Chapter 188: The Anonymous Warning

The moment the guards started to rush in, Beatrice could only think of one thing to do. She quickly curled herself into a frightened ball in the corner, her lips quivering in practised fear.

She had no other choice.

Jaime and Leo had been caught, and unfortunately, they didn’t bring any backup. And Conan was NOT going to let this assassination attempt go.

She had to protect herself. She’ll think of how to help her brother later on.

They’d dragged both of them to their knees, hands clamped together with rolls and rolls of silver chains. Several guards surrounded them, swords and claws drawn out, ready to attack if they made any funny movement.

Nigel, Conan’s Beta, stood as the head of the guards.

"Alpha, what do we do to them?" He questioned.

"Alpha Leopold and Sir Jaime," Conan stated as he stepped forward commandingly, "Care to explain yourself before your sentence?"

Leopold did not look frightened at all. He kept pulling against the chains holding him, earning him tons of glares and more swords pressed against his neck, "You’re just lucky your little army interrupted us, or else your head would be rolling on these grounds right now!"

"You came all the way from Eclipse Crown... just to prevent me from fucking your Ex-wife? Going as far as to try and kill me?"

"Beatrice is MINE! You keep your filthy cock out of anywhere close to her!" Leo snapped again.

Conan laughed. It was humourless, "Unfortunately for you, she’s MINE now," His eyes turned dark, "And you’re also in my territory, Alpha Leopold,"

"You won’t touch me," Leo smirked, "You know you can’t. Unless you want to also worry about Eclipse Crown Pack. My brother would never forgive Riverrock if you lay a hand on me!"

"Malachi is a weak Supreme who fell in love with a rotblood. Last I heard...he has been trapped in his head ever since she died. He isn’t capable of doing anything!"

"If you want to bet that my brother will not react if you do anything to me, then go ahead."

Conan knew there was truth in Leo’s words. Leopold was Malachi’s last living relative, and Riverrock would be up for worse times if they touched Leo in any way. Still, it didn’t mean that there weren’t other ways to punish him for trying to murder at Alpha.

"And you?" Conan turned to Jaime, "You know what is at stake between our packs and you still dared to lay a hand on me?"

Jaime didn’t answer because as much as he wanted to yell back at the goddamn man, he knew he was in no position to do so.

"Alpha Augustus would hear of this," Conan continued.

Jaime’s head snapped up, his eyes burning.

"I will make sure you do not go unpunished. For trying to murder me, the alliance between our Packs is off!"

Jaime and Beatrice looked stricken now.

"No!"

"Oh, yes," Conan smirked, "I will be sending a messenger to IronRidge immediately!"

"You tried to sleep with my sister. Did you expect me not to do anything?" Jaime snapped.

"Alpha Augustus knows about me, doesn’t he?" Conan stepped closer to them, "He knew what I’m infamous for. Everyone across the realm knows. You all know that Beatrice was bound to be fucked by me once she was in my clutches sooner or later...and you still married her off to us!"

Jaime’s breathing was rash.

"Your alliance with Eclipse Crown was broken, and your forces were not enough to fight the rogues, so desperation made you reach out to us," Then, Conan’s voice got lower, "If you want to kill someone, how about you kill your own father? He knew I had eyes for his daughter, he knew I would make her one of my whores...and he still gave her away. It’s like...he never cared for her at all,"

Jaime instantly shoved forward to try and attack Conan, but the guards pulled back on the chains and he was hauled back roughly and crashed on the floor.

Conan burst into laughter, but it was strained from his injuries.

Jaime seethed angrily on the floor, wishing he could rip out the man’s tongue.

Then, Conan finally turned his attention to the woman in the corner. She’d already gone down on both knees and her head was almost touching the sparkling floor of her chambers.

"Lady Beatrice...," Conan drawled callously and walked up to her, "You must be very disappointed that the plan to save you from me failed woefully!"

"Alpha," Her voice was soft and shaking, "I promise you. I didn’t know of anything. I’m just as surprised as you are. I had no idea my brother and Alpha Leopold would do such a heinous thing!"

Leo and Jaime looked surprised, especially Jaime. Was she actually trying to save herself right now?

"Oh, really?"

"Yes, Alpha," She replied and looked up at her. Her gaze was like the epitome of innocence and grace, I didn’t know anything about it. I swear." Her voice trembled perfectly, and she even let a tear roll down her cheek.

Conan stared at her for a long moment, and then his expression slowly softened. "Of course you didn’t."

Beatrice lowered her gaze.

She almost smiled.

Almost.

"You’re married to my son now, and your pack needs the alliance. Why would you ever want to kill me?" Conan asked.

"I wouldn’t." She said.

He turned around and looked at Jaime and Leopold, "Your brother came here with another Alpha to murder me, and you expect me to believe you had nothing to do with it?"

"I swear on the Moon," Beatrice whispered.

Conan looked back at her, and she kept her head lowered.

"I was terrified when they came through that door. I thought they were going to kill you."

Conan stepped closer to her. "You’re saying you didn’t know they were here?"

"No."

"You didn’t know they were planning to kill me?"

"No."

"You didn’t ask them to come?"

"No, Alpha." Her voice was barely above a whisper.

Her tone, body language, and especially her eyes were all so convincing. She looked like a frightened victim.

Exactly how she wanted to look.

And she was already an expert at making her heartbeat exactly as it should, because if Malachi couldn’t easily sense her lies that day in the interrogation room, no one else would come close.

Conan finally sighed and nodded once, "Perhaps you’re telling the truth."

She kept her face down. "Thank you, Alpha."

Jaime’s head snapped toward her.

He still couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

Leo was staring at her too.

Neither of them understood what she was doing.

But Beatrice knew.

She had to survive.

And if that meant letting them take the blame, then so be it.

Conan then turned toward Nigel and said, "Take them to the dungeons."

"Yes, Alpha."

Beatrice finally breathed.

It was working.

She had almost done it.

Then Nigel suddenly frowned, "Pardon me, Alpha."

Conan looked at him inquisitively as the beta reached into his coat.

"There is something else."

He pulled out a small folded piece of paper, and gave it to Conan, "Someone tipped me off before I entered these chambers."

"Who?" Conan’s eyes narrowed.

"I don’t know."

"What did they say?"

"They told me that you were under attack."

"And?"

Nigel looked toward Leo. "They also told me to search Alpha Leopold."

"What?" Leo frowned.

Conan thought about it for a moment. If someone had tipped his guards off then that someone knew about the assassination attempt and had helped him.

"Search him!" Conan ordered.

Two guards immediately grabbed Leo, and he struggled against them. "What the hell are you doing?! I don’t have anything!"

The guards searched his clothes roughly, and Beatrice didn’t know why but a really bad feeling was building inside the pit of her stomach.

The guard suddenly reached inside Leo’s coat, and his fingers touched something.

He pulled it out, and it happened to be a folded letter.

The moment Leo saw it, his eyes widened a bit, and his gaze met Beatrice’s, who was slowly turning pale. That was the letter she’d written to him and had asked Kent to deliver days ago.

But the crazy thing was that... Leo didn’t remember bringing that letter. He was a hundred per cent sure he’d left him tucked at his chambers back at Eclipse Crown!

Nigel took it from the guard, and with the go-ahead nod from the Alpha, he opened the letter and started to read it out.