Lifeless

As soon as the door opened, everyone in the room straightened up and turned their gaze towards the entrance. Lois heaved a sigh of exhaustion and sat down, her mind filled with thoughts about the sudden disappearance of her stepson's mate, Alazne. However, despite her best efforts, she couldn't make sense of the situation.

Godfrey, who was aware of Lois's current state, gave her a sympathetic look as he walked towards her. He knew how she felt, having experienced similar situations before. Eclipse's animosity towards his stepmother was well known to Godfrey and the rest of the group, except for Gabriel's mate, who was new to their circle of friends.

Lois was not too pleased with the sympathy in Godfrey's eyes. It reminded her of her failure as a queen and perhaps reinforced Eclipse's opinion that she was weak. "Your Highness, do you need anything from us?" Godfrey finally asked, breaking the silence in the room.

Lois shook her head and replied, "No, I don't need anything. I just want to help."

Her subjects looked at her with surprise, except for Gabriel's mate, who seemed to understand Lois's intentions. "I can help with anything," she said, looking at each of them.

Leticia frowned and observed the queen for a moment. She noticed that Lois looked pale, but she attributed it to exhaustion and decided to ask her a question, "What is your relationship with Eclipse like?"

Lois was taken aback by the question. It was complicated, and the answer was obvious, but she still replied, "It is strained. We don't get along well with each other."

Leticia hummed softly, her fingers caressing her chin in thought as she contemplated the situation. She wondered who knew about Eclipse's strained relationship with his mother and posed another question, "Apart from your family, who else is aware of this?"

The others in the room looked at Leticia with confusion. Lois answered, "My twin sister."

Leticia squinted her eyes, and a strange glint flashed in them. It was unclear whether she believed Lois or not, but she asked another question, "Where is your sister currently?"

Lois furrowed her brows at the question. She knew that her sister was in Italy, but she didn't know her exact location. Leticia shrugged and replied, "I don't know, all I can say is that she is still here in the country."

Leticia nodded and walked towards Eclipse's desk. She switched on the LED screen and made a drawing of the survivors and Lois's twin. She then rolled up her sleeves and explained, "One of these people might be behind Alazne's disappearance. It could be someone who wants to complicate the relationship between the queen and uncover Eclipse's dark side to his human mate. If Eclipse's mate rejects him, he might kill his stepmother out of anger, and then he would have no choice but to leave the realm."

Gabriel mumbled under his breath, finishing Leticia's statement, "The person would make Eclipse's brothers a weapon to murder him, but knowing Eclipse, he would have the upper hand. He would kill his brother."

Raja, who just walked in, added, "Killing multiple birds with one stone."

His aura was gloomy, and it was clear that he was troubled by the situation.

As soon as the door shut behind Lois, the room fell silent, the tense atmosphere palpable. Raja let out a heavy sigh and sank into a nearby chair, his troubled expression mirroring the anxiety that everyone else was feeling. Meanwhile, Leticia hummed softly to herself, a small smile playing on her lips as she contemplated the situation.

"I should go back to the palace," Lois had said before leaving. "When you need my help, just send me a mind link."

Raja watched as Gabriel closed the door and secured it with a lock, motioning for them to speak freely. "Something isn't adding up," he muttered, standing up and beginning to pace slowly.

Leticia hummed thoughtfully, her fingers tapping on the LED screen as she wrote something down. "Something is wrong with our queen," she said, gesturing towards the message for everyone to read. "But I need your trust right now because we have to test the waters and we need to see the king, ASAP."

The rest of the group nodded in agreement, silently contemplating the situation. They all knew that they were in a precarious position, but they also knew that they needed to act fast if they were going to get to the bottom of things.

Raja shook his head, his hands moving in quick, fluid motions as he signed his response to the group. "His Highness, the second and third princes are looking for Alazne. They are not in the territory."

Leticia's lips formed a thin line as she signed back, "It is a trap. The person did it on purpose to make the queen look more useless and the territory unprotected under her care."

Her companions gave her a subtle nod of agreement. That was the only thing that made sense, but the question remained: who was this person? What did they want, and what would they gain by doing this?

The group fell into a heavy silence, each lost in their thoughts as they tried to puzzle out the situation. It was clear that they were dealing with a cunning and dangerous adversary, one who was willing to go to great lengths to achieve their goals. But who could it be, and what was their endgame? The answers to these questions were still unknown.

As Raja continued to pace, his mind racing with different scenarios and possibilities, Godfrey spoke up. "Perhaps we should focus on finding out who knew about Alazne's disappearance before it became public knowledge," he suggested.

Leticia nodded in agreement. "That's a good idea. We need to start investigating and gathering information. We can't afford to be complacent or make assumptions."

