His witch

Chapter 9

I think I need to explain something. Arno will be jumping from the first-floor height. It's British first floor, not American first floor :) A human would probably hurt himself jumping :)

Arno’s POV

Corbin found me in that alley, he went after me almost imediately. I was bleeding from my eyebrow, but it wasn’t the reason I didn’t go back to the club.

When I regained consciousness, I wanted to search for the girl. It should have been easy, it must have been no more than several seconds when I was unconscious. I had the rod she hit me with and with my enhanced senses, I should be able to track her easily. But there was no scent. I sniffed through the alley, but there was nothing. It was impossible. I was attracted to her, the normal way for the werewolves to find a partner is to smell the scents of them and I was pretty sure I smelled something earlier.

“Your Majesty, you need to get the wound attended to.”

“Don’t call me that, and this scratch will heal in a minute. Did you notice a girl in the club? She had green-gray eyes and a violet dress.”

“I’m afraid I didn’t. Why do you ask?”

“I felt a pull to her and wanted to hit on her in the club, but she went outside before I reached her." My explanations were somewhat chaotic, but I couldn't focus properly. "When I reached her, this thug tried to hurt her,” I pointed at the corpse thrown under the wall. Corbin touched the body.

“He is dead.” Corbin was concerned but examined the corpse further.

“I know.”

“Your Majesty is lucky that he was a rogue. It could cause a serious diplomatic incident if he was a human or anything else,” Corbin was vexed. There is a law permitting any wolf to kill a rogue, regardless of where the rogue is found. “Why did you do it?”

“I told you, he wanted to hurt her.”

“Arno, get your grip, you are no knight in shining armor. Is she you mate or something?”

“I don’t know.”

“What?”

“I told you, I felt a pull. But I can’t feel her scent.”

“Ok, we’ll try to figure it out later. How did the rogue manage to hit you?”

“It wasn’t the rogue, it was the girl.”

“Oh, my beautiful lovely Goddesses ass. The girl hit you? Then I wish you that she IS your mate. For all that I’m experiencing right now because of you and your ideas.”

I guess I got my Beta pissed.

“We’ll have to find her. I need to talk to her.”

“Yeah, sure, right away.” Yes, he was pissed. I couldn’t blame him. He was responsible for my safety and the schedule of this trip. He will have to explain himself if anything goes wrong. “And after that, I will bring you a pink unicorn, so you both can have a fairy wedding.”

“Oh, stop bitching, just find a way,” that was my best Alpha-way at the moment. After all, I was a king. I could give orders.

“I’ll try, but now we have to go back to the hotel without drawing any further attention,” He said and pulled out a smartphone. After a few minutes, a car arrived. Corbin gave me a handkerchief so I could tidy myself. The wound was already gone, but dried-up blood was hard to wipe off.

Luckily for me, my mother was already sleeping. She would know that something happened, even if she saw me washed. She was my mother and a highly intelligent person, she would be able to feel my restlessness. I had to calm myself until morning. Werewolves calm easier if they can shift and run. I have seen that there is a huge forest-like park near the hotel.

My room was on the first floor, I opened the window and jumped. I knew that I won’t hurt myself. I was a well-trained soldier, and I became a commander not because I was a crown prince. I enlisted as a private under a false name and earned true respect before I revealed my identity. I had to go through full military training. Besides, you need something more than a one-floor height to hurt a werewolf.

I went to the hotel garden and stripped off my clothes. It was dark, with no lights on in this part of the garden, so one would see me. I stuffed the clothes under the bush and shifted. My wolf form is big, black-furred with yellow eyes. I speeded up and jumped through a fence and headed to the trees. I enjoyed the run and the airflow penetrating my fur. I heard and felt much more than in my human form. Night birds and animals, wind blowing, the sound of the sea coming from afar. It all was so clear to me.

I found a neat place under some bush and laid down to take my time thinking...

“ARNO WELF WHERE THE f**k ARE YOU???”

