Running With Wolves [On Hold]

Chapter 18, Orson

I kicked open Eleanor's front door and head straight inside toward the stairs, her scent is faint but it still lingers in a room down the hall, I follow the scent and come to a room I know is Eleanor's.

It's green, her favorite color. 

I can't feel guilty now, I have to find that fucking key, I have to see it with my own eyes.

I close the door behind me and get on my knees to rip the floorboards up, I rip five until I see something hidden underneath some kind of cloth, Eleanor was telling the truth, she hid a key in the exact location she told me.

But could it be that key? 

I feel Adan behind me as I grab hold of it and open the cloth that's wrapped around something small, but heavy, and if this is what I think it is... Eleanor is lucky his grandfather only sent Curt Webb and not a fucking army of wolves to kill her.

I unwrap it and my stomach drops.

It's the key.

The key for Alpifilas, it's in my hands, the real key.

"Is that...?" 

I turn and Adan looks how I feel, speechless. This is the key, I can smell faint magic on it the moment I lifted it from the floorboards, the key is larger than I thought it would be, but it looks exactly how I saw it in a book as a boy, the key is made of solid Sovern gold like components, with a wolves head made out of divine steel of house Carmine.

I'm no pureblood wolf but I can sense the magic coming from this key, it's the key for the one thing that has Carmine's grandfather in power as King for all these years, the one thing his family were sworn to protect for thousands of years.

This changes everything.

"Shit, now we know why June and Joseph were killed, they must have stolen it for leverage." Adan says behind me as I go to stand up, with the key in my hand.

He's right, it's the only thing that makes sense, Eleanor's father must've taken this the night he had supposedly left Sovern with his mate, Eleanor's mother June, and as a result, instead of leverage, it cost him his life.

Why the fuck did June give this to Eleanor? Holding this key is a death sentence, especially now that Croix Carmine's title as protector of the realm is vulnerable, along with his life.

If every Alpha knew of this, there would be an uproar for a change in command, I know that I'm not the only one who hates the Carmine royal family, but there has never been a reason until now.

They can't control Alpifilas without this key, so what the fuck is going on right now inside that palace? I would give a shit if it wasn't any of my concern, right now my only concern is protecting Eleanor.

It wasn't random that Curt was ordered to come for Eleanor, which means June didn't tell them anything before she died, the existence of the key is still unknown to them, and that's my only advantage in this.

"Orson, why is that in her room?" Adan asks, his glare and thought of Eleanor right now are making me itch to kill him. "If she knew about the key, we can't trust her, the sooner you rej-"

I snarl then push into him hard with my hand around his neck as I growl deadly in his face, claws out and ready, my wolf present with me, both of us are equally pissed at what he was about to say.

"No one is rejecting anyone! SHE'S YOUR LUNA, start fucking treating her as one! I won't be having this conversation again. " I roughly say into his face, then shove him away from me.

This change is nothing between me and Eleanor, if anything it only fuels my need to protect her more than before, even if right now she doesn't like me from how I reacted earlier, my feelings for her have only grown.

I have to explain this situation, I need to tell her everything, she needs to know if she's going to stay here, as my mate I don't want to keep anything from her, I had always thought of some things I could hide to protect my future mate, but she's a Carmine, this effects her most then the wolves in Sovern.

I know now from spending time with her I can trust her, she's nothing like the Carmine's that I know and have grown to hate, she's everything that her family are not, she's precious and I see that now, I didn't know that I could feel this way about someone before, but she's it, she's mine.

It's been... 23 years roughly since Joseph Carmine took Alpifilas's key, that gives me time before the next ceremony to figure out what to do with it, soon Croix will get desperate to find it and will stoop low to find it, that I don't doubt, his whole legacy is on the line and in my hands.

But it's not just that, if Alpifilas opens, it could be the end of Sovern as we know it, if the rumors are still true.. it's still very much alive and active, but it's almost been 26 years since the last ceremony.

This gives me time to think.

First... I need to talk to Eleanor, it's time I told her the truth about everything, not just the key, but about myself and my family, there's so much I kept hidden, not from her but from the people around me, my pack, earlier I had lied to her for the first time about a part of myself, and as much as it made me feel guilty, it wasn't the right time to share just who I am to her.

I needed to know I could trust her, and I now know I can, she didn't lie about the key, it was right where she told me it would be, and I have no other reason to not trust her.

The bond from today had strengthened the more we were around each other, the touching, talking... the kiss, to me, there is no way I'm rejecting Eleanor, I am hers even if she's not mine, I know I won't stop until I make her mine, I will do anything to make her trust me, want me and to share her life with mine.

For the longest time, I feel actually excited to go back to the packhouse and I know it's because she's there, somewhere doing something in someplace I built, it makes me.. happy.. and despite the chaos of everything, I can't wait to tell her everything, even if my hands are shaking right now in fear of what could go wrong, I can only think of how much better I will feel to share myself with Eleanor.

The truth, nothing else.

I just hope she's not too pissed about how I acted earlier.

"Light it." 

The flames set and the house in front of me sets up in flames, hiding any evidence that I  or anyone had been here, I need to cover my tracks so nothing leads back to me, I need to prepare before Croix makes his move, it's almost time for the ceremony.

He will move soon, I need to be prepared.

Until then, I had my wolves collect some stuff, pictures, clothes, and human things in Eleanor's room to bring back with me, she had asked for 'valuables' and I had gotten all I could see that was worth any kind of personal value to her, hopefully, it's enough for her to forgive me for how I acted earlier.

Fuck, It's going to be a long night...