The Lost Werewolf Princess

Chapter 4

Bethany

Everything was going to plan. I could hardly believe it. Once Gier was taken prisoner and some of the guards searched his and Annalise's rooms, they discovered the poison and any distrust anyone had towards me suddenly vanished overnight. For most of the staff, anyway. I still got a few odd looks here and there, but I would see that it stopped soon enough.

I quickly got ready, putting on one of my more modest dresses. It was a light pink color, very feminine and very innocent looking. Perfect for the last step of my plan, convincing the council to make me queen. I had to win over all eight, and I had to do it fast. I curled my dark brown hair and pinned some of it back and only applied a light layer of makeup. Appearance was everything today.

Once I was ready, and practiced what I was going to say for the tenth time, I made my way down to our great hall where the council was expecting to meet my sister and I. Too bad she wouldn't be able to make it.

"Good morning Council." I said in my sweetest voice as I entered the room, my voice echoing off the stone walls.

"Good morning Princess Bethany." Councilman Edward greeted me. "Where might your sister be?" He asked, getting straight to the point.

He might be the hardest member to win over. He was the newest, and from what I have heard, he has a lot of teen pups, so he knows how to sniff out a lie. I was no teen, I was in my thirties in fact, and far more experienced with getting away with, well, murder. I'm sure I can pull one over on this overly busy man. He had six pups, a mate, he was a king of not one but two kingdoms, and a member of the council. I'm sure he just wanted to leave as soon as possible. I would make that work in my favor.

"Oh, Annalise...." I sighed, making my brown eyes go glassy as I did so. "I'm afraid we have some terrible news."

"Oh? What is it dear?" Councilwoman Leslie asked, coming to my side.

"I'm afraid she ran away."

"Why would she do that? She asked us to come here to dispute this matter in the first place," Councilman Edward asked.

"I believe she killed our father, she had all these books in her room that spoke of poisonous plants, and her guard tried to poison me just yesterday-"

"Was this before or after she supposedly ran away?" Councilman Edward asked.

"He tried to poison you? What stopped him from finishing you off?" Councilman Howard asked.

"It was at dinnertime, he poisoned my wine. We believe that Annalise had disappeared earlier that day, if not during the night."

"How convenient," Councilman Edward snorted.

"Now, now King Edward, don't let your twins' mischievous ways seep into this situation." Councilwoman Leslie chastised. "We came here to decide which of the two princesses should take the title as queen, nothing more."

"As you wish," he sighed.

"So...since Annalise isn't here, and her guard tried to kill me, does that make me queen by default?" I carefully asked.

"No. Not necessarily", Coucilman Frederick shook his head. "We don't know the exact reason princess Annalise is not here at this moment. She should be allowed to speak for herself. Especially since she is the one who called upon us and is now being accused of murder and attempted murder."

"Is her absence not proof enough?" I scoffed.

"Pardon my crassness, but your kingdom is a bit behind in the times. You only have a handful of landlines in the castle, not to mention limited transportation, and Iceland is too big to link with one another from one end to the other. I propose we allow her a week to return and we will come back to decide who will be made queen. Should she not return, we will make you queen, and it will be your responsibility to find her. Does everyone agree?" Councilman Frederick asked the rest.

"Sure, but make it a month. Xander is basically on house arrest right now and if I'm not there soon I know he will try to leave."

"Fine by me, I need to make sure King Derek is making the necessary preparations for his ceremony with Princess Kelly." Councilman Howard said with an eyeroll.

"It's settled then. We will see you in a month." Councilman George nodded.

"A month. Great." I nodded as I watched them all file out.

An entire month? How the hell was I going to keep everything at bay for an entire month?! Annalise could return at any time. No. I wouldn't let that happen. I will limit the number of boats coming in and out. We will search every vessel prior to it unloading. I will make sure I do everything to keep her off our land, and if she is stupid enough to return, I'll kill her myself.

