Red Riding Hood | BoyxBoy | COMPLETED

Spiralling Staircase

Cassidy's POV

With so many werewolves around, it was honestly just normal that all the weird stuff happened around full moons. They got antsy under the waxing moon; that was how Alex had tried explaining how it felt for them.

This wasn't the first full moon we had joined, so Alex was no longer as nervous as our first moon. He was even anticipating the hunt this cycle. Honestly, I was looking forward to sitting with Seffrin while the rest of them ran around stark naked. And maybe playing with Timmeu, who was still a tiny wolf pup and very adorable.

Except that Seffrin was missing.

As a general rule, the family had dinner together every evening and this tradition was not broken even during full moons. Full moons, especially, were a whole different level of togetherness that the packs shared. It was not uncommon for everyone to partake in dinner under the light of the moon, where dinner was a whole buck they'd caught whilst hunting in their wolf forms.

Seffrin's absence was incredibly obvious to all of us. Only one person should have been missing tonight. And that was Duke Kellen for obvious reasons.

For a while, we thought that Seffrin was just late, but as it got darker and she had yet to turn up, Queen Tasha picked anxiously at her slip dress and King Olcan was doing an excellent imitation of a statue. My husband kept glancing around to check for his sister's arrival.

Understandably, my mother-in-law was slightly confused at the growing tensions. I quietly explained that we were waiting for Princess Seffrin, the only other human and Alex's half-sister to arrive. And that it was unusual for her to be late.

When Colin asked, for the third time, where Seffrin was, Queen Tasha stood up.

"Alert the guards, send a search party outside the dens. We will search the dens ourselves." Everyone got up.

As Alex began to follow, I grabbed his arm. He turned to me questioningly.

"We should check Duke Kellen's office," I whispered to him.

The glint of understanding in his eyes sharpened. "You think he might have something to do with her disappearance."

I chewed on my lip in thought. "Even if he didn't, Seffrin might have gotten herself into something she couldn't handle."

He frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Remember the time she hid in our room? Your uncle's office is right under our balcony."

"You think she came from there?" Alex asked in surprise.

I shrugged. "Either that, or she was on the roof. Except that if she was already up there, no one would have found her anyway."

My husband nodded in comprehension. "Alright, let's go." He took my hand, and we left the table.

~

Since we were already on the ground floor, it didn't take long to find Duke Kellen's office. Or perhaps we were able to find it quickly because Alex had been there to "borrow" some cacao powder. Either way, we got there before anyone else. Or so we thought until King Olcan almost bowled us over from the direction of Kellen's study.

He muttered an apology and had already turned down the corridor as Alex and I stood there, momentarily stunned.

"Are you all right?" Alex asked concernedly.

"I'm fine, darling." I patted his arm reassuringly.

"You'd better be," he said darkly. "Father or not, King Olcan will deal with my wrath."

I turned away to hide my amused grin. "There will be no need for vengeance of that sort tonight," I informed him lightly. "We should go."

Alex quietly followed though he was certainly far from appeased, shooting dark looks where his majesty had disappeared.

The door was ajar when we reached. Had King Olcan assumed Duke Kellen's involvement as we did? Or did he already know of it? There was no one inside the study, but the desk was a mess.

It seemed that King Olcan had come first, looking for something. The place was half ransacked with books and papers strewn across Lord Kellen's massive table. I went to see what his majesty had found first.

Out of all the papers I had eventually sorted through, only one was a letter addressed to Duke Kellen with some pencil markings in the margins. The rest were maps of Lupus.

"Alex, take a look at this," I called. He took the letter I handed him.

A moment later, he asked, "Is Duke Kellen organising a ritual?"

"Probably," I answered. "I just need to find where. It should be somewhere on these maps, or King Olcan wouldn't have taken them out."

"You mean that one with the same symbol as the letterhead?" he pointed.

"Oh!" I reached for the map he'd spotted. "Yes, thank you. That must be where the ritual is taking place. And if Seffrin isn't in the dens, I think we'll find her there."

"He'd better not have hurt her," Alex growled, crushing the letter in his clenched fist.

The full moon made my husband's emotional stability even more volatile than me, the pregnant human. He bounced from excited to irritated and back again faster than I could manage. And I had no doubt that the other werewolves were probably experiencing the same issue. It would explain King Olcan's brusqueness.

"Come on," I said, gently unfurling his fingers and smoothing out the crumpled letter. "Let's go find Duke Kellen and ask him about this," I told him as I folded the map and placed it in my pocket.

"Right," he said, blinking as the sudden bouts of anger left him again. "I'm so glad you're here," he smiled sheepishly. "These mood swings are intense. Is that what being pregnant feels like?" he wondered.

Alex held out his arm for me to take as we left. "Among other things," I replied.

"Interesting," he muttered.

~

We made our way to the Tower as quickly as we could, which wasn't very fast, because even then, Alex never forgot that I was carrying and unable to move too quickly without tiring myself.

We also forgot that the Tower was very appropriately named 'the Tower' for good reason.

It was a few stories high, and the winding stairs were narrow and spiralling. Also, Duke Kellen was in the highest cell.

Alex glanced at me worriedly. "Sweetheart, maybe we shouldn't look for Kellen right now. The stairs—"

"No," I interrupted. "Lord Kellen knows something. I can climb the staircase."

"Are you sure?" he asked with a frown.

"Yes." I took the first step upwards. "I can do this."

"I'll stay behind."

~

A few flights of stairs later—I was absolutely not looking forward to climbing back down—we were finally at the top. As we peeked around the corner, I saw King Olcan standing outside the cell speaking to Duke Kellen through the thick bars. Rinidae was huddled in a corner, ignored by everyone. They were too soft for me to hear.

I nudged Alex. He pressed a finger to his lips, and I stayed quiet to let him listen. Whatever he heard made him urge me to reveal ourselves. "Go, quickly," he whispered.

The top floor was lit with several torches and the moon shining through an open window.

"Your Majesty," I greeted as we stepped into the light. "Forgive our intrusion, but there is something we must ask Lord Kellen."