Detective Wilde watched Jackie and Riley leave, his shoulders muscles unknotting when the door completely closed.

  He looked down at the note on his desk. Was she really in danger?

  Releasing a deep exhale, he relaxed in his chair. This woman was making his life difficult.

  He cringed, his nose scrunching on his next inhale. Ugh, daisies were the worst, but he couldn't have her recognizing his scent. His cover would be blown. Thank the Moon Goddess, he built a habit of wearing it while on-duty.

  Caleb had spent the past years covering for rampant werewolves like Jackie, trying to erase evidence of their existence. It was hard work. He was growing tired of all the work piling up. Not to mention, the teenagers who went overboard and shifted in front of mortals.

  His temples throbbed incessantly. These clean-ups took too long. His main mission was babysitting his queen and it has been infuriating these last few weeks.

  Now there was an impending threat on her life. If she wasn't his future queen, he would strangle her himself.

  She was mind-numbingly unaware of the attention her research had gotten. He had killed too many werewolves over the last few months and he was exhausted. At conventions, outside her university’s science building, and her library meetings.

  His thought faded as Frankie came waltzing into his office again, bearing a childish smile. The responding glare from the other party caused Frankie’s smile to grow wider.

  “So what's happened?” Frankie asked, rubbing his hands together.

  “Fucking walking disaster, that's what she is. Can't she just stay low and pursue her research like she always did? Now she wants to go where? The blasted lass. She has no sense of self-preservation. The kingdom is not like any place she ever step foot upon.”

  “Whoa there, grumpy. She just lost her friend.”

  “…okay, yeah. You're right. It's this smell, sometimes I can't think straight. You sure you didn't sell me a knock-off, Frankie?”

  “What do you take me for? When have I ever?”

  Caleb looked him dead in the eyes.

  “Are you forgetting the flute? You promised me it was made with Siren magic.”

  Frankie, a renowned faerie craftsman, who sold the detective silver weapons he crafted for cheap. Cheap by kingdom standards.

  Aside from weapons, Frankie had sold Caleb some miscellaneous items he’d bought from other faeries at expensive prices. Prices set so high even his king would gawk at, but then again he couldn't imagine his king gawking at anything. The king was more a short-tempered person than a gawker.

  The Nyme elixirs he used daily to cloak his odour worked, but he had never used one with daisies. It was an irritating smell for wolves. Caleb held back a sneeze. Well, unless he planned on taking the trip himself, he wouldn't complain.

  “What? I apologized for that over a thousand times already. That's what the faerie who sold it to me claimed.” The blue-eyed faerie raised his hand in surrender. “It's really not my fault,” he said with a mischievous grin, his deceptive blue eyes locking on the glaring detective.

  Caleb’s glare must have been piercing enough to wipe the grin from Frankie’s lips.

  “So when do you plan on telling your king?”

  “I’ll send a letter in the morning.”

  Frankie shook his head, his index finger moving side-to-side in time with the tsk, tsk, tsk sound coming from his lips.

  “His queen’s life is in danger. Nothing new, sure. Except now, you don't know the perp behind it so she could die tomorrow and he'd have no one to blame but you. Go there and deliver the message. Personally.”

  The detective mulled over the idea. Go to the king and tell him his mate was in danger. Was it worth? Would the king care?

  He looked down and read the words written on the bloodied note.

  Another sigh left his lips. He shooed Frankie out of his office and sank lower in his chair, opening a nearby cabinet.

  He grabbed the armband that he’d shoved under a stack of papers and held it up for inspection. The artificial light reflecting off its golden surface, Caleb recalled the last thing the king had said to him before Caleb had left.

  “I hope to never see you again, Sir Wilde.”

  The king wasn’t going to like this. He put the band back where he found it and closed the drawer. It was time to go home.

  ***

  Passing through the boundary always felt painful and time-consuming. It felt worse than the first time Caleb transformed into a wolf. With each shift, he had gotten used to the feeling of his skin and muscles stretching and the morphing of his body. It had become as normal and comfortable as changing clothes. Now there was nothing to it. However, with the boundary, it wanted to tear his entire existence apart. It punished him for each and every crossing.