- - - - - - - - - -

Annalise

Goddess, I felt so sick. The boat wouldn't stop rocking and we have been traveling for days now. My wrists were burning, my stomach was cramping from the lack of food and the nausea that came with rocking back and forth, my knees hurt from kneeling for so long, and I was exhausted from the lack of sleep. My mind was racing, wondering where we were going, and if I would be able to get back home safely.

"Ha!" Aria snorted. "Yeah, let's get back safely just so we can show up on a silver platter for Bethany."

I had no words for her. She wasn't wrong. Maybe this was the lesser of two evils, and perhaps Bethany wouldn't be such a bad leader after all. Maybe this is a good thing.

"Girl, you are on a roll today." She laughed again.

"What am I supposed to do? If I go back she is going to try to kill me! If I don't, she becomes queen and everyone else suffers. I cant win!"

"Well, you can't not do something."

"Really? Is that really your best advice for me right now? My wolf spirit, gifted to me by the moon goddess herself, and your best advice is that I can't not do something?!"

"Take it or leave it, sweet cheeks."

"Goddess, you are impossible sometimes!"

I had to find a way out of here, and then I had to somehow jump a ship back to my pack and do so without being seen. But first, I needed to get out of these cuffs. Perhaps if I had worked harder at it when I was first restrained I could have slipped out of the cuffs, but certainly not now. My wrists were so swollen and red, my skin blistering from the silver. Sliding them off was not an option. I needed something to pick the lock with.

I looked around for something, anything to help me, but came up empty handed. It appeared that my fellow captives had also given up, given their gloomy-looking faces. There were at least a dozen of us, men and women alike. Everyone looked to be in rough shape. When I first arrived on the boat, most were unconscious. Now that they were awake, and no guards were watching, it was time to get some answers.

"What happened? Why are you here?" I asked the closest person.

She frowned at me, her head shaking slightly. Did she not understand me? I asked again, trying to remember the right words in another language, and then another. I spent many of my years locked inside the library learning everything I possibly could, including several languages. It was a hobby that I prayed would pay off in this moment. Finally, when I spoke in the Norwegian dialect, she understood me.

"We are prisoners of war," she said.

Goddess, this was bad. "Where are we going?" I quickly asked, hearing heavy footsteps and yelling above my head.

"They are taking us to see the king. He will decide our fate."

"King? What king?"

"Alpha King Maddox, of Greenland."

Dear goddess....of all people. I heard of him, but never had the chance to meet him. He overthrew the last king, King Malik, around the same time my father was killed. Rumor has it that he was born and raised as a viking. He simply wanted to be king and so he took the throne, giving no care to the lives he disrupted. Sometime after he came into power, we sent over a boat with gifts, but according to my men, they took the gifts without as much as a thank you. They said they didn't stick around too long, afraid of what might become of them if they overstayed their welcome.

The pack in Greenland was even further behind in the times than we were, at least amongst the werewolf community. I can't speak for humans. I visited it once as a child, over ten years ago. The castle was very cold and lifeless feeling. They had no phones or running water, though they did have some hot springs, or so I have been told, which I know from experience can be quite nice. Hopefully they have made some improvements in the last decade.

"Everybody up!" One of the burley men yelled, making me jump. He began releasing us from our cuffs that were mounted to the floor, only to replace them with another set.

He might have been the only one who spoke in my native tongue. I wonder if he lived in our kingdom or if he just knew the language? Probably the former, which sent a chill up my spine. Most of our pack stayed put, those that didn't, well, their departure was not of their own free will. My father would only banish those that were truly evil, making this scenario all the worse. Of course, I was being quite judgmental. Perhaps I was wrong.

"Perhaps the sky is actually green too," Aria snorted.

"Let's go!" He barked again as I stumbled up the stairs.

We were corralled like cattle, and escorted to what I assume is the castle in a single file line. It was cold outside, even for a werewolf. I was only wearing a nightgown after all. I was thankful that we were swiftly brought inside. It was much warmer than I had expected. Only that feeling of thanks disappeared once we were taken into a small room, which had a row of large buckets. Each person was placed in front of one, then shoved back down onto our knees. Inside the bucket was dried blood, only confirming my suspicions. We were about to be beheaded.