Kyson POV
I paced outside the small infirmary, the doctor having kicked me out because I was becoming aggressive
as they poked and prodded her and jabbed her with needles.
Dustin was inside with her because I felt like wringing the doctor’s neck every time she would cry out.
Especially when he shoved a tube down her throat to pump her stomach, and she woke abruptly. It
caused me to shift and grab the man. Seeing the frantic look on her face pushed me over the edge. She
kept slipping in and out of consciousness and freaking out each time she came to.
“Any news yet?” Damian asked as I paced out front of the door. I growled and shook my head as he
approached, and Damian sighed.
“They locked you out?” I nodded. Too angry to answer when the brown door suddenly opened, and the
pack doctor from the small town outside the castle gates walked out. He scrubbed his hand down his
face and through his mud-brown hair. The doctor watched me warily, straightening his white coat before
he stepped closer to Damian. His eyes glazed over as he mind linked my Beta. Clearly frightened while I
was in my Lycan form; however, I was focused and in control. So it irritated me that he addressed him
first when she was my mate.
“Are you sure?” Damian asked him.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt“Positive, her blood work showed it, and so did her stomach contents,” I snarled, making Doctor Rick
jump. He hid behind my Beta, his eyes wide with terror.
“What’s wrong with her?” I demanded. Dr. Rick hands me her paperwork with shaky hands, and I snatch
it, staring at it, but it looks gibberish to me.
“F*****g answer me,” I snarled, shaking the papers at him, commanding him.
“She has ingested poison. We found it in her system, my King,” he stuttered.
“Poison? Someone p******d my mate?” I asked, startled. I didn’t expect that to be the answer.
“Kyson, calm down and keep your head,” Damian snapped at me, and I glared at him. How could he say
that when someone tried to poison his Queen?
“What sort of poison?” Damian asks.
“Water hemlock and wolfsbane were in her system. I would check who is working in the kitchens or, more
importantly, with the Queen’s food. I sent Dustin up earlier to check your food, my King. It was
untouched, but the bowl of fruit had traces of both plants in it. Azalea was targeted specifically,” Doctor
Rick tells me.
“I want all kitchen staff in the kitchen within ten minutes. Send all of my guards to wake them and bring
them down; no one is to be unaccounted for,” In tell Damian.
“I will send out the alert,” Damian says, and I watch his eyes glaze over as he mind links everyone.
“Is she awake?” I ask, turning my attention to the doctor.
“No, my King. We have given her something to counteract the poison. She should be fine within a couple
of hours,” the doctor tells me.
“Tell Dustin to remain with her until I return,” I tell him, stalking off toward the kitchen where everyone will
be meeting.” I was furious, and I now had a traitor among my staff, one that had tried to hurt Azalea. Now
I had to figure out who was in charge of her food.
Clarice was the first to walk in, rubbing her eyes and dressed in her floral nightgown. Her hair was in
rollers; she yawned before flicking the lights on and jumping when she noticed me standing in the kitchen
center leaning against one of the steel tables.
My anger refused to let me shift back, and I could see she was startled by my presence but regained her
composure quickly. All the guards were warned not to tell the kitchen staff about the meeting. Damian
quickly marked her name off as he stepped in with the folder containing a list of the kitchen employees,
but Clarice was far from a suspect. I trusted Clarice with my life and Azalea’s, but she would be able to
tell me who cooked our meals tonight and who was stationed on since she handled the kitchen rosters.
“My King? What is this about?” she asked, looking at me worriedly, trying to fight the yawn I see taking
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmover her. She failed to contain it and covered her mouth, yawning loudly.
Damian waves her forward to speak with her while watch the 30 kitchen staff members file into the room
wearing pajamas, looking confused and dazed at the late-night wake-up call. They all line up the room,
filling quickly with the number of people in here.
My personal guard stood by all entrances, blocking the exits. They spoke among themselves in hushed
whispers, trying to figure out what was going on.
“Who was in charge of cooking the King and Queen’s meals tonight?”
“Me, always me Beta Damian. I don’t let anyone else cook for them. Why?” Clarice asked.
“Azalea’s food was p******d, and we don’t think it was the first time she was sick also on the night of her
shift, they found water hemlock and wolfsbane in her system,”
“Is she alright?” Clarice asked, becoming instantly alert, and her eyes flicked in my direction.
“Yes, but we need to know who was in the kitchen when you were cooking, who had access to her food,”
Damian explained. She nodded her head.
“Only eight of us,” she answered quickly.
“Point them out for me,” Damian tells her, and she grabs the staff schedule off the wall, which had
everyone’s time sheets. She pointed out everyone, and I let Damian interview them while the others
stood around nervously before I commanded them one by one to answer. Hoping to weed out any liars,
but we found none. Besides Clarice and Azalea’s guards, no one went near her food. Turning to Clarice
since she was the only one I had not commanded to answer, she sighed.