Gabriel chimed in, "We also need to make sure that our ranks are secure. We can't rule out the possibility of a traitor within our group."

Everyone else nodded in agreement, recognizing the importance of ensuring the safety and security of their circle of friends. They knew that they had to work together, pooling their resources and knowledge to uncover the truth behind Alazne's disappearance and the larger plot that was unfolding.

As they continued to discuss their next steps, the tension in the room began to ease, replaced by a sense of determination and purpose. They were all in this together, and they would do whatever it took to protect their queen and their kingdom.

With a renewed sense of resolve, the group set to work, each member taking on different tasks and responsibilities. They knew that the road ahead would be difficult and fraught with danger, but they were ready to face whatever challenges lay ahead. Together, they would uncover the truth and bring those responsible to justice, no matter the cost.

Meanwhile, Alpha King Anselmo and his two sons were still trapped in the middle of the illusion, they had been searching for an exit for a few hours now but with no results.

Christoph looked exhausted from walking up and down without a clue, how could this be happening, Eclipse would call home any moment from now. Perhaps they should tell him the truth and be done with it, "I think we should inform the first brother about the disappearance of his mate".

Zane and their father stared at Christoph like he was stupid, "Are you stupid or just plain idiot? Do you want to inform a ticking time bomb about his missing mate and get Mom slaughtered? Do you think Big Brother would spare her life if he found out that our mother was with his mate before she went missing? He would not have an iota of regret doing that". Zane scolded his younger brother in a harsh tone.

Christoph sneered trying to swallow his rage, "And you think he would spare any of us if we failed to find her? We all know what he is going to do once someone outside the family passes him a single message on what is going on here".

Zane and their father knew that Christoph was right, Eclipse would never forgive them, especially Lois for failing to protect the love of his life. This was more serious than they initially thought.

Zane turned to face his younger brother and father with raised brows, " So what's it gonna be?".

Christoph who was looking behind his brother grinned mischievously, "Our lives would be on the line any moment from now".

***

At the pack house, Raja was getting dressed in an all-black attire while the rest stared at him. Godfrey said in a stern tone, "Make sure everything goes as planned, I want no traces left behind".

Raja nodded swiftly while saying, "Don't worry. Relax. I will ring you when I get there, and you guys be careful as well". At this juncture, they don't know who is behind the curtains controlling the affairs of the pack, they need all the care in the world right now.

Raja jumped through the window after he was done dressing up, determined to make sure that Alazne was found at all costs. Knowing Eclipse, he would probably kill someone if he were to find out what was ongoing in the royal pack.

Meanwhile, "Hey look at that," Christoph's index finger pointed at a light swirling behind his father with a grin. King Anselmo and his sons were glad that after roaming in the illusion for hours, they found a way.

"I hope this helps us," Anselmo muttered under his breath as they walked toward the blinding light.

After appearing on the other side, the trio groaned when a long corridor greeted them with many doors. They started opening and closing each door which led to a room full of harems, the stretch of lust was thick in the air eliciting a curse from each man.

"I'm so gonna kill whoever took her," Zane promised himself silently. He had this feeling that the person was toying with them. A sudden rush of footsteps made them still in their positions, their mouths dropped open when they saw who it was.

"What are you doing here? How did you find us?" Anselmo questions in shock.

Raja was not in the mood to talk so he simply said, "I don't know how but an illusion took me here and she is not here right now. Let's go".

Raja's voice sounded urgent, and the three men followed him, he seemed like he knew exactly what he was doing, and that put his companions at ease. The four men had been walking for thirty minutes straight, they took another turn and came face to face with dark witches and vampires.

Within the blink, of a fight broke out. Fangs and claws were sinking into skins ruthlessly, it was a disaster. After the intense blood bath, Raja drags one of the injured witches and the king commands her to open up a portal which she does, Christoph doesn't spare her as he rips off her head ruthlessly.

The other's head shake in amusement, Christoph hates dark witches because of what they did to his mate but that is a story for another day and time.

The portal took them to the middle of the woods, a lifeless forest with fog swirling around, the Alpha King signalled for everyone to be quiet as his sense of hearing heightened. He listened to the sound of the breeze gently caressing the dry leaves and brunches but that was all.

There was no sign of life there. It was eerily quiet, too calm for the king's liking but just as he was about to talk to his companions about the strangeness of their situation, the frantic thumping of feet against the ground could be heard approaching them, the smell of blood filling the four men's sense.

They took defence stains with their fangs elongated and their eyes burning with determination.

Raja's jaw dropped as he asked in bewilderment looking at a pair of lifeless eyes, "Eclipse?". Even the others were as shocked as Raja.