The Shadow Twin

Chapter 19 - Kidnaped

----Leigh POV----

I was weirdly okay with the royal family being werewolves, well I was still kind of waiting for the panic to set in, but it hadn’t yet. What’s more was the fact that my view and opinion of them hadn’t changed one bit upon finding out. Something had changed since I woke up in the infirmary, though. Rylee would always be by my side, and it was only recently that I was able to convince him to stop following me around. I knew that he had given Kayden an earful of sorts, before Kayden disappeared and I appreciated that he stood up for me, but I wished he hadn’t done it. The last thing I wanted to do was to come between Kayden and his family. Which made me think of my encounter with Kayden earlier. I messed up. I shouldn’t have said that and especially not in front of his sister and that close to the Pack house. We should have talked about it in private but seeing him again after so long just pissed me of. Not being the one that showed me the city was one thing, but not being there, by my side as I recovered was another thing entirely. He had the nerve to run away despite what happened to me and then when he actually returned, I wasn’t the first one he came to see. Something he should have done, since it was his fault, I got injured, and it hurt, because that meant the men that did this to me was right. Kayden really didn’t care about me at all. I closed the book with a loud sigh and placed it beside me on the bench and then ran a hand down my face. I was not in the right mindset for him to be back yet. I needed more time to deal with this, with the emotions he made me feel. All though I suppose him being back was better than being missing. I looked down at my arm, that was still covered in a thick layer of bandages and were currently resting in its sling. I knew that he wasn’t the one to inflict the pain on me, but had he been there it might not had happened, because according to his brothers, Kayden were one of the strongest wolves around. So, with that in mind, Kayden might as well be the one to inflict the pain. At least the bitemark on my leg was almost healed up and it was really only a problem when I had to bend the ankle. My arm was an entirely different story. It was healing as it should, but with the amount of nerve damage the doctors weren’t sure I would be able to use my arm again or feel anything. I touched my fingers on the damaged arm, but I still couldn’t feel it and I tried and failed holding back the tears. I was crying because my arm would never be the same, over Kayden and the overall helplessness I felt. I had taken control by getting the royal family to explain the whole werewolf-thing. I got the King and Queen to explain the politics and what what’s expected of me as the Crown princess and later Queen. I even got the King to let me give Deryn a medal and I worked on it with him and Ryder. I got them all to lift my ‘house arrest’ so that I could leave the castle and go for walks in the garden. But now I had nothing left to prevent my head for spiraling out of control from all the bad that had happened. I wasn’t leaving the castle without an escort anytime soon or even with a escort, but staying this close to the castle and in the garden, had made it possible for me to find my own little safe haven here. Namely the gazebo with the ivy and flowers I didn’t know the names of covering most of its structure. Everybody knew that this was my place by now, and the guards would walk by once in a while, just to make sure I was okay. Somebody had placed a basket with a handful of pillows and a couple of blankets beside the bench and hung fairy lights around the structure, so I would be able to read in the dark. But even now, in my safe haven, I didn’t fell okay. A sound made me look up and focus back on my surroundings. I was expecting it to be one of the guards checking in on me, but I couldn’t see anyone.

“Hallo?” I called out and looked towards the forest, which were the only place someone could hide and sure enough something moved, I think. I walked out and around the gazebo to get a better look and stopped myself. Curiosity killed the cat and giving everything, I really shouldn’t take the chance. So, I turned on my heel and started walking back towards the castle. That’s when I heard the growl and panic set in. Everybody here now knew that I knew they were wolves and what I had been through because of wolves, so they wouldn’t do this. That growl meant a wolf, which right now meant a stranger, which meant danger. I lifted up the skirt on my dress and was about to run, when a hand came around my head and pressed something down on my mouth and nose. I tried fighting back, but the person was stronger than me and kept their hold on me with no problem at all. I felt my consciousness slipping and the panic increased. The last thing I saw where a set of familiar eyes looking down at me, as my body collapsed.

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----???? POV----

“Fuck.” I whispered as she lost consciousness and I saw her front. Her left arm was covered in bandages and were hold in place with the help of a sling. I wanted to howl in anger and sorrow at the sight, but then the guards would know we were here, so I didn’t. I had to keep our present a secret, but it was hard not reacting to her injuries. I lifted her up in my arms as gentle as possible and walked back towards the forest. As I walked into the shadows Aspar shifted back to his human form and quickly put on the clothes laying on the ground.

“Why did you drug her?” He asked as he walked up to me.

“She panicked and left me no other choice. I don’t like it either Aspar you know that.” He then looked down at her with a sad look, that then changed to one of anger.

“What the hell happened to her!?” He growled and I hushed him.

“I don’t know, but keep it down, would you? We can talk about this later when we are in the clear.” I whispered, but I should have known that he wouldn’t drop it.

“I’m going to kill them all.” He growled and turned towards the castle.

“And I’m going to start with the f*****g Crown prince.” He continued and I grabbed his arm, while also making sure I wouldn’t drop her.

“If you do that, we lose everything… Do you understand?” I looked him straight into his eyes and he slowly calmed down.

“But they hurt her.” He whispered with sorrow clear in his voice. He then reached out and tucked a loose strain of hair behind her ear. I dropped my grip on his arm and readjusted her, so that she once more was resting on both my arms. He looked around me and back at the castle again, with murder in his eyes, but he turned around a started walking deeper into the forest, like we planned from the beginning. As we got closer to the small creek two figures stepped out of the tree’s shadows. One holding a black Onyx blade in his hand, the other smiling mischievous.

“I knew you would bring her back with you.” Vetranio said as he walked up to us, the mischievous smile turning into a huge smile, with Alaviv close behind.

“What happened to her?” Vetranio asked, when he saw the sling and bandages. Alaviv, who had been tossing his knife into the air and catching it repeatedly, stopped in his track and didn’t catch the knife on its way down. They were both gearing up to a fight, just like Aspar did early. Here we go again.

“We can’t stay here. They will figure out she is missing anytime now, so we have to go.” I gave them a stern look, to which they growled low at me.

“Don’t do this. We didn’t risk everything to get her out, just to f**k it up know. We are so close.” I growled back, asserting my dominance over my brothers. I wasn’t their Alpha, but as the oldest I did hold a bit of sway over them.

“Where do we take her? Where can we take her? The Carr’s are phenomenal trackers.” Alaviv said, trying really hard to reel his wolf back in.

“The Council is out of the question. So is the city.” I said as I started walking again. Despite all the planning we never actually thought that we would get this far, so we hadn’t planned this step. Alaviv bend down and janked his knife out of the ground before putting it back in his boot. We had to come up with something fast. I looked down at my precious cargo and wished I had tried harder to find her. Tried harder to get to her sooner. And I wished I had been with her when she got her injuries. I would have killed who ever tried to lay their hands on her, we all would, and Kayden better hope we didn’t get our hands on him. The Crown prince signed his death warrant when she got hurt.