Chapter 12

Laurel returned to her tent and got ready for bed, but her mind wouldn't rest. The scent of blood was still lingering in the air. The bonfire had burned out, but the fear the display had evoked in the soldiers remained. She didn't hear anything outside of her tent beyond the quiet footsteps of the patrol.

Her mind kept turning over what she knew, trying to make sense of it. Adolph's gentle smile and warm words didn't match the cold fury she'd seen in his eyes. How could he embrace her so gently and use those same hands to kill a vampire slave so quickly and brutally? How could his sweet voice that made her swoon order Daniel's fingers to be cut off? From fury to tenderness and ruthlessness to tenderness: what made him change for her? Being his mate couldn't be enough. Was it a real change or just a mask to keep her at his side?

How long would it last?

Those beautiful women were dragged out of the camp so roughly by the soldiers, the same way that Sarah had been at Basil's order. She was nowhere near as beautiful as any of those women. She certainly wasn't as subservient, either. Would there be a time when Adolph would order them to drag Laurel away the same way? Would he realize that she wouldn't change for him?

Alice scoffed, *He is a king. His actions as a king have no bearing on how he will treat us as his mate*.

She couldn't argue against it, but the fear would not leave her. She almost resented how sure Alice seemed about their future with Adolph. She hadn't agreed to a single thing.

She had agreed to come to the Imperial City to figure out who had killed Laura, but the threat of another heartbreak was tangible. She shook herself free of that. Adolph was the king and she was an ordinary she-wolf. Mate or not, it would remain that way.

As soon as she found out who had killed Laura and laid her past life to rest, she would leave. Focusing on that, she managed to relax enough to go to seem just as the moon began to set.

The next day Laurel shot awake at the sound of a howl of pain. A group of people shouted from outside the tent. What happen? She sat up in bed blankly.

"Sam, just calm down!"

"Sam!"

Her heart lurched at the name immediately. Was it the same Sam who had been missing the night before? What was going on?

"Someone go find the doctor, something's wrong with General Sam!"

She tumbled out of bed and hurried out to find a man with dark hair, howling in agony and thrashing on the ground. There were several soldiers on the ground nearby.

Violent red light rippled over his skin as he growled. His skin was already turning black. Her heart lurched. She recognized the signs: he was turning rogue. Lynn said he hadn't been well and a stroke of guilt for not checking on him went through her. The change was happening too quickly for it to be recent. He must have been exhibiting the signs for at least a week, maybe longer depending on his willpower. What the hell was Lynn thinking just saying he was *unwell*? Where was the doctor? How long had he been like this?

Didn't they know how dangerous a rogue werewolf could be? She turned to a nearby soldier who seemed shocked in place, eyes wide with shock.

"What happened to him?"

He flinched, "Er well The female doctor who died. She was his mate--"

"He's been suffering the loss of his mate untreated for weeks?!" Laurel yelled as soldiers came closer and tried to subdue Sam. They grabbed him. "Don't!"

Sam roared, the sound of it made the air shake with the power of it. Heartbreak and fury washed over the area. He opened his eyes, glaring fiercely with blood-red light.

"Oh, no"

He twisted, dragging his claws through a man's arm in a bloody streak. Another was caught in the face with his swipe. The third managed to dodge. They all cried out and backed away. Sam turned on each of them, shoulders tense and kneeling in the dirt. The scent of blood made her flinch, but her stomach plummeted as the light around him grew thicker and his growls grew more agitated.

He was speaking in a low babble of madness she couldn't understand. She had to do something. *They* had to do something.

"What the hell, Sam?" One of them growled, cradling his bleeding arm. "You--"

The one who had been cut across his face lunged at Sam, but Sam tossed him back, clawing him across the chest and turning on the other two, panting. The uninjured one grew defensive, and Sam roared at them and snapped his teeth. Their reactions were just making it worse. Didn't they know the signs? Hadn't they dealt with this before and learned something?

When she had been Laura, she'd set up hospitals for werewolves who had lost their mates and had worked at the hospital in the capital. She knew how violent they could get and knew that responding to them with hostility was only going to turn this into a bloodbath. She shuddered thinking of the last time a wolf had lost his mind and the people around them had done everything wrong.

The soldiers had been forced to kill them and Basil pointed at it as a reason not to bother with building the hospitals. He'd sneered and said that they were better off dead if they were just going to hurt a bunch of people. She remembered she stopped speaking to him about her efforts regarding wolves who had lost their mates after that. It had been just one more way she'd been disillusioned with her marriage to him.

"Stop it!" Laurel yelled. "Don't treat him like a rogue. You'll only make it worse!"

"What the hell do you--"

"He's lost his mate. He needs care, and as his friends, you need to speak to him as such! He needs you to ground him, not agitate him!" She looked at Sam. "Right now, he is *trying* to fight it, but if you push him over the edge, there's no going back."

They hesitated, but there must have been something of a luna in her tone because they gentled their tones and raised their hands in a sign of placating as they began to talk to Sam.

"Sam, it's us. We're just trying to help, okay?"

The growls grew softer, less directed at them, but the red light was still washing over him, forcing him to change. It flickered and sparked around him. She thought they were getting through to him until the bands of light began to grow thicker.

It wasn't enough.

Laurel hurried forward and took his hand, unflinching despite the blood and flesh still stuck to his claws.

"Sam," she said gently. "Think of you mate. Think of her. Would she want to see you like this? She is still watching over you at the goddess' side."

A painted whine escaped him. She could almost feel his agony, his heartbreak and she placed her other hand on his head, stroking his hair gently.

"I know but the goddess has watched over you and brought you back from the war safely for a reason. She has other plans for you You have to calm down. You have to fight it and be as brave as you always have."

He twisted away from her with a broken sob, clutching his hand to his chest and curling up on his side, panting.

"You fought for the kingdom. Now, you have to fight for yourself. You can do that, can't you?"

He shuddered and the soldiers seemed to be holding their breaths as she continued to stroke his hair and encourage him.

Slowly, the red light lessened and lessened. His shuddering eased and he relaxed until just a broken sob came from him and the air was tinged with the scent of his tears. She let out a sigh of relief as he cried, curled in on himself.

A man carrying a satchel rushed towards them, based on his clothing she realized he was the doctor they were looking for.

"Oh, you--"

"And where the hell have you been?" Laurel hissed at him. "I searched for you last night, but I couldn't find you. It's obvious you weren't doing your job, so where have you been?"

"I-- You--"

"And the rest of you!" Laurel hissed between her gritted teeth. "You're supposed to be his comrades, his friends, but none of you thought to speak about his condition? Do any of you care about him?"

A soldier nearby blushed and bared his teeth at her with a feral snarl, "Who are you to talk to us like that?"

Laurel's heart lurched. What was she doing losing control of her temper like this? It was an avoidable accident, so she held them accountable, but she was Laurel, not Laura: an ordinary girl brought into the camp. She swallowed, prepared to give some excuse for her words when her thoughts were interrupted.

"She has every right to." She gasped as Adolph walked up behind her and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. Laurel looked up at him and found his jaw set and his eyes glaring at the soldiers and the doctor. The men shrunk back.

"Y-Your Majesty?"

"She is my mate. Her will is my will. Am I clear?"