Alpha’s Black Furred Slave Mate
Chapter 79

North-Valley was only a couple of Kingdom's north. If they had taken a carriage, it would have taken them a couple of days to reach the kingdom. However, they traveled in their wolf forms and were able to make it within a couple of hours. Upon reaching the kingdom, Marlon noticed that it was falling apart after the duke's death. Some of the buildings looked as though they were crumbling to the ground and had been broken into. The paved grounds were broken and gravely to the touch. There were wolves light-furred wolves that were dirty and looked as if they were living on the streets. Marlon wasn't expecting to see the kingdom in such shambles. However, it didn't surprise him considering they had no direct leader. The king didn't typically watch over the kingdoms that had a duke. He must have overlooked the fact that this kingdom had no duke.

The castle was unwatched; the guards were nowhere in sight, and it looked as though it was opened and invaded. He could smell Petra everywhere around the castle grounds. The greens of the ground were contaminated with her. Something was going on with her and he wasn't liking it.

"Sir!" One of his men shouted from the entrance of the castle. "It's open."

Marlon nodded as he, and the rest of the men, gathered around the entrance of the castle.

They weren't sure what to expect when entering this castle, but they needed to be prepared for anything.

The foyer was dark as they entered; it was quiet. It was obvious there has been no one residing within the castle in months. Dust was beginning to collect in the corners of the walls and around the portraits of the duke and his family.

The portraits started with the first duke, Frederick's grandfather. Then Frederick's father, and finally Frederick. Under the duke's were the duchesses and some of their children. They were beautiful women, all fair features. Their hair is equally long and wavy. Though, the younger the age, the curlier the hair seemed to get.

Staring closer at the portraits, Marlon noticed that the first duchess had light blonde hair. But as the generation grew younger, they began darkening. The last of the generation had an auburn red hair. Marlon found it odd that part of the generation of the duke was a commoner. He couldn't help but wonder what would happen if the generation continued. Would they eventually grow into dark-furred wolves?

"Spread out," Marlon ordered his men. "We'll cover more ground that way. Look for any signs of Petra. Anything out of the usual gets reported to me right away."

The guards wasted no time. They expanded throughout the castle. Marlon couldn't stop looking at the portraits. There was something weird about the generations. He pressed his fingers along each of the frames. Once he reached the last frame, he noticed an indent next to it. It almost looked as if there was supposed to be another portrait right beside it.

Has a frame been taken down for some reason?

Where could it have gone?

"Sir!" One of his guards ran from the stairs.

The guard was running down the stairs holding a small non-frame pictured.

"I found this in Frederick's room," he said, handing Marlon the picture.

Staring at the picture, Marlon was astonished. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. It was a baby picture of Deonna. He was wearing ragged clothing that was nearly falling off her body. She was sitting on a pile of hay; her eyes were worn out and tired and her skin was dirty.

She couldn't have been more than a year old at the time of this picture. Marlon knew that Deonna was adopted by the commoner family at age 3. She doesn't know what happened to her birth family, but something was telling him that he was getting closer to understanding more about it.

He flipped the picture over and sketched in terrible handwriting read: She must never know.

Who must never know? Deonna?

This was hidden inside Frederick's room, which meant this must have been Frederick's handwriting. What was he hiding? And what did Deonna have to do with any of it? He thought about how the duchess's hair grew darker with each generation until they turned into commoners. Could Deonna be somehow related to the duke's family? None of this was making sense.

He couldn't help but wonder if Petra was somehow involved in this knowledge. She has been obviously residing in the castle; even though she wasn't there now, she has been and her presence was recent.

Marlon felt a sense of betrayal as he thought his maid knew this knowledge about Deonna and did not inform him.

"I also found some of Petra's belongings in the duke's bedroom. She's been living here," the guard informed him. Marlon frowned.

"Has there been anyone else here?" Marlon asked, he couldn't take his eyes away from the picture of Deonna.

"There are a few different scents. None that I recognize though so it's hard to tell. But they are recent as well," he said.

"What about Alex?" Marlon asked; Marlon couldn't smell Alex around the foyer of the castle, but Alex was smart and could disguise his own scent fairly well. So, he knew there was a possibility that Alex has been around the castle as well.

Does Alex know the possibility of Deonna being related to the duke?

Marlon clenched his fists until his knuckles grew white; the thought of his son betraying him in such an ill manner angered him. He was furious with himself for not realizing this sooner.

He needed to get back to Deonna as soon as possible. If there was a possibility she was related to the duke, that would mean that this castle and this kingdom would be rightfully hers. This could change everything.

If Petra knows this already, that would only mean Deonna was in danger.

"Gather the others," Marlon ordered. "We need to get back."

The guard nodded and went to search for the other guards. Marlon stared back at the empty wall with the indents where it looked as if there would be a frame. Whose picture was there?

(Alex)

"You're sure he's in the castle?" Petra asked, peering up at Alex through her long lashes, a worried expression on her face as she didn't fully trust him.

He needed to prove to her that he could be trusted. They had the same goal; to get rid of Deonna and Mateo and take over the kingdom of Mooncrest.

"Trust me, once I told them you were alive, my father would never not investigate. I told them exactly where I saw you," Alex assured her. "He's definitely at the castle."

She stood on her tiptoes and pressed her soft lips against his. He smiled into her kiss. He loved her kiss. He had grown to love her over the months.

It was a long road to recovery for her; she still has the scarring from when Bob nearly ripped her throat out. However, he was clumsy with it and did cut through her artery. She fell into the water and drifted down the stream. Bob was stupid enough to not check and make sure she was actually dead. Alex knew he needed to get to her before she actually died.

He would have said anything to get out of his brother's fur. He knew Bob wouldn't kill him; if Bob had the choice, he would let Alex go. Alex just had to play the part long enough to make that happen.

As predicted, Bob told Alex that he will let him go, only if Alex promised not to return to Mooncrest. Alex promised, but of course, he didn't mean that promise.

Once he was set free, he made his way down the stream. He panicked thinking that he was going to be too late; once he saw Petra washed up and bleeding out on the shore, he scooped her up and brought her to a safe and secure area where he bandaged her wounds the best he could.

She was still groggy and didn't look as though she was going to survive. He knew his best bet would be his dear friend, and doctor, Olivia.

He brought her to Oliva, and she was able to heal and nurse Petra back to health. As Petra grew stronger, health-wise, she also grew angrier and was filled with vengeance.

She wanted to make Deonna and Bob pay for what they had done to her. Alex also wanted them to pay. Once they got word that the duke has been killed, by Marlon, they knew they had to start acting fast. They made their way to North-Valley and took over the duke's castle.

They dismissed most of the staffing in the castle; the ones who refused to leave were killed on the spot. They had taken over North-Valley; their next plan of action was to take over Mooncrest. But first, they needed to get Marlon out of the way. "The put up the shield. Marlon and his men aren't leaving the castle any time soon," Petra said with a smile.