Vindicator

Chapter 54

Theo was stunned, and stood staring at Chance in shock.

Chance was trembling from the effort of restraining Xander, and his eyes began to flicker from brown to gold and back. "Hurry and...Accept!" He shouted through clenched teeth.

Realizing that Chance was fighting a battle with his own wolf in order to grant him his freedom, Theo was brought back to his senses. He realized that if he didn't accept the rejection before Xander gained control, the wolf would likely mark him by force.

"I, Theo Hemming, Alpha heir of the Red Moon pack, accept your rejection!" He shouted back with urgency, just as Chance's eyes revealed he'd lost the struggle. Once the last syllable left Theo's lips, both men crumpled to the ground in pain. Their souls had been trying to urge them to complete the bond, and had begun to form a connection; so now, with that bond rejected, they were feeling the agony of having their souls torn apart. Theo was on all fours, gasping for air while Raff howled mournfully in his mind.

Xander, on the other hand, was visibly vibrating but it was difficult to determine if it was caused by his pain, his anger, or a combination of the two. He suddenly jumped to his feet and lunged towards Theo, but instead of landing on his former mate he sailed clear past his body. Theo had been able to see his shadow coming towards him, and looked up in time to see him pass overheard. Shocked, Theo had tried to scamper back but was hindered by his self-inflicted pain. He wound up splayed out on the ground on his belly, and turned his head to watch the Prince's retreating form.

By the time Xander hit the ground, his clothes had shredded and he'd taken the form of his wolf. He continued on his path forward, towards a large set of double-doors that opened onto a balcony. Once reaching them, he didn't slow his pace and merely leapt through them, shattering the glass in his wake. Without touching a single paw on the balcony, he continued to soar clear over the railing to the ground below.

Nearby, Karma was sitting cross-legged on the floor with her eyes closed, sifting through memories of her captive. Her concentration was momentarily broken when she heard the most heart-shattering howl of despair on the wind. Opening her eyes, she frowned and looked towards her window; the howl had resonated deep within her heart for some reason.

Deciding to push the thoughts and feelings aside, she returned to Tiffany's memories. Unlike going through her own memories, where she knew what she was looking for, it was extremely difficult to pull up memories that were not one's own. It was as if she didn't know what memory to call forth, because she hadn't experienced it, and so she had to work her way backwards from the moment she had met Tiffany.

This, unfortunately for Karma, meant she got to experience what was done to Theo to some degree. It made her sick to her stomach to watch as if she was the one abusing her brother in such a way. The fact that Tiffany wasn't just complicit in the attack on her brother, but a maliciously willing perpetrator became extremely obvious to Karma.

Pushing past those disturbing truths, though, Karma was able to confirm that Tiffany had been working with not only her father, but her grandfather as well. Karma held fast to that memory, and unraveled more of Tiffany's history to when she'd discussed the plans with her father and grandfather. With that memory in mind, Karma figuratively hit the play button on it, and relived Tiffany's experience first-hand.

Tiffany had been seated at a large meeting table with her father, her grandfather, and many other men and women. The large meeting room was cramped, with many forced to stand. Everyone there was a werewolf, with the youthful Tiffany being the youngest in the room. All of the others appeared to be in their thirties straight through to their seventies. In the background, a window displayed a dark and cloudy sky, with no moon in sight; it was as if the wolves were hiding from the very Goddess they worshipped while taking part in this meeting.

Patrick rose to his feet, drawing the attention of the room. "Alphas, Lunas and Elders, thank you for joining us this evening. We are meeting today to discuss some exciting news" he said with a menacing smile.

"It had better be important" one of the older women snapped. "Travelling here, all at once is not only inconvenient, but dangerous! We risk drawing attention to ourselves!"

Patrick scowled at the woman. "Elder Jane, I'm so pleased you could make it" he said flatly, clearly the opposite of pleased to see her. "As I was saying, before you so rudely interrupted—" he continued, opting to ignore Jane's indignant scoff. "We believe the time has come to finally make our move. It would seem that our crowned Prince has found his mate" he said, pausing to look around the room.

One of the younger men frowned and spoke up. "That is precisely the opposite time to make a move. Having found his Luna, the Prince will only strengthen the Royal pack further. It would be stupid to attack now" he argued.

"I didn't say anything about finding his Luna" Patrick said, enjoying the confused looks the others were sharing. "No, what I said was that he has found his mate. A mate who wants nothing to do with him, who has openly rejected him, and who will be the key to our plan" he said with a wicked laugh.

"What?!" Jane spoke up. "What kind of she-wolf would not jump at the chance to be Queen? Even if she hated the Prince, and didn't want that power, she would be openly sentencing the monarchy to extinction" she shouted. "Unless he is mated to your granddaughter, and that's why she's here, I say you're just trying to get us to overlook that you're just a pathetic rogue now by spouting these nonsensical lies."

Patrick grit his teeth, but held a hand out to stop his son who was about to jump in. "Elder Jane, if you would kindly shut the hell up so that I can finish...You'd understand that the Prince is not, in fact, mated to a woman. He's mated to the Alpha heir of the Red Moon pack."

The entire room was stunned into silence, except the handful of Alphas who Theo had shared this information with earlier. As quickly as it fell into silence, the room burst into chaos. Questions, statements, and suggestions were all hurled through the air. This lasted several moments before Patrick let out a roar of frustration to bring order back to the room.

"Enough!" He bellowed, cutting the chatter off once more. Everyone wanted to hear what he had to say next, so they immediately shut up and gave their undivided attention to the former elder.

"Thank you" he began. "Now, we have a monarchy to overthrow. It's time we go to war."