The Lycan King's Fate Calling

Crystal's POV:

'What did it say?" Rufus asked, turning serious now. "I deleted it," I lied without missing a beat.

That message was calling me out by my original name. Rufus must not see it, no matter what, or things would only get even more complicated.

"Do you still remember what it said?" Rufus frowned, his eyes never leaving my face.

I nodded. "I didn't recognize the number, and I have no idea who the sender might be. But whoever it was, they knew my name and made some threats. They even mentioned Beryl."

"Do you think you can recall the phone number?" Rufus asked, never doubting my words for one second. "I can have someone trace its IP address."

"Yes, I remember." I had pored over that message repeatedly last night, unable to sleep. Naturally, I had come to memorize the cursed number.

I cited the numbers without batting an eye, only for Rufus to hold up his hand. "Too fast, I didn't catch it." "Huh?" I frowned in confusion. This man had a photographic memory. How could he have missed a short series of digits?

Nonplussed, Rufus took out his phone and handed it to me. "Add me on your contact list and send me the number."

moment, I found myself at a loss. What was he up to? But our priority was to find Beryl, so I quickly swapped our contact

made a few phone calls. When he faced me again, we finally had results. "The IP address was traced back to the imperial palace, and it was last active in... the forbidden

as he spoke, and I knew that I mirrored his

there right now." Without a moment to lose, Rufus barked at his men, and we all headed to

a foreboding aura, just as it

could tell was that the woods seemed to be denser, and a veil of mist seemed

walked side by side, our senses keenly attuned

he strode straight into a certain direction like

deeper into the woods, where the sky turned darker, and the ground beneath us was covered with thick moss so green, it was almost black. If

massive tree trunks

coming to the forbidden forest, I was still as creeped out as

Rufus. Sure enough, he was calm and focused, like he already knew where he was

scenery around us became more familiar. I didn't realize until then that Rufus had brought us to the spot where

the distance stood a tall, prominent tree, and I recognized it immediately. This was how Laura and I remembered

said, "Beryl is probably over

him. My own intuition told me that Beryl