"Something's wrong", I growled under my breath.
I watched Phoenix and Taranis flying back down to us, but Phoenix was definitely not herself.
Both Desert and I could sense a shift in her. Something in both her and Liz was changing. Luciene had mentioned that as Liz draws nearer to her heat, it will be more difficult for her to control Phoenix. Her primal instincts were already telling her that Mathew and Orion had rejected her. Her body was now in the process of either going feral or allowing another powerful ruler to claim her.
A normal shewolf would go feral if she was not mated by her fated mate while she's in heat. However, Luciene kept reminding us that the Werewolf Queen is different. She's meant to be a ruler and she's so much more powerful than a normal shewolf. That's why she's already showing signs of going feral despite her heat not having fully arrived yet.
I didn't want to tell her any of this. She already had so much on her plate. I just needed to make sure this was the last time she shifted before we went back to the Werewolf kingdom. That way it will be easier for her to control Phoenix. All she needed to know right now was that we needed to be back in the Werewolf Kingdom by tomorrow. She and Mathew will be able to mate one another and it will buy her more time.
Phoenix's movements were very violent and uncontrolled. I tried mindlinking her and Liz, but all I got back were endless angry roars. I couldn't even sense Liz. It was only Phoenix coming through and she herself felt lost, scared and angry.
Taranis landed in a thud next to me and once he shifted back into his human form, Killian ran to me.
"I don't know what's wrong with her!", He shouted in a panicked voice. "She started acting violent and Taranis and I can't stop her!"
She started flying away from us and Killian and I ran to follow her. "You go and stop her from leaving!", I snarled nervously at Killian. "I'll be right behind you."
Before he could respond, Desert ripped out of me and we ran after her.
"Phoenix, what's wrong?", I roared through our mindlink.
Her thoughts were so mangled and angry that it was difficult to even understand what she was saying, but something came through. "Jeremiah and Orion don't want us!", she roared at me. "They will always choose the witch!"
She was so angry and filled with so much pain and resentment. I tried to make sense of what she was saying, but her thoughts were too incoherent. I ultimately decided she meant to say Mathew and Orion. Megan was obviously the witch she was referring to.
"They want you, Phoenix!", I tried calming her down. "Mathew and Orion want you. They have chosen you and Elizabeth."
She abruptly cut off our link and I watched four gryphons and Killian trying to block her way. She roared fire at all of them and although they managed to escape in time, three of them started falling to the ground while Killian and the one remaining warrior went back to try and stop her from leaving the Gryphon kingdom.
Desert and I roared as loudly as we could when we reached her. She wouldn't be able to ignore our roar. No matter what she was going through, I could always bring her out of it. I was the one who helped Liz control her powers all these years. Each time she felt like she was about to burn the whole place down, I was the only one who could calm her down.
She knew Desert's roar. She had watched him grow from a Beta to an Alpha wolf and trained with him each day. Desert and I would be able to reach her. We will always be able to reach her.
She looked down at me and I could tell by the look in her eyes that she was scared. Phoenix could probably feel Liz slipping away and she was scared.
"Come down, Phoenix", I said gently through the link. "I can help you bring her back."
She flew down to me without a second thought and shifted into her wolf form.
"Bring your flames down, Phoenix", I said through the link.
It took her a few minutes, but her flames started dying down.
Desert brushed his head against hers. She looked amazing even in wolf form. She was covered in thick, red, silky fur and was even bigger than Desert. She looked majestic. I have never seen a wolf like her. I've seen fur of so many colours, but I've never seen bright red fur. Her fur alone already looked like fire.
"Star fire, you look breathtaking", Killian gasped as soon as he landed.
She hesitated, but then her head started slowly brushing against Desert as well.
I shifted back into my human form and she bent her head all the way down so that I could look her in the eye.
I brushed the fur on her head while looking into her eyes. "You need to focus, Phoenix", I instructed her through the link. "You need to let go and let Liz take back control."
"She's lost!", she growled nervously through the link.
"She's a part of you, Phoenix. She'll never be lost. Find her."
I watched her close her eyes. She started wincing and growling and flinching while I held her head. A wolf that's gone feral can't be brought back. The wolf completely takes over. Their most violence and animalistic tendencies take over and the human is lost forever, together with any rational thoughts of the wolf.
