The Warrior Princess

MILLY

I panted heavily, releasing my control over the King’s mind.

Witches.

He was being controlled by dark magic. Whatever it was that had taken his mate had a firm grip on him, so subtle that he couldn’t even tell that his mind was no longer his own.

Matt and Alex burst into my room. They stopped suddenly when they noticed the sight in front of them—my pajamas torn and the King on the floor, panting heavily, still clutching his head.

Matt opened his mouth to speak. I held my hand up and shook my head.

“Milly, it’s Pops,” Alex said softly.

My blood ran cold.

This wasn’t good.

Frantically, we packed our things.

***

“How fast can we get back?” I asked as we ran down the stairs and out the door without a word to our hosts.

“That depends on how fast we can run. Leave your things here. The butler will arrange to have them sent back. Shift. We are running home as wolves,” Alex barked as he tore off toward the woods.

Without a second hesitation, Matt and I also shifted and raced after him.

Pops can’t die. He is the King. He is our Pops.

He’s meant to live forever.

Isn’t he?

Usually, we would arrange cars to travel back, but something about running home in our natural state felt more symbolic. We were wolves, running home to be by our king’s side.

We completed what was usually a four-day journey on foot in two. Alex had set the pace. He was one of our fastest runners, and he left very little room for breaks. A stop for water and that was it—we were off again.

Mom waited at the doors to the castle for us with clothes in her hands.

“Hurry. We don’t have much time,” she said, then kissed us each briefly on the cheek before racing back up the stairs to be with the family.

I don’t know what I was expecting when I entered the room but I somehow didn’t expect Pops to look so…ill.

His features had sunken in, almost like he had the life sucked out of him.

Witches.

I caught Reign’s eye across the room. She looked at me intentionally so I opened up a line of communication with her.

What happened?

No one knows. We had dinner just last week and he was healthy as a young wolf.

Witches?

There have been some whispers of Northern witches getting restless, but I just put it down to rumors and fireside stories.

So not one of our own, then?

Storm broke into our conversation. No, this is Northern magic. Very dark.

You’re sure? I asked. ~The king of the Blood Moon Pack’s mind has also been taken over by witches. Could it be the same ones?~

I felt her assent. I cannot speak for that king, but I am positive about this one.

I nodded and closed the mind-link. If Storm said it was dark magic, then I believed her. She’d never led us astray in the past.

We sat by Pops’ side as his breathing began to slow. Time ticked on.

I saw Axel give a slight shiver and shake his head.

The door to death has opened.

Almost in sync, Pops took one last breath and passed over.

Axel nodded silently and we all took a large gulp of air—whether to stop ourselves from breaking down or simply to acknowledge we still lived, I wasn’t sure.

Dad cleared his throat and squared his shoulders.

“Lucas, Levi, please announce to the pack that our king has sadly moved on. We ask for privacy at this time. There will be a funeral in a couple of days for the community, should they wish to come and pay their respects.”

Uncles Lucas and Levi nodded and excused themselves from the room.

Grams sniffed into her handkerchief.

“Oh, look at me making a fuss. Raphael never would have wanted this. He would have wanted us all to celebrate his life not mourn it. Come, let us all have dinner.”

She breezed out of the room, leaving us all in her wake.

There was silence as Axel covered Pops over with a sheet.

Reign dipped her head for me to follow her out into the hall.

“How did you know Kane’s mind was taken over? It’s not like you to enter minds without permission—and with his reputation, I doubt he would have given it to you.” She eyed me knowingly.

“We got into a scuffle. Apparently I reminded him of his mate who had been murdered, and so he tried to sleep with me—”

“He what?”

“Yeah, it was all a big fight. He’s pretty strong, even by alpha king standards. So I had to immobilize him through his mind. I sensed the other witches in there.”

“If you sensed them, then that means—”

“They sensed me too, yeah.”

Reign let out a low whistle. “I thought we’d been through a lot with Keir last year.”

“Yeah, well, you’ll have a lot going on soon.” I pointed to her now very round tummy.

She laughed and rubbed her bump softly.

“Yes, I will. The council was in a frenzy when they found out. Then there was an uproar when they found out I wasn’t going on maternity leave until after the pup arrived.”

I rolled my eyes. The council had been giving Reign shit since day one. She had far more patience than I did, that was for sure.

We made our way down to the dining hall.

“Do you think Grams will be okay?” Reign asked quietly.

“I think once she has come to terms with her grieving, she’s going on a witch hunt.”

“Pun intended?” Reign wiggled her eyebrows.

“Happy coincidence.” I laughed.

One thing was certain: if this was the work of dark witches from the North, they were going up against the wrong family.