149

149

Ian’s POV

“My Lord… it’s Aldric. They found him… in the woods. He’s dead.”

The moment I heard the words, everything froze. I was in the middle of reviewing the final defense plans for the northern borders when one of the guards burst into the room, breathless and pale as if he’d seen a ghost. I didn’t even need him to speak—I knew something was wrong. But when he did, the words he spoke didn’t make sense at first.

The room around me seemed to disappear, leaving only the echo of his words hanging in the air. Dead? Aldric? The very same Aldric who had sat in the council chamber with us earlier today, arguing his usual points, being his usual infuriating self? It was impossible. I didn’t believe it.

I stood, my voice tight with disbelief. “What do you mean, they found him? Aldric was just in the meeting with us.”

The guard shook his head, his hands trembling slightly. “I don’t know how, but it’s him. One of the hunters found his body… It’s unmistakable.”

Jacob, who had been leaning against the wall, his arms crossed, straightened, his face clouding with confusion. “Are you sure?”

The guard nodded quickly, too rattled to offer any more explanation. “Yes, my Lord. I swear it.”

Without another word, I pushed past the guard and stormed out of the room. My mind raced as I tried to make sense of it. Aldric had been alive and well just hours ago. We’d exchanged words, seen him leave with the other council members. There was no way it could be him in the woods. It had to be a trick—someone was playing a cruel joke, or worse, using his likeness to stir panic.

Jacob followed closely behind me, his steps echoing mine as we moved swiftly through the castle halls. The tension between us was thick, neither of us daring to voice the growing sense of dread that gnawed at the back of our minds.

“How could this happen?” Jacob muttered, more to himself than to me. “We just saw him. He was fine.”

“I don’t know,” I replied, my voice tight with barely restrained fury. “But we’re going to find out.”

We reached the edge of the woods within minutes, the guards already gathered around a cluster of trees, their faces pale and eyes wide with disbelief. And then I saw it—the body lying at the foot of a large oak tree, twisted unnaturally, a stake in his heart. There was no mistaking it. It was Aldric.

I froze, my breath catching in my throat as the reality of it hit me. This wasn’t some cruel trick. This wasn’t a mistake. Aldric, one of the oldest and most powerful members of the council, was dead—murdered. And whoever had done it had been brazen enough to leave him out here for all to see.

Jacob swore under his breath, his fists clenched at his sides. “What the hell is going on, Ian?”

I stepped closer to the body, my eyes scanning the scene for any clue, any sign of who might have done this. The smell of blood was thick in the air, but there was something else too—something off. A strange, lingering scent that I couldn’t quite place.

I crouched beside Aldric’s body, carefully examining the wounds. His throat had been torn open, his chest ripped apart as if by claws. But this wasn’t the work of a werewolf. It was too precise, too deliberate.

“I don’t know,” I finally said, my voice low. “But whoever did this… they knew what they were doing.”

Jacob stared down at Aldric’s body, his jaw clenched. “This is a message.”

I nodded. “A message to us, to the council.”

The guard who had brought us the news stepped forward cautiously. “What should we do, my Lord?”

I stood, the weight of the situation pressing down on me like a heavy stone. There was only one course of action we could take. Whoever had done this was still out there, and they were likely within the realm. We couldn’t afford any more surprises.

“Lock down the realm,” I ordered, my voice steely. “No one leaves, no one enters. I want every corner of this place searched. If there’s anyone else involved in this, we’re going to find them.”

The guard nodded quickly, hurrying off to carry out my orders. I turned to Jacob, my mind racing with the possibilities. We were being hunted—picked off, one by one. But why? And who?

“We need answers,” Jacob said, his voice dark. “Fast.”

“I know,” I replied, my mind still trying to wrap itself around the implications of Aldric’s death. “But first, we need to figure out how he was in the meeting with us today. If this is truly Aldric, then who was the one we spoke to?”

Jacob shook his head. “A double? A shapeshifter?”

I frowned. “Maybe. But whoever it was, they knew enough to pass as Aldric. That means they’re close—someone who knows the council inside and out.”

The very thought made my skin crawl. If there was a traitor in our midst, someone who had managed to fool us all… this went deeper than we realized.

Jacob’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts. “Ian, what do we do now?”

I took a deep breath, trying to clear my head. There was too much at stake to lose control now. “We stick to the plan. Lock down the realm, interrogate anyone who might have seen or heard something suspicious. We need to get to the bottom of this, and we need to do it fast.”

But as I looked down at Aldric’s lifeless body, a chilling thought crept into my mind. If they could get to him—one of the most powerful members of the council—what was stopping them from coming for the rest of us? For Sophia?

I turned on my heel and headed back toward the castle, Jacob following closely behind. My mind raced with thoughts of Sophia, Jenny, and the others back in the human world. I’d left them there to keep them safe, but now, with everything that was happening, nowhere felt truly safe anymore.

We reached the castle, and I immediately called for a meeting with the remaining council members. The news of Aldric’s death hit them like a tidal wave, their shock and disbelief palpable. But there was no time for mourning. Whoever had done this was still out there, and we needed to find them before they struck again.

As the meeting dragged on, my thoughts kept drifting back to Sophia. She was already terrified for our unborn child, and now this… I couldn’t even begin to imagine how she would take the news of Aldric’s death. She’d been through enough already.

When the meeting finally ended, I ordered extra patrols around the realm and sent out search parties to try and find any trace of the imposter who had posed as Aldric. But deep down, I knew this was only the beginning. Whoever was behind this was playing a dangerous game, and they were always one step ahead.

As I stood in the empty council chamber, staring at the place where Aldric had sat just hours ago, I felt a cold knot of fear tighten in my chest. If we didn’t find the answers soon, this entire realm could fall apart.

And I wasn’t sure we’d be able to stop it.