Chapter 34: Chapter 34

Erik's POV

Clara told me everything that happened, and I wondered if it was only a coincidence that I got poisoned by the same thing that killed my father. Is the enemy within the pack, or as Clara said, it's one of the Alphas? If it's one of the Alphas, then who? Alpha Roy was the only werewolf we knew since way back, but it's impossible. He cannot betray my father or our family.

This must be a coincidence and related to Klaus since he also has a witch by his side, and that witch uses a forbidden spell. We need to find Klaus as soon as possible to finish everything related to them. I looked at Clara, who was sleeping peacefully by my side, kissed her, and took a shower. Since she worked the whole day covering for me, she must have been tired, so that I will let her rest for a while.

I made my way towards the office and saw that the papers on my table were organized. I smiled, thinking about my mate. I am so thankful that she is my mate. I sat on my chair and scanned the papers. It was done magnificently. I don't have doubts since it was Clara. She can even run the whole country without my help. I smiled, proud of my mate when someone knocked and entered.

"What do you got for me?" I asked when Vincent entered the office. "I'm glad you're feeling better," he said, and I smiled at him. "There are no traces," he said, feeling disappointed. "You got nothing? You?" I asked in disbelief. Ever since Vincent became my Alpha, he never failed to gather some information.

"There are no traces, and I am confused myself. It was as if it had never happened. I even checked everyone who touched the alcohol and the utensils we used in the party," He explained.

"I see. Who could it be that even you can get nothing out of it" I said, thinking deeply.

"Anyways, when Clara wakes up, call the pack members, and I will announce something," I said, breaking the silence.

"What it's about?" He asked, curious. I smirked at him. "About who will be the next Alpha," I said, looking at him straight in the eyes. Everyone knows he will be the next Alpha since he is my beta, but Vincent has kept avoiding the topic since I became the king. He gulped anxiously.

"Erik, I don't think I can run the pack perfectly like you do," He confessed.

"What are you talking about?" I said, giving him a confused look.

He gave me a questioning look. "Run the pack the way you want. Don't lead the pack copying me. Lead them as Vincent," I said. His eyes grew big, and I just shrugged my shoulders at him. He sighed and brushed his hands on his hair.

"Don't blame me if the pack will say I should have been the Alpha right from the start," he said jokingly. I raised my brow at him and laughed. "Yeah, good luck with that," I said, dismissing his joke. He rolled his eyes, laughed, and said his goodbyes before he left the office.

After a few hours of working in the office, I finally finished everything, slumped my back to the chair, and pinched the bridge of my nose.

"Come in," I said when I heard someone knocking. Clara peeked and smiled at me. "Hiiiiiii," She said, prolonging her greeting.

"Hello," I greeted back, copying her. She giggled and walked toward me. "How are you?" she asked. She was sitting on the chair in front of me. "I am okay now, and thanks to my wonderful mate, I only need to work for a few hours," I said, smiling at her and resting my arms on the table.

"You must be fortunate," She said, giggling. "Yes, I am," I said, looking at her straight in her eyes. She smiled, feeling a bit embarrassed.

"Anyways, let's eat lunch and then go to the hall for your announcement," She said.

"Okay, let's go," I replied, accepting her invitation. I grabbed her hand and held it tightly while we walked.

"Your highness, your majesty" Everyone seated at the table stopped eating and greeted us.

Clara dragged me to the table and pushed me onto one of the seats for me to sit down. I knew she was always here, hanging out with the pack members from time to time, but I didn't realize that she was this comfortable here in the kitchen.

Clara sat beside me quickly and couldn't wait to eat. She leaned closer to me and whispered. "Angela's food tastes the best," She said. I smiled at her. At least she is this comfortable with the pack. When she first came here, she avoided socializing with the pack and was always stuck in her library.

Angela served us a plate full of food. Clara immediately gobbled her food. I laughed at how cute she was. She glanced at me and squinted her eyes. "Eat," She said, mind-linking me.

I focused on my food and talked with the guys. Telling them what my plans are. After resting for a few hours, we all went to the hall.

"I gathered all of you today to announce that I will now be stepping down as your alpha," I started my speech. No one was surprised since this decision was obvious.

"The pack will be the royal guards. You guys will be our hands, ears, feet, and eyes," I said, looking at everyone.

"You will only follow our orders. Since you are the royal guards, no one is above you except us." I said, using my sternest voice—everyone nodded.

"I'll ask everyone at this moment" I paused, looking around the hall. "Are you loyal? Are you faithful? Are you willing to sacrifice?! Can I trust you with all I got?! Tell me!" I shouted, releasing all of my aura. Everyone did not show any signs of fear, anxiousness, and hostility. Their expressions told me that they were even willing to die for us. I nodded at them.

