Chapter Forty-seven

Storm's POV

"I can tell that you really like this flavor, this is your second cup and it seems like you still want more."

Noah spoon-fed me some jello, I had been awake for almost two hours but he refused to let me do anything for myself and I wasn't complaining. I still felt weak and I couldn't move as much as I would like to.

"Storm, honey, I heard that you've woken up. I came as soon as I could." Queen Claire breezed through the room like she owned it and stood by my bed, she was carrying a hamper filled with different fruits and snacks. Noah stood and collected the hamper from her.

"Queen Claire, I'm surprised to see you." I tried to raise myself but I couldn't.

"Storm, don't stress yourself. I'm so happy you're okay." She hugged me and kissed my hair. I couldn't explain the way I felt but I snuggled into her warm embrace.

"Thank you for coming, Queen Claire. Noah told me that you came immediately after you heard I was in the hospital, I'm really grateful."

" There's no need to thank me. I couldn't just sit back and ignore that you were in pain, I had to come. I feel much better now that you're better." She cooed and brushed her hands through my hair.

Queen Claire let go of me and Noah gave her the stool to sit, I felt embarrassed that I made the Queen of all lycans over the world to sit on a stool when she was usually used to sitting on a throne.

"Noah, give Storm some fruits, it will help detoxify her system." Noah took some apples and went to rinse them, he cut them up and placed them on a small plate and tried to feed me.

I turned my face away, mortified that he was going to do such a thing in front of the queen.

"I think I'm strong enough to feed myself." I tried to collect the plate from him but he moved it out of my reach.

"Nonsense, I was feeding you a minute ago, you had no complaints, what changed?" He narrowed his eyes at me, I tilted my head towards the queen. He raised an eyebrow. Dumbass.

I motioned him over with my fingers. Noah bent over to hear what I had to say.

"You can't feed me where the queen is, do you know how embarrassing it will be?" I whispered.

Noah's shoulders shook with laughter. " I understand." He handed over the plate.

" Why is she exerting herself? Noah, how could you make her feed herself when you know she just had a life or death situation?" Noah blew out hot air from his cheeks.

"She said she wanted to. She feels embarrassed that you have to witness me feeding her." He explained.

I sank in my bed, turning my face away so they won't see how mortified I am. I couldn't believe Noah would rat me out like that.

"What nonsense, Storm, I don't mind if Noah feeds you, he is your mate after all, you should be resting and not doing anything at all." She collected the plate from me and handed it back to Noah.

He sat at the edge of the bed and fed me the apples, I barely tasted them and just chewed hurriedly.

"Noah, Benedict wants to see you. He says it's urgent." Queen Claire told him after I cleared off my plate. Noah stood abruptly.

"Really, I'll go there now… fuck, I can't leave Storm alone." He seemed to deflate and I felt bad.

" I'll stay with her while you go see him."

" Oh no, my queen, I can't ask you to do that. You've done enough for us already." He shook his head and brought out his phone.

"You didn't ask me, I offered, now go. Storm and I are going to alright. Right?" She looked at me with a grin and I nodded. Noah seemed to contemplate her offer for some minutes before accepting.

"Thank you so much. Storm, I'll be back as soon as I can." He kissed my head and hurried out of the room.

"So Storm, tell me about yourself, how did you grow up?" Queen Claire asked some minutes after Noah left, the question stunned me, I was not expecting it and I was unprepared but I had to say something.

"Well, this is tough question. I was born into an average werewolf family, my parents work in corporate firms in the human world, I am the last of three children. I have a brother and sister, I don't have a wolf so I spend a lot of my childhood seeing werewolf psychologists and therapists to try and unlock my wolf. They believed that my wolf was dormant and that it just needed assurance and love for it to come out. I still don't understand why it didn't since I got the best love, care and assurance a girl could ever ask for from my family. My parents didn't discriminate against me because I didn't have a wolf, my siblings always stood up for me and defended me whenever the mean children in our pack tried to bully me. I used to always report the kids to my brother and he would go fight for me." Although I laughed, I could feel the tears gathering in my eyes.

