The Crown's Obsession

The King's favourite wolf had dug its teeth deep into Beth's hand, and it took a second for the pain and sight to sink into the older Harris' daughter.

"AHHHHHH!!!!" Beth screamed at the top of her lungs in pain.

"Beth!" exclaimed Madeline, going towards where her sister and Maddox was. She wanted to help, but she didn't know what to do. She knew this might happen because the last few times when she had met the black wolf, it had always come at her with growls and showing its sharp teeth that made it look ferocious.

Beth cried in pain, "Get away from me you, mutt!" she cursed the wolf, but Maddox didn't take her anger well and showed its own anger by not letting her hand go, "It hurts!"

Of course, it would! Thought Madeline in panic. Maybe she should go and get Calhoun because he was the only one who could tame this wolf here. While Madeline was panicking with her sister's hand stuck in the black wolf's mouth, someone else far away in the balcony chuckled.

Chuckles broke through Calhoun's lips as he saw what Maddox had done. Leave it to his wolf to treat people right. With Elizabeth being stubborn, it was apparent that this was going to happen. He was only waiting when the girl would push one of his wolves to receive a bite.

Theodore didn't comment but stood behind Calhoun to look at the scene that played out, and at the King who was laughing now. He was enjoying it very much.

"Won't the wolves hurt the lady?" asked Theodore with curiosity.

"Who? Madeline?" asked Calhoun who had a wide-open smile on his face, "Maddox and the rest know what is mine and what is not. He would never hurt her. The rest I don't care, and neither do they."

"She might die out of blood loss," informed Theodore and Calhoun finally stopped laughing, but the smile on his face was still present.

His hands continued to grip the rails, "Would be a pity if she died before the wedding." Saying this, Calhoun jumped down from the balcony to get on the ground like a feline. He then made his way to where Madeline was.

"Let go of my hand!" Beth cried without moving from where she stood. It felt like her hand and fingers were being torn away from her arm.

Madeline felt stressed by seeing Beth in pain. She moved closer to Beth and Maddox, her hand apprehensively moving towards the wolf's head.

Having already snapped closely with its teeth before at her, Madeline didn't know if she would be bitten too. The other wolves had left as if the drama was over, leaving Maddox to take care of the rest. Her hand shook out of nervousness, but when she finally made it to touch the top of the black wolf's head, the growl stopped, and Maddox's gaze shifted to look at Madeline now.

The wolf let go of Beth's hand, licking its tongue across its teeth and mouth that had Beth's blood.

"AHHH!!" Beth continued to cry in pain. When she looked at her hand, she saw blood profusely continued to fall on the ground because of the deep wounds that were caused by the useless wolf! She glared at it. "This stupid mutt-" Beth had to stop right away as Maddox started to growl again at her.

Madeline's eyebrows drew in together, and she tried to get Maddox's attention back. She tried to mimic the way Calhoun petted the wolf. Rubbing and scratching the back of its ears as she tried to calm it, to stop it from biting her sister, who was still crying in pain. The wolf kept its attention on her, its eyes slowly closing as she continued to give it ear rubs.

She had been worried earlier, but it looked calm under her touch—lowly growling at the back of its throat as if in approval.

"Lady Elizabeth, are you alright?" Madeline and her sister turned around at the King's voice to see him walk towards them, "That looks too deep."

Beth complained, "It is this stupid wolf here! It came at me!" Madeline frowned at the little lie her sister said to the King.

"You poor little thing," said Calhoun with pity in his eyes as he moved closer to take a look at Beth's hand that was bleeding. The girl had pulled out a handkerchief, trying to stop the blood but the small handkerchief was not enough, "That must really hurt. Bad Maddox," he said, turning to look at his wolf who tilted its head.

Madeline let go of Maddox's head, feeling the wolf sniff her hand with its snout. Calhoun noticed this little exchange of trust.

"Are you alright?" he asked Madeline, who nodded at him.

Beth's eyebrows shot up. She was the one who was bit, yet the King was checking with her sister! "I am losing too much blood," she complained to bring back the attention of both of them to her.

"We should go tend to it," proposed Madeline.

"How could that mutt do something like that to me? I wasn't doing anything to it," Beth spoke in pain.

Calhoun heard the girl call his wolf mutt and he said, "You should be careful about where you place your hand, milady. If you place it in unfamiliar territories, it might end up with far worse than a bite. Wolves don't get kindly to insults," he said with a kind smile on his lips.

Madeline looked at Calhoun, and something told her that he knew what had transpired here. He always knew.

Beth gave out a troubled look and then nodded. She didn't have the time or energy to speak about the stupid wolf when her hand was bleeding, and she was in pain, "Maddie, please come with me," said the sister and Madeline readily nodded her head. Both the girls bowed their head at the King and left to get back inside the castle.

When the girls left the garden, Calhoun looked at his wolf who looked back at him unblinkingly. He outstretched his hand forward for the wolf to move and walk to where he was, "What a good boy you are," Calhoun praised the black wolf as he rubbed its ears, "You never fail to entertain me," he chuckled.

Maddox had turned tame under Madeline's touch. Calhoun could tell it was because the wolf could sense the change of her emotions towards him. As Madeline was opening her heart to him, Maddox was slowly coming to accept her.

"Come, boy! Let me treat you with something nice," Calhoun started to walk to be followed by the wolf.

Beth continued to cry in pain; tears streaked down her face because this was not a wound caused by a simple fall or scrape. By the looks of the animals, they looked tamed. Which sane person left wild wolves who could bite others out in the garden?!

They were still walking, making their way to the room when another young lady who was dressed in expensive clothes came to stop on their way,

"What happened to her hand, Lady Madeline?" asked the young lady with her red eyes, "There's so much blood falling on the floor, you should take her out to get it fixed. It is only going to attract the vampires in here."

Beth didn't know who this vampiress was. The lady looked at Beth's hand with a frown and disgust in her eyes. This had her own eyes narrow at the girl who stood in front of them.

"The wolves were left out in the open. One of them bit her hand, Lady Sophie," explained Madeline.

Looking at Beth's clothes, Lady Sophie said, "What did you do to get the wolf's attention? If you are not from a royal family, of course, you will get bit. The wolf knows who belongs to the lower family."

Beth fumed at these words. She was already in pain, and this vampiress dared to speak about her like this with her, "If the wolf has the ability to smell shallow people, I think we know who will get bitten first," smiled Beth even in pain. This irked Sophie.

Both the girls quietly glared at each other.

Madeline bowed her head, "We'll be going to tend her hand."

Beth didn't bow her head at the vampiress because she didn't feel like it, and neither did Sophie feel there was a need to bow to a lowly peasant.