War

ALASTAIR

“Her presence was a mistake,” Vidarr voiced to the men in the war room, as the king had stormed off, likely to vent his lethal fury on his prisoners.

Henri and Laurent nodded, leaning back in their chairs.

“She’s irrelevant. They have nothing,” Laurent declared. The other two men scoffed and shook their heads.

“To you, she’s irrelevant. But the king? Who knows what he’ll do. And there’s no stopping him,” Henri stated, and all the wolves agreed.

They found it absurd. The king barely acknowledged his queen, but his volatile temper had escalated due to her abduction. And it was by his sworn enemy.

“Cathan’s eyes had a gleam. We warned the king. We told him it was a trap. Even she warned him. But he didn’t listen,” Laurent remarked, drawing their attention.

“Why? He had nothing to gain, and he was restless when we arrived.”

“True. The king was impatient. He seemed eager to leave. He wouldn’t normally make such a decision. Maybe it had something to do with the queen.”

“The queen is insignificant. She doesn’t influence the king. This was his decision,” Laurent insisted.

“But they have her. Even if he doesn’t care, when they hurt her, he’ll feel it. The fact that they’re hurting what’s his will weigh on him. Every pain will fuel his anger.”

“They sent the demand an hour ago. They want the king locked up forever in their unbreakable cell in exchange for the queen’s safety.

“It’s ridiculous. They can’t possibly think they’ll get what they want.

“There’s another angle here,” the beta suggested.

It almost made sense. A move so bold, a demand so great.

~Unless,~ Vidarr thought, ~this wasn’t an agreed plan.~

The council hadn’t approved it. In fact, they all looked shocked. Maybe this was Cathan’s solo act, while the other council members just wanted peace.

“We could reach out to the other council members. Cathan’s gone rogue. We could negotiate to get her back,” Henri suggested.

“The king would never agree. You don’t negotiate with the enemy. And certainly not for the queen. We just have to act unbothered,” Laurent said.

“No, he took the queen. It makes us look weak if we let it slide. You may not like her, Laurent, but she’s the queen, the king’s mate, she’s his.

“If we don’t get her back, it’s like saying it’s okay to steal from the king,” Vidarr stated.

“What do you suggest we do?” Laurent asked, his expression tight, not liking being challenged.

“We wait for the king’s decision,” he responded firmly, taking a gulp of wine from his goblet and leaning back in his chair. “We’re his advisors, but on this, I doubt he’ll listen to anyone.”

They all agreed on that.

Alastair was in no mood for anything but tearing wolves apart.

He didn’t care about punishment. Those wolves were there for his amusement anyway. He had sentenced them to eternal torment, but death came swiftly to them now. Alastair was blinded by rage.

But, he realized, it was nothing compared to the raw fury he radiated. The pain hit him in a sudden wave. It wasn’t his. It was hers. His mate. His queen. His Aurelia.

They were torturing her? How dare they touch what was his? How dare Cathan?

He knew it was Cathan’s doing. The other council members looked shocked by the events.

The king’s immediate reaction was to charge at the barrier, hoping to break through and retrieve his queen, but to no avail.

Though, he wasn’t sure why his reaction was so intense. After all, he had grown suspicious of his little mate.

So much so that he invited her to a meeting with his advisors, he let her accompany him to the border, and he was the reason she was taken.

He thought he saw something. A flicker. In her eyes. Recognition when she saw the council members.

After what happened, he concluded that he was imagining things, that his paranoia was getting the best of him.

It was the belt. That was when he started doubting his mate again. Maybe he had no reason to. But something felt off.

She was lustful, he could understand her losing all reason. When he took off his belt, she didn’t flinch. Not at all. Even after he had spanked her harshly with it before leaving her to suffer.

It was a small thing. But the king’s paranoia was meticulous, and it gnawed at him until he saw enemies everywhere.

Just when he was starting to trust his queen, scrutinizing every action, he noticed it. Maybe she was lost in her daze. Or maybe she wasn’t afraid of it.

But every tiny action of the queen’s was under scrutiny.

Now they were torturing her. They couldn’t be allies if they were hurting her so brutally. The king wanted to crawl out of his skin.

He had suffered far worse in his life, but knowing the pain wasn’t his own messed with his mind in strange ways.

For once, he wasn’t sure what his next move should be. It was all because of Aurelia. Any action he took would make him look weak.

If he did nothing, it would signal that they wouldn’t be punished for taking what was his. If he did everything to get her back, it would show he cared too much for his useless queen.

