Red:The Alpha's Queen

Chapter Six

~Jared~

Mentioning the House of Mirrors was definitely a power move for her.

Nevertheless, if she was responsible for Nate's death, it was more than deserving for the horrors that the Mirrors dealt her.

It was a pity I wouldn't get to fulfill that promise that I had earlier made. That is, if she was really guilty and found out to be a murderer.

Nate deserved a lot more than that. While the Mirrors punishments were satisfactory themselves, Nate would have preferred it if I dealt with his murderer myself.

One thing bothered me though. How easily the words had rolled off her tongue. Like she had no idea what she was exactly getting herself into.

The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. For some reason, that greatly unsettled me.

Suddenly rising on my feet, I decided to seek her out. I needed to confirm my suspicions. Raymond looked up at me with a questioning glance. "Where are you going? "

"I'll be right back. "

"Alpha, how may I assist you?" One of the Council's officials inquiried, respectfully bowing in my direction.

"No need. I can do this myself." I said, waving him away. The young man bowed before strutting away. Taking my time, I made my way through the busy chaos of officials that were getting the operations ready. They were working much faster than I had anticipated.

With the Council and all it's never ending procedures and protocols, Raymond and I had expected to stay at the headquarters for a couple of days.

With the House of Mirrors suddenly showing up and the chaos that was currently going on, everything was going much faster.

I rounded a corner, and her scent suddenly got thicker and stronger. Finding her wasn't hard, especially now that we were bonded. I frowned, wondering what kind of sick game fate was playing on me.

It was an honor finding one's mate, but finding out mine was probably Nate's murderer brought me intense pain than I liked to show.

It didn't help that I had marked her too. I thought back to what had really happened in that field, two nights ago.

It was like something had taken over me, my body fueled with so much desire and need for her, and a voice in the back of my head, urging me to mark her and make her mine, so much that I couldn't hold back my beast and gave in to my desires.

And now I couldn't turn back the wheel of time. If she was proved guilty. . .

I sighed feeling a headache coming on. This was extremely confusing. I wanted to tear her from limb to limb but because of our mate bond, I wanted to hold her and comfort her when she needed me to.

If she was proved innocent. . . that meant I would have to take her back home as Luna. The thought alone left a bitter taste in my mouth.

As I walked on, her scent got stronger as I headed west. It didn't take long for me to find her, but I was surprised to find Milagros, the old man, talking to her. I shouldn't have, he was her teacher after all, from all the information I had gathered about her.

As I got closer, both parties looked up, pausing in their conversation. Milagros and I shared a nod of acknowledgement.

"Greetings, Jared. "

"Milagros."

"May I have a word with my Luna? "

I watched as Milagros did a double take, like he wasn't sure if he had actually heard correctly. He started at her, like he was looking for something. She shyed away from him, lowering her head and hiding the faint blush that appeared on her cheeks.

When Milagros looked back at me, he was back to his usual nonchalant self, but with a hint of questioning curiosity in his gaze. He didn't ask any questions though, simply nodded and then he was walking away.

"You didn't have to tell him that. " She whispered as soon as the old teacher was out of hearing range.

"He would have found out eventually, just like everyone else. "

"Why are you here? "

"I have a few questions for you. "

"Ask away. "

I frowned when I noticed she still hadn't looked up. For some reason, that vexxed the hell out of me. "Look at me. "

"I don't think that's necessary for us to have a conversation. We can still talk without me having to look at you. "

An involuntary growl bristeled out of me. I had no idea why I was getting angry, but I was. "Look at me. "

She did. I was surprised, considering I had expected much more fight in her than this. Nevertheless, I wasn't going to dwell on that as we had more pressing matters at hand.

"Do you know anything about the House of Mirrors, prior to the time before all this happened?"

She frowned, "No. Why? "

Shit.

"Are you sure? "

"Yes." She rolled her eyes before looking away.

Just as I had suspected. She really didn't know what she was getting herself into. Things could either take a turn for the worst or the best. There was no telling in this situation.

There was also the issue about the House of Mirrors showing up out of the blue, without being summoned or tracing it's location first. There was little to no writings about it, and when I had earlier spoken to the elders about it, none of them could provide any solid verification that it was indeed possible.

The House of Mirrors was an ancient power, and none of us were wise enough to understand it's operations and workings.

I started at the little woman before me. My mate. Had the Mirrors solely shown up because she was innocent? And there was no other way to prove her innocent other than this?

The evidence against her was really strong. When I had arrived at the crime scene, Nate had been barely recognizable, if it weren't for his scent and the medallion he wore around his neck. However, there had been another scent on him and in the air around us.

Sweet, intoxicating and definitely feminine. But that wasn't all. It was the large pieces of red clothing we found in Nate's nails when his autopsy was being done. After much asking around, we found out that only one person wore a piece of clothing with that material. Redwood thread. And it was Ruby Winter.

With the permission of the Council and the Order, we managed to break into her house. With professionally trained sniffers, we found her famous Red cloak, and that was all we needed. Her cloak was still dripping with Nate's blood, and his scent was all over it too.

Too fueled with anger, I had immediately stormed off to the Council headquarters, but then I found everything there chaotic and that the prisoner had escaped. I didn't wait and immediately rushed to find her, before we couldn't.

From then on, everything was and had happened so fast. Now though, with the House of Mirrors here, and my suspicions, I couldn't help but wonder, what if, I was wrong. And we were all wrong about her?

"I'll be back." I said to her, before turning to my Beta and warriors, without waiting for a reply from her. I heard her mumble under her breath, but I couldn't be bothered to pay attention to what she was saying at the moment.

Raymond got up as soon as he noticed me. "Got what you were looking for? "

"Not exactly. " I told him. "But I'm suspicious about a few things. "

"And those are? "

"I'm starting to think we might be wrong about all this. "