"Then now, your sole purpose is to protect us and the future royals," I said, and everyone cheered. "And," I added. Everyone became quiet, waiting for my following words.

"The one who will lead is none other than Vincent Lee," I announced, and everyone howled. Vincent stepped in front and crouched down, bending on one knee. "Do you accept?" I asked.

"I am honored, your majesty," He replied, and I nodded. I walked closer to him, touched his head, and closed my eyes. I raised his title to Alpha, and now he is officially the pack's Alpha. "Lead our family, well, Alpha Vincent," I said.

"Of course, your majesty," He said, bowing to me one last time before returning to where he was.

"Ian will now be the beta of the pack, and Farkas will be the Gamma, the third in command" Both of them stepped forward and bent one of their knees in front of me.

"Are you willing?" I asked both of them. They put their hand on their chests. "We do your majesty," They both replied in unison.

"The ranks within the pack can change during the competition, and the Queen and I will be present. I will still be watching your progress, so don't even think about slacking off on your training," I said using a threatening voice.

"Yes, your majesty!" Everyone shouted and bowed to us.

I stepped back and walked towards where Clara was sitting, grabbed her hand, and dragged her away from the crowd. "Where are we going?" Clara asked, laughing.

"We haven't had a chance to have our honeymoon," I said, winking at her. She rolled her eyes at me while smiling widely.

"Here in outside?" She asked, and I laughed hysterically.

"Of course not, my love," I said, pinching her nose playfully.

"It seems you are thinking about something else, huh?" I said, teasing her. Her face became red as a tomato.

"Bully," She mumbled. I kissed her forehead and grabbed her hand. I guided her to our spot, where we got engaged and first met each other. I wanted to run away from everything for a second and just want to spend time with my mate.

Clara smiled when she realized where we were and looked at me. "What's happening? Why did you bring me here, babe?" She asked with her sweetest voice.

"Nothing, I just want to spend time with you, and this place is a perfect date for our little getaway," I said, wriggling my eyebrows at her, and she laughed while punching me playfully at my shoulder. We sat there, sitting side by side closely, and watched the beautiful scenery in front of us.

"I always come here to hide whenever my father and I fight or whenever he scolds me," I said, telling her a bit of a story about me, and Clara just listened. "He was a good father, but as a mentor, he was strict that I always felt like I would suffocate, so whenever I felt that I would run here and hide for hours, there was even time that I would hide here for days," I said, reminiscing the past.

"Then, what happened when you got home?" Clara asked. "He won't talk to me, and he will act like I never existed. When mom notices that he is not talking to me, she will scold him," I explained.

"I never saw your mom angry," she said. "Me neither. She never got angry at dad and just scolded him." I spoke.

"I should have talked to my dad more, learned more, but next thing I knew, they were gone. Only mom and Melissa survived. I kept on blaming myself that day. I've hidden here for days, and when I came back, the pack house was burning, everyone was gone, the warriors who were out there conquering some lands rushed back, and they were glad I survived. They made me the Alpha at a young age and taught me how to hunt and kill. The older warriors did this, but their family was always nice to me. The days I came here to rant about how strict my father was changed into coming here to cry. Until I became close with Vincent, we became close, and your brother trained hard. We trained together until he got the beta position to help me. It was hard back then. It was tough and dark, but then I met you," I said. She broke our hug and looked me straight in the eyes with her gold eyes.

She smiled, touched my cheek, and rested her forehead on mine. I also closed my eyes, feeling her warmth. "Days have passed, and mom and melissa returned full of dirt. Mom was a living doll. She didn't talk, eat, move or even glance at me. Melissa just supported her with everything until Melissa tried and told me the whole story of why everyone got killed. Vincent tried to trace the one responsible and only got one lead, and it was the former Alpha of Rogues before Klaus," I said.

Clara's eyes opened instantly, surprised at the information that she got. I kissed her forehead and let her head rest on my shoulder. "I was depressed for a while, focused everything on the pack, and I got through with the help of Vincent, the pack, and Alpha Roy, my father's best friend."

"I waged war on the Alpha of Rogues and killed him, but I didn't know that he has many lives to spare. I've killed him countless times until he never showed himself again. Now that I think about it, maybe Merlin was on the pack of rogues for a long time. Since Klaus showed himself to us after Ian killed him," I added.

"All of the events have too much connection to be called coincidence," Clara whispered, deep in thought. I hugged her tightly, "I had some suspicions then but removed my doubt and chose to trust him. Now that I also got poisoned, the same way my father was killed, the only one who popped into my head was him, and now I can't reject it any longer."

