“Why would anyone want to drug Karen?” Aiden wondered out loud as he paced around the room.
His mom who had put his mate to sleep through a spell said simply, “I can think of a few reasons.” He looked at her expectantly. “They may want to drive a wedge between you two,” she said with a shrug.
“To what end though?” He insisted.
“Well, a mate-less alpha is a weak alpha,” his dad supplied.
“You mean to say…” Aiden trailed off, unable to form the words that burnt his lips.
“Well, if she had sought out another man, I wouldn’t put it past you to be the one to reject her despite all this courting you are trying to do,” his dad shot, point blank, uncaring of what could be roaming in Aiden’s mind.
“Think, Aiden,” his mother pleaded with him. “Can’t you narrow down our list of suspects? Right now, everyone in the palace is a suspect.”
“I don’t have any jealous or obsessive ex-lovers who would go to such lengths,” he said on a sigh, feeling like his head just might explode.
“An admirer maybe?” His dad suggested.
“I don’t know, dad. Wouldn’t an admirer hit on me first seduce me?”
“Knowing you,” his mother began with a soft smile, “and your astounding ability to be oblivious at times, I wouldn’t be so sure.”
Aiden pursed his lips in dismay, knowing that what his mom said was true.
“The motives don’t matter much at the moment,” his dad then declared. “We need to find out who did it first.”
“The best way to achieve that might not be something you and Karen will agree to,” his mom said in a pensive tone.
“Oh, you have an idea?” His dad asked. “Let’s hear it.”
“There’s this spell that would enable me to go through her memories, without altering them. That way we’ll find the waiter who gave her the drink, and that in turn will lead us back to the mastermind behind this whole situation.”
“No,” Aiden actually had to make great effort to keep from raising his voice at that. “There has to be some other way.”
“This is the easiest and most certainly the quickest way out of this mess,” she shrugged. “But it’s up to you to decide.”
“How about we just gather the staff and interrogate them one by one? Doing things by the book works too, you know,” he told her affectionately.
“Yeah, it sure does,” she conceded easily, but Aiden could sense an objection coming. And sure enough, it came, “But we’d be losing time, precious time. Every moment that passes by and we do not find the culprit is another occasion we give him to take another action against us,” she said grimly.
“We don’t have much of a choice,” Aiden told her with a somber voice, “I don’t trust anyone outside this room to keep watch over Karen. And I don’t trust anyone outside this room to conduct the investigation. So, who’s going to interrogate the staff and who is staying back to protect Karen?”
“We cannot let you interrogate the staff,” his dad said in a resolute tone. “You are far too fickle, far too instable, and by no means experienced enough in the arts of subtracting information.”
It hurt Aiden’s ego to hear that coming from his own dad, but he couldn’t help but agree. He would probably kill the waiter whom he found guilty, even before getting the information he needed. And that simply could not do.
“Although Karen won’t be up before a couple of hours, I trust you to behave yourself once she is awake,” his mom’s warning wasn’t the most subtle.
“I would never take advantage of her,” he vowed.
With that, his parents nodded at him, believing in him, and left the room to tend to the investigation.
.. .. .. .. .. .
“Damn,” Karen swore, bringing Aiden out of his reverie, some two hours later.
He started fretting over her, “Are you okay? How do you feel?” He asked in succession. “Here, drink some water.”
He handed her a glass that’s full to the brim which she drank greedily, almost in one gulp.
“I feel so hot,” she whispered, eyes glazing over slightly. “Please help me out of this dress, Aiden.”
Aiden stood, frozen, almost in a daze, before telling her, “I can’t do that.”
“Why the hell not?” She retorted bitterly.
“I’m still a man, you know,” he said sarcastically.
She rolled her eyes at him, but made no attempts to grope him or anything, and for that, he was glad. Moments later, Aiden’s parents came into the room, his dad dragging behind an unconscious and slightly roughened up werewolf.
This was the werewolf who tried to sow discord between him and his mate. Aiden could feel his blood freezing over at the thought of being separated from Karen, and then starting to boil at the sight of the werewolf.
He approached the werewolf slowly, murder in his eyes.
His dad stopped him with a hand on his shoulder, “Stop, son. You’re out for blood. And we don’t want you killing him just yet. We know it’s his doing, but have yet to know why he did this or who put him up to this. The fun part has yet to begin.”
Aiden could agree with the last part, and then pleaded, “Let me do the interrogating, dad.”
“You know we can’t let you do that,” his mom tried to appease him with her soft tone. Then looking at Karen, she went on, “I’m glad you’re awake, Karen.”
“I don’t remember falling asleep to begin with,” she said sheepishly, “My memories are a bit all over the place.”
“What’s the last thing you remember?”
“Aiden and I were dancing…” she said, and then trailed off, probably recalling the events that led to her being put to a forced sleep.
A furious blush covered her face as she pointed at Aiden accusingly. “You… You… You didn’t… We didn’t…”
“I would never take advantage of you like that, Karen,” he told her solemnly.
There was a split-second in which her eyes reflected doubt, but then it cleared out and she nodded.
“Why would anyone…” She didn’t get to finish her thought.
“We won’t know their motives until we interrogate this scumbag,” Aiden’s dad supplied.
“Okay,” she drawled on a nod.
** ** **
“Rise and shine, sleepyhead,” Aiden’s dad slapped the werewolf’s face none too gently.
Within seconds, the traitor awakened, looking like he was feeling a huge discomfort. His eyes wouldn’t meet those of the alpha ultra. He was that scared, and then some.
“Looks like peace made us all a bit too dull and far too lenient,” his mom scoffed.
“Mercy, please, alpha,” the werewolf whisper-yelled.
Aiden, who was watching the scene from behind the bars of the cell, standing together with Karen, ready to take her aside when it would come to that, but needing to hear what the traitor had to say, felt ire like never before.
How dare he?
A growl escaped him, and Karen felt the need to try to appease him by stroking his back sweetly.
He had to suppress the urge to purr like a kitten at that.
“Give me one valid reason to spare you,” Aiden’s dad said challengingly.
“They have my sister, my only kin,” the man said desperately.
“Who’s they?” His mom asked.
“The witches.”
The resistance, Aiden thought to himself, realizing that the deal he had struck with the damned warlock, no matter if he thwarted it or not, had its consequences.
“Looks like I’ll be hunting some sick witches,” he announced grimly, “no offense, mom.”
“None taken,” she told him with a sweet smile. “We’re going to have to call Blake.”
Aiden dreaded what the soon to be vampire king would have to say. For some reason, he had the feeling that this matter was going to drag.