Chapter 31
Picking up the phone, I call Damian, my most trusted guard and my mother’s son before she met my father, he is my half brother but not of noble blood since that comes from my father’s side, though she was still part of the royal families, so he is still a noble, he just hates formalities. Though my father likes to threaten to denounce me and replace my title with him, not that Damian ever would, he hates kingdom politics more than I do.
“Did you have a chance to look into Brielle?”
“Yes, all main databases, no hits but that isn’t uncommon for rogues.” He tells me.
“Well, keep digging. I need you to find out more about Brielle, the barista from the café. Discreetly. Surely, there is
something on her. Where are her parents? Which pack did she come from?”
“Understood, Your Highness, though I am not sure of her last name, Marianne did tell me but it doesn’t exist which is worrisome, she should have at least a birth certificate,” Damian responds, his tone serious.
“She gave a fake last name?” I ask curiously.
“Unsure, Marianne didn’t exactly check her credentials, Brielle told her she was a rogue and came back to look after her grandmother. Her grandmother I found records for, but hers are a dead end too, I can’t even find a listing for her daughter, who she is estranged from. I only have what I found out from
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Marianne.”
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“Keep digging,” I order, my mind racing with the implications of Damian’s findings. Could Brielle be lying about her past? Has she purposely erased herself from the records for a reason that may not bode well for me or my son? “Try reaching out to other packs in the area. See if they know anything.”
“I’ve already started on that, Soren. Don’t worry, I’ll find something.” There’s a promise in Damian’s voice, a reassurance I desperately need now.
I hang up the phone and lean back in my chair, letting out a sigh of frustration. As much as I want to gather information on Brielle, there’s also a part of me that shies away from it. It feels like prying into her life, uninvited and unwelcome.
Deep in thought. My eyes roam around the room, falling on a photo of my late wife and our son. The pain still feels fresh, raw. She was taken too soon, and the void she left behind is too gaping to fill. My heart feels heavy in my chest.
My thoughts wander back to Brielle, the mysterious barista who has been taking such good care of my son. Despite the cloud of suspicion looming over her now, I cannot deny the connection I feel towards her. It’s not just physical, it’s something more profound, something that I haven’t felt since…
Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I need to stay focused. It’s not fair to compare anyone to my late wife, and it‘ s not wise to trust so blindly, especially when they might have a hidden past.
- 27.
sigh deeply and glance at the clock, I have an appointment
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soon. Another zoom call.
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As the day wears on, I find myself increasingly distracted, my duties as king blending into the background of my thoughts. When my phone rings, it’s Damian. “Your Highness, I’ve found some information,” he reports. “She is here looking after her grandmother as she claims, I checked the pharmacy, and went and visited her grandmother, but her grandmother seemed nervous.”
“Nervous?” I ask, and he hesitates. “Yes, like she was hiding something. I was going to order her to answer, but I worried I may kill her if I used my command on her. The woman is quite frail, but that’s not all,” he tells me.
“What else?” I ask.
“She still hasn’t registered with the council, my king. Now that is making me worry that she may be running from someone, I also put her name in the database, her last name got no matches,” he tells me.
I frown, intrigued and concerned. “Keep digging, but be careful. We don’t want to alarm her.
“Sir?” Damian questions. I sigh, glancing at Max. “She is no threat, I don’t want her running, I know this is against protocol, but I don’t believe there to be anything sinister about her, she may just be running from an abusive ex, she doesn’t give off killer vibes,” I say. “I have good intuition about these kinds of things.”
“Sir, I didn’t realize there were certain vibes to killers, the point is, we don’t know her,” says Damian, clicking his tongue.
“She can’t hurt Max, he can order her easily, she is merely a
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werewolf, not a Lycan,” I remind him, and he sighs.
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After the call, I lean back in my chair, my mind racing. Who is Brielle, and what secrets is she hiding? My curiosity is piqued, not just as a king but as a man, a father. Sure, she may be hiding something. But I am convinced it can’t be that bad. How could such a kind and selfless young woman have bad
intentions?
Yet, as the day goes on and the sun rises higher, I feel the mindlink open up. It’s Damian and at first, I believe it with more information not with Brielle herself.
“Brielle is here, she found Max’s jumper,” he tells me.
