Found by the Lycan King

Zenovia

I looked up at Sid with wide eyes and then back at the image in front of

1.

“When did this happen?”

“Two days ago” He answered.

Shit.

It was a massacre. A gruesome one. Bodies were lying everywhere but the fact that the corpses were covered in blood was not what was horrifying.

It was the fact that all of them were killed in a very unique way. The bodies were strewn around the place, blood pooling around from a single wound or rather double wounds from the faces of all those who were dead.

Their eyes had been gouged out but the rest of the body was devoid of any signs of torture or injury. It was as if somebody plucked out their eyes but left the rest of the body intact.

It made my stomach churn and I could not look at it for more than a

minute.

Thankfully, I did not find any familiar faces among them which was a relief.

Sid let me stare at the image for a second before adding.

“Now you see why I did not want to send it to you on the phone.”

I nodded my head.

Yet there were a few things I did not understand.

“What pack do they belong to?” I inquired.

“I am not too sure. The packs are trying to keep it hush and also from letting the news reach the Lycan King?

“Why? He would try to help them.”

Sid took a pause and answered.

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“It could be that they don’t trust him anymore and want to take matters into their own hands or that they fear he would snap their necks for letting the Rogue King claim innocent lives.”

I mustered some courage and dared to look at the picture again.

“Their eyes were gouged out but that wouldn’t kill a person, right? I don’t see any sign of violence or injuries on the rest of the body of the

corpses.”

Sid smiled. “Good observation. I noticed that too. And somehow I fear that he might want to target you again and you would be reckless enough to want to fight him.”

Huh. He thought I was brave? I had not even been able to fight him the last time he tried to drug me.

As if reading my thoughts, he added.

“Bravery is not just when you fight. It is when you take a stand against the wrong. I am beginning to see the subtle changes in your behavior and attitude. For the love of Goddess, I came here to warn you to not go looking for him. He is a psychopath, Zen.”

For the love of Goddess…if only I had any love left for her.

The cogs in my brain were starting to turn. An idea was taking shape in my mind.

“The Rogue King did that for sure but why? He has been silent for all these days and suddenly he starts killing people out of the blue? That makes no sense.”

Sid rubbed his left temple with a finger before answering.

“He has not been silent all these days. His earlier plan of separating the young ones from their homes did not go down as well as he had hoped for.”

I titled my head, “What do you mean?’

“When he came up with that plan, he thought the lycan King would come looking for him. He thought the Lycan King would be desperate and want to negotiate a truce or talk. Sadly, King Callahan never showed any signs of doing so.”

“May I?” I asked and Sid nodded as I pulled his phone towards me and

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began looking at other images in his phone. It was rude to simply start scrolling through the images on somebody else’s phone without asking permission.

I had my manners. However, Sid did not bother checking what I was doing with his phone as he continued.

Instead, he looked at the menu and ordered sandwiches, fries and juice for both of us.

“No, I am not hungry, Sid.” I waved my hands off when he repeatedly asked me what I would like to have.

Sid changed his order and ordered just juice for me while he kept his order same. In fact, he doubled it.

I ignored the urge to ask him why he was eating so much at this hour and waited for his answer to my earlier question.

When he saw me looking at him expectantly, he began.

“The Rogue King expected the parents of the kids to pressure the Lycan King to give in to his demands so that he could have an easy way out, but Callahan did no such thing. I assume he was ready to let a few kids die and see how far the Rogue King would go.”

At that I shook my head.

“Callahan would never let innocent people die, at least not willingly. He had his men look after the kids from a distance and had ordered them to take action if anybody tried to harm them.”

“That’s what the Rogue King thought too…I mean about not letting the kids die part. But turns out Callahan did not budge in all these months that the kids left their homes. The Rogue King wanted him flustered and miserable. But the Lycan King turned him anxious. He carried out his meetings and lived his life as if nothing had ever happened. No party was sent to search for the Rogue King I think. Even I am surprised how the Lycan King let that slide. He is supposed to protect us after all.” © 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

“You don’t know what the Lycan King has gone through, Sid. And I am sure you don’t expect him to make his plans public so that it would easily reach the Rogue King’s ears.”

Sid nodded. “Fair point. I would still say King Callahan has really not been paying attention.”

11:03

I narrowed my eyes at Sid.

“Speaking ill about your King while you lounge calmly in that chair is kind of low, you know that, right?”

Sid straightened his back but did not say anything further.

I recall Callahan always being buried in files and meetings. He did not even eat or sleep much while he was trying to figure out how to solve the issue peacefully.

Then there was the fact that the Rogue King had not really left any solid clues that led to him. There were confusing ones that would make Callahan’s men go round and round in circles.

After a few times, Callahan simply asked them to stop looking for the clues and just keep an eye on the children. And Callahan had not said it expressly, but I think he feared he would lose his cool and go

feral if he ever stepped into the battlefield and hurt innocent people instead of enemies.

I strongly believed that was the reason he would be holed up in the office.

Besides, a lot had happened. Callahan had already lost his control once and had almost gravely injured Elijah and destroyed a good chunk of the open lawns last time. I had become his anchor as well. But that

knowledge was limited to our pack. Sid did not know of it nor did I want to tell him stuff.

It was always good to have an element of surprise.

“So he decided to leave a more violent message for Callahan?” I inquired.

Sid shrugged, “Seems like it.”

I had been scrolling through the gallery and I saw a photo of our living room where my father was seated with Luna Celeste.

They were having dinner and father appeared to be a bit tense. His health had declined. There were bags under his eyes and his cheeks seemed hollow. He had lost weight as well.

My fingers hovered over the image for a second as I looked at the most recent image of my father before swiping it away.

And then there was another image of my cabin, the place I had been calling my home before I was thrown out of the house after Luna Celeste

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Chapter 142 showed up.

The cabin was just like I had seen it last time but in a better condition. The room was not in an abandoned state but was clean and not turned into a storehouse.

A lump began to form in my throat that I quickly swallowed before pushing the phone in Sid’s direction. If he noticed my reaction, he did not say anything.

“Now the more important question- how does he know you? And how do you have these images?”

Sid crouched further and lowered his voice to a whisper after glancing around to see that the other customers were not eavesdropping.

“The last time he was looking for Callahan’s weakness, he searched through all the packs and thought you were one because you were the only girl the Lycan King had ever taken in his pack. And since you have become a permanent member of his pack, the Rogue King thinks you

still are Callahan’s weakness.”

After learning all about the Moon Goddess and the First Children, the threat posed by the Rogue King did not scare me anymore but I did fear losing Callahan. He did not deserve any more hatred or rivalry.

He deserved to live his life quietly and in peace.

“Am I?” I asked, a bit too sharply.