He would never surrender himself to them and that cell. The demand was so absurd he couldn’t comprehend how they thought he would ever consider it.

Maybe they overestimated his affection for her, or maybe she did.

As usual, his over-cautiousness crept into his mind, twisting his thoughts with doubts about his mate.

When his father had taken a queen, she was just a prop, a breeder to produce an heir. Then she was discarded, ordered to stay silent and look pretty.

Cathan and Ellathoria were well aware of this. Alastair was bound to treat his queen the same way. Why would they want to kidnap her? Unless...

The moment the idea of Aurelia’s potential betrayal with the fae crossed his mind, he dismissed it. She was too young, too naive, and not cunning enough to trick him like that.

Maybe she wanted to run away or even get back at him, but to join forces with the fae? That was impossible.

The fae had a deep-seated hatred for wolves. The king’s mate, he would argue, was as much an enemy to them as he was, even though she was far less dangerous.

They kidnapped her because they knew it would throw him into chaos.

He had known Ellathoria when she was a child, too. He’d had a brief crush on her. Whenever he left the castle to explore the capital, he would find her playing by the stream as her mother called her home.

As Alastair grew older, so did she, and they became just friends—or rather, acquaintances. Cathan was fond of her too. But then the purge of the fae put an end to their relationships.

Little Ella grew up to lead the fae council. She became his enemy. Cathan was a different kind of enemy, driven by a thirst for revenge that led him to dark magic.

Alastair knew that the man was capable of inflicting pain. And his queen was in this man’s hands.

Ellathoria, however, had her own plans. She didn’t want Aurelia to be used as bait or to blackmail the king.

Aurelia was part of a much bigger, much more successful plan, which could only be carried out by the king’s side.

So, she would have to return the young queen herself, snatching her from Cathan’s grasp.

“How do you think we can get her out of that sanctum? We can’t just walk in there, as you well know,” Cirillo argued, clearly frustrated.

After years of seeking revenge and a safer home, he was still incredibly impatient. But Ella’s plans had been in the making for a long time and were solidified with Aurelia’s arrival.

She was their only chance. They couldn’t afford to lose her.

“Perhaps... He is indeed powerful in dark magic.” She sighed and traced the runes on the cave walls. “You lie so well, it’s almost alarming.”

“These runes speak of her; that’s not a lie. But they don’t predict her fate, and they do predict a peaceful coexistence between the fae and the wolves.

“And my daughter isn’t capable of such a thing. It speaks of us, the ones pulling the strings. I’m sure of it.”

“It wouldn’t be wise to underestimate the young wolf, but you’re right. She wouldn’t bring peace. She doesn’t know how. She’s too young and uneducated. And too trusting.

“She was so easily charmed by Cathan, and then by me. She trusts too easily.”

“Do you think she’s working with him again on this?” he asked.

“Maybe. Either way, we have to get her back to the king. You would just walk in.”

“And then what? Wait for Cathan to blow my head off. His defenses are booby-trapped and he’s more powerful than me. And he has the young wolf with him, her power only adding to his dark energy.”

“I’ll put a protection spell on you. That should get you through his barrier, and Aurelia will willingly go with you. You’re her father and supposed ally.

“If she knows we have a plan, she’ll go. And Cathan will let his love leave.”

“So it all depends on whether Cathan loves Aurelia enough to let her go,” Cirillo commented bitterly, clearly not thrilled by the risky plan he was the only one participating in.

It was easy for her to suggest such a thing, but she wouldn’t be the one paying with her life if things went wrong.

But Ellathoria was the reason he was still alive. And he was the only one who could get through the barrier spell Cathan had put on his sanctum.

He did as he was told.

He stepped into the barrier of his maze sanctum and was immediately squeezed from all sides. If it weren’t for the protection spell, he would have been crushed.

Cathan was a secretive man, always keeping his plans close to his chest. But he could never hide his disdain for the king.

Once Cirillo reached the center, his surroundings still tried to collapse around him. That was the consequence for those not welcome in the sanctum.

Cathan raised an eyebrow at Cirillo as he entered. He had felt a disturbance in his defenses and sensed someone making their way through. Aurelia’s father. Cirillo.

A man who could cross the barriers of the world. Aurelia was lying next to him on a bed he had set up for her comfort. She couldn’t refuse his plan, even if she didn’t support it.

“I expected the visit,” Cathan said casually. “But I’m not sure how I can help you.”

“I’m here to get my daughter,” Cirillo stated firmly, his eyes narrowing at the man who had literally bewitched his daughter.