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Ray's POV

"Objection! Objection! Lady Rhea is innocent until proven guilty!" Wilhelm roared, it seemed as though he had said it time and time again. His voice was growing strained with every piece of movement within this conversation, it seemed to be going back and forth.

None of which were in Rhea's favor.

"Until proven guilty? The poison was found in her room! Right alongside the dying King!" Morris yelled, matching so easily to the Head Advisor's volume, and the nods that transpired had caused Clive to sink further into his seat.

It was all lies, the entire lot of them. Rhea had tried to heal Ray when he had been sick, with what little they had. This was not the same female they were attempting to blame things on.

"I told you, the female was nothing but a whore...She hexed the King, how long do you think she's been tempting him with her cunt?" Tension roared, but that would not pass for judgment.

Not if Ray had anything to say about it.

"Hold your tongue, you bastard! Innocent until proven guilty!" He attempted to reason with Tension, but the fucking male had only scoffed.

"Then why did she run? Not a single person in this room knows where the hell she even is!"

"Run? She can hardly walk without a damned cane, where would she fucking run off to?" Ray snapped, knowing that Rhea wouldn't have liked how he worded his reasoning, but it was the truth.

"Another bed she's been warming, a Rogue influencer perhaps?" Morris continued, and Ray turned to Wilhelm, who was equally as exhausted as the rest.

"We cannot conclude anything upon Lady Rhea's actions or attempt against the King. And until we hear a proper word from the Healers, we will move from this conversion and onto—"
"Onto the bitch leading them right into the castle? She had planned the entire Ball, and had access to everything. Knowing full well we had important figures in these walls. It has to be her!" Edmund concluded, but he hadn't spoken much the entire time—And it confused Ray entirely.

How was this any at all fair?

"When Rhea is found, she will give a proper interrogation and trial. General Drax, what can you tell us from our acting Alpha?" The male had been utterly silent the entire time of this conversation, much like Edmund. But he hadn't spoken for or against the favor of Lady Rhea.

Leaving both Ray and Clive feeling isolated on their own track mind, though perhaps Wilhelm would be helpful, if he truly believed Rhea's motivation.

"The Rogues have been dealt with. Those who survived through our defense are currently being interrogated by Beta Elias and Delta Lyall since the end of this entire ungodly predicament." He said, cooly. But as he had risen to his feet, his eyes scanned the room and landed on the males beside him.

"But I have a question for you, Morris—Given that every single room besides your guest room had been raided by the Rogues...You best pray that innocent until proven guilty will grant you the same curiosity."

"Wh—What? How dar—" Drex had snapped, had they all forgotten who he is?!

"Don't raise your tone at me, you ignorant piece of shite. I hold power in this room. Wealthy and fancy jewels are not any match to me. I will gut the next male who decides to speak ill of Lady Rhea."
"Objection! Clearly, she has hexed our General too!" Morris shrieked, but Drex, in his full glory smirked as he managed to take the small strides off towards the skinny male.

"You are a disgrace of a wolf. Tell me—Where is she?!" He bellowed, shaking the lanky wolf as if he had been a naughty pup. Morris hardly held the built—Hell, even Clive had much more weight, and he was barely a man!

"General Drex, please...Sit down, this will not get us anywhere," Wilhelm said, but it seemed it was more out of need than want.
"There are traitors in our midst, Advisor Wilhelm—I can smell the sour pelts in this room. The Rogues were drawn here, yes. That much is clear, but I have my reasons. My Enforcers do not act on their own accord, they follow the Alpha—Then me. Lady Rhea was escorted by someone else, with force, out of the room during the investigation of her room. She is missing. She did not run away." It was damning, the moment both Ray and Clive had heard this revelation.

"She's—Oh goddess, oh gods—" Clive whispered in utter horror, his eyes glistening at the thought of losing her.
Again.

He had promised Romulus!
Both he and Ray both, that nothing would happen to her if they could help it!

"Are you saying that the Rogues took her?" Damien questioned, and Drex nodded in response—His eyes still silently scouring at the motives of everyone in this room.

Until he took to Mithwell's position, how nice and tight the fellow seemed to be put together—If not for his disheveled hair.

"You have a mighty fair reason to get rid of Lady Rhea, tell me—Where were you before this?"

"Getting my two senses together, my informants to see if the townspeople know what's happened." It was the cruel response, but before Drex could put another word forward, Ray scoffed.

"You think a human will bother? From the moment we entered this Kingdom, we've had to watch our backs in fear of getting nabbed. And that didn't come from any of you—That came from the staff, the fucking staff! The ones that keep this castle together. If they took—You best pray they didn't take her, for when the King wakes up, there will be hell to pay. And I don't want to be in his way when he finds out." Drex grunted in agreement to Ray's reveal, not to mention that King had deemed Rhea his future Queen.

That in itself had earned her the respect half this room hadn't earned.

Instead, Drex had moved on to the next—He had gathered all he needed to know. Mithwell knew of Rhea's whereabouts, it was just a matter of time as to where she was.

Yet as he was hardly down the hall, the large double doors to the throne room had opened once more, and both Ray and Clive had followed him in pursuit.

"You both should stay and—"
"If Rhea's in trouble, we need to help," Clive demanded, his chest puffing in preparation for arguing his right to be there. But it did earn him a confirming nod before Drex continued to take the strides. "I suppose the both of you know the King's intentions."
"Well before you, my friend. Long before you." Ray smirked, and the General curled his fists.

This was much more than a missing person—This was a missing Queen.

Instead, the trio had come towards the grounds where dozens of captured Rogues had laid beside their former brothers that had been slain and hadn't been removed thus far.

