.Chapter 8-2
My blood ran cold at those words. Doomed? What the hell was going on in my kingdom?
“Puppets,” I repeated under my breath, my mind racing. “What did he mean by puppets?”
“I…” she said, hesitation evident in her face. “Kellan seems to have influence over their actions.
Magical influence. Mal looked terrified, Kane. Like he was afraid someone would catch him talking
to me.”
Cold washed through my body. Kellan’s mother was a witch, so it wasn’t far-fetched that he
inherited some abilities. But still, mind control? Was it truly my son the one behind all of this? It was more fucking worse than I first thought, because Mal wasn’t easily scared. He’d been my best friend since childhood, my most trusted advisor. If he was afraid…
I started pacing the cave, my lycan restless and agitated. All these years, I’d told myself my people were better off without me. That Kellan and the council could handle things just fine. That my
curse made me a liability rather than an asset.
But what if I’d been wrong? Worse. What if someone else was pulling the strings, using my son as a
puppet ruler?
The thought made my stomach churn with guilt and rage. I’d abandoned my people to protect them from my curse, but maybe I’d just left them defenseless against a different kind of threat.
“What are you hiding, Malec?” I muttered to myself.
I needed to look into this right now, but my lycan kept snarling every time I thought about leaving this woman on her own. The mate bond was pulling at me, demanding I stay close and protect what was mine. But I couldn’t think about that now. I had bigger problems to deal with.
Still, I couldn’t just abandon her in the woods after everything my son had done to her. Her guards had bought her time to escape, how could I leave her to face the dangers of the mountain alone?
“I’ll escort you back to your pack,” I said, making the decision before I could talk myself out of it.
“There’s no need-”
“I will. No discussion.” I knew my eyes were glowing red, but I didn’t care. My lycan was too close
to the surface, too protective to let her argue.
She studied my face for a moment, then nodded slowly. “Okay. Thank you.”
I sat back down, trying to process everything she’d told me. The pieces were starting to form a
picture I didn’t like. Kellan’s erratic behavior, his sabotage of the peace negotiations, the
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Chapter 8-2
brainwashed guards who’d attacked her in the woods. Someone was controlling my people,
probably half my council.
Clairo
I thought about those guards earlier, the way their eyes had turned black before they attacked. The way they’d begged me to kill them even as they fought. That wasn’t normal magical compulsion.
That was advanced mind control, the kind that required serious power.
And Simone had mentioned that Kellan tried to use persuasion on her, but it hadn’t worked. That was interesting. Most people couldn’t resist magical influence once it took hold, but she’d been completely unaffected. What was she?
I filed that information away for later. Right now, I needed to focus on getting her home safely and figuring out what the hell was happening in my kingdom.
But as I watched her finish eating the meat I’d given her, exhaustion finally catching up with her, I couldn’t shake the feeling that bringing her back to her pack was going to be the hardest thing I’d
ever done.
Fuck. I’d been thinking everything was fine, that my people were in good hands while I stayed hidden in the woods. But it seemed I had cursed them all by staying away.
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