Chapter 96: The Conspirators I

The carriage came to a stop in front of a familiar castle surrounded by smaller villages.

The front of the carriage opened, and Alpha Leopold stepped down from it. There was exhaustion on his face, and dark circles under his eyes that indicated he hadn’t slept well for days now.

He took a brief look around and walked around the carriage to open the door for his wife, but she had already jumped down before he could get to her.

Her face was twisted with a furious expression as she walked past him, muttering what sounded like a thank you.

The cloak she was wearing danced with the wind as she strode in the direction of the castle entrance.

The moment the guards saw her, they parted to let both of them walk in.

"Welcome home, Lady Beatrice. Welcome, Alpha Leopold," They greeted in unison, lowering their heads as nobility walked past them without even sparing them a glance.

Before Beatrice got to the smaller door leading inside the castle itself, the door burst open, and her mother came rushing out, surprise written all over her face, "Beatrice!" She cried happily.

Beatrice managed a smile, "Mother,"

They hugged for what looked like the shortest moment in time, before pulling away.

"Alpha Leopold," Evangeline cast him a warm smile, "It’s such an honour to have you in our humble abode again,"

"The honour is mine," He returned the kind gesture. Or rather, the foot-licking gesture.

"Mother," Beatrice reached over and grabbed her Evangeline’s extensive attire, "We need to talk now. Where is Jaime?"

It didn’t matter if Leopold could hear them.

"He’s inside," Evangeline replied.

"Good," Beatrice paused, "And father?"

"He’s also around,"

Forcing a smile on her face, Beatrice whirled around and looked at her understanding husband. All it took was rubbing his beard a little and leaning into his touch, and he was melting again, "My love," She purred, "I know how tired you have been these past few days. You carried me on your back for over half of this journey, and I appreciate you more than anything,"

He smiled at her.

"IronRidge isn’t like Eclipse Crown Pack. It’s not as busy or as tense. So I would like you to head to your room, take a long bath and get some good sleep okay? I really need to discuss a few things with my family, and then I’ll join you,"

Of course he agreed.

Even though it seemed like he wanted to say no and join her, then she pressed a kiss to his lips, and he was nodding like he had been possessed.

Evangeline and Beatrice stood side by side a moment later, watching as a servant led Alpha Leopold to one of the guest rooms in the castle.

He kept glancing back every second like he never wanted to leave, and she would blow him a kiss every time he gave her that annoying look that made her want to bash his head in.

Once he was finally out of sight and out of earshot, Beatrice released a huge sigh of relief and rolled her eyes, "Oh my God, it’s like owning a fucking cat. Follows you everywhere, needs frequent petting, and I fucking hate cats!"

Evangeline looked at her, slightly shaking her head in dismay, "I saw the way he looked at you on the day of the wedding, but I never imagined he’d be this obsessed with you,"

"It’s killing me!" She groaned as they started walking into the castle too, "Every day, I’m a thread away from snapping his stupid neck. He reminds me so much of Della...so annoying and gullible,"

"Did he really carry you on his back for half the journey?!" Evangeline asked, looking like she was moments away from bursting into laughter.

"Yes. I asked him to," Beatrice replied, "I needed to exhaust his energy so I could send him away the moment we landed. I would have wanted him to run the whole time, but he started to slow down...and I needed to keep up the good act as a good wife, so I suggested we stop and rent a carriage for the rest of the journey,"

Evangeline shrieked so hard Beatrice thought her mother would collapse from laughing too hard, "Your claws are sunk so deep into his heart. I’m so proud to call you my daughter,"

Footsteps approached from the other side of the corridor, and soon, a familiar blonde with a sword straddled to his side, and that familiar pride and confidence Beatrice always found slightly annoying stood in front of them.

"Sister!" Jaime exclaimed excitedly.

They hugged one another, each patting the other on the back.

"Miss me?" Jaime teased.

"I wish I had time to," Beatrice replied with a mocking eye roll.

They pulled back from the hug, and she jabbed a finger to his chest, "You all heard, right?" Whatever humour the room held was gone.

In a few minutes, they were all gathered in a small room inside the castle. The room looked abandoned, with cobwebs climbing down the ceilings and dusty shelves by the other end.

The only thing that was sparkling clean in the room was a lone chair.

"Do you think she’s gonna come for us?" Evangeline broke the heavy silence first, staring intensely at her daughter, "I mean, now that she’s strong and all, revenge would be the first thing on her mind, right?"

"Yes!" Beatrice snarled, then she pulled down on the high-necked dress she was wearing, revealing the purple strangulation scars that rounded her neck, "This is what she did to me!" She spat, "I still can’t turn my neck properly without holding back tears. I just recently found my voice again,"

"How did she even awaken in the first place?" Jaime asked.

"I don’t know!" Beatrice cried, recalling the exact moment everything had gone wrong like it was happening in front of her again, "One moment she’s lying there, and the next...she’s snapping out of the chains and floating, ok? So, I don’t know. We just need to do something about her, and we need to do it fast before it gets worse!"

"I heard that she started to turn back to normal before she ran out. Is that true?"

Beatrice nodded, "Yes. She... became weak again. But the point is, she has a wolf now. She could get powerful again at any time, and I’m pretty sure she’s gonna come for all our heads the next time, and I cannot just sit there... waiting for death to show up at my door!"

"We have to do something about this," Evangeline sounded very nervous, her eyes shifting to Jaime, "Now that she’s vulnerable again."

"We will," Jaime nodded once, "I’ll have expert tracker Werewolves start looking for her immediately."

Evangeline nodded tightly, then she walked up to her daughter again, "Is Malachi suspicious about you? About anything? I mean, the Rotblood told him everything we did, didn’t she?"

Beatrice anxiously tapped her hands on her legs, "She had no evidence. He wouldn’t believe her without one,"

Evangeline let out a sigh of relief.

"But...," Beatrice continued