While the yelling hadn't been understandable, seeing Elias with a longsword at his side—Standing tall with a kneeling male at his feet, it seemed that the interrogation was not going well as they would hope.

"This is no place for humans to be—"
"If it involves Rhea, we need to be here," Ray interjected, and that caused Drex to bare his teeth. It had been a direct order, but the male was rebelling. "You're too faint-hearted to bare witness to this. Talk with the staff and see if they have any information to give."

"Too faint-hearted? Do you even know why the King had asked us to shadow Rhea?" Drex had remained silent, as he didn't know. Nor did he care at the time, but given the way this human had felt encouraged to speak to him in this manner, it was all for not.

"Rhea had found us in a Rogue camp. Chained by our wrists and ankles to the male in front of us. She didn't hesitate to set the camp on fire, but we were bound to a pole, we couldn't move. Yet that brave fucking female risked her life and herded us to safety." Drex hadn't realized the background of these two would have been in one of the Rogue camps, the very ones that the Staff and every human in the Kingdom walls were afraid of being pushed towards.

"How were you sent to the camp?" He asked, generally curious until Clive ducked his head down in shame. "My Alpha sold me."

"He what?!" Drex spat, complete disbelief washing over his expression as he couldn't believe the poor boy's fate.

"Wolves do not care for human lives, General. Rhea was working to find those in contact with Rouges. Funding them. She didn't tell us much, but last night her informant had claimed that the shipment of wine had been compromised. It tipped." Ray's explanation sounded like an innocent mistake at first, but it had started to progress into multiple possibilities.

"You think it was meant to be tampered with?"
"I think whoever was behind it managed to get the King's drink tampered with already—If he was at all conscious he would be tearing down the walls to find Rhea." Ray had to hold Clive by the shoulder or else the poor boy would continue to pace.

However, it was the incoming male walking towards them that had silenced the conversation. But it still irked Drex that an Alpha from outside the pack walls had the gull to even think of betraying the trust put into him by the people.

Wolves or humans, it did not matter.
They had taken an oath, and he would gladly remind them when the time came.

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General Drex's POV

"General." Petilo greeted with his arm patted over his chest, and Drex hummed. Clearly, the human's presence had caught the attention of others. "We've just come from a meeting with the other council members. Is there any new information here?"

"No sir, they're being tight-lipped. But this was too orchestrated to be a coincidence." Drex didn't need to hear the same opinion over and over again, he needed information—Facts.

"Stay with these two while I speak to Elias."
"Sir, the Beta is enraged...And there has still been no word on the Alpha's status of—"
"It's been nearly twenty-four hours! We have lost Lady Rhea! Get me something of value to work with, damnit!" He roared, before stalking forward towards the scene of a very brutal and forthcoming sight.

Drex could feel the deep puddle of blood trying to soak the soul of his boots, but his quick pace didn't allow for too much to stain them. Not that it mattered, but he did favor these boots.

"Beta." He issued, but the blackened gaze had all but told Drex that things were far worse than he could have imagined. "General."

"Lady Rhea is missing." He informed, and that had all but caused the Beta to drop the sword in his hand. But it was Lyall who dropped his task and come forth. "What?"

"Lady Rhea was taken from her room during the commotion with searching her rooms and taking care of the King. We do not know where she is. Some of the council members have suggested that she ran away, but anyone with a brain knows that she cannot run." Even in the two's panic, Drex managed to speak through the pants and growls either produced.

"And Romulus isn't getting better..." Elias whispered, shifting the handle of his sword as he closed his eyes. A tactic Drex knew all too well as an attempt to gather his thoughts and reign back their beast.

"Are there any leads on where Lady Rhea is? If the Healers who are working on the King fail..."
"Lady Rhea is innocent, there is no way around that," Lyall demanded, and Elias huffed impatiently. "I wasn't suggesting that. She is a well-versed Healer, and she does not deserve what is coming to her if she has gotten in the middle of this."

"I believe Mithwell knows of her whereabouts. I cannot confirm this, but he seemed much too...Tamed during the meeting. Were Rhea really on the run, he would have thrown in his own hatred somewhere in the mix. Offered his support to go and find her." That seemed to be a decent dent in the question, but it did not confirm anything.

"So the King is stricken with only goddess knows what type of poison, and the only viable option to know a possible cure has vanished?" Beta Elias snarled, and Drex could only nod once more, as there was no point in seeing the brighter side of things.

"What of her males?"
"They are as clueless as you and I. Though I am leaning towards the side that Rhea has fallen victim as well. All the more reason to put efforts in dismantling this, and starting to put our attention towards two very important people." It was an inherited trait Drex had learned from his father. There were times to yell and threaten, and then there were times to calmly discuss.

And given that Elias was already enraged, his shouts would do nothing but damage the valuable time they have.

"The King has been in the Healer's care for a while, I have doubt that they are all trustworthy—Given their stance on human relations. I want a private practice to come, something that will buy us time to find Rhea." The Beta order, but Lyall had hung his head down in shame.

"And...What happens if Rhea is—"
"Then we are all fucked, and that's not the worst of it. Come, we have to get to the bottom of this. And get those two males, they're the best chance we have yet." And thus, three heads had become five as they turned over every option.

The biggest threat that had already stored up, was the fear that Lady Rhea was already well out of the Kingdom walls.

It was a possibility, but not one that anyone wanted to think of as of yet.

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Date: 07/16/23

Time: 9:55

Words: 2366

Author's Note:

We're down a King and soon-to-be Queen in the aftermath of a Rogue attack, seems a little too planned considering it happened just after the Ball Rhea was hosting.