Chapter 154

“You are a fragile human,” Caleb says, as he continues to inspect me. “There could be internal bleeding. We need to take you to the medical ward and have you checked out by a doctor.”

“But Caleb…” I say, still glancing back at Annabelle, who in turn, is watching us closely.

“Forget her,” Caleb says. Noticing the chains still at my ankles, he bends down. With an impressive show of strength, he breaks the locks with his bare hands, and pushes the anklets and the chains away from me. “She is not in danger of death at the moment.”

With that, Caleb scoops me up into his arms. Tucked safely against him, he starts to carry me toward the palace. From there, we head into the stairwell and down to the medical ward. Once on the correct level, he takes me into the medical room and lowers me down on an open examination table.

“Doctor,” Caleb says.

The doctor rushes away from his paperwork to join us at once.

“She was caught in the crossfire of a werewolf fight. Please check her over,” Caleb says.

“At once,” the doctor says and turns to me.

“I really don’t think this is necessary,” I say. Other than my scrapes and bruises I feel fine. Surely I’d know if I had internal bleeding, wouldn’t I?

“It’s better for us to check,” the doctor says. “Things could have broken and then swollen. Once the swelling goes down, it could be too late.”

That is more than enough for me to close my mouth and accept the once over by the doctor. At Caleb’s insistence x-rays are also taken, to ensure, as the doctor suggested, that nothing is broken.

When I’m thoroughly inspected and cleared, the doctor leads us to a more private room for me to relax. He’s ordered an ointment that should help keep my wounds clean and uninfected. He wants me to stick around until it arrives.

Caleb joins me. While I lay down, he pulls up a chair and sits at my bedside.

The longer we sit there, the more the silence stretches. It’s unnerving.

“Should we talk about this?” I ask.

“What’s there to talk about?”

“Everything that happened,” I say. “We learned a lot, and then your father…”

I’m still reeling from everything I learned, as well as Ted’s betrayal. We’d only known each other briefly, but in that time, he had been someone I considered a friend. For him to have pulled a gun on me so easily… and he shot Bethany.

Yet what I am going through must pale in comparison to Caleb’s pain.

To be betrayed by his own father…

To be deceived into murdering his brother for the crown…

Caleb has been through a great ordeal. He must still be dealing the truths, so newly uncovered.

“None of this is your fault,” I tell him, because even watching him now, I can practically see him internalizing everything.

“I’m too impulsive,” Caleb says. “I was then, too. I trusted Hector. He was my father and still my king. He said Evan betrayed us, and would soon bring harm to the entire kingdom. He made it seem like killing Evan was something I had do to for the good of all werewolf-kind.”

“He deceived you.”

“And I believed him. Like a fool.” He scoffs. “Like a child…”

“It doesn’t make you a child to believe in your father and king,” I say, coming to his defense.

“It does when the result leads you to murder your own brother. I should have had more questions. But he kept pushing. With the coronation coming up… There wasn’t time for questions.”

“Caleb,” I say gently. “You have to forgive yourself with this.”

“I don’t know if I can,” he says. “What I’ve done is inexcusable.”

“You didn’t know the truth, but now you do,” I say. “You can’t change what happened in the past, but you can be the better person now. You can learn from what was done, and fight to honor your brother’s memory.”

Caleb laughs a little, bitterly. “I would love to do that. It sounds like a nice thing. But where would I even start?”

I consider a moment. “Your brother loved Summer. Maybe it’s time to take a look at the strict rules in place for omegas.”

“If I soften on omegas, the other Alphas really will think I’ve gone weak,” Caleb says.

“Then you prove to them you are not,” I say. “The rules were never fair.”

As a human, I don’t fully understand the dynamics between alphas and omegas, other than that omegas are treated as the lowest of the low. They are regarded as even less valuable than humans, yet they are still werewolves. They can still shift.

Their prosecution makes little sense to me.

“It’s just a suggestion,” I say.

Caleb frowns. “Evan did love Summer…” Sighing, he adds, “I’ll consider it.”

A knock on the door startles us both into looking up and at a guard in the door.

“Do you have the medicine?” Caleb asks.

“No, Alpha King. That’s not…” The guard clears his throat. “I’m afraid I’ve come for other reasons.”

The man’s face is pale. Whatever news he wishes to bring, it will not be good.

“Out with it then,” Caleb says. “Do not waste my time.”

“It’s Hector, Sir.”

Caleb immediately sits up straighter in the chair. “What about him?”

“I’m afraid… he’s escaped, Sir.”

“Escaped?” Caleb jumps to his feet. His eyes flash red. “How?”

“Caleb,” I say, trying to calm him, but he’s beyond me now.

Hector was only just on his way to the dungeons. How could it be, that in the short time from leaving the courtyard, he had vanished? I understood Caleb’s frustration, and even his anger.

But losing his temper on this messenger would not solve the bigger issue.

For Hector to have escaped, someone or ones must have helped him.

“I want to see everyone who was responsible for his transport lined up in the Hall. Now,” Caleb says. “If anyone refuses, I will have them killed. If anyone is unaccounted for, inform me, and then seek them out as fugitives to be killed on sight.”

“Yes, Alpha King.”

“My rule is law around here. Not my father’s. I will know who betrayed me, and they will suffer.”

This time, I wait for the guard to leave before I call to Caleb once more. “Caleb, please.”

Turning toward me, the red in his eyes slowly dims. “You should stay here, Harper. You won’t like to see me the way I will have to be to find my answers.”

“You don’t have to kill anyone,” I tell him. “You don’t have to be a ruthless king to be respected.”

He doesn’t have to be like his father. He could be his own man, a man of mercy and kindness, and still be a successful leader.

He gently shakes his head. “Do not be confused, Harper. The softness I show towards you is rare. For others, particularly those who betray me, I feel nothing but distain. I am not a kind man. I am not a kind King.”

My heart aches, watching him switch from a man who cared about my bruises to one who would soon murder to find his answers.

“They call me a ruthless King because that is what I am.”