"When I got older, like in my early teens, I stopped reporting them to my brother and just swallowed their insults, my siblings were moving on with their life, my brother had just found his mate then and they were expecting a baby, I didn't want him to have that kind of stress from me. My sister had gone to college and was living away from home for the first time, I wanted her to enjoy it. Also I developed a tough skin, their hurtful words no longer affected me and when the kids saw that they couldn't get to me with their words, they left me alone and just avoided me like a plague." Queen Claire held my hand and squeezed affectionately.

"Oh Storm, you've been through a lot and still remained unbreakable, I admire your strength and I wish everyone could have a strength like yours." Her kind words warmed my heart and I felt a tear drop, I quickly brushed it away.

"Thank you."

*************

Noah's POV

The Royal guards in front of King Benedict suite moved aside immediately they saw me. I knocked and I got the response to enter. In the room, King Benedict sat with Alpha Kaden and Caleb, they had serious expressions on their faces.

"Noah, welcome. Caleb informed us that Storm is now awake, he also said that she doesn't remember if anyone gave her anything to drink or eat." I bowed and sat next to Caleb.

" Yes she is and yes, she also doesn't have any recollection but I'm confident she will remember before the end of the day, she's still having a slight headache. How has the investigation been going?"

" We've been able to find out who poisoned her, the locker rooms have CCTV cameras in them and so we used the camera to check if she got poisoned in her locker room and we were right." Alpha Kaden said. My eyes peeled up at the statements.

"So who poisoned her?" I gripped the hand of the sofa, anxious to know who the bastard was.

"We have evidence showing that Luna Morgan gave Storm a bottle of water." It all came pouring down in my head. I suddenly remembered Storm's last words before she passed out, she had mentioned Morgan and water but I didn't pay any mind to them.

"But why would Morgan do such a thing to Storm? She was very nice to her and Storm liked her. Apart from the Queen and Luna Marie, Morgan was the only other Luna who spoke to Storm nicely. I can't understand her actions."I rubbed my temples trying to relieve myself of the tension in my head.

"I can't understand as well but Noah, we have the CCTV footage here. You should watch it and see for yourself." King Benedict said. Caleb took the iPad from the table, he opened the video and gave me the tablet.

I watched for myself as Morgan and Storm conversed, then Storm turned around to bun her hair. Morgan sprayed the perfume on Storm and not on herself. Storm coughed harder and she gave her the bottle of water to drink.

Even after watching the video, it still wasn't clear to me, Morgan and Storm didn't have any issues and from what I watched, Morgan was trembling and fidgeting while she was in the room. It seemed like she was more of a puppet than the puppeteer. She probably wasn't the Mastermind of the poisoning.

"What's wrong? I can see the thoughts swirling around in your head." King Benedict took a swig from his water.

"I don't know, everything seems so fishy. It looks too clean, it was too easy for us to find out that Morgan poisoned Storm, way too easy. I expected that we'll search for the culprit for at least a few days and not just some hours." I replayed the video again, watching Morgan's actions closely.

"Noah, you have a point. I thought about it as well but I didn't pay it any mind." Alpha Kaden agreed. I noticed a movement that Morgan made that convinced me that she didn't orchestrate the poison. Before spraying the perfume, she hesitated and brought out her phone to check a message and then she shook her head before spraying.

"There it is. I've got it."I stood and showed the video to them and told them to watch Morgan's actions carefully.

"It seems like she doesn't want to poison her. She hesitated until the last minute and then ran out which is highly suspicious." King Benedict commented.

" Exactly, also did you guys see what she did before spraying the perfume? It's like she had to check a message that boosted her to do it or forced her to do it. It's obvious someone else is behind all this." I said, I paced across the room, thinking about who the Mastermind was.

"Who hated Storm, I mean really hated her to do this?" Caleb asked. I thought and then a name flashed in my head.

"Luna Amber."