They filed into the dim light together with Ann leading them and Adam at her side, whilst Lexi followed with Allen, walking as close to him as she possibly could much to his irritation. She took every opportunity to brush his arm with her own and flashed him a coy smile and fluttered her eyelashes at him suggestively every time he side-eyed her in disgust.Although he remained silent, the grim line of his mouth showed just how irritated he truly was and as they took their seats, he found himself caught in the middle between Adam and Lexi with no way to move out of Lexi's reach.He sighed and turned to scowl at her, but his irritation was met with a wide grin. He swallowed the remark that he desperately wanted to make and turned to face forward, his shoulders tense at Lexi's proximity as she scooted her chair across a little closer so that her arms were touching his.Ann leaned forward in her chair and shot Lexi a warning glance but she was either oblivious to the meaning or just didn't

Narcissa's eyes widened in terror for the briefest of seconds before her body froze and seemed to go rigid for a few moments as the color drained from her face and her eyes seemed to glaze over. Once she had regained her composure, her mouth split into that all too familiar disdainful sneer as she spat on the glass in front of her.　　"You insufferable bastard. All this time you had abilities that you never told me about, and you dare to use them on me?! How is this different from the use of magick?!" 　　Leopold didn't reply, instead staring at her intently with an expression of deep thought on his face. 　　"Were you responsible for weakening and eventually severing the bond with my former wife?" Leopold asked levelly, with no trace of emotion in his voice anymore. 　　If anything he now seemed completely resigned to the process of discovering the truth, however ugly it might be.　　It was obvious that Narcissa was trying her best to fight the forces that compelled her to answer, but the

The silence that permeated the room after the elders left to make their decision was only interrupted by the dejected sniffling of Ada's huddled figure from where she cowered in her prison.Lexi's knee jiggled incessantly up and down, a clear indicator of the irritation and anger that she still felt regarding Narcissa's comment about her mother, as well as the occasional violent flashing of her eyes, that beautiful yet deadly luminescent red that signified her appetite for violence.Allen glanced at her warily before turning to Adam who remained focused on Ann's face as she stared at the spot where the two women were held before her with an unreadable expression."Father, I want you to ask Ada something," Ann called out suddenly and he turned to face her with a blank expression.He opened his mouth to reply but Ann hastily made her request."I want you to ask her if she is truly carrying Brad's baby... he at least deserves to know that," Ann said, with a slight tremor in her voice.It

A heavy silence descended over the now, much calmer, courtroom. Ann couldn't help but feel a little cheated that they wouldn't immediately be executed, but there was nothing that she could do to reverse the decision.It was, however, a decidedly better outcome than she had initially feared, although, she wasn't sure that Adam would agree with her. His face was still dark with a murderous rage and the aura emanating from him was terrifying.She understood fully now why he had such a terrifying reputation. "With these vile matters resolved and a judgment in place, I move to vote that the current reigning Alpha King Leopold Veritas, his former wife, Narcissa Veritas and his… non-biological daughter, Ada Veritas, hereby be stripped of their royal titles." The Ancient voice spoke from the darkness above.Countless voices signaled their agreement as Ann cast a glance toward where her father sat. The tiniest wave of pity washed over her as she took in his dejected appearance and resolute set

"There's one containment facility in each Kingdom. It's existence is a closely guarded secret and known of to only the royal bloodlines within each kingdom and the current ruling Royal Elder Council but if what Narcissa says is true and the Excidium Coven has infiltrated all areas of our infrastructure then, I'm not sure how much longer it will remain a secret." Ann sighed heavily again before turning to face them."I know you have a lot of questions, but even I don't know the full details. I'll have greater access to the information once I've been crowned, but I can tell you what I do know. The containment facility in our Kingdom is in an extremely remote location, fiercely guarded by specialist teams. The only way in or out is by air, and there is only one method of transportation currently cleared to make that journey. The prisoners housed there are some of the most dangerous shifters and other races that are known to us, and for whatever reason, it was decided that their execution