The Crown's Obsession

But with James, who had already relayed the message about her and the unfortunate kill, Beth nodded her head. "Yes, I am. I was bit by one of the werewolves who were being manipulated by the demons," she answered him.

"Then why is it that you don't smell like a werewolf?" his eyes narrowed down at her. "Humans who are bitten by werewolves take less than three to four days to turn, and in rare cases a month. But you said you were bit by a werewolf more than two months ago."

"I took the antidote that had the cure for turning a werewolf back to a human. But I ended up taking only half of it," she explained, and the magistrate leaned back against his chair.

"There is no antidote left for curing the werewolf venom. Whatever antidote was created in the past has either been destroyed or exhausted long ago-"

"The Devil had one antidote," as Beth explained this, the words sounded absurd to her ears because a few weeks ago, no one knew about the existence of demons or angels, and the Devil existed only in the folk tales of the villagers.

"So it seems like it is true," came a voice from the wall and Beth turned startled as she hadn't seen the person in the room apart from her and the magistrate. The person stepped into the light and away from the wall, and seeing the long dark locks of hair until his shoulders, she felt her stomach fall on the ground.

Raphael? Asked Beth in her mind.

But when the man got closer, she realized it wasn't him. How silly of her, thought Beth to herself. Not all men who had the same build and hairstyle were Raphael.

The man stepped closer to the desk and said, "I thought it was all a lie that the demons exist in our world."

"Where is the Devil? If he exists, he would be here, Jagger," the magistrate huffed. "This is the High House and Devon's plan to scare us by creating absurd things."

"I believe King Sebastian believes these things," pointed Jagger.

Beth wondered if Vladimir would pop at any moment, but nothing happened, and the magistrate rolled his eyes.

"You killed a man on our grounds, Lady Elizabeth and because of this, we cannot let you go. Especially considering how you are still a werewolf and not to mention rogue werewolf," said the magistrate.

Beth was more than happy to comply as she had come here with the purpose to control her werewolf abilities so that she wouldn't harm anyone. "Jagger, she will be your responsibility and Lady Elizabeth, don't think about running away from here. You wouldn't like what we do here for punishments," he warned her. "You can leave now."

Beth was glad that she was not getting punished for killing someone, and she stepped out of the building with the man named Jagger, who had followed her outside.

"Did you change your mind midway that you drank only half of the antidote?" asked the man out of curiosity.

"I never wanted to be a werewolf," replied Beth. It was possibly the last thing she had wished for.

"Anyways, that doesn't matter. With the werewolf's venom still in your body, you will go through the same things as the rest of the werewolves. We will also test you to see if you will transform, Elizabeth," said Jagger and seeing him start to walk, Beth asked him,

"What am I supposed to do now?"

"Follow me," said the man, his voiceless gruff than the magistrate she had met back in the building.

Beth followed Jagger through the forest, and when they came near a clearing, her ears picked up the voices of people in there.

"This is where we train the werewolves. The children who are born to the werewolves parents and the people who come here to be part of the pack," explained Jagger, "Your training will start from tomorrow early in the morning. Violet will give you clothes and maybe pack another one just in case you end up transforming."

She saw men and women running in a line, and on the other side, some people had circled two people who were wrestling with each other, "Won't they get hurt by it?" questioned Beth.

Jagger was busy watching the two people fight, "They are sparing, and it is good to have little fights of matches so that people are aware of what to do when the right time comes. For example, when it comes to your case, it will teach you how to limit your strength and not end up killing someone. You are lucky that you killed someone who was notorious, if it was someone else and you were not the Devon's King's relative, I doubt you would be breathing," he gave her a side glance before looking back at the people.

Hearing his words, Beth wasn't sure if the man was threatening or warning her. Away from home and the people she knew, she was now surrounded by people who were strangers.

She bowed her head, "Thank you for allowing me to be a part of this place. I won't disappoint you."

"Hm," came the small response from the man. Though he did share the same hair and haircut as Raphael, on a closer look, he appeared older than the archangel. "You can see how things work here, Violet will take you back."

Turning to him, Beth asked, "You won't be here?"

"I have other important things to do than babysit a rogue werewolf," and saying this, Jagger left her side, walking back in the direction they had come.

Her face turned slightly red as she turned embarrassed by her own words. The only person she knew here was James, but he was nowhere to be seen. The next person she had been acquainted with was Jagger.

Intrigued by the fight, Beth decided to get closer to the circle of people who watched the two grown wolves who had shredded their clothes and were right now snapping their teeth. She stood there watching for a long time before the woman, who had freed her from the cell room, appeared next to her.

"It is good to see that you aren't under the death sentence," said Violet.

The woman had little braidings done to her blonde hair, and her clothes were like the others in this place while making Beth the odd one out. "How long does this take? This full training," asked Beth, wanting to make sure she would be able to get back to Devon in time before her sister would give birth to the baby. She had received Madeline's letter two days ago.

"This? It can take forever," chuckled Violet. "For the pups, it is easier to control the werewolf instincts, but if you are bitten by a werewolf, turned I mean, it takes longer than that."

"What about you?" questioned Beth, happy to have someone to talk to her.

"A pure werewolf. My parents are both werewolves," replied the woman, and Beth noticed Violet they were probably of the same age.