The Wolf Crown (The Wolf Kings #2) (MLM)

CHAPTER FORTY.

                The Siren Queen's arrival was a reprieve no one had expected, but which no one took for granted either. The wall of waves around Crescent Castle gave the others a moment to take Jack, Tiberius, Graham, and Violet inside to recover from the Shadow Wolf.

Poppy, happily clinging to Violet's arm, and to Quartz's great annoyance, did not let the simple matter of poisonous shadow creatures deter her from talking very quickly about her adventures through the worlds' oceans and how she'd found the Siren Queen in the Atlantic, talking to a very lonely whale.

Ender, who could see the group needed rest, remained outside with the Siren Queen to catch her up on everything that had happened. Jack was so grateful for delaying the formalities, he promised himself never to get annoyed with Everett's fangirling ever again.

"Where is everybody?" Everett said in a hushed voice as he helped Jack onto the couch. His voice almost echoed in the vast emptiness of the castle, and the thought of what had happened to all the werewolves had Jack wanting to stand back up and run through the halls, calling for his friends.

As if hearing his thoughts, Tiberius was right at his side and pushing him down onto the cushions. "Don't even think about it," he groaned, and rested his head on Jack's chest, lying between his legs. "I'm as worried as you are, but I have to believe the patrols knew how to act in an emergency. Better no one else here to explain the silence than some other reason."

He was much colder than usual, his brows pinched in pain, but something in his expression seemed to calm at the sound of Jack's heartbeat against his ear.

Jack slid a hand into his curls and gripped at the roots. "Okay, fine, whatever you say, just don't move anymore. Poppy, we can't thank you enough. How'd you convince the Siren Queen to come?"

"Hm? Oh, it wasn't hard. She owed me a few birthday presents." At everyone's questioning looks, she blinked. "Yeah, she's my mom. Didn't I mention that?"

Everyone gaped, and Quartz scoffed. "Don't get too impressed. She has a longer lifespan than most sirens, but the Siren Queen has a lot of children. We're not in presence of royalty, don't worry."

Poppy rounded on him. "You got a problem, Fairy Boy?"

"No, Fishy, I don't," Quartz snapped. "Not with some mergirl who gets blood hungry just being in the water, at least, I don't have that much free time—and will you get off of her already?!"

She hugged Violet's free arm tighter. "No, I won't!"

Jack looked between them with a frown. "Do you guys know each other or something?"

"It's complicated!" they snapped at the same time.

"There's a history here," Mira said sagely. "We can explore it later. There's just so much else to do at the moment, you see."

Everett eyed her with some concern. "Erm, darling . . . have you been holding onto that bunny that whole time?"

Mira looked down at the frightened bunny in her arms now trying to slide through her grip to no avail. "He wanted to see the Shadow Wolf up close."

"Oh dear . . ."

"I thought it'd feel worse than this," Jack murmured, shaking his head. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I definitely feel like I'm going to throw up, but . . ." as he looked around at Violet and Graham, his questions became clear.