Chapter 63

Hannah’s POV

“Mate?” I asked, staring between the two of them.

Raya took an unsteady backward, her face showing pure terror as Arnold came into the room; he hasn’t taken his eyes off her.

“Raya is your mate?” I asked again, trying to process what was happening.

He didn’t answer; he stepped closer to her, analyzing her every move and her every feature. He stared around her body; he was in deep thought. I knew to him it was like they were the only two in the room, but to Raya, she wasn’t sure what to make of the situation. She was just attacked the night before by a man at a party, so I couldn’t blame her for being frightened, or even confused.

“Why are you bruised?” Arnold asked, his eyes darkening as he continued to assess her body. “What happened to you…?”

She looked like she wanted to respond, but no words came to her.

I tried to avert his attention away from her because she wasn’t ready to talk yet.

“Why are you here, Beta Arnold?” I asked.

He glanced at me briefly before turning back to Raya.

“Who did this to my mate?” He growled; his face turning red.

“Someone at a party last night,” I told him. “There was an attack…”

“She was attacked?” Arnold asked, peeling his gaze away from her to address me. “By who?!” He demanded to know; I saw the fury flashing through his eyes.

Out of the few encounters I’ve had with Beta Arnold, I never thought of him as the angry type. He acted as Sebastian’s assistant most of the time and typically kept quiet. I’m sure this was new territory for all of us.

“We don’t know his name,” I told him. “But he had a scar on his face…”

“I’ll find him,” Arnold hissed, cutting off my words.

“We will find him,” I agreed, taking a step closer to him. “But tell me why you’re here. Where’s Sebastian?”

“At the palace,” he muttered, turning his attention back to Raya.

I noticed she hadn’t taken her eyes off him; as frightened and confused as she was, she was also in awe of him.

“He didn’t come back with you?” I asked; worry in my tone. “Why?”

“Tonight is the full moon,” he explained. “He needed to chain himself before his madness took over.”

“Why did he send you here?” I asked; getting annoyed that he wasn’t giving me a direct answer.

I decided to step in front of Raya, breaking their eye contact so he could focus his attention on me. It was like breaking through a trance; he blinked a few times, confused as to where he was for a moment before meeting my eyes.

“Answer me,” I ordered, trying to keep the firmness in my tone, but some fear snuck through as my words trembled slightly. “I need to know why he sent you.”

“Something was stolen from the king,” he finally answered. “Magnolia seems to think you are involved.”

“What?” I breathed; that was ridiculous.

Before he could say anything more, another knock sounded on the door, making us all jump. It was much louder and had way too much force. I thought the door was going to break off its hinges. Arnold stepped in front of Raya, protectively and she flinched away from him slightly, but she stayed behind him.

I gave her one look before turning to open the door. Just as I got the door open, I was being shoved aside and 3 of the king pack’s guards were storming into the dorm.

“What is going on?” I asked, trying to keep my voice from quivering.

“Queen’s orders,” one of the guards said.

“I’m the queen,” I told them, folding my arms across my chest.

One of the guards stopped and looked at me.

“Queen Magnolia,” he informed me.

I felt the life draining from my features; at that moment, it felt like I was manually breathing. My breath was hard, and a dizzy wave fell through me. I stumbled away from them as they searched the dorm.

What did they think I stole?

I turned to Arnold for answers, but he was watching the guards carefully. I realized Sebastian probably sent him to make sure they didn’t cross any boundaries.

“I promise,” I whispered to Arnold. “I didn’t take anything.”

Arnold didn’t say anything in response; he was too busy focusing his attention on the guards and keeping Raya safe. She looked even more frightened, and I tried to give her a reassuring smile to calm her. But her body was too tense; she looked like she was about to cry.

“What the hell is this?” One of the guards said.

He was holding one of my notebooks that I’ve written my research in for Sebastian. I felt my heart beating rapidly against my chest as he faced the picture of the moonstone scepter on the page.

“Is that…?” Arnold began to ask, but his voice trailed off.

“Why do you have this?” The guard asked, the forcefulness of his voice startled me.

“I…” I tried to say.

Was that what went missing? The moonstone scepter?

“She must have been the one to take it,” the other guard said.

Arnold shot me a shocked look.

“He had possession of the moonstone scepter?” Arnold gasped. “And you knew?”

“I didn’t take anything. I was just doing research,” I tried to explain, but they didn’t look like they believed me.

“The king said it was locked away in his nightstand. How did you know it was there?” One of the guards asked.

“I found it…” I breathed, trying to keep the tears from spilling from my eyes. “I found it, but I put it right back where it was. I didn’t take it. You can continue to search my stuff, but you won’t find it here.”

“The queen was right…” another guard said under his breath. “She’s a thief and a liar.”

“If she said she didn’t take it, I believe her,” Arnold said, stepping forward. “The king will have your head if anything happens to his luna.”

“We have direct orders from the queen if we find anything suspicious, we need to take her in,” another guard said firmly.

“From the looks of it, this is quite suspicious,” one of the other guards said from the background.

I felt all their eyes on me. I took an unsteady step away from them; this wasn’t looking good, and I didn’t know what else to do or say to convince them otherwise.

The thought of holding that much power in my hands was too much for me to handle. I could hardly even hold it without it leaving a burning sensation on the palms of my hands. I couldn’t even hold it for long.

“The queen ordered that we bring her back to the palace if we find anything,” the guard repeated. “This is definitely something. She obviously knew where the scepter was and was curious about it. We need to bring her in.”

“Please…” I whispered. “I didn’t take anything.”

“We still need to bring you to the queen. She will be the one who decides your fate.”