The Moon Goddess' Chosen

292 Painful Memories

Once Honour and everyone else had settled, the King began to speak, “Now that we are all here and well acquainted, I would ask that Madeline reveal her story. I don’t want to make this sound too formal. Feel free when speaking,” the king spoke, trying his best to get rid of the edginess in his voice.

“It’s hard to be informal when the person you’re speaking to dresses up in a flashy suit and is the literal King of Werewolves,” the girl replied nervously.

“I’ll take that as a compliment. I do look good, don’t I?” the king replied with a smug smile.

The girl chuckled at his gloating. For someone who was meant to be feared, he didn’t show it. However, her happiness was shortlived and her smile fell almost as soon as it had appeared.

When she dived into the memories she was supposed to recount. Her mind went still with fear of everything that had happened, “Oh... Yeah... What happened? Where do I start?” her voice was distant and distraught. Honour squeezed her hand, feeling that she was reverting to the state they’d found her in on the first day she woke up.

“The beginning is always a good place to begin,” the king said to her.

The girl nodded and searched her mind, finally deciding to tell them everything from the point it took a turn for the worst.

“It was raining. About the second day since the rain had begun. I’d never known it to rain so much. It was odd, but that wasn’t the problem,” her mind wandered as she tried to get a grip of herself. A warm hand covered her other clenching fist and she looked up to see Honour’s mother smile warmly at her.

“Take your time. We’ll all listen,” the woman said to her. The girl nodded and continued.

.....

“I had never seen him before that day, but as I was cleaning the house, he came in unannounced. I was so scared out of my skin I couldn’t move an inch,” fear filled the girl’s voice as she spoke and the hands covering hers tightened.

The girl drew in a sharp breath and steeled her nerves, continuing with the story despite the darkness that threatened to swallow her whole.

“The R-Rogue king was in our house that night. His presence was suffocating. I thought I was going to die then and there, but then... My grandmother came in. She acted like he was any other person that came to us for help and had me serve them tea.”

“Them?” Honour’s voice came through.

“Yeah, it wasn’t just the rogue king. There was another, an alpha whose presence was as equally terrifying as that of the king.

Just staring at either of them would make any average wolf feel like they’d visited hell and back. My wolf could tell how much trouble I was in and every instinct was telling me to run away, but my grandmother was there and she barely showed a sign of fear.

I almost spilt tea all over them just from shaking, but my grandmother was quick to act and helped me out. I was sure I was going to die that night. While I was serving them tea, one of them commented on having wanted to see me slip once more,” the girl paused, biting her lip as though the memory hurt her more than that of the rogue king in her house.

The mention of another person in the house got Drake’s attention. This person, despite not being an alpha, was someone close to the girl. Drake couldn’t help but feel as though he knew who it was she was talking about, but why she felt sadness from his treachery was beyond his comprehension.

This man had been present when the rogue king had escaped. There had been a face of one of the cloaked werewolves that made him feel betrayed. His tension built up as the girl continued, “The man that had spoken was Victor.” Everything made sense to the prince then.

“Who’s Victor?” the king asked.

“Victor is one of the delta’s that prince Drake had stripped of his position. He’s out for revenge. I don’t know what his goal is, but I know he is the one that led them to us,” the girl responded.

“So you had a traitor in the Golden Moon pack. Was he a rogue the entire time?” the king asked.

“No, he wasn’t. I guess he must have gotten really angry when I punished him,” Drake intervened.

“What was your reason for punishing him?” the king asked his son. There was no mistaking the slight hint of anger in his voice.

“The delta was looking down on Madeline at the time, so I warned him. That’s when he insulted our family. I had to put him in his place,” Drake replied, bowing down on one knee in submission to his father.

The king sighed, “I’ve never seen you lose your temper before. Rise, Drake. We’ll have this discussion another time. Ms Madeline, please continue.”

“Victor claimed not to care about me during the time he was assigned as my bodyguard. I thought I would be fine with it, but I wasn’t. I’ve always had trouble keeping my true feelings hidden. My grandmother doesn’t think there is anything wrong with it, but it’s also why I can’t...” she paused.

“Never mind. I’m going off-topic. After hearing Victor speak so harshly, I ran upstairs. I couldn’t stand being in their presence any longer. They radiated pure evil. While I was upstairs though...

My grandmother started to talk to me through the mind link. She told me to pack light and leave the house through my window. It was raining, but she suggested it was better than me dying because of the power our family held.”

