The Alpha King's Witch Bride
Chapter 258: _The Puppeteer And The Priestess

Chapter 258: _The Puppeteer And The Priestess

Marcellus’ POV

*****

With Kaelos and Odessa’s arrival from Mexico, he realised something that placed him on the edge.

They were on to him.

The suspicion was mild at best but with them knowing about the existence of artificial hybrids and narrowing their "culprit" to being one, he had to act fast.

So what was the best course of action?

Simple... Creating a substitute. Someone who would fit all the descriptions: a person with access to the Alpha King’s mansion, a male and who would seem like an artificial hybrid.

Alaric.

Marcellus captured the head guard, who already had his mental manipulation spell running active in his mind, and did a temporary ritual on him that would give the lad the magic of a witch.

The cost? It burnt up his life force quicker than any normal artificial hybrid.

When Alaric attacked during a meeting in Kaelos’ office, the chaos was easy for the others to conclude that he was the culprit.

And when the head guard died, Marcellus finally felt like that had removed a target from his back.

Or so he hoped...

"I still feel like I’m missing something. Or someone." He whispered to himself, staring at Alaric’s charred corpse in a dark room given to Althea for her magic works.

The corpse was placed on a metallic table, the skin still crackling a bit like wood under fire.

"What was that?" Althea called from behind, forcing Marcellus to swerve his head to her.

She walked slowly, raising an eyebrow. She held a bowl which swirled with a black liquid, placing it on the table beside the corpse when she finally got beside Marcellus.

"Oh, nothing." Marcellus shook his head with a smile. "Just wondering if the sigils placed on this guard were from the Lord of the North. I mean, he did mention him before he died."

That was obviously a lie, but it was also the reason why Marcellus was here wasting his time pretending like he gave a damn about helping Althea decipher the inner workings of the dead guard.

Althea already brought up the possibility of someone having cursed Alaric to die before he could ever reveal anything vital. That "someone" was Marcellus, but he didn’t want any of them to think there was still another artificial hybrid out there.

So he volunteered to help Althea, to push the idea that the Lord of the North was the one who placed a curse on Alaric.

"The Lord of the North placing ancient curse sigils on his artificial hybrids..." Althea murmured, furrowing her eyebrows.

"But why? I reckon it would be difficult to perfect the ritual holding these artificial hybrids together. Why would he waste resources, especially with someone responsible for so many impressive magical feats in the pack?"

Marcellus stared at the older woman who looked to be around his age with hidden disdain.

It was a struggle holding back his desire to shove his fist right through her chest and bring out her heart... But he had to control himself.

He was doing way too much killing, and they were all starting to catch up with him in a not-so-fun way.

"The lord of the North is still a mystery to us, high priestess," Marcellus remarked thoughtfully, folding his arms in front of his chest. "We don’t even know if he’s also an artificial hybrid... Or something more. There’s no telling how much he’s willing to expend just to make sure his plans come to fruition."

Saying that alone made him swallow solemnly.

Everything he said... There were more truths than lies.

The Lord of the North was an enigma to even him. Yes, the man communicated mentally with him and he’s seen him so many times... But he was also secretive and silent.

Marcellus only knew he wanted rulership of North America... He just didn’t know what his end goal was in achieving it.

"You’re... Right." Althea sighed in response to Marcellus’s last statement, just then, brushing her right hand through her black hair. "Gods, this seems like a dead end. The magic signature I was feeling from the sigils earlier seemed to have disappeared."

Marcellus smirked mischievously.

Opsies.

"On the bright side... The culprit is gone." He said with a hopeful tone. "This man has terrorised us for well over a month now. Killed maids, stole the life force of his victims and was probably the one behind the killing of the humans in the human town outside the pack..."

He placed his right hand on Althea’s shoulder, causing the latter to raise an eyebrow at first until he stared at her face with a reassuring look.

"I don’t understand why the lord of the North decided to take him down but at least now we can focus on other things." He added and smiled softly when Althea nodded.

"You’re right." She whispered. "Odessa still has so much to learn and I’m the only one currently who can teach her. Whatever darkness is waiting to consume the continent or the world... She needs to be ready for it."

Oh, she has no fucking clue...

.

.

Back at his residence, Marcellus opened the living room door after a night spent making sure Althea wouldn’t think of another culprit being out there.

When he stepped in, however, he saw a scene in the living room that made him pause in his tracks.

"Cullen... Are you kidding me?" He growled at his assistant.

Cullen was sitting on a couch, his lips locked with a she-wolf who was wearing nothing but loose black lingerie. To his right, a handsome and shirtless young man sat, trailing his hands down Cullen’s unbuttoned shirt.

However, when Cullen heard his voice, he jolted, blinking with a little confusion as he slowly turned his gaze to him.

"Oh... Hi. I thought you wouldn’t be home for a while." The lad cleared his throat, using the back of his hand to clean his lips before giving the wolf girl a wink. "You two go wait for me upstairs."

The two of them were hesitant at first, staring at Marcellus who merely spared them a glance. When they finally stood and left, Marcellus folded his arms in front of his chest and walked toward Cullen.

"I don’t know what Elder Davina left behind in my soul but we need to find a way to get rid of it. Quickly."