Chapter 137

[ 1,440 words ]

My Princess

137: 137.

My Princess Barric

Ransom’s scent reaches me before I see him.

Blood.

Sweat.

Pine sap.

Victory.

The thunderous sound of footsteps of our raiding party can be heard coming up the main hallway.

I stand near the mouth of the hall path, watching as they emerge wet and covered in leaves and mud.

Some are naked, letting me know they shifted during battle.

“My Princess,” Elliot calls out, passing by and heading to Ransom.

“Animals.

How dare they put their hands on you?”

“I’m fine,” Ransom says.

Then I spot the man being dragged behind two wolves.

An unconscious Hunter.

His hands are bound behind his back with reinforced restraints, his face bruised and streaked with dirt.

One eye is swollen shut.

My wolf lifts his head inside me.

We must secure him before anyone else finds out.

Ransom catches my gaze as he passes.

He gives me a single, deliberate nod.

It was Hazam.

Fucking bastard.

“Leave the prisoner with me,” I order, scenting Theo and Kade coming behind me.

The hunter groans as he’s exchanged into my hands, and I have a suspicion that he will be coming sooner rather than later.

Ransom stares at the male with a look so bleak and dark that I almost don’t recognize him.

Elliot puts his hand on Ransom’s shoulder, an act which makes him tense for a moment.

“You should all go wash and change into something warm. We’ll have the kitchens ready to serve something hot.”

The warriors head to change, and I turn towards Kade and Theo.

They give a brief glance at our new guest.

Theo frowns.

“Bad news first.”

“Hazam,” I confirm.

“Hunters confronted them by the ground to the armory.

They brought our new friend here, so I’m assuming he may have a pretty song we need him to sing for us.”

“We need to tell the others.

Quickly,” Theo says.

I nod.

“And quietly.

I’m the meantime, I’ll keep him out of sight.”

“Better hurry.

The little bris looks like he’ll be opening his eyes any minute now.” Kade agrees.

We split apart, and I head down the deadly, lit corridor to the most barren part of the mountain.

We built a few cells for this very reason.

I get the hunter secured inside, and on my way up, I assign two warriors to start the watch on him.

By sunrise, we will finally have our traitor, and our mountain will be safe once more.

I’m just glad we found out before they could do more damage.

***

“Everyone is aware ?” I ask Kade as he takes his place beside me on the dais of the common room.

“Yes. There was some initial shock and anger, but the Alphas understood why we had to go about things the way we did. They will all be ready.”

We take our places as Alphas, and their pack mates enter the room, filling it until everyone who lives inside the mountain is in attendance.

The atmosphere is heavy with the weight of our announcement.

Like the air before a storm, the atmosphere is dense.

It clogs with the overlapping emotions of fear, worry, anticipation, hope, and anger.

My wolf paces restlessly.

All he wants to do is take a swipe out of Hazam.

It might not be him, I remind the beast.

It could be one of his packmates.

My wolf snorts but concedes to my obvious point.

Ronan stands to address the room.

“Thank you all for getting here so quickly. As you all know, we sent out a hunting party to level the playing field of our enemies. I am happy to report that all of our men made it back home.” There was cheering in the crowd.

“ However, tonight, you weren’t called here simply to speak of our good fortune. We are here to speak about the illness we have just overcome and the traitor who brought it to this mountain.”

A wave of uneasy whispers moves through the crowd.

Ronan continues.

“There is a snake in our mountain. It has been fed information to the assembly on our plans, on whether or not we lived or died.” Ronan looks at every face, at each of the Alphas standing beside him on the dias.

“How do you answer for your crimes, Woodland pack?”

Gasps explode throughout the clearing.

Shock ripples through the crowd.

“What is the meaning of this?” Hazam hisses.

The truth of his outrage rings deep in my wolf instincts.

So it isn’t the Alpha after all.

I cast a quick glance around, checking to see if others have come to the same conclusion.

