enemy in shadows

Dante Milburn

Exhaustion nibbled at the corners of my mind as I paced the quiet waiting room of the fortress infirmary.

It had been hours…nights even, since the Confessor trials. 

Nights since the maiden’s innocence was proven, and yet, I still hadn't gotten the time to examine my feelings for her.

“Goddess, why the fuck is this happening to us?” I sighed, rubbing the sleep from my eyes when the fax on the large marble wood of the front desk pinged again.

The third time this night alone. I waited until then harsh hum of its printing echoed before I sagged against the wall, winded.

Large double glass doors separated the chaos outside from the peaceful air just before the labyrinth of passages that led deeper into the white-walled prison.

Every inch of every surface was spotless, and the faint scent of bleach and blood lingered in the air.

“What is taking so long?” I grumbled, crossing my hands over my chest before grinding my teeth, resisting the urge to march over and snap open all the ward doors until I found her.

My wolf was raw and edgy inside me, brushing tautly against my skin is that it's midnight fur stood out like bruises beside my veins.

A radio chirped somewhere behind the desk where the foot-high receptionist was sitting and I tried to ignore the grating way the whizz of frequencies stabbed at my brain.

Why the hell had I insisted on taking Mara to the dungeons? 

Why the hell hadn't I believed her when she’d told the truth?

“Milburn! Those council meetings were a bitch to supervise. Any of the other meatheads gotten here yet?” Ronan’s steady voice made me turn to the glass doors with relief.

He was dressed in a sleek black compression tee and baggy black jeans with white highlights to match his silvery essence.

I never knew I would be so relieved to see another wolf in my life, until I caught the way his brows arched, before realizing he expected an answer out of me.

“Christ, at least I'm not the only one who looks like hell warmed over,” Laziel’s lazy snicker came from behind the Beta and I gasped.

“You came, fuck, I was certain the wait would drive me mad—” I boomed, and in a rare moment of vulnerability, I let the men clamp their arms good-naturedly around me, feeding off their energies before backing away.

I couldn't let them get too used to it. Things like that…showing affection the way they did…my father always said such things made Alpha’s weak.

Ronan’s sculpted chest muscles seemed to jump from the tight tee when he crossed his hands over his expansive chest, his thick neck muscles bulging from the strain. A stud. That was what he was. 

He could have been an even better Casanova than Caius was if he tried real hard.

If he put his mind to it and let his small boxy teeth shine more often.

But far be it from Ronan to smile unnecessarily. If I didn't know any better I’d have sworn his years in the force had frozen whatever facial muscle control he had left.

“And…Winters? Is he coming?” 

My tentative question strained the tension I could feel pulsing between us all ever since they’d walked through the doors.

Before the two wolves could reply, the shrill noise of a woman’s scream cut through the tension like a knife.

“What the hell was that?” Ronan growled, casting me a foreboding look as we made for the passages.

“Your Highness! Great goddess! There you are!oh, its simply horrible, Your Highness! I was so sorely frightened!” A petite maid cried, throwing herself recklessly into my arms after flying out from one of the ubiquitous white doors, her tearful sobs unable to distract me from the fact that she was very clearly rubbing her breasts into my chest.

“You dare touch the King of Infinity fortress you worthless, lowly maid?” Laziel snarled, half-shifting into his wolf at lightning speed and snapping his claws around the woman’s shoulder before I could stop him.

The pit in my gut yawned open just as he yanked her back, and her body went flying across the room, crumpling against the wall with a sickening crack.

“And you call me dramatic,” Ronan commented nonchalantly, as if broadcasting a slight hitch in the weather.

“Stand back, Milburn, we don't know what she's carrying. I’ll take care of her for you,” his animalistic snarl made the hairs on the back of my neck stand pin straight, and all too soon, more strings of nurses trooped from the small white doors.

If they all saw royalty treating one of the servants like this, then we were doomed in the next war.

“Enough, Laz. I think she’s learned her place. Haven't you, woman?”  My deadpan growl made the brunette freeze, the rattail end of his braid swinging like a pendulum across his waist.

The blond maid’s loud whimpers echoed before Laziel hissed, forcing her to clamp her lips shut.

I tapped my foot impatiently, briefly considering the extent of her regeneration when she staggered to her feet a moment after.

Such exceptional strength for a maid. She had to have been training for years to develop her stamina like that.

“Your skills are wasted in the wrong uniform. What are you called?” 

My question must have taken the two wolves beside me by surprised because they exchanged surprised looks out of the corner of my eyes.

“You’ve gotta be fucking shitting me, Milburn. You’re gonna recruit her? The maid?” Laziel quipped, the smarting note in his voice showing his contempt for the idea.

Deep bronze eyes stared back at me when I threw him a sidelong look, taking in the too-bright whites of his eyes and the way he was panting loudly.

Rose-gold chains cross-crossed the leather vest and pants he wore, making him look like one of the goth dancers at the fortress tavern.

It complimented his wild gold-brown hair nicely. Made him look more like a muscular with a bad hair day.

Albeit, far be it from me to judge anyone’s fashion. I was almost always in a suit or wearing enough cotton garb that I could be mistaken for a servant.

