The King's Prey (Unedited Edition)

Chapter 32 : Answered Questions

Prevaricate • [pre-veri-kate]
to avoid saying or doing something because you want to cause delay or hide the truth; to speak or write evasively.

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~ Samuel ~

I jolt up out of the seat to chase after them, to chase after her just as I hear the front door slam shut, but I'm quickly pulled back down by Killian as I let out a loud growl at him, rattling the walls of the room. "Sit, Samuel. You can't run after them in your conditions."

"I'm fine," I bark at him—at all of them who now stare with concerned eyes at me.

"You'll be fine as soon as I finish these stitches," he says, stabbing the needle into my skin again as he continues to mend my wounds. I flinch slightly as I grip the edge of the counter, fueling my pain into something other than my emotions.

"One of you two go after them then," I demand, my gaze shifting between Liam and Xander who both have their arms crossed over their chests. And when they don't respond—either terrified to do so or simply not wanting to feed my irritation further—my eyes settle on Liam as I seethe, "Liam, she is your mate."

"And she's allowed to do what she wants," he backfires.

"She is not allowed to freely take Anastasia wherever she pleases," I snarl. I squeeze my eyes shut, flinching again as the needle pierces my skin over and over. "The fact that we had another attack this morning not only from rogues but also from her species—her fucking kingdom—is why I don't want her out of this house right now. None of us should be unnecessarily taking trips anywhere."

Liam takes a step forward. "The Southern border is secured—Issac and everyone on border patrol cleared it right as we left. Not to mention, we were able to take custody of at least half of the group. So if you ask me, I think they're safe so long as they're not outside of our goddamn walls."

I curl my fists, hating how he's always right. "Do you at least have a tracker on their location?" I mumble. Liam nods, pulling up his phone to show me Sterling's phone tracker as it moves in time with her car. I release a breath and then say, "What's the status of the captives?"

"Ten are humans, six are rogues. At least a third of them died at the wall due to injuries and the others evaded our warriors in the woods when things started to get bloody," Xander begins. "So far, we can't get any of them to talk. But one of them—a rogue named Fin—said he would in exchange for his freedom."

"Fuck his freedom," I growl. If the guy willingly involved himself in an attack against my pack—against my people—, his freedom will be the very last thing he receives.

"Samuel, he's willing to tell us everything," Liam clarifies. I shoot a look of boiling anger at him. And then he adds, "We could finally figure out their motive, and why Mylithia is involved."

I exhale to calm myself. "I'll consider it. Have Isaac put him in an interrogation room so I can speak to him."

Xander nods, leaving the room to dial his number. Liam's eyes trail his movements before returning to me. "There's another thing you should probably know too..." he trails off, stepping a bit closer.

Killian finishes off the final stitch, cleaning off and bandaging the area before telling me he's done. He walks off to return the sewing kit to where it belongs, leaving me and Liam alone. I straighten myself, the gashes still extremely sore. They should be healed by the end of the day though, and at the end of this week, it'll look as though they were never there. I flex the muscles in my back briefly before returning my attention to Liam.