Veritas

Chapter 76

Rei watched anxiously as Derek's wolf, Conri, prowled towards them. She considered her options as she slid herself between her mate and her unconscious son, planning to protect Ryan until the end. If she exposed her true identity, she would still be executed for sneaking back into the Royal Pack with a witch's aid. What she wasn't certain of, though, was whether Ryan would be spared. If she exposed him as Derek's youngest child, it was possible he would be safe; but, it was also possible that it would be seen as a trick and they'd kill him anyways. A witch helping them made the situation a lot more delicate when it came to perception.

Looking back at her son, Rei's heart clenched painfully. She knew he'd be angry at her, and that she wouldn't be there to explain her side of the story; but, at least he'd have a better chance at survival. Which meant Aislinn would, too.

With a deep breath, Rei squared her shoulders, held her chin high and faced the wolf. "Conri" she called out, her voice loud and confident, quite the opposite to how she felt. She reached up to her talisman with trembling hands, keeping eye contact with the wolf as she spoke "I can't let you harm my son...Our—" she began, tugging on the talisman; but, it wouldn't break off. Her eyes widened and she tried again, but the cord around her neck was proving to be stronger than she was. Due to the chains keeping her tethered to the ground, she couldn't raise her hands enough to pull it over her head. She dropped to her knees to try from a different angle; but, her time was up.

Conri let out a growl as she dropped to the ground, and finally made his move. With a strong push from his back legs, he launched himself into the air, intending to land on the two wolves before him.

That was his plan; but, an invisible force slammed into him and knocked him off course. With a yelp of surprise, Conri fell to the side then was on his feet before the crowd could blink. A snarl escaped as he looked around for his hidden foe.

Rei looked up in alarm, unsure what had just happened; but, was unwilling to waste the gift. She ducked her head and once more tried to pull her talisman off.

"Probably pointless" Gwen said flatly, slipping into visibility as if dismounting from an invisible steed. "Once they know a witch is involved, I doubt they'll believe who you are" she explained, quickly setting to work on breaking Rei's shackles.

"Gwen" she gasped in disbelief. "Where did yo—Look out!" She cried, grabbing the witch to pull her away from the enraged Conri, who was once more lunging at them.

"Stay still!" Gwen complained, wriggling free from Rei's grasp to get back to work. She was moving fast; but, the crowd had realized a witch was involved.

"We have a guardian, just trust us" Gwen assured Rei as she got the shackles off of her hands, then began working on her ankles.

Rei nodded, not understanding; but, wanting to trust her long-time friend. She anxiously watched as every time Conri would lunge, he'd be knocked aside by an invisible force. The crowd was becoming angry; but, due to the unknowns surrounding witches, they were also fearful and hesitant to join the fight.

Realizing that the others weren't planning to join the battle, Shaela's guard took matters into his own hands. "Cowards!" He cried out, then shifted into his wolf to prove that they were the stronger force if they'd fight. He had only just shifted when suddenly his throat was ripped out violently.

The room fell silent, except for the angry growls that came from Conri as he considered his next attack. Then, one by one, wolves began to panic. The wail of the alarms began to sound in the distance; but, it was pointless. Everyone but a skeleton crew of guards was in that room, and all at once they wanted to escape.

Chaos began.

"Oh goddess" Rei breathed, staring at the dead guard who fell to the ground. His blood spilled from him in a large volume due to his wolf's size; but, it looked so much worse when, in death, he shifted back to his human form.

Gwen winced at the sound of his body hitting the hard marble; but, didn't lose focus as she finished with the last shackle. Next, she moved to Ryan to do the same for him. "Sorry, I didn't think he'd kill anyone" she mumbled to Rei.

"What is it? Will it hurt others? There are many innocents here, we have to protect them" Rei insisted, standing guard in case anyone decided to foolishly attack them.

"I think he just had a grudge with that guy, he won't harm anyone else" Gwen assured her.

"A grudge? It's a person?! Who is it?" She demanded.

After finishing with Ryan's shackles, Gwen looked up at her and grinned. "Your brother."

Rei's eyes widened, and she took a stunned step back. "What?! What did you do?!" She demanded.

Gwen began digging in her bag for something to wake Ryan. "Nothing. I was looking for you two, and found him instead. He knows who you are, so...Yeah, maybe you should take your talisman off. If he thinks I'm lying, I could end up like that guy" she said, nodding towards the dead guard.

Rei shook her head in disbelief. "You told him...What if he tells Derek?!" She hissed at the witch.

"You need to tell Derek!" Gwen shot back. "Everything you thought that happened is a lie, he never banished you. That bitch Shaela fooled us all" she explained in a hurry, finding the potion she'd been searching for.

"He...He didn't banish me?" Rei asked, eyes wide as she turned her full attention to Gwen.

"Nope" Gwen answered, pouring the contents of the small vial into Ryan's mouth.

Tears rimmed Rei's eyes as she looked over to Conri, who was at the moment making blind swipes at the air in a rage. "How can you be sure?" She asked her friend, terrified that she was wrong while hoping desperately that she was right.

"Reinhold and I were talking about you, and turns out he thought you were dead the whole time. Odd that a Queen died and the whole world didn't know about it...I once more blame that stupid bitch" Gwen mumbled in irritation, watching Ryan for signs he was waking.

"Alright...Maybe I can fix this, then" she said, nodding to herself. With a nervous, shuddering breath, she began to walk towards her mate, her heart grasping onto Gwen's words and holding for dear life. She didn't need further explanation, she was so willing to accept any thread of hope that her mate still wanted to be with her.

"Conri...Derek..." she whispered, reaching up to her talisman once more; but, with Gwen focused on Ryan, and Rei focused on her mate, a brave wolf decided to try his hand at an attack.

Completely engrossed in her hope, Rei didn't see him coming and was slammed into by a brown wolf after he shifted in mid-air to surprise her. She fell to the ground on her stomach with the wolf on top of her back, letting out a yell of surprise.

Reinhold was across the room with Conri, and turned his attention when he heard her yelp. His eyes widened in horror at the scene.

Gwen was helping Ryan sit up after he regained consciousness, and they both turned their attention to Rei's peril. Ryan let out a cry of "mom!"

Last to look was Conri, who stared into the terrified eyes of Rei as the brown wolf descended, jaws open to bite into her neck.