The Royal Pain

Chapter Thirteen:

My paws thudded on the ground and my eyes stung with unshed tears. Being in wolf form only made it worse; my eyes were much larger. 

Before I had left, I had ensured that everyone was asleep.

Then, as the guards were changing shifts, I had escaped through the palace gates and ran, ran, ran. From my few years with Kaine, I had learned that after his Luna's death, there was only one place where he would have gone alone. 

Her grave. 

It was within the Realm. On the edge of the territory. But, the Realm was large; bigger than Russia and I knew that I had to speed up if I were to make it in time to see Kaine. He always went between five and six in the morning; the time when she died. 

I knew that leaving was a terrible idea, and Nathan would be utterly aggrieved, but really, I was doing this for him, his father, Jex and Bethany. Only those reason kept me from turning back and running into Nathan's room.

I hadn't fully left him without notice. I'd left a post-it-note on his door, the word 'checkmate' written in my sloppy writing. Hopefully, that would have told him that I'd gone to end it all. 

Hopefully, he would know I hadn't just left him. 

It was my move, he would have to just understand that. 

***

Hours later, I was panting but I had arrived. I quickly changed back into my human form and threw on the shirt I had been carrying with me. I stepped out of the clearing, and there was her grave. The ground was raised slightly where her coffin lay, and lilies were planted around her. The lopsided rock above where her head lay in the coffin read: 

Rebecca Anne Rosoff,

Beloved wife and mother. 

Forever in our hearts and deeply missed. 

The reason the grave was so out hidden and secluded was because it was frowned upon to have a human mate. Their dead bodies were not permitted to lie in the sacred grounds of the Realm.

She had been a mother to me, and for that reason alone, I had never uttered a word about this to anyone. It was funny, see, Kaine had been the perfect mate towards her, but after she'd gone...Love and misery and death had tainted his heart, warped it into something lifeless.

He'd told me that he'd not let me suffer through the same pain as him; he'd promised. I couldn't bring myself to feel resentful towards Kaine; he'd truly thought he was doing me a favour. 

Behind the stone, the large green dome wall shot up into the sky; marking the end of the Realm. If you walked beyond there, you'd find yourself in the human world. Occasionally, some humans had gotten through, but we had a department that dealt with things like that, and I dreaded to think what happened to the poor souls who stumbled upon the Realm. 

The forest spanned all around me, apart from to the left, where a body of water lay. The water seemed to come from nowhere; it was infinite. It fell into a deep pool that seemed to have no end. Water lilies bobbed on the surface of the water, and the stone wall that encased the waterfall was majestic. 

"And so, the lamb finds its way back to the lion," a voice said from behind.

I turned to face Kaine. He had aged a lot; he was now bald, and he was so thin that if he turned to the side, he'd disappear. His face was sunken in, and deep dark circles made hollows beneath his eyes.

It was a mystery to me, how he'd been able to command an army of wolves. Then again, the way Kaine worked, the rogues were probably terrified that they'd be next for one of his crazy experiments. 

"How is my little lab rat?" he asked. His brown trousers were secured with a belt, but they still hung limply from his waist. He had thrown on a white shirt that had a deep V neck. His attempt to look smart made him insane. 

The haggard lines on his face made him seem wise, but he was far from it. 

"Fine. I presume you know why I'm here?" 

Kaine sat down and leaned his back against his dead mate's gravestone. Warily, I sat on the jagged stone that was part of the waterfall. 

"Yes, yes. To save your precious little Realm." His voice was laced sarcasm. 

Fire blazed through me and I resisted the urge to go over there and snap his neck. "So, if I promise to go with you, you'll leave the Royals alone?"

Kaine nodded his head, but after years of living with him, I knew when he was lying. Rage filled me as I realised that no matter what I did, now matter how hard I tried, he wouldn't want anything but the destruction of the people who had shunned him for his chosen bride, who had taken away everything from him. Who had despised what he had become. 

"There are nights when the wolves are silent, and only the moon howls," Kaine mused. His voice became darker and his eyes held this manic look to them. "Don't you see, Ash, tonight is one of those nights. Everything you hold close will die."

The morbidity of his sentence had me storming over to him. I lowered myself to his level. "Only you will die tonight, mutt." 

I roughly grabbed his head between my hands, and, without thinking, I yanked. I heard the crunch before I felt it. When I did feel it, I backed away from his body, staring at my hands. 

What had I done? 

A howl pierced the night air and rang throughout the forest. I heard the thudding of paws.

Snarling. Howling. Growling. Biting. Yelping. Whimpering. 

Whilst I had come here to meet Kaine, his army had been watching, awaiting my move. I had played the game, alright, right into their hands. 

Going with Kaine would have resulted in his army retreating, but killing him?

That had provoked his army into attacking. 

I had made my move. I had killed Kaine.

And, quicker than expected and with brutal force, they had made their move. 

A full on war.

The wolves had descended. 

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If you live among wolves you have to act like a wolf. 

- Nikita Khrushchev

  (Edited)