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In Dominique Office...…

"Will you stop following me? I am not going to commit murder just because I am annoyed" Dominique glared at Adrian.

"I am your Beta so I am sure I was supposed to help you with work" Adrian said raising his eyebrows.

"I don't need you at the moment"

"You said you have work to do so I am sure you have some" Adrian said getting comfortable on chair. After being quiet for while Dominique sighs.

"Look, I don't know why this happening but I feel like, i can't seem to accept my mate for some reason, it's not like I don't want …. I simply can't do this" Dominique mumbled not looking at Adrian. Adrian didn't say anything in return.

"Why are you not saying anything?"

"I am not your grandpa Dom, I am not going to say you should mate right now or produce heir blah blah.... I know you personally have problem with mingling with people in general so why not try to get to know each other slowly? I am sure everything will be fine once you know her" Adrian assured him.

Dominique was going to say something when a desperate knock came from door.

"Yes, come in"

His warrior leader Lance came. He looked disturbed.

"Alpha, we got some problem" He bowed and give him a folder.

"What happened?" Dominique ask not really looking at him. His focuses on the folder given to him.

"We found some bodies of rogue's...…." Lance paused without completing his sentence.

"It usual for rogue's bodies to be found once in while Lance, some are too weak to continue hunting and ended up losing life. Bury them as usual we do till now" Adrian said.

"Ummm... it not as simple as it seem" Lance said.

Dominique passed the folder to Adrian after taking a look. At first Adrian just look at Lance and Dominique but after seeing their serious expression he checks the folder which left him shocked.

"skeleton?....." Adrian didn't know how to continue further because he never seen anything like that.

"We found skeleton not the bodies with flesh and skin, we were able to identify them because of clothes found on bodies and this doesn't look usual to me. Those bodies can't turn into skeleton without us finding them. Bodies take time to decompose and we have recently covered that area while patrolling because of Annual Banquet and they were not there before. Bodies don't turn skeleton overnight" Lance said everything he want to say in one breath.

There were no such cases in Kingdom till now. Kingdom Velaris is actually calm kingdom. Even many rogues prefer to move to Kingdom Velaris because here rogue are allowed to live as far as they don't cause any trouble to people. Even they were given a No Man Land where they can live freely. Some notorious rogue's do cause trouble sometime but not anything serious.

Dominique and Adrian look visibly disturb after hearing the news. This kind of crime is not possible without gathering attention even at night where people are highly sensitive to voices. Even if yesterday was Annual Banquet guards were assigned more than usual to avoid any kind of unavoidable cases.

"Chemical can be used" Adrian suggested.

"No evidence was found which indicates chemical were used and their clothes are perfectly fine. We were suspecting some sort of magic used" Lance replied.

"It's not possible Lance, Information about every magic exist in our world is written down in Royal Library and I haven't come across any of these sort magic unless we were not informed by owner about magic and they using them illegally" Dominique stated.

"But I will check once again in case i skip some pages. Anything else we should know about?"

"It seems like they were trying to run because bodies are far from each other but not so far. They were easily able to catch up to them and it happen outside our boundary where patrolling was not covered but their bodies were found far from No Man Land too. Maybe they came out of No Man Land on their own to do something but things gone wrong" He said.

"How do you know about bodies if area was not patrolled?" Dominique asks.

"I was told by Magnus, According to him yesterday night suddenly 5 rogues gone missing from his area in No Man Land. He usually keeps count of rogues when everyone gone to sleep and those were not there. For some time, those five keep disappearing but they will return in few hours. He tried to follow them sometimes but they will suddenly vanish in thin air and return back in few hours as if nothing happens. At first, he thought they will return in few hours as usual but they didn't return till this morning. He tried to look for them in tracks usually taken by them where he found their bodies. After that he informed me" Lance replied without leaving any information.

Magnus is their spy planted on No Man Land by Dominique. He is rogue himself but he sane enough to function as normal person. He didn't know why he turned rogue. One day he just woke up as rogue. Even if he is normal in his head, his smell is like rogue. Because of that he was not accepted, he was forced to leave his family and his mate. Since he can't live among civilization, he chose to live as rogue. Few years ago, Dominique spotted him in No Man Land while patrolling. Even if Magnus smells like rogue, he can tell he is completely normal. Dominique approach him and offered him to work as his spy in No Man Land. Magnus accepted it gladly because he doesn't want to live as rogue but as normal person who worth something. If he going to die someday without anyone to cry for him then he rather does something worth dying. There some more people like him who work as spy to keep eyes on rogues in each area but no one knows about these rogue spies except Dominique, Adrian and Lance.

"I will check out the scene, let's go" Dominique declared.

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.

.

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At Crime scene....

Dominique, Lance and Adrian were again analyzing the area but they didn't find anything except unknown trace of dried blood in one of leaves not far from scene.

