Free Web NovelChapter 18: Ren Vs. Tarian
The head of the Royal Guard, Luther, was a serious and quiet guy. It was rumored that he was a true powerhouse, handpicked and moved up the ranks by the Queen herself from a distant outpost. His loyalty was to the royal family, especially to the Queen. If he hadn’t shown up out of the blue, no one would have known that the Earl had met a terrible fate in his bedroom.
Luther was standing in the fancy bedroom, which was now stained with blood and marked by the grim leftovers of the crime. He nudged a rolling energy stone with his foot, and a look of disgust crossed his face. "What an idiot, an A-tier alpha couldn’t even set off the alarm before getting killed, he thought."
An officer walked in, snapped a salute, and reported the details, "This was done by an old hand. They used the Earl’s own terminal to erase all video and shut down most of the security system. Their moves were clean, we probably can’t get any data back. We won’t know who they are or how they got in."
"Someone who knows a bit of everything, had an invite, and knows the layout of the mansion; also someone who can take out an A-tier alpha without the guards getting a whiff." Luther crouched down, picking up a clue from the floor, continuing, "They even knew to mess up the brain to stop us from tracing the dead guy’s memories. Interesting." freёwebnovel.com
He stood up, pointing at a squashed sofa in the bedroom. The sturdy sofa was totally messed up, leaving a scary dent in the floor, but it wasn’t stained with blood, "Here, there are signs of a psychic fight. The killer is likely an alpha. He wouldn’t have gotten out of this party without a scratch, James wouldn’t be that useless."
He took off his gloves, striding out and giving orders, "Get all the alphas in the party hall, even those from the Public Security Department and the mansion’s guards."
"Make them strip, check for fresh wounds. Now, don’t miss anyone."
The soft music in the hall stopped, and the lights got brighter.
Guests huddled in corners according to their rank, whispering to each other. The Countess looked pale, sitting at the head of the table, her face hidden behind a feather fan, deep in thought.
All the alphas were called to the middle of the hall, standing next to each other. They were told to take off their coats to check for wounds. The alphas complained a bit but, whether they were guys or girls, they all calmly stripped down to their undershirts.
Alphas didn’t mind stripping, even seemed happy to show off their fit bodies to all the betas. It was the betas, both guys and girls, who mostly blushed and looked away. Only a few bold ones stole glances.
Alphas took pride in their looks, betas valued implicity, loyalty, and modesty - this was how the world saw things.
Ren pulled off his coat and shirt, showing nothing underneath but his bare skin. His black vest and scarf, stained with blood from his earlier actions, had been quietly ripped up and flushed into the toilet while Jax was still sleeping.
Now, with his outer clothes off, his slim, muscular upper body attracted a lot of attention. Ren might have looked tall and slender with his clothes on, but without clothes, he looked strong. With broad shoulders, a narrow waist, tight abs, and a body covered with a mix of old and new battle scars, he stood out even in this crowd of elite alphas.
A lot of people were watching him, but he stood there, cool and collected, his gaze subtly falling on the corner where the betas were gathered. The beta had been moved to a corner of the party hall, their physical weakness making them the least likely suspects and therefore the last ones to be checked.
Kestrel, blending in with the crowd, quietly popped her head out. With all the alphas there, she hoped to spot the person who had recently hidden in the ducts. The Earl had been killed, and the alpha was hiding in the ducts at the moment... and there were those deep-seated grudges she had seen in the alpha’s memories on the gallows... Kestrel had a faint idea of what was happening.
"Could it be that the alpha is looking for me now? Does he want to kill me to keep me quiet about his secrets?" That made sense, but Kestrel couldn’t be sure. She thought that person might be just like her, someone who thought differently and took risks.
Kestrel didn’t recognize him at first. She had only seen Ren many years ago, and a few days earlier when he had been tied up on the gallows, his face covered with dirty blood. She hadn’t connected the good-looking alpha with the neat hair in the crowd to the poor prisoner from a few days before.
But her psychic incarnations pointed him out to her, all converging in the same direction,
"That one, it’s him."
"It’s that big guy, yes, that one."
"There, he’s over there."
"He’s also looking at us, I noticed it."
Kestrel saw him - tall and strong, with a chiseled face and a statue-like body. He was like a perfect, walking sculpture.
Noticing Kestrel’s look, the handsome, shirtless Ren gave her a look of embarrassed annoyance.
"Embarrassed annoyance? Why this emotion?" Kestrel questioned her perception for a second. "Not a killer’s intent, not a threat, not even anger? But that complex emotion, resentment mixed with a touch of embarrassment, a bit of gratitude, and a hint of kindness?"
Kestrel knew she often couldn’t understand the emotions of those around her. She had always been like that, and this time was no different.
"You must’ve been naughty, what did you do to him that was so rude?" she scolded her psychic incarnations in her mind.
"I just touched his head."
"I tickled his feet, that was me."
"I, I touched his fingers."
"I snuck into his collar, only a little."
"I like ankles, everyone knows that."
"I didn’t do anything, I promise. Ah, okay, I did suck him, he tasted sweet."
