Chapter 113: Chapter 113

~ ROWAN

Grabbing the rope in my teeth, I continued down the path.

It irritated the inside of my mouth a bit, but overall did not do much. It just felt like having a bar of soap in my mouth.

Further down the path, I saw more ropes, all cut up and thrown onto the path as if someone had dropped them in a hurry and sure enough, they all had Nyssa’s scent on it. The final piece of rope was found mere feet away from a path that led onto the road.

“That explains how they got her out without anyone seeing them,” my lycan said to me. “They must have parked a car here.”

I agreed wholeheartedly, but there was no way to track the car. Over a day had passed, different cars had driven past the same area.

With the ropes in my mouth, I ran back to the palace. It was still pitch black and Jeremiah would be asleep by now. If I were to wake him, I knew he would drop everything and do as I asked, but Aria’s words rang in my head so I waited.

I sat in my study, staring at the pieces of rope spread out on my desk.

The exhaustion must have caught up to me at some point because I suddenly jerked awake, my heart hammering as the remnants of my dream fled from my mind. I sat up straight with a curse, running a hand through my hair in frustration.

The sun was high up in the sky now, and birds chirped in the distance. Once I had gotten the smell of dirt and grass off me and changed into new clothes, I immediately headed out to find Jeremiah.

As one of my sentinels, he lived in the palace although most of his work was done at the soldier’s village.

I found him standing in the courtyard, locked in conversation with some guards.

“Your Majesty!” he said, surprised when he saw me. He bowed low. “We haven’t found anything yet—”

“I did.” I handed him the ropes. “There is some kind of chemical—”

“It is wolf’s bane,” he answered instantly. “I recognize the smell. It weakens a werewolf, cuts them off from their wolf. It’s a plant really, a beautiful flower that blooms in the moonlight, but when harvested, it could be deadly. It does not harm us though… we are not wolves.”

I gritted my teeth. “Does it cause them pain?”

He hesitated for a moment before nodding.”

As if I could not feel any words.

The knowledge that she was in pain was enough to fucking do me in.

“Find where the ropes came from,” I ordered. “Find out what shops sell it and who purchased it in the days leading up to when she went missing.”

He bowed. “Of course, Your Majesty. I will be on my way.”

He barked out some orders to the guards before disappearing down the side of the palace. I watched him leave, suddenly feeling a tad bit hopeful that we were getting closer.

“Did you sleep at all last night?” a voice drawled from behind me. “Or did you spend the whole time trying to find new leads?”

I turned to find Aria leaning against a pillar, her hair tied up into a messy ponytail. She looked well rested which was more than I could say for myself.

“You are running on fumes,” she chided. “You cannot keep doing that.”

“I do not care for your lecture, Aria,” I told her simply.

“Fine, then you don’t care to know that I already spoke to the inn keeper. She’s expecting us.”

My head snapped up instantly. “Are you serious?”

She nodded. “I care about her too, you know? You don’t have to do this alone. We’re all as invested in finding her as you are.”

Somehow, I doubted that. No one wanted to find her more than I did.

Perhaps it was guilt because of our last conversation, or maybe it was fear, but there were driving factors in me that they would never be able to understand.

“I’ll drive,” I murmured.

She did not protest. She merely tossed me the keys. “We better leave then.”

The inside of the inn smelled like baked goods, and it was filled with people chattering over cups of tea and plates of eggs. Laughter echoed and noise reverberated on the walls but I ignored it all, following Aria towards the front desk where a plump woman sat, her greying hair tied into a bun.

She bowed low. “I must say, it is an honor to have you in my establishment, Your Majesty.”

’I gave her a tight smile. “I wish it were under better circumstances.”

“What might I do to help?’

“There is a man who claims to do laundry here. He claims to have helped some guests carry something across the border two nights ago.”

She rolled her eyes with a groan. “I have warned him against getting involved in guest business. I don’t know exactly, but I did see him speaking to two patrons two days ago.”

“Do you have their names?”

She nodded. “Of course, let me just pull it up.”

She flipped through an open book, eyes ghosting over every page at breakneck speed.

As she did, a man walked up to the other side of the desk, wearing a coat of deep brown. I did not notice him at first, not until the woman at the desk spoke.

“Thank you for staying with us, Alpha Henry. I do hope you have a safe ride back to your pack.”

My head snapped up quickly, staring down the man in question. He was a couple of inches too short to be Henry, and his hair was the wrong shade.

“Henry?” I asked and he turned.

Our gazes locked and pure, unadulterated fear flashed through his eyes. Before I could say a word, he threw his bags on the floor and took off running.

My lips curled.

I love a good chase.

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