  Based on what he had heard between the whispers from his elders, the boundary tested your spirit before allowing you through. It accepted who it wanted and rejected others. The elders called it an ancient god. One that was sealed into this form to protect Infideon forever.

  It was at these times when he almost believed them. It was hard not to when your skin felt like it was being shredded over and over. When Caleb used to work in the castle, he watched as those whom the boundary rejected were obliterated.

  For most, he had to stand and watch their skin melt and their bodies dissolve until not much was left but a gooey mush. Even after seeing that, Caleb didn’t break a sweat when he traveled to Earth. It could have been his arrogance as an Alpha wolf or simply a way to prove his fealty to his king.

  The castle loomed ahead as he got closer, approaching the gates. The guards stood on alert, eying him with suspicion.

  He read their intent in the way they moved. Their body language spoke for them. Their stances were angled low to the ground, their wolf instinct preparing to address their perceived threat. Had he once been like these guards? It was possible.

  Castle guardsmen held too much responsibility on their shoulders. He had gone from protector of the palace and his king to protector of its secrets.

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  He could almost bet if these guards had been in their wolf form, they’d have been crouching right now. That, he could guarantee. This was one of the best times to be a guard, these were the calmer hours. Their alertness showed their competency. Caleb was impressed. Not much traffic of wolves coming in and out.

  Caleb flashed them his insignia which was tattooed on his left bicep.

  They scuffled away with a salute allowing him entry into the kingdom of Alffatir.

  He didn't even get to walk a couple of steps before he was ambushed from behind.

  “Welcome back, stranger!” His sister, Sophia’s voice sailed toward him.

  Chuckling, Caleb reached up, held her arm and tried to break from her death grip.

  “What a beautiful way to greet your older brother, Soph.”

  He twisted her arm behind her back with ease, freeing himself from under it. Then he gave her his best grin.

  “How’s Mom’s sickness?” he asked.

  She returned his smile with an unsteady one.

  “She’s… well… She’s still the same as always.”

  Her gaze forlorn as she said this. Caleb noticed her rubbing her side where small Beta drops were on her shirt.

  He drew closer.

  His sister tried to shrink away from him so he slowed his approach. When she calmed down, he raised her shirt and saw the long slash on her side.

  “She did this?”

  A cross between a whimper and a laugh came from her.

  “It's fine. I'll be fine soon.”

  I have to check on Mom later. I need to see for myself how bad things have gotten.

  He released her and bit his lip, taking the folded research pages he’d stolen in a rush from his pocket.

  Handing them to her, Caleb remembered how nervous he was that day. He hadn't realised how important the queen's research was or the type of impact it could have for werewolves until he had listened in on one of the queen's Ph.D. student presentation. It was the first time he learned what her research was about.

  The morning of the murder, Caleb confirmed there was no one inside before he entered Queen Jackie's apartment through her window.

  Immediately, the hairs on his nape began to rise and his hands began to shake. Caleb looked down at the gooseflesh spread across his arms. It was at that moment he realised she was dangerous. A natural predator. There was something about her scent that oppressed him. Everything was marked with her smell and his head felt dizzy. Every instinct inside him screamed warnings to tread with caution.

  Caleb headed toward a computer that was covered with the queen's scent, the smell turning his steps tentative and after five failed attempts at guessing her password, he moved onto the binders in a container beside her desk. He fumbled a little while he flipped through the pages inside. The binders flopped out of his hands once or twice. Caleb really wanted to get out of there.

  Most of the jargon eluded him which is why he was looking for that specific gene-type name. She mentioned it in one of those student seminars he attended. Finally there it was. He ran a finger over it when he reached the final pages.

  Caleb was halfway through reading a couple before the sound of footsteps approaching broke his concentration.

  He sniffed.

  A wolf.

  Why was she back so early? Registering he hadn't put on anything to cover his scent today, Caleb tried to remain calm.

  He snatched the papers he had been reading and exited the same way he entered.

  It wasn't until he turned the corner two blocks from his job when it dawned on him that the scent he smelled coming down the hall wasn't hers.

