The Cat Shifter (Book 1 of Shifter Series)

Chapter 28

After answering other general questions that the pack about what was going to happen and such, I could get off the stage and start to mingle with the pack with Brody and Carver at my side.

King Paul was mingling and answering questions and stuff that the pack had with me taking over all three positions.

'Stressed?' Trevor asked, feeling all the emotions that I was feeling. He moved to my side and took Katie in his arms when she reached out to him.

I turned towards him and let the smile fall off my face, letting him see how exhausted I was.

Trevor nodded his head and squeezed my shoulder reassuringly. He understood why I was stressed and knew that I would need to take a break soon.

Carver touched my elbow, pulling me away from the conversation that I was having. He nodded his head towards the tree line where the man questioning me and my clan stood, watching us with a conflicted look.

I caught the man's eye and watched as he walked away from the party. 'What's his name?' I asked Trevor.

'Silas,' Trevor said. 'Why?'

'I'm going to talk to him.' I glanced at my Second when he stiffened and narrowed my eyes at him. 'What?'

'Don't,' he warned.

"Excuse me," I said, ignoring my Second. I kissed my mate's cheek. "I'll be right back." I started to walk towards the woods by myself.

'Be careful,' Carver said, and I nodded. 'Contact us if you need anything.'

'I will,' I promised. I took in a deep breath and followed him the rest of the way into the woods, wondering why he looked so conflicted.

***

"What's that?" I asked, coming up from behind Silas and spying a necklace in his hands. I watched as Silas jumped and turned to look at me, stuffing the thing in his pocket. "Well?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't know what you are talking about," he said, and I scowled. He blinked and cleared his throat, looking away from me.

"Hand it over," I said, putting my hand out.

Silas hesitated but took the necklace out from his pocket. He dropped it in my hand and placed his hands behind his back.

I looked at the necklace to see that it was something that Amity had created. "A witch made it," I said, and he stiffened. "Amity made it. Why?" I looked up at him.

Silas didn't want to tell me. He was hesitating before he finally caved and looked down. "Your... the ex-king had told her to make it," he said. "He knew that you were alive and needed a Werewolf pack. He didn't know which pack, so..."

"He did this for a couple of them." I handed it back to him. "Do you know who else has them?" I asked, and he shook his head, no.

"I don't know if there is a way," he said. He cleared his throat and licked his lips. "There... is a way for me to tell him where you are at. I have to break the top and summon him that way or someone close to him."

I nodded my head, a plan forming in my head. I let Carver listen through the bond that we had, making sure that the others could not hear my thoughts and plans.

'Do it,' Carver said. 'It might work.'

'That is the problem, though,' I said. 'Might. There is a chance that he could die.'

'But, he will be able to protect her better than others. He might be able to find more information out than her. He has a reason to "hate" you. She doesn't.'

"What has he told you?" I asked.

"He told me that it is your fault that my mate and daughter are dead. He told me that you are the reason that he does what he does."

I nodded my head, staying silent. I mentally winced, my heart breaking because there was a change that he would still do it, using Amity as a pawn for his power-hungry craze.

"He said that as long as you were alive, he will keep doing this. He will keep finding helpless wolves and torturing them until he gets what he wants."

'Do you remember how to do that loyalty thing?' Carver asked.

'Ya, why?'

'Put it on him.'

Mentally, I nodded my head to my advisor while I studied the male before me. I knew that he wanted revenge against Romanov for what he had done. I knew that he wanted to kill him, but he wasn't able to.

However, if I put a spell on him and send him off, there was a way that he could get his revenge as well as protecting one of my own.

"How would you like to betray me?" I asked, and he stared at me with an open mouth. I nodded, answering his unasked question. "As well as get your revenge on Romanov?"