Red Riding Hood | BoyxBoy | COMPLETED

Councilman Laren

Councilman Laren's POV

Council meetings are often tiresome when the monarch doesn't see eye-to-eye with their councillors. And Queen Tasha, a beta ruling while her husband was too ill to function? Truly an abomination. Fortunately, it would only be temporary.

It had been a long day and I'm on my way home now. For once, my daughter is being silent on the carriage ride home.

"Father," she says, "why do you hate me?"

It seems I spoke too soon. I sigh. "I don't hate...you." The words roll strangely off my tongue.

Holly smells stricken for a second. "No," she says. "But you hate humans, and I am one," she continued bitterly.

Because I do not know what to say to her, I say nothing. And apparently, that was wrong too.

"If you and mother are too afraid to give me a brother or sister in case you get another human, you could always adopt," she mutters under her breath.

I glanced at her sharply. "That is between me and your mother."

She looked away mulishly. This day just gets longer and longer.

I ran a hand through my hair in frustration. "Holly, where is this coming from? Have I not been good to you?"

My daughter's sulk becomes more pronounced.

"I'd like an answer, Holly."

Grudgingly, she told me that Prince Colin has so many siblings. The scent of her longing filled the carriage. For a moment, I wish I could have given her what she wanted. "It's not fair," she cried out. "He even has a half-brother!"

I blinked in surprise. When did the royal pups have a half-sibling? Which half? And why hadn't I heard of this? I sit forward. "Who is this half-sibling?" I ask her.

Holly was taken aback by my sudden attentiveness. "Prince Alexander," she tells me.

"Prince Alexander of Nasales," I clarify.

Holly nods in affirmation. I frown to myself. Prince Alexander looks nothing like King Olcan or Queen Tasha, but I have not had the chance to speak to him personally and thus was unable to pull up a clear mental image of the man. As best as I could tell now, I would have guessed that he was Olcan's than Tasha's.

In fact, I was rapidly growing in my certainty. And in the newfound silence of the carriage, since Holly was refusing to speak to me now, I contemplated the facts that argued in favour of Prince Alexander being King Olcan's first-born.

Despite not carrying similar bone structures to either King Olcan or Queen Tasha, I was of the impression that his hair was quite dark, much like the king. And if I remembered correctly, he seemed to have green eyes. I wasn't entirely certain which green, but a variation of green was still close enough to King Olcan.

But who did the king once have relations with? I mulled over that thought. There was something at the back of my mind that I simply couldn't seem to grasp yet. King Olcan had been a charming and popular Prince before he became King Alpha, it could have been anyone.

Or perhaps...it couldn't have been just anyone. After all, Prince Alexander was the heir of Nasales. Meaning that his mother would have to be Queen of Nasales. Yes, that made sense. What was the name of the queen?

How irritating that I'd forgotten that when it was important. What was it? I felt like knowing her name would unlock a memory I'd forgotten.

"What was whose name?" Holly asked.

I looked at her in surprise. Ah, I'd been talking aloud. "The Queen of Nasales," I replied.

"Prince Alexander's mother? Do you mean Queen Annabelle?"

Annabelle. Annabelle. Had King Olcan been with anyone named Annabelle? I didn't recall such a character being introduced at his full moon runs. However, I distinctly remembered that there had been an Annabeth. They were the talk of the month. My eyes narrowed.

"Holly, did you say Queen Annabelle?" I stressed on her name in my question. Holly looked surprised to be addressed but nodded quickly.

Right. There was something here, I could feel it.

Back then, the Princes of Lupus were Olcan and Kellen. Kellen tended to avoid the public eye, choosing to let his brother bask in the spotlight. And Olcan had positively frolicked. He had many friends and enjoyed parties and wolfsbane liquor. Everyone had expected Kellen, the more serious of the two, to take over as King Alpha. I was only a few years older than they were and had gone to quite a few of Olcan's gatherings.

The council then had grumbled about Olcan's frivolity but didn't do more than that. Then Prince Olcan had taken up with a human, a girl named Annabeth, and suddenly the council was disapproving. Personally, I didn't care as long as she didn't become queen. A human queen? Ludicrous.

Queen Annabelle's name was remarkably similar to Annabeth. What had happened to Annabeth? I remembered my father grumbling about the girl being a threat to Lupus' heritage. There were even whispers of how to get rid of her, those were quickly hushed up around the younger generations, but my father had openly told me that someone had to do something.

In the end, nothing had happened. Annabeth had vanished without a trace. There was no one for the council to "remove". And when Olcan became King Alpha, he took the respectable Tasha as his mate. The council moved on for now.

Prince Alexander's birth had been a miracle that people gossiped about and there had been nothing more to it. Now though, perhaps there was some connection.

I pondered over the thought that Annabeth could have moved to Nasales, changed her name to 'Annabelle' and somehow bagged herself another Prince and eventually became queen.

While it seemed improbable, the timing was certainly suspicious and not impossible. There was only one way to confirm this. I had to see Queen Annabelle's face for myself.

~

Holly is asleep by the time we arrive back home. I wave off the servants who come to take Holly. Picking her up myself, I carry her back to bed. She doesn't stir. I sigh mentally as I watch her sleeping face. I supposed I could have handled all that better. When did my baby girl grow up?

I go back to my study after leaving her bedroom. Holly's adventures today have uncovered more work for me. The preparations must be moved, and I will have it arranged immediately. And after that, I will take a long, hot bath while I think up a reason for Queen Annabelle's visit.