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 details on our phones and

to me and 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

spoke, and

to lose, Rufus barked at his men, and we all headed to the forbidden

shrouded with a foreboding aura, just as it had

be denser, and a veil of mist seemed to hover

side by side, our senses keenly attuned

he strode straight into

the ground beneath us was covered with

tree trunks in a

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

Rufus. Sure enough, he was calm and

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

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

said, "Beryl is probably over

him. My own intuition told me that Beryl was