1052 Chapter 37- Trinity – A Hiccup (VOLUME 6)
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Trinity
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I didn’t know what to think when Talia came to me in the living room and asked to talk to Reece and I in private. I didn’t know what could have happened while she was at her friend’s house that was so serious. I knew that Ocean and Makai were good people and that their kids were nice and respectable. Not to mention, I knew that the boys weren’t there so the only kids were Sereia, Talia, and her friend Ada. So, what exactly had happened while Talia was gone for the weekend?
Reece and I walked to the elevator and rode down in it with Talia in silence. She wasn’t saying anything and neither were we. I didn’t know what to say, and I could tell that she was still thinking about what she wanted to say to us. Or at least how she wanted to say it. There seemed to be a lot on her mind, and that was a little worrying.
When we got to the office, I saw that she waited for us to enter first. Then she shut the door and faced us with a solemn look. Whatever this was, it wasn’t pleasant. Whatever happened, it was major.
“What is wrong, Tally?” Reece asked her, unable to take it any longer. I was about to ask her the same thing, so I fully understood what was happening with him.
“Talia, what happened while you were at Sereia’s? Is something wrong?”
“No, nothing is wrong, really. B..but something did happen. And well, I guess that it is wrong, but it’s not hurting me right now. And no one is in immediate danger.” She looked up and faced Reece and I proudly. I knew that she was just trying to get her bearings in order and her courage in place. She was brave though, so the courage was pretty much guaranteed.
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“You can tell us, Tally. No matter what, you can tell us what happened.” Reece encouraged her. She was his little girl, and he needed to protect her. Those daddy instincts of his were kicking in. He wasn’t the only one either. My momma wolf instincts were coming in hard and fast. I knew that she needed to be protected. I just didn’t know from what she needed to be protected. The enemy was still a mystery to me, and I didn’t like that.
“Well, you both know that I went to the sleepover this weekend, and before you ask, everything about it was perfect. I had a lot of fun and I want to go back sometime. They were amazing. I loved Ocean and Makai, they are awesome.” Talia explained that the hosts were not the issue. I didn’t really think that they were, but that was good to have confirmed.
“Then what happened, Tally?” Reece encouraged her to speak. “What do you need to tell us?”
“Well, while we were there, I decided to prank some people. You know, prank phone calls.” She explained. We knew about that. Reagan had laughed about the one she pulled on him and everyone thought that it was hilarious.
“Go on.” I nodded, letting Talia know that we were on the same page as her.
“Well, I decided to prank Arthur. I wanted to see what he would say if I pretended to be calling the wrong number for a secret agent. I made my voice sound like a man and told him ‘I need a status report on your mission’.” She changed her voice as she had said she’d done and I had to admit, she sounded like a convincing man. Still, I didn’t know what the issue was. “Well.” Talia continued, explaining more about what happened. “His response wasn’t what I thought that it was.”
From there, Talia told us what Arthur had said and how she stayed in character the whole time. She actually did amazingly well for someone that had just realized that she had been betrayed. I am not sure if Reece, who was fuming next to me, would have been able to stay as calm in that situation. Then again, this was a boy that was taking advantage of his daughter. He deserved to be punished.
“Talia?” Reece growled out through his teeth, but the anger was not directed at her. “Where is that little shit right now?”
“Alexio is getting him.” She smiled evilly and I knew that she was feeling the same as Reece. She wanted Arthur to pay for what he had done.
Almost as soon as Talia had spoken, there was a knock on the door. Alexio was here, and I could smell that little asshole, Arthur, in the hall with him. Good. Now we could get to the bottom of what was going on.
“Come in.” I called out to Alexio. It was my office after all, so it was up to me to let him in. The door to the hall opened and I saw Alexio push the boy in ahead of him. He had been holding him with his hand, but as he pushed he also let him go. The result of that was Arthur went flying toward the floor, crumpling into a misshapen lump on the rug.
“Hello, Arthur.” Reece’s menacing voice made the boy’s already pale face turn ashen gray. He was terrified.
“H..h..h..hello, K..K..K..King Reece.” He stammered out the words. “A..a..and you a..as w..well Q..Q..Q..Queen Trinity.” I could tell that Arthur knew what was going on, but he was pretending that he didn’t. “D..d..d..did I do something wrong? W..w..why am I here?”
“You mean aside from the fact that you have had your hands all over my daughter.” Reece roared at him and I saw the satisfied look on Alexio’s face as the boy cowered on the floor. “Why don’t you tell us why you are here?” Reece had stalked toward Arthur just a little and the result was the boy squealing in fright.
“I..I..I don’t know. I..I..I..I haven’t d..d..done a..a..anything w..wrong.” He was still stammering and stuttering in fear. I actually took pleasure in that fact. He was a rotten piece of shit for what he had done to our daughter. “I..I mean, I know that you don’t want me to date Talia, King Reece, but Queen Trinity gave her permission.” He had more confidence in that statement, so he stammered much less that time. “Y..y..you can’t hurt me j..j..just because I..I..I like your daughter.” He tried to look and sound confident then, but he failed miserably.