“I don't often agree with the drunk, Dante, but Laziel’s right. Are you feeling alright? Perhaps you need to sit down—” 

“I’m fine, Ro. Name, woman.” I hedged, cutting off the bigger wolf who held up his hands in surrender, shrugging when Laziel threw him an incredulous look I took to mean ‘shame on you for giving up already,’

“Amenie Falcon, Your Highness. And yes, I...I used to train with my father in Infinity’s army. Y-Your father, His Majesty, trained him,” She rasped, the weight of her admission hanging in the air.

“Alphas,” Doctor Strauss called, and I turned to see him leaning against a noisy dispenser. The maid’s body froze instinctively before she relaxed her shoulders in the same instant.

I could have missed the split-second change if I wasn't looking. Apparently her father’s training wasn't only with her physical endurance but emotions as well.

My wolf’s distaste grew instantaneously.

I didn't like servants who could shapeshift like that.

They were supposed to serve and be out of sight, always having the best interest of their King at heart.

“F-Forgive me if I overstepped, Your Highness…i was, frightened…i will take whatever punishment m’lords see fit,” the blond stammered, shuddering enough that her bent back creaked and sprained until it was strained again.

Her face had taken on a weary hue, as if the events of the night were taking a toll on her.

I almost felt pity….almost.

I couldn't forget how easily that Mabel runt had deceived the council.

Had deceived me.

The shame from that catastrophe and the guilt of Mara’s resentment would chase me into my nightmares.

Just what kind of mules had my father been allowing to run amok in his pack?

And why did I get the distinct feeling the doctor been standing there longer than he’d let on?

“Is my nurse bothering you, Your Highness? I can have her committed for punishment,” He hummed, and something in his tone suggested the punishment would be a very swift, very painful death.

“That wouldn't be necessary, Straus. How would you like to be promoted to handmaiden, Amenie Falcon?” 

“Your Highness?” the blond gasped, wringing her hands in the thick cotton uniform she wore and glancing from me to the doctor and then back to me.

“Yes, Your Highness, that's an awful big promotion to give without consulting your freaking assistants—” Laziel sneered, but I ignored his temperate bitching and the calculating look that had entered Ronan’s eyes.

He wasn't the expert he thought he was at hiding his emotions. At least not from me.

“From now on you will be Ms. Eldwood’s handmaiden. You will serve and protect her, Falcon. And if anything happens to her. If she gets even so much as a scratch from the direct result of your incompetence, I will have your head severed at the gallows,” I boomed, voice sweeping through the waiting room like some sort of devastating storm.

The walls rumbled under the force of my command and the woman sank to her knees reflexively.

She’d bowed her head, but not fast enough for me to miss the flash of irritation in her eyes.

I could have sworn the two had become friends with how closely Amenie had shadowed the woman at the banquet party.

But such aversion? 

There was something here that I was missing…something that I would find no matter the cost.

“Your Highness,” she bowed glumly, accepting her fate before curtseying to my friends who watched her leave in silence.

“How is the royal guest?” Ronan started, beating me to the chase again with how directly rude he could be.

Strauss damned near blinded me when he bowed his bald head and the fluorescent reflected on it stabbed into my eyes.

“This way please,”

The mid-sized hospital room was colder than a witch’s breeches when we entered, and my heart instantly leaped to my throat.

Mara Eldwood lay motionless under the thin white sheets with a warm cloth folded over her head.

“Holy shit, Strauss, its like she's totally wrecked,” Laziel panted, pushing between our stiffened bodies to get closer to her bedside.

If I weren't so worried about the woman too, I would have considered his bed manners creepy.

“What exactly is wrong with her? It couldn't be anything the confessor did, could it?” Ronan started, and I watched the old man open and close his lips wordlessly in a way that made my wolf stand to attention.

Nothing?

“Well, its the strangest thing, Your Highness. Forgive me if I overstep by asking…but how much do you trust this Confessor?” His voice had fallen to a resonating murmur that made the faces of the two men turn to me.

My hands clenched to fists at my side but I ground my teeth to keep my wolf in check.

There was nothing I wanted more than to take the woman in my arms and breathe in the sweet vanilla scent that had almost overwhelmed me at the banquet.

I should have held her then. Accepted her as my mate and forgotten all about fucking Leila.

But now, it was too late. Mara Eldwood, the one chance the moon goddess might have given me for love in my life, was on the brink of death.

A steep slope that I had pushed her off of. 

“If there is something you're hiding, Doctor. Now is the time to tell me. I fear my patience is running thin tonight,” I cautioned, watching his slim throat bob with understanding before he leaned closer and Laziel’s back straightened.

“I think the Princess was never at all the intended target for the attack, Your Highnesses. I think the killer knows the woman is your second chance mate.” he murmured, and I reared back like he had just punched me in my fucking face.

“What are you saying?” Ronan’s impatient growl was the first time I’d heard a lapse in his non-committal monotone, and the doctor’s pale brown eyes flickered to me.

“I’m afraid Princess Triel’s death was a convenient accident, Your Highness. Your true mate should have died in her place.”