Noah POV
It seed like my breath was knocked out of my lungs as I stared at the shrunken, severed head of Tanner in the wooden chest. My heart was pounding so fast and loud that I feared Xavier and Kurtis would hear it. The figure in the chest was unmistakably, Tanner.
For one, he had the hidden mark of a Lycan King carved on his left ear and then my eyes spotted a hand that had the royal seal and ring of a Lycan that glues on our skin from the day we take our oath until the day we hand over to our successor. For the ring to still be in his hand and possession, ant that he didn’t hand it over to anyone.
mories of how we t several tis – most tis during annual etings or at balls over the years ca to my mind. Tanner was a quiet person... almost looked like a snob and only spoke when he was spoken to. He always didn’t follow whatever plans we had because he would always argue that he knew his people best and would do what was right for them and not so widely accepted solution that is not structured to solve any problem in particular.
Eventually, we ward up to each other, in one of the last conferences we attended where I had vehently kicked back against the motion that we have a Lycan Head over us. It was a bad idea because asking several Kings to still answer to another sovereign head wouldn’t go down well. Most of us still had stubborn Alphas in our regions to contend with and as far as the hierarchy of power in the werewolf cli was concerned, the Lycan King was the sovereign head.
What was most distinct about him and why I had taken an instant liking to him was because of how he had stood for the truth back then even when he was to gain. If we were going to go with the selection of a supre head, it was going to be him no doubt. He controlled the largest region, a flawless governnt that worked so well that back then we used to try to sneak in spies to study his thods but they never got past the gates.
So, I was surprised that he wasn’t a power-thirsty leader and that stuck even until this mont.
During the short break, we quickly bonded and he was surprised that I was unmated but went ahead to show pictures of his children and his mate. His eyes had been filled with love and warmth as he swiped through each slide whispering excitedly of how much he loved his family and was lucky to have one and urged to get married quickly.
That was the last ti we heard from Tanner. That was ten years ago. They closed their borders, stopped trade with almost everyone and stayed in recluse. The only explanation we had gotten was he lost his mate and wanted ti alone to grieve for her. No one was expecting it to take years... but I had sincerely been shocked when I got a ssage from him saying he wanted to open their gates and borders and he wanted to be the first person he traded with.
And that was three years ago.
"If you killed him two years ago, it ans his mate truly died and he was mourning her," I murmured out loud, looking at Kurtis.
"Yes, your majesty," he nodded "But before that, there was a lot of power tussle in the region most especially from his pack. I don’t have a lot of details on how it was resolved but I think it was part of what caused the long recluse,".
"Then," I tried to stop the thousands of thoughts running through my head at the sa speed "The person that reached out to wasn’t Tanner?"
"Yes," Kurtis nodded.
"Explain..." I gritted through clenched jaw "Explain how and the atrocity you committed and just for your information, you best tell the truth because... if you did this so you could get my support, allow to shock you... It’ll amount to nothing,".
"Your majesty," Xavier sighed "He’s trying to explain things here. It’s not like he had planned it all this ti,"
"That is not an excuse, Xavier. The law is the law," I snapped.
His jaws tightened with displeasure and I could tell he was trying to control the anger he felt but I was past caring at this point. Exhaling deeply, he t my gaze...
"Two years ago... back then I was a rcenary assassin. A lot of Alphas hired to do their dirty jobs for them and I was quite efficient but between moving about and trying to recruit and train as many n as I could because I didn’t want to kill forever, I was constantly in need of money. So..." he hesitated for the briefest of monts before he continued "An anonymous person reached out to ... mind you... the only way we communicated was through letters delivered by a crow and they were all cut-out letters, put on a plain paper...".
"The person wanted to stay anonymous," I nodded shaking my head.
"I guess so," Kurtis agreed "He offered a generous sum in exchange for killing soone he claid was a threat to him and a lot of details. I still have the letters, so I can send them to you later. Anyway, the pay was good but I noticed that all attempts to et this person proved abortive. He was smart, I give him credit for that and he gave only three days to reach out to him. I was low on cash and..".
"We get it, Kurtis!" I growled with annoyance stopping him midsentence. "You were broke but that is not an excuse to kill... just so you know. What happened next?"
"I agreed and sent back my response and then an instruction was delivered to . In it, he said it was a rogue wolf ravaging the Western territories and my role was to track him during one of his sabbaticals ... I think like a hunting trip or sothing. A map was sent to and details of his security and how he travelled. Whoever wanted Tanner’s death was ticulous about it and provided every information I needed up until the weapons carried by his guards and the best ti I should attack,".
He paused and then shrugged as he continued with a flat tone "I did as required. I trailed him to the hunting cabin and waited until he went swimming which was the only ti he’s usually alone and then, I killed him," he said casually.
My stomach churned with nausea and disgust at the way he was recounting the incident as if it wasn’t a heinous cri.
"Anyways, it wasn’t until a few months later that I realized that the person I killed was the Lycan King. I tried to make ands because usually, for Werewolves of power and position, I try to have a justifiable reason before I kill them. So, I tried to trace who the person was... to find out if there was a reason why he wanted Tanner dead and to justify my conscience. The trail led to the Wild Hunt Pack in the West. I lost..." he trailed off as pain crept into his voice "I lost a score of good n because the hunt was fierce but we managed to escape with that wooden box. If I knew that it was King Tanner, I wouldn’t have...".
"But it’s too late to undo what has been done, Kurtis," Xavier chirped in again then turned to "It wasn’t an intentional act, Your Majesty. When there was a plot on my life, Kurtis ca to instead... and that has been his manner... Leaders and people in position are not hard except there’s a justifiable reason,".
"So, the ordinary masses he murdered were for a justifiable reason?" I asked glaring at my nephew.
"Yes," Kurtis nodded "I am not proud of my past but I am bold to say that all the people I was asked to kill and killed, deserved it. It is against my nature to harm people. All the stories about killing an entire village including n and won are not true. Instead, I moved them because I wanted my people. Today, they’re all mbers of my pack,".
I studied Kurtis, as my brain reeled with several thoughts. This was a dicey situation. I needed Kurtis’s support no doubt but I also had to revenge Tanner’s death whether or not it was done unknowingly. Also, I couldn’t judge unless I looked into it and made sure it was indeed an unknown heist.
Sighing deeply, I t Kurtis’s gaze again "Then, if it’s not Tanner on the throne... who in the seven hells is currently seated on that throne?"
His pale eyes bored into mine with an intensity that made almost flinch.
"That, Your Majesty," he said in a low voice "Is the question that has consud for the past three years. I do not have an answer to that,".
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