Wolf's Claim (The Royal Heir #3) - Jen L. Grey Page 0,19

sighed. "Tommy, do you have any ideas?"

"For the first time ever, I don’t." His deep voice was even lower than normal. "It's like we're fighting the air around us. It has to be a witch practicing dark magic."

His words chilled me to the bone.

"You've got an eavesdropper." Ella walked out of the kitchen and pointed at me. "Oh, damn, girl ... Are you okay?"

"What's wrong?" Mason's voice tensed, and I heard his footsteps rushing toward me. As he stepped into the den, he paused. "Oh, baby." He hurried over to me and wrapped me in his arms. "Did you have any more bad dreams? I shouldn't have left you alone."

"No, I just need coffee." I didn't want him to feel like he had to be glued to my side. He may be my mate, but I liked having some air to breathe on my own at times.

"Okay.” He wrapped an arm around my waist and tugged me into the kitchen. With his free hand, he pointed to the table. "Go on and sit down. I'll make it for you."

Now that was something I wasn't going to argue with. I was under the watchful eyes of my three main guards as I sat at the table.

"You look like shit." Kassie frowned at me. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were doing a walk of shame right now."

"Thanks. That makes me feel so much better." Sometimes it was better not to say anything at all. I already felt bad enough.

"Wow. Our little princess is grouchy." Mona chuckled even though her brown eyes were full of worry.

"She's coming off a magic high." Louis sat at the end of the table right across from me and shook his head with closed eyes. "I've seen this done to my brother once. He had a rendezvous with a witch and woke up the same way. She'd tried to spell him to get some secrets. Little did she know that he wasn't privy to the information."

"How long did it last?" I'd never felt like this before. Even as a kid, I had never gotten sick due to my shifter half.

"A day or two." Louis frowned. "So at least, the end is in sight."

"That's it. I'm not eating out again." At least, not until this whole thing was over.

"It's for the best." Tommy nodded his head. "We've got to figure out what the hell is going on. I've never felt useless like I do now."

"I think we're all feeling that way." It was as though, no matter what we tried to do, something attacked us without warning.

My cell phone rang, the noise piercing my head. "Oh, damn it."

"You don't have to answer that." Mason placed a cup of coffee on the table in front of me.

It would be nice to ignore it, but when I saw Xavier's name on the caller ID, I had to answer. When one of the main alphas from Chicago called, it wasn’t usually a good thing. "Hello?”

"Queen Elena." It wasn't a question but more a statement of fact.

"Yes, is everything okay?" They normally didn't call randomly like this. We had weekly calls scheduled with the alphas in which we discussed everything.

"I'm not so sure." He cleared his throat and took a deep breath. "I normally wouldn't feel inclined to call, but after you and your mate did so much for us, I can't not."

My heart dropped. This was going to be bad. "I appreciate it so much. What seems to be the issue?"

"There are some rumblings that some alphas are beginning to conspire to take the crown from you."

"What?" I put the phone on the table and hit SPEAKER. I didn't want to have to repeat this to everyone. "I just put you on speaker. Mason and my close circle are near. It'll make this talk go much smoother."

"Of course, My Queen." He cleared his throat. "Even though you and the king have only been in place for a few months, there is a group of alphas that feel neglected and think that you show favoritism."

"That's bullshit," Mason growled.

"I know. We've informed them of that, but they think it's because we've been visited." He paused. "Your cousin is down there. They're backing him for the crown."

At some point, I had to stop being surprised. "Of course, he is."

"He's promising them things."

"That son of a bitch is going down." Mason placed his hands on my shoulders and began kneading.

"What cities are we talking about?" There was no telling who all were