But if I was still able to reach Phoenix, it meant Elizabeth wasn't lost yet. She was just buried deep inside and Phoenix would be able to bring her back.
She kept growling and wincing while Killian and I and his warriors who helped him earlier marvelled at her. She was the size of Taranis even in wolf form and I knew most gryphons would be angry seeing a wolf this big.
When she finally opened her eyes, she slowly started shifting back into her human form. Phoenix was still in control, but this was a good sign. Liz would be out soon.
The flames in Phoenix's eyes gradually changed from rapid and angry flames to slow and determined flames. Liz was back.
I gave a sigh of relief and gave her my shirt before I hugged her. She really needed to go into the Black Claw's scared river because I was going to lose all my shirts at this rate.
"Star fire!", Killian rushed to us and pulled her out of my arms.
"What happened?" Her voice barely came through because Killian was crushing her against his chest. "How did I get here?"
"You lost control because you're going feral", I answered before Killian could say anything.
They both looked shocked, but she didn't look as shocked as he was. She might not have known what was happening to her, but even she would have noticed all the changes she was experiencing.
"It's because I haven't been marked and mated, isn't it?"
I nodded my head. "Yea, that's why we need to hurry back."
Killian looked at her like he expected her to refuse to go back. When she just nodded her head at me, a snarl ripped out of him and he pulled Liz even further into his arms.
"I will mark and mate you, Star fire", he started with the same old nonsense. "We've already proven our feelings for each other. This is a sign that you're meant to be here with me. You don't need Alden."
Liz ignored him, but for some reason she remained in his arms. She handed me the two enchanted viles that Agatha's witch friend gave us. The bottles would appear when near Maru's river and then reappear again when it was time for them to be used.
I didn't have time to ask her what was happening between her and Killian. This was also not a surprise to me considering everything Luciene told us.What was important was for me to get these viles to Anha. I may not like Mathew, but Liz of all people deserves to be with her fated mate. I was going to do everything I could to make that happen.
*********************************************
TWO DAYS BEFORE THE WEREWOLF QUEEN'S HEAT REACHES ITS PEAK
Mathew's POV
Orion and I couldn't shake this feeling that something was wrong. We both felt uneasy and no matter how much we tried to ignore the feeling, it just wasn't going away.
We kept reminding ourselves that Elizabeth and Phoenix would be back by tomorrow. Today was the last day she would be away from us. From tomorrow onwards, I would glue Elizabeth to my side and make sure she can't go anywhere without me.
I took a deep breath as I looked at the Black Claw's sacred river. I had to try and focus.
Audrey insisted that the two kelpies who will be arriving, would only want to speak to me. The sooner they arrived, the sooner I could go back to my territory and ensure Elizabeth found me there when she arrived. She and I would spend the entire week locked in the Alpha and Luna suite. I would mate her everywhere and all the time to make up for lost time. When I am done with her, she'll be without a voice for a couple of days and she definitely won't be able to walk either.
I didn't care if she burned down my entire palace. I just needed to fill every part of her. I want my scent to constantly be infused with hers. And when we finally broke this hell forsaken curse, I would mark her and everyone would know she's mine.
We all got our weapons ready as soon as we saw the water bubbling and rumbling. I was glad that Danny agreed to come with us. I was hoping that if the kelpies saw her, it would put them at ease.
The water kept rumbling until two long snake-like waves emerged from the water and splashed right infront of us. As soon as the water disappeared, a man and woman stood before us. They were both definitely kelpies. They smelled quite a lot like Danny. The woman was also a seer. Her seer scent was just as strong as the kelpie scent.
"Mikah?", Ella?", Danny exclaimed in a shocked voice.
Before she could say anything else, the small frame blonde woman who just emerged from the water ran to her and embraced her in a hug. Danny seemed too shocked to return the hug.
"There's something different about you", the blonde woman eyed Danny suspiciously. "I just got a vision of you, but I couldn't see it because there was a shadow blocking the vision. Is something the matter?"
"Uhm, no!", Danny quickly muttered. "Maybe there's something wrong with your visions."
