The Alpha King's Princess
The Alpha King’s Princess – Chapter 32

Sibyl growled at me as she passed, gesturing to her guards. When they were gone, I lifted the phone to my ear.

“I’m reporting this to His Majesty.”

“Wait,” I said, taking a deep breath. This wouldn’t be enough. Candido’s honor would push him to try and fix our problems with each other, not back out of the deal. “Just wait for it. Could you pick me up lunch? I’m going for a run.”

“… as you wish, Miss Hedy.”

I walked outside, dropped my bag on the stands of the running track, and broke into a run as fast as I could manage, hoping to focus on something more than my anger.

Sibyl was evil, and she was blaming me for everything that was going on with Candido. While I was happy that things weren’t going well for her with Candido, I couldn’t help but be frustrated because Candido was too honorable to back out of this marriage.

As I finished my run, I slowed to a stop several feet away from where I had left my bag.

In place of the leader of Team Gamma-2 or the guard that followed me around school, Candido was there with a box of food at his side, lounging in the stands as if he belonged there.

I walked towards him slowly. He watched me walk toward him. He was eerily still as I felt everything in me, focusing on him as if he was the only thing in the world.

He stood as I reached him, passed his hand over my cheek, and leaned down to k**s my temple.

“Enjoy lunch,” he said, his voice a little stiff. His eyes flickered with moonlight, and I felt myself reaching out to me, but it felt as if my reach was just too short to reach him.

“Won’t you stay?”

He went still, staring down at me. He stepped closer and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into a warm, tender hug.

“I would, but I have a lunch meeting with the New Moon pack.”

“Is it about the murders?” I winced, realizing what I’d let slip.

He chuckled, “Naughty little thing reading documents you aren’t supposed to… Yes, it is. Promise me you’ll eat well and come home on time.”

“I’ll eat, but it would taste better if you were here with me.”

He chuckled and pressed a k**s to my temple. “Then, dinner should be extra delicious. I will see you then, little one.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sibyl far away, flushed, and furious. I tightened my grip on him and narrowed my eyes. She wouldn’t have him. No matter what I had to do. When he left my arms, he walked towards the parking lot, passing by Sibyl as if he didn’t see her and I smiled as I bit into the tender steak he’d brought me, feeling smug as she stomped away in the opposite direction.

I left school a bit early and headed home. There was about an hour before dinner and when Candido said we would go training, so I logged into my Moon Shadow laptop. The book on vampires was still a complete mystery to me. There were no new leads about the attack on headquarters, the recent murders, or the cause of the damage at the academy.

I opened the file of the woman with Candido’s eyes and stared at it. The last thing I wanted to do was try to hack into the pack’s records if I didn’t have to. While I had done it before, I knew that doing it was basically opening the pack’s information system open to other hackers. The death of the previous alpha king was connected to all of this. I just didn’t know how yet.

Suddenly, a message from Armageddon popped up on my screen along with several attachments.

Why are you looking into the former alpha king’s death?

It was an odd question. He’d never questioned my movements before.

I have reason to believe that it is connected to the recent attacks.

A moment passed before another message popped up.

You will have access to the file for exactly one hour. Make good use of your time.

Another message appeared with a coded riddle to answer. I typed the answer and gasped as the woman with Candido’s eyes appeared along with a list of everyone who was in the pack at the time. I cross-checked it with the list of people who were in the pack now, but the woman wasn’t on the list.

Candida of the Blue Moon Pack.

My eyes widened at the name. It was rare that sons were named after their mothers. There wasn’t much on her, but there was enough for me to start looking into the existence of the Blue Moon Pack and where they were.

As I kept looking, the records started to blur between the Full Moon and the Blue Moon Pack. I didn’t know if that meant they were connected by b***d, a branch of the pack, or what. As I thought about it, Moon Shadow was an organization that seemed to have plenty of resources. I had wondered once who was funding it, but I had never asked.

Armageddon, is the Blue Moon Pack behind Moon Shadow?

Had this woman been a member?

More than that, was Candido a member of Moon Shadow?

Another message appeared, but I couldn’t answer or look at it as I continued to look through the documents. The crest of the Blue Moon Pack had some of the same writing as was in the vampire book.

Given how old the Blue Moon Pack had to be based on it being the book on the Moon Goddess, there had to be a connection between the Packs and vampires that were buried in history for one reason or another.

I had managed to get through the whole file before I was tossed out of the files. My head was reeling. Candido was connected to the Blue Moon Pack by b***d. Were they still alive? Did he know them?

Were they hiding among the Full Moon Pack for some reason?

Was it them or members of the Full Moon Pack that had betrayed Candido’s family?

My thoughts turned back to my suspicions about Norton, and I opened another message to Armageddon.

Thank you for getting me the file. It was very helpful. I think that someone betrayed the former alpha king. I don’t think the current alpha king was meant to survive. I have suspicions about others being involved.

A few moments passed, and I went to open the newer message. It was from the lab stating that the substance found on the scene had been analyzed. While the results are inconclusive, there was something interesting about the sample.

The analyst said that it was degrading. Some of the parts of it seemed to be b***d, based on the analysis, but the rest of it was a mystery to me too. I compared it to samples of werewolf b***d we had on file. Other than the DNA, there were more similarities than differences though it was fading over time.

I opened the video they sent with the analysis and watched the time go by as I read the report. They tested the substance every hour, along with several b***d samples from the scene. Some of them were normal werewolf b***d samples, but the one that was degrading was degrading at two different rates. Within a few hours, the b***d sample was nothing but dust.

Whatever the additive was, it was deadly to werewolves, but I didn’t think it was poison. At least, it wasn’t any kind of poison I had ever heard of.

I closed my laptop. Armageddon must have gone offline, which was lucky as I felt the hyper-aware and focused sensation again. I sprang to my feet and opened the door before Candido could knock.

“Hungry?” Candido asked as I took his arm.

“Excited to spend time with you,” I said and wrinkled my nose as my stomach growled. “And maybe a little hungry.”

“Your Majesty?” Allen called. “A moment of your time?”

Candido paused and nodded. “I’ll be down in a second, Hedy… Try not to eat all the pasta without me.”

“Pasta?” I brightened and hurried towards the stairs, pretending to hurry away, but I slowed my gait and focused my hearing as Candido and Allen began to speak. It was easier with my instincts so tuned into Candido’s presence.

“There’s been another murder,” Allen said. I heard paper shuffling. “In the Eastern slums.”

“… a suspect was caught?”

My eyes widened, and I strained to hear more. Was it the same person who attacked headquarters or someone else?

“Yes. He was held for a day.”

“They let him—Dead?”

“The autopsy said that his b***d had turned to ash in his veins.”

I swallowed thickly. The attack was definitely related to the massacre then. Was he an assailant or a victim, I wonder?

“That’s the fifth one this month.” Candido hissed. “What state of mind was he in?”

I made sure my feet were loud as I headed back up the stairs. Candido turned to me. Allen didn’t move as Candido tilted the folder in his hand just enough to obscure the words from me, but I didn’t even pretend to glance as I passed them in the hallway.

“I forgot a deadline!” I cried, rushing past them. “I’ll be right down, I promise!”

I rushed past Candido as he laughed, and closed my door. Allen and Candido walked towards his office as I went to my Moon Shadow laptop to read the full report.