Taming the Rogue King

A Baffling Break- In

Liam

“Interesting!” Sarena exclaimed, looking into Liam’s eyes.

Liam frowned. He wasn’t sure he liked the way Sarena said ‘interesting’. Felt like she was looking at a specimen.

“Don’t be shy, my boy! Your Lycan is interesting! He talks a lot.” Ben choked on his drink as Sarena spoke.

Liam gave him a stink eye as he continued to cough and laugh at the same time. Shaking his head at his beta, he looked at Sarena. He needed a little more explanation, and he was totally done with niceties. His Lycan was a pain in the ass and he was dying to know what was next!

“Our wolves complete our personalities. Since Liam is such an introvert, his wolf is a talkative…. How would I say this? Character?” Ben chuckled.

“I see!” Sarena finished the contents of her cup and said. “I guess they are here. Get ready for an experience of a lifetime!”

‘Why? What is she saying? What is she planning to do?’ Liam's wolf danced around in his head, trying to push himself forward.

‘Will you shut up? How would I know?’ Liam scowled.

‘Why don’t you f*cking ask?’ The Lycan continued.

A sudden whooshing sound next to Liam startled him. He turned around and was stunned to see both James and Kirra standing next to him. Kirra had her eyes closed and her face looked blue.

Is she going to puke?

Liam was still thinking while James conjured a bucket in front of Kirra. Sure enough, she emptied her guts out. The room filled up with the stench of undigested food and bile. James waved his hand and the bucket along with the stench vanished.

The room filled up with the smell of summer and Liam spotted potpourri in a beautiful glass bowl that appeared on the bar counter.

He rolled his eyes. Sure enough! With the witches involved, he was going to have an experience of a lifetime!

“Sorry. I am not used to travelling by this portal method. It is very unsettling!” Kirra scrunched her nose. “Nice meeting you again, Alpha Liam. I am sorry I had to block you out as I was preparing for today’s meeting with the alliance. The result was favourable!”

“I am aware! It is alright. At least a few things are moving in the right direction. Thank you for supporting the Rogues.” Liam extended his hand and shook Kirra’s soft hand.

“My pleasure,” Kirra responded with a wide grin as James conjured a couch out of thin air.

“Now stop all the conversations. No more talking to your Lycans or wolves or whatever you call them." Sarena spoke in an assertive, no-nonsense mode.

Her serious demeanour rubbed off on everyone as Kirra and James sat down on a couch while Sarena looked at Liam and said, “Tell us everything that you remember since the day Ira vanished.”

Could this man tone down the PDA a little? Liam rolled his eyes as he saw James trying to pacify Kirra by pulling her onto his lap.

‘I like him. He cares for his mate, unlike you!’ Liam’s wolf huffed and Liam pushed him back into the recess of his mind, unwilling to endure any more of his insightful observations.

“Good call!” Sarena chuckled. “Now start at the very beginning.”

Liam’s glass of whiskey automatically filled up as Sarena pointed her staff to his glass. She waved her hand around and everyone had a drink of their own. James got a beer, Ben got a whiskey and Kirra got a glass of red wine.

Liam exhaled and began. He narrated everything, missing nothing out. In some places, James chipped in, as Liam had shared the same incidents with James during James' visit on the day Ira disappeared.

When he started talking about feeling Ira’s presence in the past few days, Sarena stopped him in between and asked more questions.

“How did you feel her presence? Was it physical or an apparition?

“No. It was more of a scent. Just like this potpourri.” He pointed at the bowl. “But sometimes light and sometimes stronger.”

“Hmm. Continue.” Sarena said.

“Two days back, it was the strongest,” Liam said and looked at Kirra. “That is why I was trying to reach you. I needed to know what had to be done.” He explained the circumstances and spoke about the book.

“Where is the book right now?” Sarena asked. Her eyebrows raised, almost disappearing into her curly hair and she suddenly looked more interested. As if they had just fixed a missing piece of a puzzle.

“It is in the library. Do you want me to get it?” Liam asked.

“No. Let us all go there.” Sarena responded and Liam went still.

This would mean introducing more scents into his library. It would also mean that they would see the broken furniture there.

This time, Ben chipped in. “Boss doesn’t want unfamiliar scents there. He has allowed no one to enter the library since Luna has disappeared.”

Liam looked at him, surprised. He wasn’t aware that Ben had already accepted Ira as his Luna. It meant an enormous shift in the way the pack would interact with Ira.

“Doesn't matter now. If the scent was this strong, Ira is consciously or subconsciously trying to get back here. We need to support her in every way possible!” Sarena insisted.

Liam gave in. “Okay. Follow me.” He got up and opened the hidden door from the living room that led to the library.

The room was a mess, with a torn couch and the broken desk with its wooden shards cluttering the floor.

James waved a hand, and the desk fixed itself. The couch also looked as good as new. The room looked neat, with no clutter.

Ben whistled. "I shouldn't have cleaned the living room. We would still have our furniture and it would all be done with a swish of a hand!" He waved his aping James and Kirra laughed.

Liam scowled at Ben and walked over to the chair. Sometimes he felt his Lycan had taken over Ben's personality.

The Lycan whined as he picked up the book that he had left on the chair when Ben had arrived. He felt the anxiety, too. His heart raced as he realised that Ira's scent would be tarnished once other people handled the book. But it had to be done. Ira's family was here to help get her back.

He took in a deep breath, breathing in Ira's scent from the book one last time, and then passed the volume to Sarena.

Sarena took the book and turned the pages. One particular page caught her attention and she chuckled. “Liam, my boy. Have you tried reading the book?”

“No”

“Why not?” She looked at him, still holding the open book.

“Because I was busy smelling it. And I have not been myself lately.” Liam responded by running a hand through his hair. He did not like being questioned by anyone.

He had been independent for far too long. Sarena had a knack for making you feel like a little child and he felt foolish admitting that he was smelling the book like a child caught stealing a cookie from the hidden cookie jar.

“If you would have been thinking rationally, you would have observed this before.” She smiled and pushed the book towards Liam. “Read this page for us, please, loud and clear.”

Perplexed, Liam pulled the book into his own hands. He wasn’t sure why he was being asked to read a book on werewolf history and how it was going to help get Ira back.

He noticed the baffled expressions on James, Kirra’s and Ben’s faces. So he wasn't the only one puzzled.

Feeling relieved, he peered into the book and started reading it.

“King Remus and his Witch Mate Queen Diana decided to save their clan. They gathered all the packs that had sworn allegiance to them and embarked on a perilous journey to find a new world. King Remus was an intuitive Lycan and Queen Diana knew of magic that could show her the future. Together, they decided to do the unthinkable…” He frowned and brought the book closer to his eyes. Then turned it around and was stunned to see that the rest of the words were muddled.

He tried reading them but his brain couldn’t decipher. They looked like actual words, neatly written, for the ancient parts of these books were handwritten. But the words only came across as lines and dots. “It is written in another language. I don’t know this language.” Liam pushed the book towards Sarena.

Sarena smiled. She took the book into her own hands and passed it on to James. “I have taught you most of the ancient languages that the witches use. Can you read this for us, please?”

James narrowed his eyes at Sarena. Looked like he suspected his own nana, but he took the book.

Liam had a feeling that James knew about Sarena’s melodrama.

James looked at the book, turned it around a couple of times and then passed it on to Sarena, smiling.

“This book has been broken in!”

*****