Ken and I both looked at Keyon with raised eyebrows. He and Danny have been humping each other like crazy ever since she arrived. It was no surprise that his abilities ended up shielding her from the seers.
Without wasting anymore time, the woman scanned all the people who had waited for her arrival. When her eyes reached mine, they widened and she came running to me.
"It's him, Mikah!", she shouted at the man.
The man, who was carrying a huge wooden box this entire time, came to me and just put the box in my hands without explanation.
"What is this?", I asked them.
The woman looked at us excitedly and started clapping her hands before telling us what was in the box. "Those are all the maps of where the Kelpie Kingdom has been!" She applauded herself while the man just embraced her in his arms.
"We stole them from King Amenadiel", the woman continued. "He still has no clue that we stole them or that we left."
"But...", Danny's light brown face looked pale and maybe even a bit green. "if...if you have that and I'm here...then.."
"Then your father has nothing to offer Raphael", the man interrupted. "Well...except for Kelpie warriors, but I doubt they'll be as valuable as you and these maps."
Keyon pulled Danny into his arms, but she pushed him away as tears started streaming down her face.
"He'll kill him", she muttered to herself. "Raphael will kill him."
The blonde woman ran to Danny and tried to console her. "You know the kind of man your father is, Danny. He almost forced you to marry Raphael. Have you forgotten that?"
"No", Danny whispered. "But he's still my dad. I...I can't do this."
She tore herself out of the woman's arms and dove into the water.
"Danny!", Keyon shouted after her and almost jumped into the water himself, but Ken stopped him.
"She just needs some time to settle down", the blonde woman tried reassuring us. "Kelpies travel almost instantly through water. She'll probably pop up somehwere else to process everything."
I felt bad for both Danny and Keyon, but we had to go through everything that was in this large box. The box wasn't heavy, but I could tell there were a lot of papers inside.
"Keyon, will you be okay?", I asked him through our mindlink.
"Yea, boss", he replied. "I'm just worried about her."
Ken took him by the shoulder and led him away from the water.
"I was told to only trust you with this box", the woman informed me coldly. "There are traitors in your midst and only a few should know about this box and its contents. You have to be careful."
"Who are the traitors?", I growled at her.
"That hasn't been shown to me", she shrugged. "Oh, and one more thing! I was told to tell you the phoenix will rise from the ashes. Does that mean anything to you?"
I shook my head. "No, but it will probably mean something to my mate. I'll make sure to tell her what you said."
She shrugged her shoulders again. She seemed way too happy and excited to be here considering the bad news she just delivered about there being traitors in my kingdom.
"Well now that our job is done", the woman looked at Audrey with wide eyes, "I would like to get to know the Mother of Seers over here. I'm your biggest fan!"
She and the man dragged Audrey away while Jonathan followed them.
***
Ken, Keyon and I started going through the contents of that entire box in Jonathan's office. We were shocked at what we found and realised that danger was right at our door, but we hadn't even realised it.
"We have four fucking days", I growled while looking through the papers infront of me.
"That's not enough time, boss" Ken took another stack of papers out of the box and started reading it.
"They're going to surround the entire Werewolf kingdom", Keyon pointed at the document infront of me. "They're going to attack the weaker packs all at the same time and slowly move their way into the kingdom. By the time they reach your territory in the centre, all the packs will be decimated."
I continued reading all the documents. The kelpies were part of an army that was going to attack the Werewolf Kingdom in four days. Raphael would be leading a thousand kelpies and a thousand witches and centaurs to come and kill all of us. By the looks of it, this wasn't even the entire war plan. Other magical creatures were definitely helping him and they would be targeting the stronger packs before they all reached my territory.
"This is what we've been preparing for." I started sepeperating the maps from the war documents to make going through everything easier for us. "We need to assume Raphael already has the Eye of the Ocean. How many enchanted shields do we have?"
Keyon and Ken both looked at each other nervously before Ken responded. "Boss, we have enough shields for those in your territory because we weren't immune against witch magic. But Agatha and her coven are still enchanting more shields for everyone else. They don't nearly have enough shields for every single werewolf in the kingdom and..."
He avoided looking at me.
