CHAPTER FOURTEEN
1468 Words
ELINA
My heart beats furiously, and I still feel the lags of anger that I felt in the middle of the fight with those damn wolves who dared to attack my family, and although I transformed back to my human form, the transformation was not complete, my nails are still out, my senses continue to be heightened, and every muscle in my body is totally tense, in a state of alert, I feel the reassuring presence of Zane's wolf next to me, protecting me from any danger that we may have not perceived, and when my mother comes out of the trees with the babies in her arms, I feel my panic begin to fade, and my wolf retreats slowly but not completely.
The moment I take Aiden into my arms and gently lull him to calm the cry that shakes his little body, I feel a bit of the peace that I had lost slowly come back to me, looking at his huge caramel eyes I feel lucky to have arrived on time, I do not know what I would have done if I had lost him or his sister Alissa, I would have surely gone crazy, the very thought that something could happen to them makes me tremble with panic, and a few moments later I feel a coat being put on my shoulders, and I know without turning to see who has put it there, that my brother Elijah was responsible for it, he has always been very overprotective and attentive to me.
A couple of minutes later, arms reach out to Aiden, and I turn to see Zane offering to carry him so I can calm Alissa down, so I pass the baby over to him and he cradles him while singing some lullaby I can't quite understand, the wind blows his hair and I frown when I catch the scent of Bastian in the air, then I scan the area and search almost frantically for any sign of his presence here, but apart from his faint scent in the air, I can't find anything to indicate he is around somewhere.
"What is the matter?" Zane asks me curiously.
"Nothing, I thought I heard something strange, but it must have been your men coming," I tell him, and he reaches over to put a lock of my hair behind my ear, then tries to wipe some blood off my cheek.
"Are you hurt?" he asks me gently.
"I am not sure, if I was, I must already be healing," I reply and he nods, then I notice the huge wound on his shoulder and gasp in surprise.
"Don't worry, it's already healing, and it doesn't hurt as much," he tells me in a reassuring tone.
I coo to Alissa in the meantime, and she turns with those green eyes of her to look for my breast and start feeding, but although I try to focus on this precious moment, there is something that continues to bother me and I can't figure out what it is about, I suppose it is from having seen Bastian after so long, but I can't be sure, as my feelings and thoughts are swirling inside me in a chaotic mess that is hard to decipher.
"Sir, we found this," one of the Crimson’s guard men says approaching us with a piece of bloodstained cloth.
"What is it?" Zane asks curiously.
“It looks like a symbol, but it's shattered, and we can't identify it,” he replies as he lifts the piece of cloth, and my breath catches in my throat.
"Do you recognize it?" Zane asks me.
"It is the symbol of the Varkolak kingdom," I reply in a small voice, and his features change to one of utter hatred.
"I knew it, I knew that son of a b***h was behind this, I warned him not to dare touch them or I would kill him with my bare hands, and that's what I plan to do," Zane says angrily.
"Are we sure it was them?" Elijah asks curiously.
"We can find out," Zane responds, and then adds to his guard, "Bring in the survivor,"
A few moments later, two guards drag a naked man who seems to be about to faint, and if it weren't for the arms of the guards holding him, he probably wouldn't even be able to stand up on his own, he has injuries of bites on his face, shoulder, and torso, while his leg appears almost totally shattered.
Zane hands the baby to my mother, and I put Alissa in Elijah's arms, then I turn to the man who, after noticing my attention on him, begins to tremble like a leaf and babble incoherent things, then the guard tells holding him slaps him across his face and yells at him to make him speak clearly, but he achieves the opposite effect because now the man's mouth is full of blood, which makes it more difficult for him to be understood.
"Do you know who we are?" Zane asks him, and the man nods slowly.
"Were you coming to attack us?" he asks the man, and he shakes his head from side to side.
"So, what were your orders?" Zane asks him.
"Kill everyone we could find in this camp," the man stammered.
"Did they tell you who was in the camp?" Zane insists, and the man shakes his head.
"Who gave the order to attack?" I ask him, and the man suddenly starts shaking, his body twisting and moving violently in the arms of the guards.
"Was it the Varks?" Zane asks urgently, and the man seems to move his head up and down, but it's hard to tell with the way his body shakes, then his body just falls to the ground completely still, lifeless.
"I think that's confirmation enough, we don't need more information to figure out the obvious," Zane says, and I frown at him.
He turns to the guard and says:
"Summon all the alphas of the realm for an urgent meeting as soon as we return, and ask my Beta to start writing the announcement,"
"What announcement, your majesty?" the guard asks, and Zane looks at me for a second, then he looks over at the babies and says in a deadly voice:
"That as of this day the kingdom of Crimson Woods is at war with the kingdom of Varkolak, and any person or kingdom that continues to aid them or maintain commercial relations with them, will be considered as our enemies, and therefore will face our wrath,"
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