Page 92 of The Alpha's Cursed Queen

I smell Jimmy before I see him. “I don’t need babysitting, Jimmy.”

My friend sits down next to me. “That’s not why I’m here. There’s something you need to know.”

He has a file in his hand, and he holds it out to me. Glancing at him, I open it, wondering what fresh hell is about to descend upon me now.

“What is this?”

“The white witches never stopped looking for Alice.” Jimmy’s voice is cautious. “You told me to investigate where the money was going. Well, a portion of it was going into this. I saw the steady payments, spanning seven years, and I got curious. This was the night she disappeared. They got as far as a shifter-run clinic in a small town on the border between California and Arizona. There were two healers there.”

I stare at him. “Healers? What—”

He holds up a hand. “It’s a little complicated. Hear me out. One of the healers remembers a girl being brought in during the wee hours of the morning. There were two people with her. One ofthem matches the description of Jason Marrock, and the other sounds like Mary, one of our healers in LA.”

“Alice’s friend,” I breathe. “I always suspected she knew what happened to Alice, but I didn’t want to grill her too much because I knew the witches would be watching my every move. I didn’t want to give them a reason to go after Mary.”

Jimmy nods. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. But that’s not all. The healer says they were closing up the clinic when Jason and Mary showed up with Alice. She claims she went home and the other healer stayed behind. She disappeared.”

“Who? Alice?”

“No.” My friend shakes his head. “The healer who looked after Alice. She was never heard from again. Now, on that same night, Lucius got a call.”

“Jimmy.” I look at him impatiently. “Where are you going with all this? You’re jumping from point to point.”

“Because it’s all connected!” Jimmy snaps. “I’ve been digging into this for three days! I remember that call, Darian, because I had been looking for you, and Lucius rushed past me to the king’s bedroom. That same night, the Black Arrows were dispatched.”

My brows knit together. The Black Arrows are a private squad that serves the royal family. Their loyalty lies with the king. One of the main things they do is get rid of evidence that links the royal family to anything unsavory. Only a handful of people are aware of their existence. Lucius would know of them, as does Jimmy because he is my right-hand man. But why werethe Black Arrows dispatched that night? My father would have mentioned it to me—unless he didn’t want me to know.

“When I reached out to that healer, she claimed that all traces of her colleague had vanished. And somebody had cleaned the entire clinic spotless. When the local pack’s investigative force got there, they couldn’t even pick up a trace of a scent. Nobody does that good a job aside from the Black Arrows, Darian.” Jimmy is speaking fast, clearly excited as he leans forward.

I purse my lips. “You want me to believe that my father sent his most elite and secret squad to go clean some clinic because Alice was there? Why? Because he didn’t want anybody to catch her dark witch cooties?”

My friend scowls. “Maybe because he was trying to protect her.”

All I can do is scoff. “Protect her? My father didn’t want me to be with Alice in the first place!”

“He wasn’t exactly singing with joy when you married Willow, either, Darian,” Jimmy argues.

I shrug. “Fair, but—”

“He was pissed about what you did. He made no secret of that. And think about it. All the royal guards disappeared from the east wing at the same time? None of them had an explanation? They kept pointing fingers and making us run around in circles to figure out where the order came from to get them to abandon their positions. They could’ve told you the truth, but they didn’t. The only reason I can think of is that the order came from the king, and they were told not to let you know. Come on, Darian. It’s so obvious. The answer is about to body-slam you to theground at this point. The king clearly had a hand in Alice’s disappearance.”

I close the file and consider Jimmy. “Fine. Let’s suppose for one minute that you’re right. Why? Why would he do that?”

Jimmy shrugs. “I haven’t figured that out yet. But get this. Jason Marrock returned to the palace the next day and had a private meeting with your father. And I heard that the king might have left the palace grounds the day Mary returned. Just something I heard from the guards at the time. I never paid much attention to it, but now I wonder.”

My head is beginning to spin. “You’re telling me there was a whole conspiracy going on right under my nose, and I had no clue?”

“You had a lot on your plate, Darian,” Jimmy replies, his voice serious. “And so did I. But if anyone knows the full truth, it has to be Lucius.”

“Yes, because Lucius is going to be so forthcoming with Father’s secrets,” I comment dryly. “He’ll take everything he knows to the grave.”

Jimmy shrugs. “Still worth a try.”

I lean back on the bench, pondering. “Maybe.”

“Anyway, back to what I was saying before.” Jimmy reaches out to grab the file from my lap. He opens it and points at something. “See this? Jacqueline Investigative Services. It’s one of the top private investigation companies in California. And get this: it’s human-owned.”

My eyes narrow. “Why are the white witches paying a human-run private investigation firm?”

---