In the end, they all assured her seriously, "No, it’s not our fault, we didn’t do anything rude to him."
Kestrel covered her face with her hand. "So this is what embarrassment feels like, huh? I think I kinda get it now."
"Anyway, we’ll be leaving here soon, and we’ll never see him again. Never see him, never see him. Don’t worry about him, don’t worry about him. It’s okay, it’s okay." She finished her mental pep talk, breathed a sigh of relief, and calmed her rarely upset feelings.
In the lineup of alphas, Tarian happened to be standing next to Ren.
Ren stood with his legs apart and hands behind his back, not moving a muscle. His body was covered with scary scars. He was different from the rest of them, and you could tell he was an alpha from the frontier just by looking at him.
Tarian reached out his hand to him, "Ren, right? I’ve heard of you. The hero of the North outpost. When did you get back?"
Hearing his voice, Ren looked at him. He recognized the man right away by his voice. Just a little while ago, while in the dark, closed-off ducts, he had heard this man’s entire conversation with Kestrel.
Ren gave a small smile, shaking hands with Tarian in a way that wasn’t too cold or too warm. But a weird mix of feelings came up in Ren. This feeling was surprising, like a thorn stabbing his heart, that couldn’t be taken out or touched, stuck uncomfortably in place, sparking an unexplainable anger in him. Ren thought to himself, "This man is really lucky, to be paired with that woman, and yet he doesn’t want her. Is it because he can’t handle her power? What a hopeless idiot."
The sergeant in charge of the check didn’t find a single alpha with a wound on his body at the scene.
"So it’s a psychic incarnation." Luther got his report and looked around the room. "The only signs of a fight left at the crime scene were caused by psychic incarnations. James’s psychic incarnation is a giant cayman, and it would be hard for the killer to get past it and kill James in a flash without paying a price. Either the body itself or the psychic incarnation would have obvious signs of a cayman bite."
Looking down, he thought that most of the alphas at the party, including Tarian, who had been getting a lot of attention in recent years, were all talk and no action. If it weren’t for the murder challenging the Her Majesty’s grace and him being there by chance, he wouldn’t even bother to use his sense to look at these people.
Among all these people, only a few were slightly interesting. One tall, strong young man with a body covered in scars caught Luther’s attention the most.
Luther squinted, carefully watching the scarred young man. The guy quickly noticed his look, calmly returning it with a brave attitude, not scared by his intimidating presence.
"An interesting one," Luther thought to himself with a smile, "I hope he isn’t the culprit."
One after another, the alphas’ psychic incarnations began to appear. It was like they were in a contest, changing their psychic incarnations into their most aggressive forms, making a mix of different animal sounds throughout the big banquet hall.
For once, they weren’t being judged on their wealth or looks, but their power. The higher-ranked alphas, through their psychic incarnations, put on an impressive show, making the lower-ranked alphas’ psychic incarnations feel small, not daring to look up. free𝑤ebnovel.com
So, some of them walked around proudly while others felt embarrassed.
Tarian’s psychic incarnation was an intimidating cheetah. The huge animal, with its golden eyes, came out of nowhere, much larger than a normal cheetah. It was even the size of an African elephant, almost filling a corner of the banquet hall. The scary animal looked around the room, making a growling noise, which caused surprised cries from the crowd.
The more powerful an alpha, the larger their psychic incarnation could become. Tarian hid his excitement but felt a sense of satisfaction. He made a gesture to Ren, showing him it was his turn. But, his eyes went to the group of betas, wondering if Kestrel was watching him. He thought that out of all the alphas, his psychic incarnation stood out the most. "Kestrel must regret what she did before now," he thought.
Just as he was lost in thought, his cheetah started to become noticeably smaller and tucked its tail between its legs, hiding behind Tarian.
Almost everyone in the room suddenly felt cold. It was like cold seawater was rushing in, washing over the entire room, the icy water reaching everyone’s ankles.
A unique and magical sound echoed through the room, like it was coming from the bottom of the sea or the underworld, going through everyone’s ears and bouncing around in their heads.
The high ceiling seemed to turn into a sky full of stars, connected to the upper world. A huge, mountain-like orca slowly poked its black and white head out from the ceiling. The creature’s head slowly appeared above the crowd, along with the mystical and ancient whale song.
Everyone looked up, surprised and amazed by the giant animal appearing above them. The orca’s head almost filled the entire ceiling, showing off its beautiful patterns.
With an untouched upper body and such strong appearance, it couldn’t possibly seem like an incarnation that was hurt. Plus, it was too big, barely fitting into the room. So, Luther felt that there was no need to keep checking.
"Alright, enough, call it back," Luther waved his hand, not letting the entire orca come out, understanding the alphas’ want to show off in front of the betas. "What’s with the peacock show? If this whole fish comes in, wouldn’t it break the house?"
Ren calmly called back his psychic incarnation, deliberately looking a bit let down. No one knew that if they had waited just a bit longer, the injured tail fin that had been bitten by the cayman would have shown.
Ren had won his bet. He smiled, looking at Tarian next to him. Then, He quickly looked at the betas, thinking to himself , "That woman, she saw me, right?"
