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Chapter Six: The Missing Book

Josh Hunter's eyes scanned the shelves in the royal library. There was a book that was of interest to him and it was missing from his study. The only other copy was in the royal library and he could not seem to find it on the shelves.

"Your majesty," the librarian gasped upon seeing him. "How may I help you."

"You may not," Josh said coldly. He did not want anyone meddling in his business. He knew that the librarian had a knack for gossip and if he were to tell her the book he searched for, it would be a hot topic for gossip in the next few days. The only reason she was kept as one of the librarians was because she was quite good at her job.

"As you wish your majesty," she said taking just a step back. She still followed him from a distance.

"Get away from me," Josh hissed. "Your presence behind me is burdensome."

"Yes your majesty," she said with a bow and stalked off.

He moved on to the next row of shelves and it was the same. The book was not there.

"Where in the world could it be?" He asked himself with a sigh.

Breaking Powerful Curses. He had found the book a few moons ago in the library and there were just two copies. Wondering where it had been all his life, he took the book to his study and began reading from page to page and doing the best research he could for each page.

Now when he seemed to be at the peak of the book, it was missing and the second copy was no where to be found.

Could it be that perhaps someone had discovered the book also. Maybe the person had not wanted him to get the answers to what he was looking for so he or she had stolen the two copies.

He shook his head. "Stop being paranoid," he said to himself. "Get over this."

"Are you sure you don't need help your majesty?"

Josh shot her a glare and walked out of the library, quite frustrated. Anger flowed through his veins and the presence of everyone seemed to irritate him.

On his way back to the office, he met Harris his cousin who seemed to be in a good mood.

"Josh!" Harris said upon seeing him. "How are you?"

"Quite alright," he replied, forcing a smile. "How goes everything? You seem to be in a good mood."

"Well it's a good day," Harris replied. "I hope the rest of the day will be. Where are you headed?" He asked.

"Just need to clear my head," Josh sighed. "Might go for a walk."

"Alone?" Harris raised his eyebrow. He knew that whenever his cousin was in one of his moods, he was bound to go on long walks and sometimes did not even return until after two days. He would often camp out.

"Yes," Josh replied.

"It will soon be evening," Harris said to him. "Come back before night, it is not safe."

"Who wants to harm me?" Josh laughed. "No one dares it."

Josh entered his study room and took out a small bag that he always had packed— ready for camping. He never used tents because that was tedious to carry. He often slept in caves, using the time to hunt and meditate.

The sun was already going down when he left the pack house. Orbs of pink and orange dotted the sky, casting numerous hues and shadows. The trees swayed gently in the evening breeze and the birds chattered happily amongst themselves.

It was this part of the day that Josh liked the most, the tranquility of it. The only difference was the presence of people. He walked, his face void of a smile to avoid conversations with people.

Josh often liked to keep to himself and was not known to talk except when absolutely important. He was a good leader but was quite misunderstood. A lot of his subjects had the misconception that he was mean and unapproachable but that was not true. Those who knew him on a personal level often said other wise.

He had gotten to the entrance of the woods and took in a deep breath. It seemed as though it was going to rain that evening and he smiled. There was nothing he loved more than the smell of rain.

He ventured into it, finding an otherworldly peace and a special connection with nature. The chattering of birds were louder, the sound of rodents that ran about the woods were like a melody in his ears. He could hear the roar of the stream that ran down the hill as he walked further in.

It was drizzling slightly and he sighed; the only disadvantage was lighting a fire. He had to get to the cave where he usually spent the night before the rain started heavily. He was not sure if he had left some dry wood at the back of the cave the last time he had been there.

The sound of heavy footsteps running in the rain made Josh to furrow his eyebrows. The sound was not like that of rodents, if sounded more... Predatory?

Like a predator that was tired.

He stood his ground, ready to shift into his wolf form to attack but he decided to wait patiently and listen intently. It began to rain heavily that he could barely hear a thing but he tried his best using his super hearing wolf abilities.

It was not an animal on four legs; he could tell from the sound so he ventured closer and was surprised to see a young girl, drenched in the rain. She seemed to have stopped running and was walking very slowly. She did not seem to have any life left in her as she was exhausted.

From her scent, he could tell that she was a werewolf but one that did not belong to the pack. "Hey there!" He called out, walking as fast as he could towards her.

Just as he got close to her, she fell to the ground with a thud, unmoving.

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