Blood of the Wolf: The Crown (Mackenzie Grey Book 11), Karina Espinosa [top 10 ebook reader txt] 📗

I dropped to the first person I reached, a luna, and pressed two fingers to her throat to check for a pulse. Luckily, I found it quickly. She was breathing. I checked a few more bodies and found they were all still alive.

“What the hell …?” Raven murmured as she ran in behind me.

I stood and met her perplexed stare. “They’re alive. I don’t know what he did, but they’re alive. I have to find Ranulf.”

I hurried down the corridor toward the throne room, bursting through the heavy wooden doors to find it empty, though the halls were littered with unconscious guards slumped over every space. I ran down the corridor to the council room, passing by all the portraits of previous Kings and trying to avoid all the prone bodies on the ground.

I opened the doors to the council room and found the Council members passed out in their seats, slouched over the table. Ranulf was on the ground. Sliding to the floor beside him, I quickly checked his pulse, relieved to see the steady rise and fall of his chest. I shook him, but there was no response. “Come on, Ranulf, wake up!” I tapped his cheeks lightly. Nothing. I shook him harder and then hit him with a resounding smack across his face.

Ranulf gasped and jerked awake, clutching his cheek. “Hells bells!” he groaned. “What did ye do that for?”

I punched him in the arm. “Damnit, Ranulf! How could you let him take Alexander away?” I cried.

Ranulf looked around the room manically and quickly stood. “Where’s Alexander?”

I sighed, rubbing my hands over my face roughly. “Abaddon took him. He wants me to meet him in the forest tomorrow at noon. By myself, this time. He took Alexander as his insurance policy that I’ll show.”

Ranulf ran a hand through his hair in frustration. “I’m sorry, Yer Majesty. It’s all my fault.”

My chest caved in on itself in grief for Alexander, but I couldn’t find it in me to place the blame on Ranulf, Alexander’s most trusted guard. No matter how angry I was. Because truth be told, it wasn’t his fault. The fault didn’t lie with any of us. We were dealing with an enemy stronger than us, one whom we hadn’t learned how to fight against. I couldn’t expect Ranulf to do the impossible.

I shook my head. “No. It’s not your fault. There’s nothing you could have done.” I heard the heavy footfalls of someone running and knew it was Bash even before I caught his scent.

He burst into the council room with labored breaths, taking in the bewildering sight of all the unconscious Council members strewn throughout the room.

“What happened?”

“Abaddon happened.”

12

I couldn’t sleep a wink that night. After we woke everyone up from the state of slumber in which Abaddon had ensnared them, there was nothing else to do but wait. I was grateful the Summits weren’t staying in the castle and weren’t affected by Abaddon’s latest mind-fuck. That was one headache I wasn’t prepared to take on.

When Ranulf and Bash finally convinced me to go to bed, all I could do was lie there and stare at the ceiling all night long, my thoughts consumed with what Abaddon had planned for Alexander. What condition was he in? Was he being treated okay? The questions were endless, and my vivid imagination ran wild with all manner of diabolical situations.

By the time my alarm went off the next morning, all I did was blink and reach over to shut it off. I hadn’t even dozed off, as tortured as I was by my fear. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one suffering. Bash never came to bed last night. I was certain he spent those hours trying to figure out a way to not send me into the forest alone.

After a quick shower, I dressed comfortably and added a pair of running shoes. If I was trekking back into the forest, I needed to be able to run when the time came.

I headed straight for the council room, too on edge to eat. The Queen’s Council was already gathered and peering at each other in silence, lost in their own thoughts. I wondered if any of them had slept, either.

“Good morning,” I greeted. They all stood as I entered and waited for me to take my seat before they reclaimed their own.

“Morning, Yer Majesty,” Ranulf said with a bow. “We hope ye slept well.”

I gave him a half-hearted smile but didn’t answer. I didn’t want to lie.

“We’ve been working on a plan to secretly send back-up with you when you leave for the forest,” Bash started. “We ca—”

“No.” I held up a hand to stop him. “No back-up. I go in alone.”

“Your Majesty, you can’t possibly trust this demon!” Maria, the luna from Barcelona cut in. “He will try to kill you.”

“He already tried once; what’s to stop him from doing it again?” Junior joined in. “You’d be a fool to go in alone.”

“Then I’m a fool, but I’m a fool who’s protecting someone’s life. He has Alexander!” I looked at every single one of them. “We don’t know what he’s willing to do to him if I don’t follow instructions.”

“Will you just listen to the plan we’ve come up with?” Bash insisted. “You might actually like it.”

“Listen to his plan, Yer Majesty,” Ailios suggested. “Since my Highlanders cannae be with ye, this is a good alternative.”

My nostrils flared in aggravation, but I waved for him to continue.

“No matter how much I want to send in an army with you into the forest, we know we can’t do that for Alexander’s sake. But there is someone we can send. Someone who is nonthreatening and considered a friend to Abaddon. He wouldn’t even think this person would be there as protection for you.”

I frowned. “Who?”

Bash grinned. “Lucian.”

My jaw dropped slightly. “Lucian?” I took a minute to think about it. Lucian mentioned he was friends with Abaddon. I mean, they had