"And what?", I growled at him.
"He sighed nervously. "Well Agatha was so busy trying to fight off that curse so for the past few days her coven hasn't been enchanting any shields."
"Fuck!", I muttered to myself.
If an attack was already planned, it could only mean that Raphael already had the Eye of the Ocean. We spread the word to every Alpha that we were urgently looking for a forest filled with orange and purple leaves and almost every tracker from my territory and various packs were looking for the place, but we found nothing. I asked Queen Merrida if she knew anything, but was just as dumbfounded as I was. I was so desperate that I even reached out to King Maxwell and Anha and neither of them knew a thing. The only person who refused to even get back to me was the Nymph King. The lazy idiot still saw no need for an alliance. I even tried reaching his daughter, Princess Cecilia Appledoorn, but neither of them answered my calls.
"Look at this!", I gestured to Ken and Keyon. "After the Werewolf kingdom, Raphael is moving to the Northern Inkling Kingdom."
"We don't have everything here, boss", Ken remarked. "He has a lot more invasions planned. He's probably also going to attack the Gryphon kingdom and the other Inkling kingdoms."
"He's planning on attacking the Nymph Kingdom before he attacks us, boss", Ken quickly shoved the paper he was holding in his hand in my face. "And look at where the attack is meant to lead him to!"
I looked at the inscription on the piece of paper.
"Nymph kingdom sacred forest of orange and purple leaves", the inscription read.
"That means he doesn't have the Eye of the Ocean yet", I smirked. "We can still keep it out of his hands."
"Ken, get me 100 of our warriors ready", I ordered him. "We're going to the Nymph kingdom. Keyon, you stay here and start getting the packs, seers and witches ready for the attack. Call Queen Merrida. We may only have four days, but we've been preparing for this for three years. We'll be ready."
Keyon nodded his head and started making some calls while Ken and I continued going through the documents.
"Boss, it will take us at least a day to get 100 warriors ready and travel all the way to the Nymph kingdom", Ken got up from his chair and put a few papers back into the box.
I knew what he was alluding to. Elizabeth was coming back tomorrow and with all this going on, I probably wouldn't be back by tomorrow.
"Once we get to the Nymph kingdom, we'll have to convince the Nymph King to grant us access to his boarders", he continued. "Then we'll either have to help him defend his kingdom against Raphael or fight both him and Raphael so that we get the Eye of the Ocean."
I growled at him.
"You won't make it back in time, boss", he finally said. "You go back to the palace. Mate her once she arrives and then you can come join me in the Nymph Kingdom."
I furrowed my brows at him. I didn't think this was where he was going. I thought he was going to tell me I had no choice but to let Elizabeth go feral. But even thinking that was preposterous. Ken is my brother. He would die for me. He has proven himself to me over and over again. He cares for both me and Elizabeth.
I couldn't abandon him right now. The future of the whole kingdom was at stake. I am the Werewolf King and it is my duty to protect the kingdom. I couldn't shy away from that, especially not right now.
I shook my head as I got up. "I can't do that, Ken. You and I both know I have to go to the Nymph kingdom. If we find Raphael already there, we'll fight him and then I'll go back to Elizabeth. If he isn't there yet, we'll take that gem whether the Nymph King likes it or not and get out of there. Either way, I'm going to the Nymph kingdom and I'm also mating Elizabeth tomorrow."
He gave me an uncertain smile as he sat back in his chair.
"Boss, I should go get everything ready now", Keyon said as he got off the phone. "Do you still need me?"
"Don't leave just yet", I unbuttoned one of the buttons on my shirt and ran my hands through my hair.
"We're missing something", I said to them with nothing but frustration in my voice. "Those who follow Raphael know something we don't. Why would they help him if they knew he was just going to kill them when he was done with us? It can't just be out of fear or self preservation. There's something we don't know."
"It will be hard to find that out with everything else going on, boss", Keyon said as he poured himself some water.
"If we find Evangeline, we'll probably find out more. If she's been working with evil witches, it means she's been working with Raphael as well. Make sure we find her, Keyon", I put my hand on his shoulder.
"Trackers are already looking for her, boss", he reassured me. "She can't hide forever."