Queen of the Lycan, Karina Espinosa [accelerated reader books .TXT] 📗

“Of course, anything,” I answered quickly. “I’ll go to the library right away.” The castle had a vast library with its very own archivist.

“No.” He stopped me. “First, yer going to shift and heal. That’s a nasty wound.”

“Oh.” I looked down at my thigh again. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“Ye can nae be so reckless, Mackenzie. Nae anymore. Yer going to be Queen soon. Ye have a whole people to worry about and protect. It’s a huge responsibility, and one that can nae be taken lightly. Ye understand?”

“I understand,” I mumbled like a scolded child. But he was right. It wasn’t just me and Bash that I had to worry about. I had the future of a whole species to consider. I couldn’t forget about them. “How are you feeling?” I changed the subject.

“All healed.” Alexander rubbed his chest. “I’ll be fine, Mackenzie. They can nae enter the castle.”

“Right.” I slid down from the bed and hobbled on one foot. “Well, I’m going to go shift and then I’ll head to the library with Bash. Do you want me to take your place at this evening’s Council meeting?”

“Would ye?” Alexander asked hesitantly and I nodded. “Very well. I look forward to yer notes.”

Saying our goodbyes, I stumbled from the King’s chamber and headed straight for the rear of the castle and to the field where I could shift in peace. It made me wonder how close to the castle Fenrir truly was.

5

After shifting and healing, I headed back to the guest wing to shower and change clothes. I was a walking nightmare, with dirt and dried blood saturating my clothes and skin. Bash was lounging in the common room watching TV when I arrived. I quietly slipped past him to the bedroom, wanting more than anything to delay the inevitable confrontation I knew was coming. I quickly showered and dressed in comfortable clothes before walking to the common area where Bash was sitting in the same spot as before. I made a cup of coffee using the fancy coffee machine that Helena brought in for me and then joined Bash on the sofa.

“I need your help,” I said haltingly, then took a sip from my mug. “Alexander wants me to do some research and I could really use an extra pair of eyes.”

Bash sighed heavily and lowered his head. “I would have backed you up, you know.”

“I know,” I whispered. “I should have gone to you. I don’t know why I always have to do things the hard way.”

He finally peered at me and his ocean blue eyes pierced me in place. “Because you don’t trust easily. But I need you to trust me.”

“I do trust you!” I edged closer to him. “It’s not that, Bash, I swear. I—I just always think I can handle everything on my own and I hate the idea of being seen as a damsel in distress. Most of the time I can handle myself just fine, but this … this time I can’t, Bash. I messed up.” I looked down at my mug.

He nodded as if my admission wasn’t surprising. “I know. I felt your fear.”

My gaze whipped back up to him. “You did?”

“Yeah. You want to tell me what happened?”

I shook my head. “Not particularly.”

Bash reached out and gave my knee a comforting squeeze. “Okay. So what kind of research are we doing?”

I exhaled a relieved breath and chugged the rest of my coffee before speaking, using caffeine to bolster my scattered thoughts. “We need to figure out what those flying people are. No one’s ever seen them before. I think they’re angels.”

“Angels?” Bash repeated incredulously.

“You didn’t see them up close like I did. They had bird feathers and they were huge and beautiful and … angelic,” I finished lamely. “And if Fenrir is a god, well, then it makes sense that they’re angels, right?” I added, more to convince myself than anything.

“So you’re saying they looked like angels?” Bash confirmed.

I twisted my mouth to the side and considered how to respond. “Well, in the village they looked more like warriors entering a battlefield. But Raven – the one I encountered with Fenrir in the forest – well, she looked more like me.”

“What do you mean, ‘more like you’?”

I sighed, struggling to put my thoughts into words. “I mean, she was wearing jeans and a tank top. She seemed comfortable and casual—very human.”

Bash leaned forward and braced his elbows on his knees. “What does that mean?” he murmured.

“I don’t know, but I think we should head to the library and find out all we can on angels,” I announced with authority, standing from the sofa. I placed my empty mug on the coffee table and we exited the common room without a word, walking hand-in-hand out of the guest wing. Once we pushed through the doors of our wing, we were escorted by two King’s Guards to the library, which was located on the left side of the castle on the lower level.

As we hiked across the castle, I couldn’t help but wonder how safe we truly were here. With flying creatures, there was no point depending on a drawbridge for security; they could fly over the top and enter whenever they wanted. Unless there were protective wards covering the castle. Then again, there were supposed to be wards in place in the village and forest, but they still managed to get through those. All these thoughts raced through my mind as we trekked to the library. I was startled when we arrived, surprised I didn’t even remember the walk.

The guards opened the library doors and we entered a spacious room filled to bursting with row after row of wall shelves and freestanding bookcases, all crammed full of every manner of subject. The room was immense, and I had a mild panic attack when I realized how improbable it was that we would find what we needed in the mountain of books that were available.

“The archivist is over there.”