"Do you think it's one of rogue's blood?" Adrian Ask.

"It could be" Lance replied.

"No, it's not those five bloods" An unknown voice said from behind the tree.

"Magnus, how can you should be sure?" Lance asked. Magnus is famous for sneaking around without getting caught.

"They are trouble maker's; they get in fight with other rogues on daily basis. I can tell it's not their because their blood not black yet" Magnus replied eyeing the blood. When rogue started to lose their left-out sanity and corruption took over, their blood started to rot and turned black but this process is slow. It takes years for them to lose sanity completely but in some extreme condition's they lose their mind instantly and turn rotten blooded rogue.

"Then the culprit?" Adrian said.

"It could be, they are not the type to die without doing anything. It could be they have attacked the culprit" Magnus shrugged.

"This area is little far from where their bodies were found so it could be this is where they were first attacked or this could be area where they tried to attack the culprit when they injured them, they make a run for but unfortunately they can't go far and ended up losing life" Adrian assumed the event. Dominique was quite for a while as if he trying to figure out something.

"What happened Alpha Dominique?" Lance asked.

"Here a familiar smell lingering in air and smell of witchcraft" Dominique said while taking a wisp of air. All three frowned because they can't sense anything. Dominique is different from them his sense is more heighten than any other person.

"What do you mean familiar smell?" Adrian enquires.

"Here an unknown smell which blended with some familiar smell which i am familiar with but i can't remember who? someone either came here in disguise of that person scent or that person is with us in disguised scent" Dominique said seriously.

It nothing new in Kingdom Velaris where many attacks were tried by people who are not satisfied with Royal King or those who desired to take over the Royal throne. Many tries to plot spies in Warevein Palace and many times they were caught using disguised scent to hide their real scent. Many outsiders didn't know this but after Dominique become King, he formed a small troop of soldiers specialized in smelling out disguised scents and Adrian, Lance and Magnus are part of those small group but since they were not able to sense it. It become cause of concern for Dominique.

"and witchcraft were done here specially around where those bodies were found, whoever using this they leaved their trace because they were injured, they used magic to move and their traces are going towards Warevein Palace but they end near Palace Door" Dominique continues and drop the final bomb which left them shocked and worried.

"Witchcraft is banned Dominique even Dark Kingdoms don't do witchcraft's" Lance stated.

"But that doesn't mean someone wouldn't try it" Magnus said remembering something.

"Those five always disappeared without leaving a trace in thin air and none of those were able to do teleportation, it could be someone helping them teleport for whatever reason"

"Umm.... Do you think someone who do witchcraft is between us as spy??" Adrian asks Dominique.

"I am not sure since yesterday was Annual Banquet. There were many important people. It could be someone was being targeted in Banquet and left after they done for whatever reason they come" Dominique shrugged. It was hard for them to digest this theory.

"We didn't hear anything from anyone who were present in Banquet so far" Adrian said.

"And if someone indeed came for someone in Banquet, why kill those rogues who lives here?" Lance questioned.

"I am not sure, for now don't let this case out in public. I don't want unnecessary panic and Lance increase the patrolling around just in case and cover these areas too. Magnus keep your eyes open in case if something suspicious happen like those unexplained sudden disappearance, inform me immediately" Dominique ordered. Both nodded before going towards their own work.

"What?" Adrian asks. He knows Dominique hiding something.

"I am worried, I can't seem to shake that smell out of my mind, it was someone familiar but I can't remember who? I have smelt it before and it exist in Palace" Dominique whispered.

"You lied about someone being targeted in Banquet" Adrian almost yelled.

"I am not sure Adrian, I could be wrong, i could be right" Dominique said.

"You were never wrong about any smell till this date Dominique, you are best for a reason" Adrian said folding his hand to his chest while glaring at him for lying to Lance and Magnus.

"We were not sure yet so let leave it, let's go back for now. I have some work to do and I want you to go to investigation hall later to check on report about those bodies" Dominique said.

"What are you doing these day Dominique? You are busy doing something but you didn't inform me about that work" Adrian question him. Dominique was busy for sometime with something but whenever Adrian came looking for him, he will hide it.

"Nothing serious just kingdom related"

"I would have known if something new were to be done Dom, I pass the work to you not the other way around" Adrian glared challenging him to lie once more.

"I am just reading a journal, I found in office that's all" Dominique Sighs. He can never hide anything from Adrian.

"That's all? Are you kidding me? Why the f*ck you need to read a journal with so much concentration, you even hide it from me" Adrian complain.

"I found it interesting that why I am reading it" Dominique lazily replied while moving towards his palace.

"I still don't believe you" Adrian said glaring holes in his head from behind.

"Yah yah, don't believe me"

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