ALPHA QUEEN

CHAPTER 14

I went to my room, showered then changed into this . I then went to my office where I found Auriana already seated and waiting for me.

"So what did you want to discuss with me?" She asked.

"Today, when I was still in California in the Shadow pack, 3 rogues were brought in for questioning after they attacked some shadow wolves who were on patrol at the border. Apparently they are operating under someone's leadership and it seems their leader knows me on a somewhat personal level."

"What do you mean?"

"He sent me a message through one of the rogues who attacked. Auriana, I need to know. Did dad have any sibling or family relation who was overlooked for the position of ruler?" Auriana sighed deeply and nodded.

"Yes, your father had a twin brother, Richard. He had a questionable character that was greatly disapproved of. He and your father, despite being twins, weren't very close. In some way, they became estranged. Due to his questionable behavior and character, your grandfather refused to name him as crown prince and gave the title to your father even though your father was the younger of the two. This caused their already fragile relationship to weaken even more because your uncle felt he had been cheated out of his birthright by your father. But does it matter? Richard is dead. He died a year after your father was crowned King. He hanged himself one night when everyone was asleep. Your mother was the one who found his body. Apart from him, there was no one else, no other relative."

"Auriana, I don't think Richard is dead."

"What? What do you mean? He has to be. We all saw his body before it was lowered into the ground to be buried. He can't be alive."

"I don't know how it's possible. But something you said coincided with the message that the leader of the rogues asked to be delivered to me. You said Richard felt he had been cheated out of his birthright. The leader of the rogues said a similar thing."

"But that doesn't mean it's him. Can you tell me exactly what the message was?"

"Yeah, I actually recorded it on my phone. Here let me play it for you." I watched as a tear fell from Auriana's eye as she listened to the recording.

"Oh my God. It might be him. The day your father was declared as crown prince, he said similar words to your father. He said that one day, he would rip out the hearts of your father and grandparents in retribution for cheating him out of his birthright. This was before your father met your mother. But I don't understand. We saw him dead, no pulse and no warm body temperature just cold. He wasn't breathing."

"Auriana, calm down. The way you talk about him, it's like you were very close to him."

"I was close to him. He was my mate. I had gone home to visit my mother that week he died. I was involved in an accident days before he died. An accident that sent me into a coma for two months. For a while, I was thought to be dead because my heart was barely beating. The driver of the truck that knocked me off the road said he didn't remember crashing into my car that day. The last thing he remembered was seeing a man he didn't know sitting beside him in the truck before he blacked out but he did not remember how the man looked like. He only remembered seeing a fleur-de-lis necklace around his neck which was confusing because the fleur-de-lis is..."

"The royal family's symbol."

"Exactly."

"Auriana, I'm so sorry you went through that. I didn't know." She smiled and nodded at me. Just then I felt a searing pain at my back and side. I cried out in pain and gripped the table.