The Broken Wolf
Chapter 67

We head upstairs and quickly eat breakfast with our families. Robbie had something urgent come up and no one really knew exactly what, but George offered to take us down to see the kid.

“He hasn’t said anything,” he tells us as we walk down the stairs towards the dungeon. “I don’t know if he’s being difficult, or if he’s just scared. Rob wanted me to tell you that he had dinner and breakfast, though.”

I can’t help but smile at this. I haven’t talked to my brother, but he always knows what to say to make me feel better, even when he can’t be there. We approach the cell that the boy is in and I get a good look at him now. He really is just a kid. I’d be shocked if he were even 12 years old. There’s no way he’s even shifted yet.

“Hi,” I say to him and he looks up at me. “I’m Molly. My Brother is the Alpha of this pack. Can you tell me your name?”

The kid never breaks eye contact with me, but he doesn’t say anything. “You’re safe here,” I hear Seth say. “No one is going to hurt you, but we need to know why you were in the Lunar Falls territory.”

“You’re related to Alpha Benjamin,” he says to me.

Alpha? Hearing him call Benjamin that throws me, but I decide to go with it. “I am. And who are you?”

“Stevie,” he says, still not giving us any useful information.

“Hi, Stevie. Can you please tell us why you were here?” I ask him. He still hasn’t looked away from me as he continues to stare at my eyes.

“You have the same eyes as him,” he tells me.

I smile at him, as kindly as I can. “I know. It runs in the family. Stevie, I really need you to tell me why you were in the woods here. I want to help you.”

“I got lost,” he says, finally looking away from me. “I didn’t mean to come into the territory here. I know it’s off limits. I couldn’t figure out how to get home, though, and then you found me. I tried to hide, but that tree fell.”

He’s lying. I hear Sage tell me.

I agree. I don’t think that’s the truth at all.

“We’d like to get you back home, Stevie. Do you live near Benjamin?” I ask him and he shakes his head.

“I don’t know where he lives. I live with the other rogues, though,” he tells me.

I look up at Seth and realize that he’s also understood the things that he’s mentioned that are problematic. “How many of you are there?” I ask him but I see concern on his face as he realizes that he said something he shouldn’t. “You don’t have any siblings that would have followed you, do you? I just want to keep everyone safe.”

“I have 3 older brothers and 2 younger sisters. I was out alone, though,” he says.

“That must have been really scary, all alone. How old are you?” I ask him.

He looks at me, and then at Seth. He seems to be afraid of Seth, though. He looks back to me. “I’m 10. Is that the Prince?” he asks me in a whisper. “He’s so big. He’s even bigger than Alp… Benjamin.” he catches his slip up.

“Yes,” I tell him with a smile. “That’s Prince Seth.”

“Why is he here? The palace isn’t here.” he says, confused.

He doesn’t seem to know we’re mates, and I’m not sure if that’s good or bad. “Prince Seth is here as a guest, as are his parents.” Stevie’s face turns ghostly white at the mention of the King and Queen. “Is that a problem?”

“Is he going to kill me?” he asks me, tears coming to his eyes.

His tears seem genuine. I hear Seth in my head.

I agree. I think they are. I wonder what has been said about him in the Rogue territory.

Just go with me. I swear, we won’t actually hurt a hair on his head.

“That depends on you, Stevie,” Seth tells him and the kid backs away from him some. “Molly hadn’t been entirely truthful with you, and I suspect that you haven’t either. I’m going to tell you something that’s true, and then you’re going to tell me the truth of why you were here.”

“Yes, sir,” Stevie tells him with wide, scared brown eyes and he glances to me.

“I’m not just here as a guest. I was at first, but then I met my mate. Molly is my mate, and the Princess of All Werewolves now,” he says and Stevie looks at me, scared.

“But you’re related to Benjamin. He can’t be your mate,” he says, confused.

I look at him and smile, taking Seth’s hand in my own. “The goddess doesn’t make mistakes.”

“Stevie, did someone send you here and tell you to lie to us?” Seth asks him, stepping forward and holding himself so he looks even bigger. The boy looks up at him, terrified, and slowly nods his blonde head. “Who sent you?”

“My older brothers are pack warriors. I don’t know what happened, but they told me to go into the forest and see if I could replace out if there were any she-wolves missing here,” he tells him, tears finally spilling over. “They told me if I got caught that I was young enough that you would let me go and if not, I could ask for Molly and she would keep me safe.” he rushes to say and looks up at me.

“They were right,” I tell him and smile at him, bending down to his level at the bars of the cell. “No one is going to hurt you, but we need to know what’s going on. I need to know who your parents are so we can get you home.”

“My dad is named Alex. He’s Benjamin’s Beta,” he says and starts to cry even more. “Please don’t tell him! He doesn’t know I’m here and I”ll get into so much trouble.”

I smile at him. He’s Alex’s son, Alex, who always worried about me and kept me safe. “I have to tell him, but it’s OK. He won’t be too hard on you, I’m sure.”

“He’s going to kill me,” he says.

“I doubt that,” I tell him gently. “One time when I was little I ran into the woods. Some bad things happened and my dad was furious, but your dad carried me home and wouldn’t let my dad yell at me.”

“That doesn’t sound like him,” he says and looks up at me.

I just smile at his words. “It’s been a long time. I didn’t realize it at first, but I can recognize his scent now. It’s definitely the same Alex.”

“Princess Molly,” Seth says, interrupting us. “Why don’t you try to link this Alex and arrange a meeting at the line. I’m sure your dad and brother will be able to pull away and go with us.”

