Surrogate for the Alpha Prince in a Coma novel Chapter 177

Chapter 177

et’s go,” I said.

We left my office and headed down to the dungeons in the subterranean basements deep beneath the palace. The mercenary was being kept away from the other prisoners, in an area with even more limited access. Two guards waved us through and then a third who stood outside of the mercenary’s solid metal door unlocked it for us and opened it.

As we stepped into the room, mercenary was resting on his bed, his back to us.

“A sound sleeper?” Prime Beta asked, but I could hear the disbelief in his voice.

“That man is dead,” Lone Archer said.

Needing to see for myself, I approached, grabbed his shoulder, and rolled him over. He didn’t move at first, his bones and joints stiff with death. A blade was jammed straight down into the man’s sternum, then he’d been rolled onto his side to bleed out. Blood was caked on the coat and down the wall. The smell alone should have given away the state of him.

I turned to the others. Prime Beta frowned, his face paling slightly. Lone Archer’s face was unchanged, though his eyes were harder, sharper. More alert.

“Guard,” I called out.

The guard walked in. “Yes, Alpha – oh.” His gaze went at once to the prisoner and the blade in the prisoner’s

chest.

“How long has he been like this?” I asked.

“I… uh…” the guard fumbled.

“You do check on the prisoners?” Lone Archer snapped. “Didn’t you notice he hasn’t been eating?”

The guard’s eyes went a little wide, looking from right to left quickly. “I saw he was in here, so I just thought he was on a hunger strike or something. That’s not unusual. I didn’t know… I didn’t think to check…”

“Fetch the doctor, but tell no one what transpired here, not even him,” I told the guard. “Go and come right back. I want to know time of death.”

“Y-yes, Alpha,” the guard said, rushing out of the room.

When he was gone, I turned back to the others. “The only people who could come back here are the Elders, the royal family, and a handful of nobles.”

“This was an inside job,” the Lone Archer said. “Has to be.”

I thought that too, though I hadn’t been ready to speak that aloud just yet.

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