Chapter 41: Chapter 41

LUCIUS.

I smelled the blood on him as he passed, and I knew that he was the culprit. I boiled with anger. Why would he murder someone in my castle? A warrior, for that matter?

"Rafael, I'm so sorry. Right now, I know it's not the right time to do this, but can you excuse me?" I asked, and without waiting for him to reply, I turned to Dusk. "I trust you'll be able to keep Rafael company till I get back." I asked her, and she nodded.

"Is it something really urgent?" Rafael asked, looking a bit dissatisfied.

"Yes, it's a bit urgent." I said and excused myself.

I walked quickly away from them, and when I reached the end of the corridor, I looked both ways to see which way he had gone and spotted him turning into another corridor.

I ran at full speed and caught his arm before he could take the stairs.

"Alpha." He said in surprise as his large eyes looked from my right eyeball to the left.

"Follow me." I said in a low growl and walked past him.

He followed me, and I could hear the heavy way his heart pounded.

I went straight to my men, where they stood discussing what to do about the case on the ground, and pushed the suspicious man in front of them.

"What do you think of him?" I asked, and my guards, being as highly trained as my father's, spotted exactly what I had seen.

"Why's there blood on your clothes?" Marcus asked, and the man looked at his cuffs.

"This... This, this is...” He stammered helplessly, and Daryl turned his cheek to the other side.

"This is also blood." He said, and I took a deep breath.

"Take him to the dungeon for proper investigation." I said, and they tackled him down quickly.

"No! It's not what you think! Alpha, I can explain; please don't let them take me!" He shouted, but my men paid no heed.

"Four of you, follow me." I said, and four of the men standing by followed me.

We went to the room the major had come out of. It was quite messy, and the whole place reeked of sweat.

"Alpha Lucius!" Severus called, and I went to him.

The sink in his little bathroom was stained with blood.

"The floor also." He said, and I saw a few drops of blood on the floor.

"Alpha." Another said she was handing me a blue hanky stained with blood.

"I found this in the waste bin." He said, and I took it carefully.

It was obvious what he had done.

His hands had been bloody, and he had wiped them with the napkin, then hurriedly and stupidly dropped them in his waste bin.

In anger, I went to the dungeon.

"He keeps saying he's innocent. He won't say anything." Marcus said to me, and I walked to him.

"What's your name?" I asked, and he swallowed.

"Gareth." He said, and I slammed my fist on the table in front of him and passed the napkin to him. His eyes went wide with horror.

"Who owns this napkin?" I asked, but he kept on looking at the napkin as though it were a friend that had betrayed him.

"Speak up when I ask you a question!" I exclaimed, and he shook.

"It is mine, Alpha." He said, and I sat in front of him.

"This was found in your waste bin; any idea how it got there?  Maybe you killed someone, wiped your hands, and dropped the evidence in a waste bin?" I said, and he shook his head violently.

"I swear on my life, I didn't kill that man." He said in a shaky voice.

"Then explain the blood." I said in a dangerous voice, and he shook his head once more.

"I don't know. I just woke up with blood on my hands; I don't know how it happened." He said, and I felt more angry than I had been.

"You woke up and found blood on your hands?" I asked because his tactless lie made me boil.

"It was as though I had dipped my hands in blood, and then I heard the screams. I swear it wasn't me." He said, and tears leaked out of his eyes.

"Perhaps you can't control your shift?" Marcus asked, and he shook his head.

"I can! If I couldn't, I wouldn't be working in the palace. And you say it was a warrior I killed. How could a random standby guard like me kill a warrior?" He asked, and even though it made some sense, The evidence stood out boldly.

~

DUSK.

I had given Rafael a room to stay in and make himself comfortable, and I had bowed as he left, watching me with those suspicious eyes.

I sighed immediately I left him, and went to the kitchen to get something cold.

I entered the kitchen and looked at the spot where the dead wolf was found. It had been cleaned up, and no one would think anything had happened.

"I need something cold. Not water." I said to one of the maids, and she bowed and went to get it for me.

I looked at the spot where the wolf had lain again, and it gave me the chills.

Then I began to smell something.

It was a weird smell filling my nostrils. Didn't the maid smell it?

They were busy cooking happily. I looked to my right, towards the stores, and walked in that direction. I hadn't walked for long when I saw some drops of blood. I followed the drops, and they led me to a store room that I knew had been abandoned for years.

I felt a chill run up my spine as I knew the smell was coming from that room.

I pushed the door open, and as the light poured in, I saw more and bigger drops, and finally, I covered my mouth.

Before me was a pool of black blood.

He wasn't murdered in the kitchen.

He was murdered in here.