“The power of your family?” the king was forced to ask this time. The girl’s amber eyes began to flash to grey and back to amber until they shone a clear silver. The king held his surprise in, hoping it was directly related to his question.

“My family is the one that holds the power of the Seeker,” the girl revealed. Gasps went through the office before she looked back at the ground, “I’ve had to hide it my whole life because of the dangers that come with being a Seeker. Not to mention the fact that I don’t want to be a Seeker.”

“I’m confused. The power to seek out mates is a bad thing?” the king asked her. While it was reasonable that the Seeker would wish to remain hidden, he found nothing bad about the power at all. If he’d known of their existence as no more than a myth, he could have found his mate much faster than he did.

Now that the king thought about it, Drake had gone to the Golden Moon pack to seek out his wolf but had returned without good news. In fact, after that day, he’d cancelled the rest of his plans to visit other packs, stating that it was a useless endeavour.

“The Seeker has another... power... if I may, that makes it impossible to keep safe if we are ever discovered,” she explained.

The king pinched the bridge of his nose, “That explains my son’s visit to the Golden Moon pack. Just how many things are you younglings planning to keep from your parents?”

“My informant had me know the Seeker was to be kept a secret. I couldn’t share that information for fear of jeopardising her safety,” the prince replied.

“I am your father...”

“And the same person that trusts our grandfather... Great Uncle... Uncle..

,” the prince countered, fiddling with labels and cutting his father off.

“You have a point there,” King Davin grumbled, settling back into his seat, “makes me want to give him more punishment than the ant-infested cell I gave him.”

“Who are you talking about?” the girl asked them.

“My uncle. He’s working for the rogues as a spy within the royals. Even after being captured, he makes it seem as though he was doing the right thing, but never mind that, please go on with your story.”

The girl nodded, “Well, my mother continued to instruct me even when I ran through the forest. I was to run straight for the capital. My best hope was to find prince Drake and tell him of what happened. After all, he’s the only royal who knew about us.”

“Then why didn’t you do that as soon as you were able?” the king asked her.

“Davin, do you have no heart? The Golden Moon Pack is nowhere near the capital. It rained for an entire week and this girl turned up on the last day. She hasn’t had an easy journey,” the queen snapped at the king.

“Forgive my bluntness, Ms Madeline. How did you survive that long in the woods?” the king asked her. Queen Martha facepalmed.

A genuine smile graced the girl’s lips, “The rain made it easy since everything was hiding from it. I had to make it to the capital before it stopped raining. I just never thought it would rain for five whole days.”

“It makes sense why you slept for the whole day yesterday,” Honour replied, “How are you feeling now?” The girl had already started checking Madeline for a fever.

“I’m fine, Honour. You don’t have to worry about me,” the girl whined, but there was no shaking the mothering girl.

“Hey, you could never be so sure. Katie also slept for a long time after only a night of exertion,” the girl replied. The tales of Katie had come up a lot during their slumber party the previous night that the girl didn’t have to ask who they were talking about.

“I’m okay, Honour. It’s not like I didn’t know how to survive in the woods. Although I really don’t want to taste raw meat again,” the girl shuddered, simultaneously stunning those in the room.

“Oh dear, it’s like I’d forgotten I was speaking to a werewolf,” the queen giggled. Her contagious laughter spread through the room, lightening the mood.

“I remember a time Drake went out on a hunting trip with Dad...” Lina began.

“You promised never to speak of that, little sister,” the prince put his hand over her mouth before she could continue her story, stirring the laughter only more in the office.

“I was hungry and Father wouldn’t light the fire for me,” the prince defended himself.

“Well, I’m glad you learnt that later on... After three days of eating raw meat. Were you trying to kill...”

“FATHER...” the prince yelled at the man for finishing the story.

“Oh, was I supposed to keep that a secret as well?” the king was playing dumb.

“Oh, forget it. My reputation is already miles below the sea,” the prince groaned, falling back into his seat in defeat. When the laughter had died down, he asked, “When are we going to the Golden Moon Pack, father?”

“I’m glad you asked. We’ll be going there tomorrow. For now, all of you are to get some sleep. Lina, get your guests comfortable,” he asked.

“Your majesty, if you may. I would like to stay behind,” Honour interrupted the king abruptly. The details had not been sorted out completely, but something told Lina that when the king spoke, he was telling everyone in the room and not just the royals concerned.

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