“YOU DON’T GET TO TELL ME WHAT I CAN AND CAN’T DO!” Reece roared at him. “AND I GET TO TELL YOU IF YOU ARE ALLOWED NEAR MY DAUGHTER!”
“This isn’t fair.” Arthur rose to his feet and tried to be brave in the face of Reece’s wrath. “I love your daughter. I know that she is my mate. I am older than her. I am going to be eighteen before her. I know that she is the one for me. Just ask her. She doesn’t want anyone else either, do you Talia?” He looked at her as he said that, expecting to see her backing him up. However, what he saw was her look of disgust and hatred. He faltered for a moment and didn’t know what to do. “T..Talia?”
“She doesn’t like you, Arthur. Not after what you did.”
“I DIDN’T DO ANYTHING!” Arthur screamed in fright. “NOTHING AT ALL!”
“Really?” Talia tapped her foot and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “So, you are not on a mission to be with me? You are not lying to me about your feelings? You aren’t trying to become the next king?” I could see the realization spreading across the boy’s face. He knew that he had fucked up. And he didn’t know how to undo it.
“What are you talking about?” He tried to lie to Talia. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Give it up, Arthur. It was me that called you the other night. I was just pranking you, but to my surprise I got something that was completely unexpected. And this came just a little while after I decided to have a serious talk with you and your overly possessive nature. I didn’t really like how jealous you got of everyone that came near me.”
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“No worries on that, Talia.” Reece’s voice was smooth and menacing. “Arthur won’t be bothering you ever again. Will you, Arthur?”
“R..r..really, I..I don’t know what you are t..t..t..talking about.” He was stuttering again.
“Drop it, Arthur.” I snapped at him. “What we need from you now is to know how big this whole thing goes. Who else is involved in this little mission of yours?”
“Fuck you.” The boy’s face changed from fear to anger. “I won’t tell you anything.” The words flew from his mouth as if they were filled with venom.
“What was that?” I asked him in a tone that was cool, calm, and frightening. The look in Arthur’s eyes told me that he was about to shit himself when he heard me speak. “Did you really say that to me?”
“I..I..I didn’t mean it.” He stammered and literally started to cry. “Please, I don’t know what happened. I am innocent. This is all someone’s plans to frame me. I didn’t do anything at all.”
“We know that you are lying, Arthur.” I spoke in that same tone and saw that the boy’s bowels truly were about to give way spontaneously. I had scared the shit out of him so to speak. “And if you do not tell us who it is that is behind this little mission of yours, then we will punish your entire family and pack. No one will be safe because we won’t know who to trust anymore. The choice is yours, Arthur. And you only have ten seconds to make that choice.” I wasn’t bluffing here. And I needed him to know that. “Ten. Nine.” I started to count down and saw the fear deepen in his eyes, but he kept silent. “Eight. Seven. Six.” He still didn’t say anything. He just kept looking at me with wide, frightened eyes. “Five. Four. Three.” He was sweating, but still didn’t say anything. “Two.” I was almost done counting and for a moment I thought for sure he was going to condemn his entire pack and family. “One.”
“ALRIGHT!” He screamed at me. “I WILL TELL YOU! JUST SPARE MY FAMILY!”
“You need to start talking, Arthur.” Reece growled at him, and that was the moment that I smelled something extremely unpleasant. He had shit himself. It wasn’t just a saying anymore. The boy had actually done it. “Eww. Disgusting.” Reece covered his nose.
“Yuck.” Talia turned away from him.
“I expected that.” Alexio glared at the smelly boy.
“I can’t believe you.” I waved a hand at him and cleaned up his mess. I didn’t want to smell that anymore at all.
“I am sorry.” He was sobbing and blushing in embarrassment. “I am so sorry.”
“Who was involved?” Reece demanded from him.
“The elders of our pack. And two of my cousins. They wanted to tie our family to the royal family. I really did like Talia when I first met her, and I didn’t have these plans until I came here for the battle. They had put me up to it and told me that there was no downside to it. I didn’t mean it when I said that you were stupid Talia. I don’t really think that at all.”
“I don’t care what you have to apologize for, Arthur. Don’t ever speak to me again.” Talia turned away from him and Alexio moved her to stand behind him. He was going to block her from the boy’s sight so he couldn’t see her anymore.
“I need names, Arthur.” Reece demanded from him. “Who are these people that we need to arrest?”
“My cousins Ronald and Theodore, and the elders William, Charles, Edward, and Henry. They were the ones that told me to do this. I..I am sorry, I never would have hurt Talia otherwise. You have to believe me.”
“We don’t have to do anything, Arthur.” I snapped at him. “But you do. You have to serve a minimum of ten years in the new prison that we have for people like you. And be damned glad that I am the person I am or you would be executed for this, this is treason.”
“B..b..but I am innocent in all this. They made me do it.”
“You could have said no.” Reece growled at him. “You could have made your own choice. And yet, you decided to let them tell you what to do, you spineless bastard. You aren’t worthy of my daughter. Not now and not ever.”
“I will call a guard to take you away.” I told him as I sent a mental message to Kiernan in the lower part of the castle. He responded right away and came through the door that I had made. I didn’t want this sniveling piece of shit in my office anymore. He would stay in the dungeon until we had the others in custody and then they would all go to prison at the same time.