Vindicator

Chapter 45

"Wait" Karma said, appearing in the doorway of the parlour to block the path of the Queen and her son.

Chance stopped, looking surprised to see Karma. "Spectre? Why wait?" He asked with a frown.

The Queen was walking behind her son, and broke into a smile at the sight of Karma. "Oh good, you came!" She said, although she was thinking 'oh good, you came to stop us!'

"I think before you do something you can't undo, you should explore all options first" she began.

Grinning like the Cheshire Cat, the Queen misunderstood her meaning. She looked to her son, whose frown had only deepened.

"What options?" He demanded, a bit of hostility in his voice suggesting he had also misunderstood.

"To find the ones involved. Theo didn't get taken from his room, right? I heard something about a guard seeing him, so he left on his own. That means someone probably lured him, so we should find out who" she explained patiently.

"And how do we do that?" Chance demanded directly, not wanting to waste time with dead ends.

"You're royalty. I assume you have an intelligence office who can look into Theo's phone records. Maybe he used a messaging service that backs things up to the cloud and we can read them, or at least we can see who the last numbers were to have contacted him. If we can identify who the numbers belong to, I can find the individuals in question to identify if they're responsible" she explained.

Chance raised an eyebrow, still frowning. "That makes no sense. How would you be able to tell if they're responsible? I know you can spy on them, but we don't have time for that. You can't be sure they'll be with him when you go spy" he said, growing more impatient.

"So, what? You want to potentially start a civil war over one man instead of exhausting all other options first?!" Karma demanded, angry with his short-sightedness and his attitude when she's trying to help.

"Of course I am, he's my mate!" Chance shouted back, losing his temper. "You're in the business of saving abused mates, so you maybe don't understand! I am not going to let someone else abuse my mate, just like I will never abuse him! If that means risking civil war, then so be it! I'll deal with that once he's safe!" He roared in her face.

Karma growled at the Prince, much to his shock; however, she wasn't done with her surprises. She slapped him across the face, shouting "you short-sighted, selfish, arrogant excuse for a monarch! How DARE you put the lives of millions in harm's way for the life of your mate?! A mate, might I add, who doesn't want you?! That is the most asinine thing I have ever heard, and hope to ever hear in my life!"

"How dare you strike our mate?!" Alessia growled, but Karma ignored her.

Chance was absolutely stunned to have been slapped, and the Queen was equally taken aback. What's more, the way in which this she-wolf dared to speak to her future-King! The two were gobsmacked and at a loss for words.

Karma, on the other hand, had plenty of words. "I can't believe either of you would even consider this" she said, directing her displeasure at the Queen now, as well. "I understand that Theo is being assaulted, and that's awful; however, there are many individuals experiencing that at this very moment. If you wouldn't risk a civil war for them, you should not be risking a civil war for him! We should absolutely exhaust every option available to us to get him back safely; but, if you wish to throw caution to the wind, then so will I" she warned.

"She's threatening us" Xander snarled to Chance with his hackles up.

Chance didn't need his wolf to point it out, though, and was already growling. "You not only strike your Prince, but then continue to threaten him?" He asked in a deadly calm voice.