370 Brainwashed
It was now clear why Silver was frustrated. The Mighty Cupid Shooter had been tricked. It wasn’t that he’d engaged the beta alpha in a fight and lost. He simply hadn’t gotten the chance to engage the criminal. The beta alpha had slipped out from under his nose and escaped while he was the one in charge of keeping him in custody.
This did not look good for him. Davin was somewhat impressed by the man’s capability of restraint. A failure like this would surely have him making irrational decisions in a feat to regain his reputation.
That was what sparked another curiosity though. Frank was able to contain himself... there must have been a reason for that. A reason why he’d paused everything and waited for the king himself to show up. Not even allowing alpha Jackson to deal with any of this.
“Alright then. Have Sean transferred into something that doesn’t look like he’s about to have his eyes gouged out,” the king said dismissively to the other people in the room.
They nodded in acknowledgement of his order and began making preparations to have the man moved while they left, dosing him with sedatives to keep him from lashing out just in case.
“You’re not taking this seriously, your majesty,” Frank’s impatience began to leak once again. He wanted answers, “Is there something you’re not telling me?”
'
“You might want to exercise some patience. When dealing with matters like this, patience is a valuable asset. The story you’re looking for. It’s complicated... and stories like that don’t just fall into your lap,” the king replied, failing to meet his gaze. King Davin had his own reservations on the matter at hand. While Frank thought he was the only one being kept in the dark, the king was as well... And that much was clear to him now.
Frank decided against retaliation. He could tell the king spoke the truth, however, that did not make anything easier for him. He turned to lead them to what the Davin soon confirmed to be holding cells. Most of them were empty and a few were occupied by criminals dressed in purple.
The colour of wolfsbane when it got in contact with werewolf blood. Looking closer at the clothes, one could notice the stains that were intentionally hidden by this odd choice of colour. In each cell were a bed and a small table on which the prisoners would eat or do some reading if they ever got the chance, “You’re holding a young girl in a place like this.”
.....
“Believe it or not, we were able to tell that the young girl was part of the crime and had done it of her own free will. I don’t know what kind of brainwashing or how powerful kind has to be used on a girl to make her accept to collaborate with rogues.
We’ve held onto the information that she is here with us. There is no doubt that her parents will storm these walls once they find out she was involved in the attack. At the moment, we don’t even know what to make of the entire situation. After we figured out that she was an accomplice of the prince, she went mute. Hasn’t said a thing since then. I’m hoping you can get the rest out of the girl. I was trained to interrogate rogues, but this one is completely out of my experience.”
They finally reached a cell where the girl was. Seeing the girl now, the king was shocked to see that her clothes were clean and she was barely injured. In comparison to his uncle, this girl was basically untouched. Bree turned to see the king and queen. She smiled, but when they didn’t smile back, her expression fell, “So they told you I was involved in the breakout.”
“They told us what they have found from the investigations they’ve carried out. We want to hear your side of the story now,” King Davin tried. The memory of the day when she asked for a form to visit the prince flashed through his mind. At the time, Martha had got a feeling she was going to do something drastic. If only they’d acted more on that intuition... What could it have gotten them? The girl used gaseous wolfsbane to incapacitate all the guards. No one could have anticipated that.
“You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you what was going on,” Bree sighed, letting her gaze fall back to the floor. The cell she was in was much the same as all the others in this small section of the facility. The only difference was the book that had been set on her desk.
“You might be surprised by how open-minded I can be. Just try me,” he asked.
“I never intended to break the rogue king’s beta alpha out, but I did break out Sean from the dungeons of my own free will,” the girl said to him.
“That’s funny. I’m certain he told me you were very innocent,” the king exclaimed.
The girl chuckled, a smile gracing her face before she let her head fall into her arms, “Of course, that’s what he would say. That man’s as dense as he is kind. It was only a week, but I feel like the version of him that I know is the complete opposite of the one you know.”
Davin was shocked by the sudden praise she gave his uncle. ‘Since when does my uncle get along with anyone?’ Suddenly, the thought of brainwashing felt well within reason. “I only know what my father told me of him. The man trusted him blindly and never once questioned him,” the king replied, “However, I’ve never been given a reason to believe that.”
“Yeah, the former king is the only one who really knew him. This isn’t how this was supposed to happen. What was he thinking when he came up with such a ridiculous plan?” the girl mumbled to herself.
“I see why Frank couldn’t get anything out of her. She knows a lot more than she can tell all at once,” the girl was shocked by the Queen’s observation, but she wanted to correct them on a few things. Bree stood up and walked up to the bars.
“You’re partly right, your majesty, but then again, I can tell you this with absolute certainty. Your uncle is the last person in the kingdom you should be putting behind bars. Not after what he’s been through,” the girl replied.
“We’ve all been through something, girl. How does that justify letting one of the most dangerous werewolves in the history of time?” Frank snapped at her.
Barely shaken by the outburst, the girl turned to face the hunter, “You don’t know pain, Frank Silver. Your skin is flawless. Your muscles are well-toned without a single sign of you ever getting your butt kicked.
I won’t deny that you worked hard to get to where you are today, but you’ve not known pain your entire life and definitely not the pain I speak of. Pain that never goes away. Pain that you have to live with... or not live at all.”
The more Bree spoke, the harder it was to understand what she was saying. The girl
“You’re so young. You’ve not even graduated yet. What would you know?” the man countered, “Do you even realise what you’re defending? The rogue king has killed millions and one of his right-hand men has been let out of captivity. Do you even know what will happen to the world just because of this? Do you have any idea how many could die because of such a careless action?”
The girl went silent and returned to the bed, laying down in it and staring at the ceiling without another word. She was done talking to Frank. ‘Death of many... that’s the only way they ever look at it, isn’t it? That’s why the actions of those two are almost impossible to justify... This is truly a mess,’ the girl thought to herself.
The king’s voice interrupted her thought, “What about the woman who helped the beta alpha escape? What is she?”
“Oh, you mean Amanda. Amanda is someone special to Prince Sean. You’re gonna like this. She’s his ‘Queen Martha’, to put it simply,” the girl smirked. The king gasped while the queen froze and went white. Davin took a step back from the bars shielding him from the girl.
“B-but... Sean has no mate. None that I know of,” the information took time to register in the king’s mind, “Take me to her.”
Silver sighed at the sudden request. Bree wasn’t going to say much more than she already had. He’d learnt almost nothing about her motives or what she was hiding. All he knew was that there was the possibility of some reason behind their actions. Why they couldn’t say, however, was still lost on him. Narrowing his eyes at the girl one last time, he turned away from the cell and started to walk away.
The king steeled his expression and allowed Cupid Shooter to lead them through the gigantic facility. He was going to meet the fabled ‘mate’ that belonged to his uncle. He couldn’t believe it at all. ‘Sean doesn’t have a mate, does he?’ went the king’s thoughts.
Silver led them out of the large building and into another, sending shivers down the king’s spine. The building they’d entered was filled with people dressed in lab coats and hunters moving in and out, each with some form of affliction ailing them. Some were merely coughing while others had injuries that were best left undescribed.
The smell of medicine assaulted the king’s nose. This was the medical wing. Without slowing down, the Mighty warrior led them up two shifts of stairs and into a room barred by a large metallic door. Despite its outer appearance, the room was fully equipped with state-of-the-art medical equipment.
A beeping sound came from the machine hidden behind the curtains that surrounded a bed. This room had two doctors monitoring it and working on the patient obscured by the curtains... The mood suddenly dropped and a weak heartbeat made its way to the king’s sensitive ears... escorted by the sound of slow laboured breathing.