Clara looked at me, curious about the man I had suspicions about but chose to stay quiet. She just looked at me and smiled at me sadly. "What will you do?" She asked. It was the only thing she managed to ask me. "We need to prepare for another war and wait for Tia to come out in her seclusion," I informed her.

I don't want to feel the same as in the previous war, with countless of my getting killed one by one, but I am getting tired of all the fighting. I want to live peacefully with Clara. I hugged Clara, squeezing her tightly, and stood. "Let's go," I said. Clara stood up following my actions her hands immediately found it sweet in my hand. She just kept quiet, listening to every story I told her on our way back to the back house, and she agreed to all of my plans, including waging another war.

Clara's POV

I've always thought I am the most unfortunate werewolf ever, but now I understand that that thought is rubbish. I've been feeling in our mate link that he is feeling down, but I thought that it was because he is still feeling weak from the poison.

The male wolf he is suspicious about must be very close to him. He must have been thinking about whether to follow his suspicion or look for more evidence, but he had already decided.

We walked back to the pack house, walking slowly as we could, enjoying our time together. I looked around at the forest and glanced back at the tree we had just passed through instantly.

"Did you just see someone there?" I asked Angeline.

"I caught a glimpse but didn't see his face," Angeline said. So it was not my imagination.

I looked back at the tree again and saw nothing. Is it someone, or is it just sort of a small tree that we mistook for someone? I asked myself.

I couldn't forget the figure that I saw, and I was deep in thought that I hadn't even realized that we were now at the entrance of the pack house. Erik smiled at him, trying his best to smile at me. I was feeling anxious, so I tugged Erik's hand, and he faced me.

He saw my reaction, stepped closer to me, and touched my cheek. Looking at me worryingly, "I think I saw someone, but when I looked back, it was gone," I confessed.

"Where?" He asked, and I pointed to where I saw the figure.

Judging by the look on Erik's face, he was mind-linking someone. In a matter of minutes, countless warriors jumped out of the door, shifted through the air, and ran straightly to the location I had just pointed out.

"Go inside," Erik said using the sternest voice he had.

"Be careful, my dear," I said, holding him back for a second.

He smiled at me, kissed my forehead, and shifted and growled while running to the forest. I know that Erik is getting sick of these problems. I also want to live peacefully with him. Build a family together and be happy.

Oh, the moon goddess. When will it stop?

I asked, looking at the sky. "Your highness, It's not safe here" I glanced to the side and saw Farkas bowing to me.

"Let's go," I said and entered the pack house.

"Your highness!" Lia and Angela exclaimed, rushing towards me.

"What happened? Who's the trespasser?" Lia asked, full of worry.

"I don't know, I thought it was my imagination, but my wolf also did see someone," I explained.

"Why can't they stay still for a second!" Angela snarled.

"Let's go to the hall and wait for their return," I said, walking towards the hall.

The werewolves left behind were anxiously waiting for the others to return. Everyone was solemn, not saying a word.

At the sound of the door opening, we all glanced at the door, and it was Erik who entered, followed by Vincent and the warriors. I stood, grabbed the helm of my dress, and rushed towards Erik.

"Who is it?" I asked, looking at him anxiously.

"There was someone there, and we found some traces, and Ian is currently following the traces we found in the forest," He explained, holding my hands.

"Is it Klaus?" I asked again. "No," He said, pausing for a while.

I gave him a questioning look, and he looked at me seriously. "It's not a rogue," He said, gritting his teeth due to anger.

"Let's go," Erik said to Vincent and grabbed me towards the office while my brother was following from behind.

We all entered the office, Erik went straight to his chair, and I sat on the sofa on the side. Who is it? Who is the traitor? I wanted to ask Erik, but I wanted him to tell me himself.

"Send a message to the four Alphas I picked to protect the corners of our country, tell them to immediately finish everything and prepare some troops. This will only stay to the five of you," Erik ordered. "We will have another meeting after Ian comes back. Order Lia to prepare some office for me at our house since this will now be your office," He added.

"Who do you think it is?" Vincent asked, and I focused on Erik's reply.

"There is another one close to our pack except for Alpha Roy. It's his cousin, Alpha Louis, I always saw him, and my father fought when I was young," Erik explained. He was one of the guests, but he never showed hostility to us and was quiet.

"Make sure this will stay between us," Erik said threateningly. Vincent nodded and left the office.

Erik then looked at me weakly. "Let's go and have a rest, and you just recovered," I said, smiling sadly at him.

"Yeah, I need that," He said, brushing his hair to the back of his head using his fingers.