  “What’s this?” Sophia asked, breaking him from his reverie.

  She leafed through the sheets of paper, handling them carelessly as she turned them over in her hand.

  Her furrowed brows deepened and she tilted her head.

  She was quick to hand them back to him with disinterest. “I don’t understand this. It all looks like gibberish to me. But seriously, what is that?”

  “This is the answer. It’s unfinished and needs some correction but this can cure Mom’s sickness. Lunacy can be cured.” Caleb lowered his voice to a whisper as he continued, “Our future queen has discovered a way to cure it. I thought it was a farce at first but this is real, Soph. She can be cured of lunacy for good.”

  Her eyes widened.

  “Seriously? Did you make this? Is that why we haven't seen you for years? You've been helping the queen make this to cure Mom? I’m honestly surprised you survived the cross, Luce must love you.”

  “Luce?”

  “Yeah, that’s the goddess’s name, right?” she asked. Caleb never heard anyone give a name to the trapped ancient deity.

  “I thought it was a god.”

  She waved her hand as if he was being ridiculous.

  “It's a goddess. I've been studying her origin story with Albert. The king has been taking more notice of our efforts since then.”

  “And how did you find out it was a goddess?”

  “That was simple. I won't bore you with the details. I even know her name, the ancient texts refer to her as Luciferin.” She gave him an enigmatic smile, her bluish-gray eyes sparkling.

  They continued their walk. Caleb didn't have much to add while she spoke about her historical findings. He enjoyed watching her pursue her passions from a distance. Much like their queen's research pursuits, they were beyond his scope of understanding. They made it to the marble staircase that led to the palace.

  After seeing him off, his sister walked eastward where the royal library was. He shook his head, thinking, what a nerd.

  He stared after her, waiting for her to turn back like she did so often in the past.

  When it was obvious she wasn't going to, his gaze turned to the papers clutched in his hand.

  Caleb folded them and put them back into his jacket pocket. He'd look at them later after he gave his report to the king.

  He saluted the guards outside the palace doors, took a deep breath and then made his way to the king’s dining room. King Graham was having dinner, his fork halfway to his mouth when he found him. The king cleared his throat and placed the silver fork back on his porcelain plate.

  “This better be urgent. I knew you were rude, but not giving notice of your arrival goes beyond anything you’ve done before.” Graham looked anything but angry. Let alone surprised at his being there.

  “You can always be rid of my presence if you terminate my assignment, Your Highness,” Caleb said, his tone even. He cracked his knuckles, sending for a nearby maid. When one approached, he gave her instructions to pass to the chef. When she scurried away, he turned his attention back to the king.

  There was a smile of displeasure on the king’s face as he said, “I never knew anyone to treat my castle like their home.” He waited for Caleb to sit before continuing, “Now what is it you wish to report?”

  “She is in danger.”

  “Again, how many times this month? I’m tired of hearing this. I believe you do this to test my patience, Caleb, and I would advise you not to.”

  “The third time, your Majesty. But this time, the danger comes in the form of a threat.” Caleb handed him the note with the threat on it. “I’ve done my best to protect her and hide her identity. But I believe someone now knows who she is. I suspect they might know of your connection.”

  King Graham growled and pushed his plate away from him.

  “Is that all?”

  “No—” A plate flew past his ear, he patiently dodged and a small yip came from behind him.

  Caleb turned. The maid he’d sent to the kitchens earlier was holding my plate, steak sauce covered her clothes. She was trying to hold in her hiccups as she placed the emptied plate in front of him. Betas…they scared easily.

  King Graham often had these bouts of rage, and from the bags under his eyes and the shifting feet of the Betas, they were getting worse and more frequent.

  “She wants to do what?”

  “Cross the boundary. I received intel from the library she attends. She and her group intend on crossing whenever they gather the means to do so.”

  “Interesting,” Graham said, his teeth grinding together. “Ensure she stays in the Earth realm, Caleb. I would hate to kill one of my best.” His gaze was predatorial, but familiar. It was the same look Caleb’s mother gave him all those years ago from the head of the dinner table.

  The lunacy was quickly growing and deteriorating the king's mind.