Semua Bab Captured by the Alpha King : Bab 51 - Bab 60

Blood.It’s blood on my hands, across the front of my gown. I cast my gaze to my sisters, first; Clare and Tara are both wide-eyed, but I see no obvious wounds on them.The acolyte is on the ground, a throwing knife lodged in her spurting throat.“Protect the queen!” someone shouts.It’s Owen.I throw my hand out to grab him. I need an anchor in the chaos. He would never let them hurt me, never let—He grunts in pain and staggers back. More blood splashes across my gown and I scream.Someone grabs me, and I’m torn from Owen’s side. The last thing I hear him say is, “Get the queen to safety!”“What’s going on?” Tara cries as the thrall guard drags us into the empty ballroom.I look back at the crowd as the doors close and fear claws up my throat.“Take them to the residence,” the head guard orders. “I want shutters, spike strips, nobody leaves through the front gate.”I blink at him, thinking he’s talking to me, but he’s speaking into his wire. Someone grabs me by the arm and physicall

My phone rings at six in the morning. I answered it, my pulse lodged in the hollow of my throat, choking me. The surgeons from Greater London arrived around midnight, and they were working on Owen when I went to bed. I’m sure this is the call I’ve been sleeplessly waiting for.“Ella? Is this Ella?”“Hannah?” I have never been glad to hear my best friend’s voice. “You’re okay? You’re all okay?”“We’re fine, we got out!” There are tears in her voice and muffled sniffing as she says, “You’re alive.”“Of course, I’m alive.” I fumble to turn on the bedside lamp. “Do people not know that?”“No one knows anything,” Hannah tells me. “There hasn’t been a peep out of Aconitum Hall. Nobody knows if the coup was successful.”“It wasn’t,” I state firmly. “I made a video addressing the pack last night. It’s going to be distributed through the private network.”“You made it?” Hannah asks. “Does that mean that the king…”“Honestly? I have no idea.” I rub my forehead. “He wasn’t dead when I went to be

Though werewolves heal fast, Owen’s wounds are so severe that even aided by thrall magic, he’s still restricted to his bed two weeks later. I get updates on his ailment multiple times a day, from an entire team of thrall doctors and physical therapists.With every positive health milestone he achieves, the more I allow myself to be angry with him. He had to know that by announcing us king and queen of both Toronto and Greater London he would create an uproar. I had to scramble to organize an emergency council meeting, to force them all to swear fealty again.At least, those council members who aren’t currently in our dungeons.Not that I could trust any of them, even when they trembled on their knees in front of me. People are scared of me, so my video address at least did something. But there’s no way people just happened to come to the coronation armed, no way they just happened to have those weapons concealed well enough that security didn’t detect them.The riot was planned, and m

se are rough estimates.” Jonah looks between us. “Anything substantial happened to the two of you thirty and six years ago.”My stomach flips over.Five years ago, I invoked the Right of Accord and left my pack.Twenty-five-ish years before that, Owen had done the same thing.I expect to see those facts register on his face, but they don’t. My thoughts are such a jumble, that the only way I can express what’s going through my mind is to whisper, “The Right of Accord.”He blanches.Intrigued by the change in tone, Jonah sits up, giving us an interesting incline of his head. “All right, you two. Spill the beans.”Owen casts a questioning glance at me, but I can only shrug. I have no idea what the rules are about disclosing this information to a human magician. I wouldn’t tell a random human on the street about it, but he knows about werewolves already. Not telling him won’t keep our existence a secret.Owen comes to the same conclusion. “The Right of Accord is a rarely invoked law among

“Black moonstone.”Xiao drops the pendant, now enclosed in a plastic baggie, onto the table between Owen and me.He leans forward in his chair and reaches for the baggie, but I’m not taking any chances. I smack his hand away with an annoyed, “Don’t touch it!”I’m still shaking, Even though we’re on the plane and safely away from Wyrding House, I’m still terrified that yet another shoe is going to suddenly drop.I made Xiao threaten the thrall pilots and leave a member of her trusted team in the cockpit as a reminder.I am not going to die today.Xiao gestures to the unremarkable-looking cabochon in the pendant. “The assassin who took your hand had some in a bracelet. I think it’s fair to assume that this is what they’re using to change.”I shake my head. “Moonstone is a pretty common gem, isn’t it? I’ve never heard of it… this.”“Maybe that’s why we never heard of it,” Owen muses. “If we knew, perhaps we wouldn’t need the thralls and their rituals.”“There’s thrall magic involved here