asleep, and of course, the king was there to hug her to sleep.

However, it was Mirella who greeted her eyes the moment she woke up alone in the bed the next morning. “Right, we have to check on the dead warriors.”

“I’m glad you aren’t as disoriented as I expected you to be, Queen Abby,” the witch said, making the girl on the bed frown a little. “I guessed you would be tired.”

“I’ve rested enough, I’m good to go through our schedule today,” the girl assured her, but the witch gave her a questioning look.

Mirella only looked convinced when Abby emphasized she was really fine and not travel worn anymore, at which the former clapped her hands once as she stood up. “I advise we leave now, on empty stomachs.”

“Let me wash my face,” Abby said, knowing fully well why Mirella suggested starting this early. She didn’t think any food would stay in their stomachs after taking a look at those dead bodies either.

Even imagining the way those few warriors died made bile rise in her stomach.

They couldn’t be more right because, half an hour later, in the underground basement of the Silver Moon pack’s dungeon, Abby felt her skin crawling just at the sight of the bodies of the three warriors that died in the past week.

“I thought the report was exaggerated,” Abby expressed her shock as she pointed to the deeply charred skin of a warrior.

“That makes one of us!” Mirella didn’t look as surprised as Abby, as she took her time examining each and every body. She seemed to be confident enough about her sources.

From head to toe, the skin of each warrior had turned so dark, as if they were painted in black, or should she say shrouded in darkness? Because that was what Abby felt looking at them, while the witch continued to check for anything striking other than their blackened skin.

“This is definitely black magic, but the question was; how did they come into contact with it?” Abby too followed in Mirella’s footsteps and started to look for any traces of dark magic. “They must have encountered the instigator directly.”

The way their skin blackened until it was darker than coal was proof enough that someone casted a powerful spell on them, one that needed to be done in person.

“I feel the same,” the witch agreed with the queen.

But that only gave rise to a flurry of other unanswered questions. If they were right, which was most likely to be the case, how did they come into contact with them?

They needed to focus on that part, also about when their enemy got a chance to attack these warriors without alerting anyone around them.

However, when they called over the families of the deceased for interrogation, all they got was; they didn’t detect any unusual movement from anyone around this pack for the last few days when the deaths occurred, which was weird enough.

Abby and Mirella felt a headache coming when their theories didn’t yield any positive leads, while Abby got increasingly annoyed when walking around the pack house for the investigation.

The girl couldn’t keep her cool because the pack members kept trying to butter up to her. She avoided talking altogether when it felt unbearable, and only nodded curtly to their overly friendly greetings with a cold gaze, letting Mirella take over in the conversations with them.

Them suddenly deciding to be nice to her had nothing to do with her, they could try all they wanted.

She didn’t have any weird ideas like welcoming them with open heart just because it was expected of her to care for her subjects since she was their queen right now.

However, their investigation came to a sudden halt when Alyssa came running to her queen. “My Queen, you should have your meal.”

Feeding their master healthily was one of the daily goals for Alyssa and Reyna, since the latter didn’t tag along with them, Alyssa took it upon herself to persuade the girl.

“Yes, My Queen, we have already skipped breakfast,” the witch said, as she suddenly realized this.

Abby skipped breakfast and spent all her morning investigating the unusual deaths alongside Mirella, so the witch and Alyssa forced her to have early lunch.

“My Queen, you didn't eat much last night either,” Abby’s maid pointed out, when the girl tried to refuse.

“I want to have lunch with the King,” Abby tried to dodge her insufferable maid.

“You know he will be busy till late at night, investigating the rogue activity.” Mirella folded her arms.

“Let’s take a break for now.”

Micah left a note this morning saying he needed to trace out any rogue activity near this pack, hoping to find more leads.

But the queen didn't feel like going to the kitchen, nor could she convince her maid to let her off. In the end, she asked them to arrange a small table by the garden, where there was this huge tree, feeling she needed some food in her system to keep going.

However, her methods to avoid people she hated didn't turn out to be fruitful as Alpha James came running along with the omegas, who were helping Alyssa arrange this outdoor lunch for her master.

“My Queen, you should have summoned me instead,” James said, looking at the half eaten food plates before Abby and the witch. “I would have made them prepare something more delicious.”

Alpha James curled his lip in distaste at the plain dishes on the table.

Abby couldn't comprehend why he was hovering around her since she came to the pack, for the life of her.

But then a thought occurred to her. “Alpha James, do you need something from me?”

“This… My Queen…”

Abby immediately understood when she saw him gulp in the empty air. Since she was almost done with her lunch, she decided to humor him.

She couldn't stay here peacefully with him always seeking her like this, with forced sweet smiles and words that could make her skin crawl anyway.

“What do you want to talk about?” Abby asked as soon as they were out of everyone else's earshot.

“Your highness, is there any progress with the investigation?” Alpha James said, his tone flat, which made Abby understand that the alpha’s mind wasn’t on the case at all.

“We just started investigating this morning.” Abby gave him a look.

“Yes, yes!” Alpha James nodded his head, not knowing how to direct the conversation further.

“What do you actually want to say? It has nothing to do with the deaths, because we don’t need to step aside for that conversation.”

“My Queen, before anything, let me apologize for my mistakes…” Alpha James conjured the sincerest expression as he began to beg for forgiveness from her all of a sudden. “I had committed grave sins against you, but please find it in yourself to look past my actions…”

However, his speech was cut short when the queen shook her head in disappointment. “I don’t want to hear anything about it, so do yourself a favor and stop trying.”

Abby would have let him go about it if she did not have to go back to Mirella so that they could continue their investigation, because that was the most important thing right now.

On the other hand, being shot down so harshly, Alpha James couldn’t help but fist his hands. His sweet words didn't have any effect on her.

Moreover, Abby didn't sound amicable when she opened her mouth again. “Cut down on the nonsense and get to what you actually want to say to me.”

Every second she spent hearing his bullshit, about how he regretted not being able to help her when he could, only sent her emotions haywire. The girl knew all too well, none of his words came from his heart.

It was tiring for both parties to pretend for too long, but Abby wanted to be the first to drop her act, so that she could spare herself this annoyance. Even if they weren’t tired, she felt less and less energetic trying to tolerate them.

She didn’t think she would be able to tolerate it if he talked sweetly like this for one more second, which seemed to have finally registered in the man's mind as he finally gave up trying.

“A few days back, I've received a letter,” James started, his eyes focused on Abby. “It was directed to you, your highness.”

“To me?” Abby was frowning to hear that.

“Yes, My Queen. It was addressed to you.”

Saying that, he produced an almost crumpled paper in his hands, which he pulled out from his robe, but Abby didn't reach for it immediately.

“This is the letter and the deaths started two days later,” Alpha James went on, not realizing Abby’s face twisting in anger with each second that passed. Her gaze on the paper especially was beyond cold.

“Didn’t you just say this letter was for me?” Abby suddenly asked the man, her voice gritty as she finally pulled the letter out of his hands with her thumb and index finger.

Since she was holding a corner of the paper, when she shook it, it unraveled easily.

“You opened a letter that was addressed to me, your queen, good for you,” Abby glanced up at the alpha, whose face quickly lost all its color.

He read a letter that was meant for his queen, without permission, and dared to flaunt it to her face.

“Your words and actions do not match at all. But then I never expected much from you.”

From the moment she came down here, James only had sweet words for her, but the same didn’t reflect in his actions!