Page 40

Chapter

Thirty-Seven

K YSON

Azalea falls asleep pretty quickly, yet as the sun rises, I know I have to get out of bed, so I decide to check in with patrols, and with Damian, who is meeting me at my office.

We are supposed to be heading to the Landeena Kingdom today.

Yet not hearing back from Larkin is starting to bother me.

He was supposed to let us know by this morning.

We haven’t heard a word from him since he left here that night.

“Something is going on?” Damian tells me as I hang up the phone from trying to call Larkin for the third time this morning.

It is suspicious. I don’t know who to trust, but one thing is certain, the council can’t be trusted.

And neither can anything we thought we knew about the Landeena massacre. Nothing makes sense anymore.

“I think you need to hold off on going to the Landeena Kingdom, my King. It isn’t safe. And I have a bad feeling about all of this,” Damian tells me, and the worry is clearly etched on his face.

“Azalea won’t like it, but I think you are right,” I tell him, and he sighs in relief just as Gannon steps into my office.

“How is Abbie?” I ask, earning a smirk from him. He sits down, and I press my lips in a line, trying not to smile when I notice she has finally marked him. He clears his throat awkwardly.

“Good, yep. Everything is good,” he chuckles, and it is good seeing him happy for once about something. I know he has struggled badly with Abbie and her PTSD.

“Azalea?” he asks, changing the subject.

“Damian and I were just discussing whether we should postpone the trip to Landeena,” I answer.

“No word from Larkin?” he asks, and Damian and I both shake our heads.

“Nothing,” I answer, and Gannon sighs.

“Do you want me to send Liam and Dustin to Cypress searching for him?” Gannon asks, but I shake my head and scratch my chin while I think about what the best approach will be.

“Not yet. We will give him today, if no answer by tonight, and he is still unreachable. We raid the council,” I tell them. They nod, and Damian gets up from his seat before pausing.

“What is it?” I ask. I know he wants to ask me something, I can read him like a book, and he has been nervous all morning.

“Tandi wants–” I wave my hand, cutting him off, already knowing what he is about to ask.

“All the children who were adopted had their pictures taken. All documentation is in the cellars. She can have access to them. I will let the guards know,” I tell him, and he nods.

“Do you really think Paige is one of the children?” Gannon asks us both. Larkin could be lying, but I highly doubt that. He genuinely appeared disgusted with Tandi’s claims and also truly believed Brock didn’t kill his own child.

“I hope so, if not–” Damian pauses, looking at me.

“If she isn’t, permission granted, you don’t have to ask not when it comes to children,” I tell him, and Damian nods.

I know if he can’t find Tandi’s daughter.

The next place he will be going is to drag the information out of Brock by any means possible.

I watch them leave, and I smirk as Gannon leaves, seeing how happy he is.

At least that will be one less thing playing on Azalea’s mind.

Abbie is a constant worry for Azalea since her attempt to kill herself.

I know it has heightened her concern to magnitude levels.

Azalea would not cope with losing her a second time.

As he goes to walk out the door, I call Gannon back to me.

“Ah Gannon, a moment please,” he stops, looking back at me.

“Close the door, I need to speak with you,” I tell him, and he sighs, looking out to the hall before shutting the door. He retakes his seat across from me, and I sit back, watching my friend.

“Sia?” I ask.

“Liam told you?” Gannon asks, and I shake my head.

“No, Dustin did.”

He nods, knowing Liam must have spoken to Dustin.

“Dustin told me about Liam’s involvement but said nothing about you. I want to hear it from you,” I tell him, and he runs his fingers through his hair.

“Sia was Abbie’s aunt, and Sia was my mate.,” he breathes out.

“And Liam helped you cover up her death?”

“You did not need to keep that from me, or Damian. I figured something went down,” I tell him, pointing to his chest. We’ve all seen his scars, we all know what causes that sort of damage. We also knew something bad happened for him to want to end it.

We didn’t want to pry, and I trusted Liam to come to me if he was worried about Gannon. I knew he would tell us one day the story behind them.

“And her body?” I ask.

“Outside her old pack along with her mother’s,” Gannon tells me.

“The mother?”

“Came after me when she learned I killed her daughter.”

I nod in understanding.

“How did Abbie take this news?”

“Not well at first, but she understands why I did it,” he explains.

“Is that all?” I ask him.

“There is more, but I can’t tell you, my King. I won’t risk Abbie.”

I swallow, knowing it must be bad if he is worried about telling me.

“If I look into Sia’s background, what will I find Gannon?”

“Are you asking because you already know, my King?” he asks in return.

“I’m asking as a friend. I am asking for my Queen. Your Queen. If there is anything I need to know, this is your chance to tell me,” I tell him. Gannon looks away, and that is an answer in itself for me.

“Abbie’s parents weren’t involved,” he says.

“Abbie won’t be punished for her family’s mistake, Gannon. You have my word, but the fact you never told me you found your mate in the first place has me worried. The fact you didn’t tell me says either you knew I wouldn’t approve or suspected something was amiss.”

“I want your word, my King. Abbie stays out of it. Any punishment you see fit for her family’s crimes, I will take on her behalf.”

“Your Queen would have my balls if I tried. Rest assured, Gannon. I have learned from my mistakes, I won’t punish her like I did Azalea. We may be products of our parents, but we aren’t them, I see that now,” I tell him. Gannon seems to think for a second.

“Sia worked for the hunter organization, so did her mother. Liam and I found out she was one of the hunter’s suppliers.”

I purse my lips at the new information. I’m a bit peeved he never told me but a lot less peeved as she’s no longer a threat.

“Suppliers?” I ask him.

“Yes, her mother was selling Wolfsbane to the hunters' organization.”

“She was growing it?” I ask, but he shakes his head.

“We found no evidence she was growing, but she definitely obtained it from somewhere.”

“You won’t keep anything like this from me again. I understand why you did. But we could have figured it out together.”

“Sia was trying to weasel her way into the Kingdom. She was very insistent that I change her. I wanted to wait. When I refused her, she went to Liam and tried to have him kill me.”

“She wanted access to my kingdom?”

“It appeared so. All she talked about was coming here and me changing her. It set off alarm bells, yet I never figured out her intention. She never told Liam anything that was suspicious, either.”

It makes me wonder how she got involved with the hunters in the first place.

“Then, when I thought we figured it out, and she was willing to accept me, I walked into an ambush. Luckily, Liam knew me better than her. Brotherhood won,” he tells me. It explains why he and Liam are joined at the hip usually. I nod in understanding, thankful it also did.

“You can go, maybe see if Abbie and Azalea want to help Tandi. It will keep them distracted while we try to figure out this Larkin issue,” I tell him.

Gannon nods, getting up from his seat and walking out, leaving me with much to think about.

This puzzle is getting larger and the pieces more complicated to place.