Chapter 16

Lily was in so much pain; the ice water wasn't enough, and her wolf had gone quiet. There was a knock at the bathroom door; she sat in the tub, hugging her knees.
There was more knocking, this time, more frantic. Lily didn't hear it anymore. She was in the throes of pain, screaming and scratching at herself, trying to get it to stop. As two of her guards came into the room, the door was shattered.
"What is wrong with her?"
Sam looked at the little she-wolf; she was clearly in pain, almost insane with it. The worst of it, though, was all the blood from her trying to scratch it out.
She looked up at Sam, "Please. Leave. I can't..take much..more."
"What do you need?"
"Ice"
Sam looked to his partner, "Go get as much Ice as you can find, send someone out to get more." His partner took off at a run. Sam sat on the edge of the tub, he wanted to help, but he was afraid that touching her would worsen.
"Do you know what is wrong, little wolf??"
"Yes"
"Well, are you going to tell me?"
"No"
"There is no point in you being stubborn; you need help. So come clean. Are you on drugs or something?"
"No"
"Little Wolf, I can't help you if I don't know what is happening. So spill it already."
"I'm not going to tell a bunch of idiot werebears about personal female stuff."
"Oh my, I think I know what is going on; you’re in heat, aren't you?"
She gave him what he was sure was her best death glare. Which told him he had a bingo. "What need's to be done? You need more ice to cool down; what else."
"There is nothing else you can do; I need my mate for this."
"Tell me where I can find him, and I will bring him to you."
"He is dead."
At that moment, the other guard brought in several buckets of ice. " I emptied the ice machine, it is making more, and I sent Mika and two others out to get what they could find."
"Good, now go to the forest spring and bring back some ice-cold water,” Sam emptied the Ice into the bath, and the little wolf calmed down some." Handing the buckets back to the other guard with instructions to keep gathering them.
Sam also brought the shower curtain out at an angle, so no one would be able to see her. Giving her some sense of privacy anyway. Poor little wolf must be mortified.
He also brought out all the softest towels he could find, not that there was much soft anything in this house. Sam had to contact his Leader and tell him what was going on with their guest. This was some crazy shit—good thing that she is a wolf and not a bear. Otherwise, we would have males in here hanging from the rafters.
He stepped out of the bathroom, mind linking Jack.
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Marco and Jack were sitting on the porch of the little cabin, and both of them were disheartened. "What kind of messed up piece of the shit pack is this? How do you get so bad that your wolves leave? What makes someone do that?"
Jack ran his hand through his hair, "I don't know if there is a good reason for that. There is no excuse for it. They are pure evil. At first, I just thought we'd mess around with them, piss them off a bit. "
"Now I am declaring war. I go to the King tomorrow to report; I will ask to be the enforcer and executioner; I know that is Duncan's Job, but he can't leave Adira, and I would never ask him. I am free now, and my boys have been itching for a good fight. I always take care of my boys."
"No one should ever suffer like that, I told Sam to take care of Lily the best he could, and Duncan sent one of his elder healers and a mage to help. Let's hope that we can all get this mess sorted."
"Jack, don't forget that Duncan will want a piece of that shit pie too."

"Oh, he will. You see, I forgot to get him a present for his birthday. This year, I will give him his very own punching bag named, The Alpha Michael Punching Bag; it is a top-of-the-line model. The perfect gift for those friends with a more eccentric kind of taste, Duncan will love it."
"Maybe pick one up for me too; since finding out about all this crap, all I have wanted to do was play beat up the asshole."
"This brings me to another thing, Jack; once we clean the house, so to speak, what are we going to do with all the victims?"
"Marco, I don't know yet. I feel there are many more victims than we suspect."
Jack stood up and stretched, "Well, I will go home and get ready for my audience with the King. See how my guest is doing; see if any of my guys are mortified yet."
"Yeah, I got pack business to get caught up and a prisoner to interrogate. Duncan's sister Marnie is here now, and she will help them as much as she can. The Doc and the mages will all be coming and going. I should take as much of the load as possible; our Luna is a priority."
Right then, they heard a gut-wrenching scream coming from inside. Both Marco and Jack were sad and angry at the same time. Marco looked at Jack..."Promise me that you make it hurt before you kill them." Jack nodded and faded into the forest, just as Marco silently shifted into wolf form and ran off into the woods. In the distance, Marco let out a single howl for his Luna.
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Eric Williams had the perfect plan to rid himself of his mate once and for all. He went to a herbalist for the perfect poison. It kills in about an hour, an hour of agony but the ideal thing about it is it takes away your ability to speak.
Now all he had to do was get it into her food or wine at dinner, and bingo, he could be the merry widower.
Joann Williams just returned from a very expensive Herbalist; the poison she bought killed the victim in about an hour; it is a slow and painful death. It takes away your ability to speak or call for help. Now all she had to do was bake that idiot his favorite cherry pie, and just like that, she will play the role of the merry widower.
When Eric came through the door of their tiny apartment, he could smell his favorite dessert, Cherry Pie.
Joann came out of the kitchen wearing an apron, "Hello Eric; the Mayson's have invited us out for dinner tonight; I made you your favorite Pie. I noticed how stressed you had been lately with everything going on, and I thought you would like to have your favorite dessert.
I have it ready to go with some wine, pie, and candlelight when we get home. Just the two of us, like it used to be.
Eric thought, well, how about that she did a splendid job planning her murder scene. Perfect.
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The prince was at his favorite resort; he had to stay away from the royal court. He found out yesterday that his father was investigating Rising Moon. He hoped to the goddess that he was kept out of it, no telling what his father would do if he found out his role in it all.
He was not a fool; he knew what his father would do if he knew that he was involved in the activities of Rising Moon and one of its founders.
He did have some money tucked away for a rainy day; it wouldn't be enough to get far. He felt no amount of money would be enough to help him hide from his father's wrath.
He knew he must let Spare go and get rid of any evidence that would tie him to any of this. It is the only way for him to come out of this smelling like a rose. Even if he must marry the ugly princess, he can still have his side action. That is why he contacted his spy within Rising Moon; he will take care of the evidence and put it all on Alpha Michael. He also informed his spy to get the formula for the Aphrodite's Kiss. That will come in handy for future profits.
It could help with future endeavors or blackmail, nothing like a little hot sex in kinky ways to make a person pay up. He sat and pondered more ways he could use the drug. Maybe he could use it on the horse face princess to make her more palatable.
He wished his father had died when his mother died; no, he had to continue for the kingdom, now he felt he had to make more plans on how to become King sooner than later; as for his stupid brother, well, He didn’t want anything to do with the crown so it shouldn’t be a problem, but if he changed his mind he would have to come up with a solution to get rid of him too and his family.
His father cut his brother out of everything, dear old Dad gave him some of their mother’s money, and then Adam just disappeared from all eyes of the world. If he knows what is good for him, he will stay that way.