Vindicator

Chapter 55

Karma dragged herself back from the memory with a shocked gasp. She'd heard there was discord between the Elders and Royalty; however, she never would have anticipated it was to such a degree that there were Elders who were plotting war with the aid of their Alphas.

In an attempt to scrounge up more information, Karma continued to try to relate memories to the various faces she'd seen. Based on her knowledge of the packs across the world, there were around 200 excluding the Royal pack. Each pack was represented by an Elder, meaning there were about 200 Elders as well. In that room, she estimated having only seen 15-20 or so wolves who seemed to match any of Tiffany's memories of Elders.

While relieved, Karma wasn't so naive as to believe that the room represented the only parties interested in war. She also did not expect that Tiffany would be privy to all of the finer details of the plot. What she was hoping, though, was for information on a timeframe. She was discouraged to find she'd come up empty handed.

Deciding that time was of the essence, Karma jumped to her feet and ran to the Throne room. By this time, she had been sifting through memories for several hours, so was oblivious to the current excitement awaiting her in the Throne room.

As Karma approached the room, Aless suddenly barged out through the doors. Her eyes were glowing gold, letting all around know that her wolf was in control. Shocked at such rage coming from her majesty, Karma didn't know how to react initially so she simply bowed her head.

Having no recollection of meeting the she-wolf that the Spectre was now in control of, Celeste merely saw a stranger before her. "Who are you?" She demanded dangerously.

Karma was thankful that the Queen asked first, instead of just ripping Tiffany's face off. "It's me. It's Spectre" she answered, head still bowed.

Celeste grabbed Karma's chin and forced her head up to make eye contact. "Where is my son?" She hissed.

Karma frowned, still not sure what was going on. "With all due respect, your Majesty, I don't appreciate being handled this way" she responded.

Celeste let out a low, angry growl and narrowed her eyes into a glare. "And I don't appreciate when my son goes missing, despite having the all-mighty Spectre in the castle to protect him!" She snapped.

Karma was blown away. She knew that a mother could be protective of her pup; but, it didn't help her temper from flaring.

"Excuse me?! I am NOT your son's babysitter! He is a grown, Alpha-level werewolf who can certainly take care of himself. To suggest I am here to serve him as a protector is disrespectful to him, as well as me. You may be the Queen of werewolves" she said defiantly, jerking her head forcefully from Celeste's hold. "But I do not answer to you, and you will treat me with respect if you expect to receive the same!"

Celeste continued glaring at Karma for a moment, having an internal disagreement with her human. Aless was angry that their son was missing; however, she did agree that Celeste was treating Karma unfairly.

"Apologize to her" she insisted.

"I have no reason to. How could she let him vanish?!" Celeste demanded.

"You know that he is no more her responsibility than he is the next wolf's. She is here as a favour to us, and whether we like it or not...We need her ongoing help. Especially to find him!" Aless reasoned impatiently.

"Fine" the wolf huffed to her human, before returning her focus to Karma. "You are correct, I apologize. That was out of line. I am just worried for my son...Nobody has seen him for several hours" she explained more calmly to the Spectre.

With the knowledge that she had of an impending war, Karma finally allowed her anxiety to spike at the implications of a missing Prince. "Who was the last to see him?" She demanded.

"Theo...When he destroyed my son's soul" she said, a snarl slipping from her lips.

Karma took in a shocked gasp, inadvertently breathing in her own saliva. "I'm sorry, what?" She choked out, coughing.

"From what Theo has told us, the Prince rejected him and he accepted" the Queen answered with a quiet fury behind her words. "Whether or not he can be trusted...I am hoping perhaps you can help us clear that up."

Karma, after composing herself once more, pursed her lips into a thin line. Internally, there was a flurry of emotions flowing through her. She was happy to know Theo was free of the mate bond, and that Chance would no longer be hurt by him. Additionally, she hoped that would remove the target from her brother's back. The problem, though, was that this new development implied that Chance would now recognize her as his mate.

She found herself at a cross-roads, uncertain how to proceed. On the one hand, she wanted to save the Prince and stop the war if she could; however, she desperately didn't want a mate. She knew once she returned to her wolf, it would only be a matter of time before he realized the truth she'd been hiding from him. Another concern was the guilt that ate her from the inside over having never admitted the truth to him or Theo. She felt somewhat guilty for having not been honest, since it also played into what happened to her brother.

"Well, can you find my son, or determine the truth at the very least?" The Queen demanded, attempting to hide her impatience.

Karma took a deep breath, deciding keeping Tiffany's body for further memory diving wasn't likely to be very useful. It made more sense to return to Alessia, and find the Prince before anything happened to him. With her mind mostly made up, Karma simply nodded.

"Good" the Queen said, visibly relieved. "Thank you" she added sincerely.

"Of course...Before I go, though, we need to bring this body to the dungeon. I will return to my own after that" Karma suggested. And with that, she was quickly ushered off to the cells.

Meanwhile, an exhausted and sweaty Chance was sitting in the nude under a tree, his legs pulled to his chest with his hands covering his face. He was wallowing in the misery of what he'd done; however, even worse, he was having a fight with his wolf. That said, the entire time that Xander had been running, he'd blocked Chance out and refused to speak to him. Although it was a fight, at least they were speaking again.

"You promised me that you wouldn't reject him! How could you?!" Xander roared, thrashing around in Chance's head in his rage.

"Didn't you hear him?!" Chance demanded in a pleading voice. "He would rather kill himself than be with us. How could I sentence our mate to that life? He was right...About everything."

"No!" Xander screamed back at Chance. "He wasn't right at all. His misfortune came from his unwillingness to accept us, and allow us to protect him. Instead, he ran, and tried to push us away, and that is the cause of his fate. Why didn't you make him see this?!"

"Because that's a load of shit, Xander. He was a victim, and didn't deserve what happened. Just like he doesn't deserve the life he'd be sentenced to if he chose to stay as our mate" Chance replied, at first with a fiery anger that his wolf was being so callous; however, the flames died into misery as he continued.

"You're pathetic" the wolf spat. "You have destroyed our only hope of uniting our soul with our mate, and fulfilling our destiny. What's the point of us now?"

"We are more than a mate or our crown, Xander! We are an individual, and we have a purpose beyond our title" Chance argued in disbelief. He'd never seen Xander behave or speak in such a way, and it was pissing him off.

"You are an individual. I...I need time to think over my own future" the wolf replied ominously.

Frowning, Chance looked up in confusion, staring off into the woods. "What does that mean?" He asked, a nervous feeling rumbling in the pit of his stomach.

"It means good bye, Chance" the wolf said, before blocking his human off and leaving him in silence.