Page 62 of Chasing Tail
Chapter 33
Taron and I were pretty impressed with Cassandra. She knew exactly who the king and queen were and how powerful they were. No one told her we were there to kill them when we found her or how truly evil he was. She didn’t care. They hurt her, and as soon as she could, she wasn’t about to wait for someone to save her. She took care of the threat herself, and she was so proud of herself.
Jorah was the only one who seemed offended by all the blood in the bedroom, but he hadn’t said a fucking thing about it because he knew deep down, they had it coming, even if he wanted the pretense of a trial.
We were all taken back to Callum’s bedroom so he could help Cassandra with her injuries. She was talking up a storm now that her father was there.
“I tried to get them to run so I could hunt them, Papa, but they just laid there! They took my wolf and broke my feet so that I couldn’t escape. When the nice people in the wall put the wolfsbane out, I shifted so my feet would heal and slipped out of the chains they had me in. I was going to wait for you, but I just got so mad.
“Two guards came up to me when I was playing in the street when you went to trade with the weaver. They said you were in trouble and I needed to come with them. They threw a hood laced with wolfbane over my head when we got away from the crowd and kidnapped me. I’m so mad they tricked me. Did you catch them? I know I’m not old enough yet, but can I help hunt them when you punish them?”
Harland was trying to clean all the blood off his pup so Callum could see and treat any injuries that didn’t heal when she shifted. There was a ton of it. I wasn’t quite as young as Cassandra when I made my first kill, but it was pretty messy too.
“We had to kill them to get to you, little alpha, so there won’t be a hunt. I’m proud of you. The entire kingdom is out there to rescue you from the evil king and queen, but you just needed us to unlock the door.”
I think we were all pretty proud of that pup. I still had no idea what the king and queen looked like. I hadn’t seen them through the crack in the wall, and Cassandra had chewed their faces off. But I did know he had a poison tongue and had an entire kingdom believing them even if they might not like him.
I’d sat through trials before that got drawn out for many moons. I wasn’t a seer, but I had a feeling I knew how this would play out. The king never did anything himself except for abusing Cassandra. Those two men we killed committed all of his crimes so that when he did sacrifice someone, everyone thought they deserved it because they were a criminal.
Cassandra was a strong pup, but everyone tried to avoid hatchlings giving testimony in the ocean because someone would confuse them into discrediting them. Even if Taron and I were asked what happened, a very good liar could twist it. The king wasn’t on that ship, and neither was I. I know what I heard, but someone could make the case that the sounds of the ocean twisted things and that ship wasn’t there because of the king.
This was best. I was glad they were dead, and I hoped it hurt, even if they were asleep.
Aside from her hair, Cassandra was mostly blood free now. I didn’t know this, but wolves could heal when they shifted. Cassandra didn’t have a mark on her, but she told us after breaking her feet, they cut her flesh and tried to drink her blood. I learned a species here survived by drinking blood, but druids weren’t one of them.
Jorah would have still been pouting about putting them on trial, but he had limits. Jorah reminded me of a shark, but not like Taron. Taron liked to cut up with me, and that was why we were so close. Most of the other sharks in my home were all about duty and protocol. They took their honor and the fact that they were revered by us seriously.
I had this feeling Jorah was talking about himself when he said people lost their mates when the king outlawed certain relationships. If that had been me and I had been hired to stay close to that king, I wouldn’t have left my mate. I would have saved everyone the trouble and stabbed him in his sleep.
Jorah wasn’t like that. He took his duty as the king’s guard as sacred, even if he could feel something wasn’t right. It would have been protocol to put him on trial and let the wolves handle it, but he’d really heard enough. I hadn’t been here long, but he knew what would happen if we put them on trial. He just needed a few minutes to come to that conclusion.
“We need a story,” Jorah said.
Just then, Salem slipped through one of the secret passages in the wall. Jorah pointed his sword at him, and Harland bared his teeth.
“Put that away,” Callum said. “He’s on our side.”
“The crowd is getting antsy. What happened?”
“I killed the bad king and queen,” Cassandra said proudly.
“We do need a story,” Forrest said.
“Use me,” Harland said. “Tell everyone we fought the guards and killed them to get into his room. They had Cassandra in there and threatened to kill her unless we left. One of the druids hit them with magic, and she got free. I shifted and killed both of them.”
“But, Papa,Ikilled them,” Cassandra whined.
“I know that, little Alpha. Our pack will know that too. The rest of the people can’t know because they were sleeping. They might not think it was self-defense. We’re trying to protect you.”
That was fucked up. Of course, it was self-defense. Then again, she didn’t have a mark on her. Cassandra was pouting because she really wanted the credit. I would have too. Salem snapped to attention.
“Time to earn your trust, Alpha. We need to make the king’s chambers look like a fight went down while they were awake. Beck, draw a bath so Cassandra can get the blood out of her hair. Callum and Forrest need to get outside and tell everyone that child is safe, and this is over. The crowd is contained, but Adamo and Tristan can only hold them back so long.”
“Take care of my pup, Beck. If you double cross me, I’ll eat you,” Harland said.
“No eating necessary. Shall we?”
Taron wrapped his arm around my waist and squeezed me.