It was Corbin, yelling in my head. He must have been desperate to use mindlink. The only mindlink that can not be intercepted is this created with the mate bond. It’s due to the bond’s intimacy, that no one can interrupt.

I opened my eyes and stretched. It was already dawn. I must have fallen asleep under this f*****g bush.

The Master’s POV

“Master, we confirmed, the plan is all set, but Gene is dead.”

“Did you investigate his death?” I was annoyed, Gene was useful, what a waste.

“We tried, but there is no official record and none of our sources can get any intel.”

“Make sure not to fail this time.”

I spent years searching for damn Ludvica Chant. I won’t let her slip, she must pay.

“Yes master, we are perfectly prepared.”

“Have you contacted Wolf’s Keep? Is it ready?”

“Yes, everything is set in motion.”

I nodded. I was truly pleased to hear the news, but I never showed it to my minions. They should fear me. After I will get my revenge on Ludvica, I will tend to other matters.

Arno’s POV

Corbin cursed for some time after I managed to explain to him where I was and why I got there. And that I would need some clothes.

“I will find you the girl, but promise you’ll start behaving reasonably,” he snorted when he found me. “This trip was supposed to be low profile, like no wolves running free or royalties roaming naked through the city parks.”

“The Queen is awake?” I asked after I shifted.

“Luckily for you, I woke up at 5 am and went to check on your sorry ass. Forgive me, Your Majesty.”

“His Majesty forgives,” I said. Corbin handed me pants and a shirt.

“While you were having your little back to nature episode, I came up with a plan. Today you will attend some meetings, shake hands and let the paparazzi take a lot of nice photos. Meanwhile, I will try to find out if there was any report of a woman assaulted by an unknown man. Our new friends should help us.”

We did as he told us. It was boring and tiring. I had to be polite all the time, smile, and chat, but inside I was boiling. Obviously, Corbin decided to take his revenge by not telling me anything about what he found out.

In the evening I attended a banquet at the hotel. It was awkward looking at all those women, who presented themselves to me like goods for sale. I’m not puritanical or prude. I enjoy the company of women and I’m far from judging them based on their s****l liberation.

But the encounter with that girl made me rethink my attitude. I was sure that there will be no one-night stands in foreseeable future. At least, not until I determine if the girl can by my mate or if there is something else involved.

It was half-past midnight when Corbin finally showed. I excused myself from the bunch of ladies surrounding me and dragged him to my room.

“No reports. But I managed to find a detective who investigated the corpse. I made an appointment with him. So don’t do anything stupid until tomorrow morning.” Yep, he was still mad at me. Can’t blame him.

I didn’t come back to the banquet. Instead, I took a cool shower and tried to get some sleep, but I was too anxious, so I pulled some papers from my briefcase and started working. I had planned to establish a net of omegas and deltas, but I didn’t have enough time to consider it properly. Well. now was the right time. I wanted to do it myself, the fewer people knew about it, the less the risk of the leak was. Corbin was in and we managed to gather our closest comrades from the military and set things in motion that way.

Corbin knocked on my door at 7 am.

“You look horrible,” he said seeing me.

“I couldn’t sleep, so I worked all night. On the matter of fields.” We decided we should have a code name when we referred to our plans.

“I will get you coffee, do you want some breakfast?”

“No, we should go as fast as possible.”

We drove for over an hour. The police station was on the outskirts and the Silver City was big. When we arrived, we saw a true landscape after the battle. There was no police station, only the burning ruins. The ambulance’s sirens were screaming and firefighters were running around.

A policeman stopped us. He was suspicious, but seeing the documents our driver showed him, he relaxed a little.

“You can not drive further. There was a bomb attack.”

“We are here to see detective Lozano,” said Corbin.

The policeman’s face paled.

“Detective Lozano is one of the casualties. Please, drive away.”

He spoke something else, but I didn’t hear it. I felt it again. The scent that wasn’t a scent. She was somewhere out there. I wanted to jump out of the car, but Corbin stopped me.

“Drive,” he shouted as the explosion shook the remains of the building.