“Yeah, just give me a moment,” I tell him and stand, walking back away from them.

What if I mess up like last time?

You won’t, but if you can’t reach him, we’ll just cross the line like you had originally planned.

I reach into my mind, searching for Alex. There are so many different wolves and it’s hard to figure out how to look for someone, but finally, I replace him. I crack open the mental box and try to reach him.

Alex?

Molly? Is there something you need? I’m sorry, I must be quick. One of my sons has gone missing.

I have Stevie here. The Prince and I found him in the woods last night, but he wouldn’t talk to anyone until this morning.

What does the King want for him?

Nothing. The King isn’t even involved. Alpha Robert is letting me handle this, but there is something I need. You’re getting Stevie back regardless, though.

Anything, Molly.

I need to come and see Lily. I’m having… issues with the magic. But they aren’t going to let me cross without a whole hoard of people with me.

I assume the Prince? Who else?

My dad and brother. Possibly Albert.

Not the King?

No, sir. Just us.

I’ll talk to him but it shouldn’t be an issue.

Where do you want me to meet you with your son?

The Southern border. Well, it will be your Northern border. There’s a row of pines with a clearing just after on our side.

I know the place. We can be there in an hour. Will you still have warriors there?

I can pull them away when you cross. If you have any questions, you’ll have to ask Benjamin.

Thank you, We’ll be there in an hour.

“Stevie,” I say, turning around. “Prince Seth and I will be right back. We need to go change clothes and then we’re going to take you home.”

“Really?” he asks, a smile spreading across his face.

I smile back at him. “Yes, I just can’t handle the walk in these shoes.

Seth looks at me and nods, walking towards me and leading me out. When we reach the top of the stairs, one of the guards opens the door, stopping to bow at us as we walk through. Dad and Robbie are there waiting for us. The guard closes the door and Seth stops, turning to look at me.

“We can go in. He said he’d have to check with Benjamin but it shouldn’t be an issue. Dad, Robbie and Albert as well.”

“Good,” he says with a nod. “That wasn’t as difficult as I thought.”

“He asked me what we wanted in order to get him back,” I tell them, grabbing Seth’s arm before he can try to walk away. “He thought we were going to hold him hostage. He’s only ten,” I say, looking at my brother.

Robbie shakes his head at me. “I have no plans to ever use a kid as a pawn.”

“His brothers sent him in to look for information,” Seth says to Robbie. “It seems the Rogues may have had some she-wolves go missing. They were trying to see if any were missing from Lunar Falls.”

“Interesting,” Robbie says. “Most of their border touches ours. They must think they’re coming through here to get to them.”

“You should also know,” I begin, looking at Robbie, but also my dad. “The way that Stevie was speaking, they’re a fully formed pack. He’s Alex’s son, and referred to him as Alpha Benjamin’s Beta. I asked Alex if the warriors would remain and he said yes, indicating there’s a hierarchy.”

“The kid also said Benjamin lives outside of it, but most of them live in a cluster together,” Seth adds. “We’re going to go change but will you catch my dad up on the developments?”

“Of course,” my dad says.

“We’re meeting them at the line before the clearing on the northern border in an hour,” I tell them and dad nods to me. “If we weren’t so dressed up, we wouldn’t have to change clothes before we leave, but here we are.”

Seth smirks at me. “Yes, here we are. Well dressed royals.” He says with a roll of his eyes. He takes my hand and leads me around and down the stairs to my suite. Opening the door to let me in, he gently slaps my a*s as I pass him.

“Hey!” I say to him with a giggle. “What was that for?”

“That was for giving me s**t in front of others,” he says, holding his head up high, trying to suppress a grin.

I giggle at him. “You’re just mad because it was Robbie, and he’d do the same.”

“Go change,” he tells me and swats my a*s again, though this time a little bit harder. I poke through the bags on my bed and replace some new black jeans and leave the same top on. I go grab my hiking boots and put them on and begin my search for a jacket in the bags. Seth must have realized that because he holds up a jacket before I get too deep into my search and tosses it to me.

“Thanks,” I tell him with a smile and walk to the dresser to pull out a knit hat for this chilly day.

“Feel better with the new clothes?” he asks and I nod.

“It’s nice to comfortably sit down again,” I tell him with a small laugh. “I’ll be honest, I’m not thrilled about being bigger, but the fact that you’re enormous really helps.”

“I’m glad I could be of use,” he tells me with a smile, grabbing my h**s and pulling me to him. “You’re perfect. You know that, right?”

“I’m not perfect,” I tell him quietly.

“You are though,” he says and k****s me deeply. “You are absolutely, f*****g perfect.”

I grab hold of his shirt, inhaling his scent deeply. “We need to take the kid home. We can’t be late.”

“I know,” he says, but makes no effort to move, making me be the one to break our contact. I run to the closet and grab an old fleece jacket that doesn’t fit me any longer. Seth looks at me and c***s an eyebrow in question.

“He didn’t have a jacket,” I tell him with a shrug and he smiles at me, reaching out for me to take his hand.

We head back and reach the entrance of the dungeon where my dad, Robbie, Albert and now a handcuffed Stevie are waiting.

“Here ya go,” I say to Stevie, holding out the jacket for him.

“Thank you,” he says. Albert uncuffs him so that he can put it on, but I reach out and take the cuffs from him before he can put them back on him.

“He won’t need them, will you, Stevie?” I ask him.

He shakes his head at me. “No ma’am. I’ll be good.”