Claimed by the Mad Lycan King

They had to leave in small groups. Therefore, the journey that should only take a whole day turned out to be three days before they could enter Asher’s territory, the Ravencourt Kingdom.

The last two days, everything went smoothly; people didn’t question them, since they had a bracelet that indicated they had been checked thoroughly and were proven as humans.

Of course, the bracelet had been fabricated.

”Please, scan your bracelet here,” a woman said politely when they checked in at a hotel.

Jared scanned his bracelet first and had no issues—he was cleared, and so were the others. But when it was Jeremy’s turn to scan his bracelet, the woman’s expression suddenly faltered, though she maintained her smile, which looked forced this time.

”Everything is alright?” Jeremy asked, because he noticed that too.

”Yes, everything is fine. All of you are clear to go. Here is your room access.” The woman handed them their cards to access their room.

The seven of them travelled together in one car, and they registered as family; thus, if one of them was suspected, the rest would be in danger as well.

”She noticed it, didn’t she? Something is not right with the bracelet.” Jeremy glanced over his shoulder and saw she picked up the phone and made a call.

”Impossible, it shouldn’t be.” Jared saw the same thing as well, so it was difficult to say that Jeremy was wrong.

”No, they noticed it.” Jeremy was sure of that.

The seven of them entered the elevator, but instead of going to the twelfth floor, where their room was, they went to the lower ground parking lot, where they parked the car.

”Damn it, how could this be?” Kayden cursed under his breath. ”This should be safe, right?” he looked at the bracelet in his hand.

”Probably there is an error in the system,” Leigh tried to reason.

”How far are we from the Ravencourt territory?”

”Three hours away; we can go directly there and inform King Asher that we will arrive ahead of time,” Lidya suggested.

”We will go straight to his territory,” Jared decided because even though it was risky, they couldn’t enter another hotel if something was wrong with the bracelet.

Meanwhile, Seara sent a text to Zade, informing him that Jeremy’s bracelet didn’t work and asking if he knew something about it.

[I will check into it.] Zade replied almost immediately.

Seara was still worried about what Zade was going to do. Last night Zade reassured her he had gathered the remaining shifters who were still in Wvern City. There were at least a hundred of them, a huge number despite the massacre the people had done there to prosecute the shifters.

”We can’t use the bracelet anymore; the insider is busted,” Seara said when she got the reply from Zade as they entered the car.

”Really? Well, that’s awful, but that explains the situation.” Kayden looked annoyed. ”It has to be informed to the other alphas and warriors too.”

”I think the king must have taken care of that,” Jared said, gesturing for Kayden to get inside the car quickly; they needed to leave the area as soon as possible, since they had been spotted.

And they were right to feel worried when they saw a few guards walking closer to their car.

”Why does it have to be in the parking lot again?” Kayden still remembered the last confrontation that almost killed them all; it happened in the parking lot too.

Jared started the car when those five guards started running toward them.

”Stop! Sir! Stop the car!”

It would be stupid if Jared listened to them, so he floored the accelerator and drove away from the hotel. He even ran through the barrier gate when his access was denied.

Soon enough, they were already on the road.

”Everyone is alright?” Jared glanced at Seara and Leia through the rearview mirrors; they were sitting on the middle seat with Jeremy, while Leigh and Lidya were at the back.

”Yes, fine,” Jeremy said. He had checked on his mother and Seara too.

”Good, we are going to...”

Jared didn’t get to finish his words when they were hit by a truck at the crossroads.

***

”Deactivate all of the bracelets on the list,” Jack said grimly to his men, while King Azrael was standing behind him.

The command came abruptly, and Jack didn’t have time to inform Zade about this, but he assumed he must have known that since his insider was busted.

In this case, Jack was also taken by surprise because he didn’t expect there would be an animagus within the facility.

”We need to do a regular check on our people, just in case something like this happens again,” Azrael said lightly. He looked at Jack and patted his shoulder. ”You have done so well. There is a house near the facility; you and your family should move there so all of you can be well protected.”

Jack thanked the king, but he didn’t agree immediately. It sounded generous, but the truth was, it felt like he was being trapped. He wondered if he had a suspicion of him.

”Madelline is doing well with her research. Soon enough, we will find a breakthrough. From what I hear, these monsters can regenerate very quickly and are difficult to kill.” Azrael smiled at Jack. ”Probably you can find a way to train them and make them part of our soldiers; they will be unstoppable, and I heard Madelline found a rare species, the strongest one among them.”

Jack immediately knew which monster the king was talking about; this must be the man that Zade was looking for too. One of their highest leaders in the shifter world.

”I will look into it,” Jack replied politely. He watched on the screen as around three hundred bracelets had been deactivated.

”Why don’t we look into it now? You must want to see your wife too, right?” Azrael chuckled, patting his shoulder. ”Let’s see this special monster.” He gestured for Jack to follow.