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."

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

his back 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 last active

turned dark as he spoke, and I knew that

to lose, Rufus barked at

was shrouded with a foreboding aura,

to be denser, and a veil of mist seemed to hover among the branches. Rufus divided his men into several groups before sending them out

by side, our

connection, after all, because he strode straight into a certain

woods, where the sky turned darker, and the ground beneath us was covered with thick moss so green, it was almost black. If we weren't careful, the moss could swallow

intertwined on massive tree trunks in a strange,

wasn't my first time 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

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

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

said, "Beryl

behind him. My own