By the looks on their faces, they have, which means it is someone from his pack.

At once, all the other Alphas surround him as the crowd steps from the center of the hall, moving back towards the edges.

It leaves the woodland pack in the center.

In the place of judgement.

“I am sorry to tell you, my friend, but one of yours has betrayed you.

But there were so many people on the mountain.

We didn’t want to risk giving the culprit a chance to escape.

His eyes are marred.

“The information, it was a trap.”

Ronan nods his head.

Hazam’s gaze goes from shocked to unbridled fury as he turns to face his pack.

“There are only three,” he says in a deadly whisper, “whom I told of the plans to cripple them by taking their weapons.

You three know who you are.

Step forward.”

A male I recognize, his beta, Johnny, starts to speak, “Alpha surely you dont—”

“Step forward!” He says again, and this time there is no mistaking the order.

The three males stepped forward.

His beta, his head enforcers, and another male I didn’t know well, but knew was one of Woodland’s best builders.

The builder spoke up first.

“Alpha, I swear to you I would never align myself with those monsters.”

A ring of truth in his voice.

Hazam looks at the other two males.

“My family has been part of the Woodland pack for generations. There is nothing in this life that will make me betray my family,” the head enforcer says.

Another set of true words.

But could they just be an act?

“You know me. I will not defend myself to you,” his Beta states.

My instinct flares.

The response is carefully worded, void of emotion.

Sneaky and manipulative in nature.

He is hiding something, my wolf says.

Here comes our play.

I step forward next to Hazam.

“Would you be willing to prove your innocence?”

The males stiffen.

Clearly, my reputation with less savory methods of information extraction precedes me.

“I am willing,” he beta says, but I can tell it is less assurance of his innocence and more of his ability to withstand pain.

The other two males slowly agree to it as well.

“The hall has heard them freely give permission to questioning,” Ronan states.

“Kade brings out the parexilla.”

Fear flashes in the Beta’s eyes.

“You didn’t say anything about parexilla.”

“Why does it matter if you are sure of your innocence?” I state causally.

We all know very well why it matters.

Parexilla is a toxin that shuts down shifters’ mental defences.

It’s often used in combination with a faint ability of suggestion to create the perfect truth cocktail.

With Parexilla in their system, Kade could ask them anything, and they would tell him.

Theo walks to them, handing them each a small vial.

The builder looks relieved at the fact that we won’t be torturing the truth out of him and downs the entire thing on go.

The enforcer and beta move at the same time, handing the empty vials back to Theo.

Kade moves like a panther, prowling in front of them before stopping in front of the beta.

The tension builds as the male straightens his posture and then spits the parexilla in Kade’s face.

Kade screams, stumbling back, clawing at his eyes.

Aria raises her hand and creates a wall of fire at the hall’s exit blowing his path.

The Beta attacks, kicking Kade in the stomach and trying to make a run for it.

Females and children scream, pressing back further into the walls.

My brain switches, moving into defense as I give chase and tackle the beta to the ground.

Ronan and the other Alphas pile on, using their hands and knees to pin the male.

“You don’t understand,” he yells.

“Gag the asshole,” I shout.

“They have—” his words are muffled as Theo shoves a balled up cloth into his mouth.

I shove up off of him and run to Kade.

He is squinting, the skin around his orbital bones raw and red.

I grab the sides of his face, inspecting it.

“Are you okay?”

“Here, take this,” Quinnie says, rubbing water into his face.

“Fuck,” Kade curses.

“That little bastard spits like a damn llama.”

I help her rub water until all of it is flushed out.

Behind us, the yells die, and I hear the beta being taken away.

Alpha Ben’s booming voice shouts orders to lock down the mountain until the question is over, and people start to file out.

Sebastian comes to take Quinnie away, and she tells Kade she’ll check on him later.

Kade wipes his face.

His mouth set in a firm, hard line.

“Let’s go speak with the asshole.”

Yes, let’s, my wolf growls, ready for a taste of blood.

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