FOUR

AUBURON

It was now 3 days before the royal ball and I do what I do every morning. I go and visit Layla. When I walked into the pack hospital no one says anything although all eyes are on me. Each person just bows as I pass. But, I do prefer it that way. Walking into the silence allows me to mentally prepare to see my sister. Opening the door to her room, I see her frail body in her hospital gown, and I hear the monitors hooked up to her beeping. I take a deep breath before I sit beside her and grab her hand. 

“Hey, sis,” I say. “I know you probably can’t hear me, but I miss you more every day. I’m working tirelessly to find the culprit that did this to you. I feel the consistent agony you’re in and if it were up to me I would take on all your pain if it meant that I could have you back. I need my twin back. You know there’s no me without you, Lay. I can't believe you’re going to miss this extra-ass royal ball that our parents are throwing in hopes that I can find my mate.” I pause as I sit back in the chair dragging my hands through my hair and then down my face. “Goddess, mom even sent invitations to every wolf pack,” I say chuckling. “I don't even want to know what they looked like or what they said. It probably says something like “Please bring every she-wolf to the royal palace for a chance to mate with my son. P.S. He’s going to be king” I say now cracking up at my humor. 

“Sis, I need you to be there. I don't know how I'm going to handle all these she-wolves and lycans throwing themselves at me. Goddess, I don't even want to think about how many dances I'm going to have.” I say rolling my eyes at the thought. “But Lay, if you can hear me, please hang in there. I will find out who did this to you, and I will make them pay. I love you. I’ll come to see you in the morning.” I leave her room feeling the usual sadness that I do every time I leave her. 

Coming out I run into my father. He looks just as I know I do while walking into this place. My family and I are close. We always have been until the situation with Layla happened. All we know is that she was attacked in her room, with no scent, left behind, just my sister bleeding out onto her bedroom floor. “My king,” I say bowing to him. My father is a bit old-fashioned and appreciates those customs in public. He says that we teach people how to treat us. A.K.A if my son treats me like the king, everyone else will. 

“Hello, son.” He says. “Did you just come back from visiting your sister? I was just on my way there.”

“There's no other reason why I would be here, my king,” I say.

He nods knowing that he asked a rhetorical question. He and my mother both know that I come here every morning. After a moment of silence, I say “Well, I will see you back at the palace my king.” I bow then leave. It's safe to say that our relationship is strained. Each of us has taken what happened to my sister differently. My mother was overtaken by sadness, and my father threw himself into work and dealing with the council. As for me, any ounce of happiness I felt was replaced by anger. I couldn't be sad. I was pissed. I wanted whoever did this to pay. 

As I walked back into the palace I saw Ashli hurrying towards me. “M-my prince!” She yelled. “How is your morning?!” Goddess, I don't even know why she tries. Ashli is a lycan in our kingdom, her parents being one of the richest families. I know that her persistence with me is only for the sake of my choosing her as my chosen mate. “Fine,” I say. “Oh! That’s great! My morning is also fine! I tried to see if the queen would like to walk the gardens with me but she said she’s busy!” she says. Yeah, busy trying to get away from you. I thought. “Would you like to walk in the gardens with me?” She asks. “No,” I say firmly and speed up my pace as I walk toward Layla’s room.

No one has been in here since the night everything happened. Our guards did a sweep for any scents or anything suspicious and it was like there was no one here at all. I walked around her large room, her bed made, with the sun beaming through her big windows. I stalked toward her dresser which was closest to the sliding door that lead to her balcony. “They must have left through here,” Carro says. I agree. I walk around her dresser trailing my fingers over them, opening her drawers, and I bend down to open each one, I see something silver underneath. Her necklace. Her moonstone heart-shaped necklace that she never took off. “She was fighting back during the attack” Carro states. I agree. I expected nothing less from my twin. Out of the two of us, her temper is worse. 

When I make it to her sliding door, I inspect her sheer white curtains and I notice faint blood droplets. I sniff it. When that scent registered in my nose, my eyes flashed red!