Tangled Hearts - The Alpha's Baby Mama -
Chapter 91: Three years ago...
Chapter 91: Three years ago...
Noah POV
It seemed like my breath was knocked out of my lungs as I stared at the shrunken, severed head of Tanner in the wooden chest. My heart was pounding so fast and loud that I feared Xavier and Kurtis would hear it. The figure in the chest was unmistakably, Tanner.
For one, he had the hidden mark of a Lycan King carved on his left ear and then my eyes spotted a hand that had the royal seal and ring of a Lycan that glues on our skin from the day we take our oath until the day we hand over to our successor. For the ring to still be in his hand and possession, meant that he didn’t hand it over to anyone.
Memories of how we met several times – most times during annual meetings or at balls over the years came to my mind. Tanner was a quiet person... almost looked like a snob and only spoke when he was spoken to. He always didn’t follow whatever plans we had because he would always argue that he knew his people best and would do what was right for them and not some widely accepted solution that is not structured to solve any problem in particular.
Eventually, we warmed up to each other, in one of the last conferences we attended where I had vehemently kicked back against the motion that we have a Lycan Head over us. It was a bad idea because asking several Kings to still answer to another sovereign head wouldn’t go down well. Most of us still had stubborn Alphas in our regions to contend with and as far as the hierarchy of power in the werewolf clime was concerned, the Lycan King was the sovereign head.
What was most distinct about him and why I had taken an instant liking to him was because of how he had stood for the truth back then even when he was to gain. If we were going to go with the selection of a supreme head, it was going to be him no doubt. He controlled the largest region, a flawless government that worked so well that back then we used to try to sneak in spies to study his methods but they never got past the gates.
So, I was surprised that he wasn’t a power-thirsty leader and that stuck even until this moment.
During the short break, we quickly bonded and he was surprised that I was unmated but went ahead to show me pictures of his children and his mate. His eyes had been filled with love and warmth as he swiped through each slide whispering excitedly of how much he loved his family and was lucky to have one and urged me to get married quickly.
That was the last time we heard from Tanner. That was ten years ago. They closed their borders, stopped trade with almost everyone and stayed in recluse. The only explanation we had gotten was he lost his mate and wanted time alone to grieve for her. No one was expecting it to take years... but I had sincerely been shocked when I got a message from him saying he wanted to open their gates and borders and he wanted me to be the first person he traded with.
And that was three years ago.
"If you killed him two years ago, it means his mate truly died and he was mourning her," I murmured out loud, looking at Kurtis.
"Yes, your majesty," he nodded "But before that, there was a lot of power tussle in the region most especially from his pack. I don’t have a lot of details on how it was resolved but I think it was part of what caused the long recluse,".
"Then," I tried to stop the thousands of thoughts running through my head at the same speed "The person that reached out to me wasn’t Tanner?"
"Yes," Kurtis nodded.
"Explain..." I gritted through clenched jaw "Explain how and the atrocity you committed and just for your information, you best tell me the truth because... if you did this so you could get my support, allow me to shock you... It’ll amount to nothing,".
"Your majesty," Xavier sighed "He’s trying to explain things here. It’s not like he had planned it all this time,"
"That is not an excuse, Xavier. The law is the law," I snapped.
His jaws tightened with displeasure and I could tell he was trying to control the anger he felt but I was past caring at this point. Exhaling deeply, he met my gaze...
"Two years ago... back then I was a mercenary assassin. A lot of Alphas hired me to do their dirty jobs for them and I was quite efficient but between moving about and trying to recruit and train as many men as I could because I didn’t want to kill forever, I was constantly in need of money. So..." he hesitated for the briefest of moments before he continued "An anonymous person reached out to me... mind you... the only way we communicated was through letters delivered by a crow and they were all cut-out letters, put on a plain paper...".
"The person wanted to stay anonymous," I nodded shaking my head.
"I guess so," Kurtis agreed "He offered me a generous sum in exchange for killing someone he claimed was a threat to him and a lot of details. I still have the letters, so I can send them to you later. Anyway, the pay was good but I noticed that all attempts to meet this person proved abortive. He was smart, I give him credit for that and he gave me only three days to reach out to him. I was low on cash and..".
"We get it, Kurtis!" I growled with annoyance stopping him midsentence. "You were broke but that is not an excuse to kill... just so you know. What happened next?"
"I agreed and sent back my response and then an instruction was delivered to me. In it, he said it was a rogue wolf ravaging the Western territories and my role was to track him during one of his sabbaticals ... I think like a hunting trip or something. A map was sent to me and details of his security and how he travelled. Whoever wanted Tanner’s death was meticulous about it and provided every information I needed up until the weapons carried by his guards and the best time I should attack,".
He paused and then shrugged as he continued with a flat tone "I did as required. I trailed him to the hunting cabin and waited until he went swimming which was the only time he’s usually alone and then, I killed him," he said casually.
My stomach churned with nausea and disgust at the way he was recounting the incident as if it wasn’t a heinous crime.
"Anyways, it wasn’t until a few months later that I realized that the person I killed was the Lycan King. I tried to make amends because usually, for Werewolves of power and position, I try to have a justifiable reason before I kill them. So, I tried to trace who the person was... to find out if there was a reason why he wanted Tanner dead and to justify my conscience. The trail led to the Wild Hunt Pack in the West. I lost..." he trailed off as pain crept into his voice "I lost a score of good men because the hunt was fierce but we managed to escape with that wooden box. If I knew that it was King Tanner, I wouldn’t have...".
"But it’s too late to undo what has been done, Kurtis," Xavier chirped in again then turned to me "It wasn’t an intentional act, Your Majesty. When there was a plot on my life, Kurtis came to me instead... and that has been his manner... Leaders and people in position are not harmed except there’s a justifiable reason,".
"So, the ordinary masses he murdered were for a justifiable reason?" I asked glaring at my nephew.
"Yes," Kurtis nodded "I am not proud of my past but I am bold to say that all the people I was asked to kill and killed, deserved it. It is against my nature to harm people. All the stories about me killing an entire village including men and women are not true. Instead, I moved them because I wanted my people. Today, they’re all members of my pack,".
I studied Kurtis, as my brain reeled with several thoughts. This was a dicey situation. I needed Kurtis’s support no doubt but I also had to revenge Tanner’s death whether or not it was done unknowingly. Also, I couldn’t judge unless I looked into it and made sure it was indeed an unknown heist.
Sighing deeply, I met Kurtis’s gaze again "Then, if it’s not Tanner on the throne... who in the seven hells is currently seated on that throne?"
His pale eyes bored into mine with an intensity that made me almost flinch.
"That, Your Majesty," he said in a low voice "Is the question that has consumed me for the past three years. I do not have an answer to that,".
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