So, I'm sorry that I haven't been posting every day like I was before. The truth is I had another case of writer's block and found it very hard to the write the last couple of chapters. Now I should be fine as I have a clear path as to what direction I want the story to go. Anyway, fav, follow, review, and thanks for reading! Also a shout out to Blake Valentine II and crazyshade666 for their constant encouragement and remarks.

Chapter 32: Lilly's Transformation

It was the next day and Arthur had shaved off his beard. He took a bath and dressed in his finest tuxedo. It had originally belonged to Lilly's late father Jack O'Callaghan and with a few minor adjustments from a tailor, it was a perfect fit. Patrick had suggested Arthur wear his best. He was to report to the king today and he was nervous as well as angry. He stared at himself in the mirror. His face was clean shaven, his hair was slicked back with pomade, and his suit was in exemplary shape. It was a black jacket with black pants. His bow tie was white, as was his turn-down shirt and cummerbund. The jacket was triple buttoned. His black dress shoes had been polished to a shiny jet black. He even had cuff links in made of silver. He went full circle as he examined himself. "So, how do I look?' he asked Patrick.

"Like yer ready to meet a king," Patrick answered with confidence. He was wearing a similar suit.

Arthur let out a brief cackle and glanced at Patrick. "Good. Let's get goin'."

Patrick, Arthur, Brian, and James headed out of the room, down the hall, down the stairs, and to the lobby doors. They walked out and got into a carriage that had been waiting for them. The boys walked alongside the carriage as they were too big to fit inside. "You never said what happened in that cave, Arthur," Patrick mentioned abruptly. "Neither did The Morrigan."

Arthur sighed. He didn't really want to talk about what happened. It was still very raw in his mind, but at the same time, he felt like he had to talk about it in order to process what happened.

The Morrigan, Arthur and the wolves headed through the darkness with Arthur holding a lantern. He had his gun out as he walked along the cave walls. They'd been walking for a while and Arthur wanted to hurry to find Lilly. He groaned as they came to a fork in the path. "Well, which way do you think?" Arthur asked the goddess.

"Left," she replied casually.

Arthur glanced back at her. "Left? How do you know to go left?"

"I can hear noises coming from the left."

"What kind of noises?"

"Stop asking questions and let's go before the full moon rises."

Arthur turned back around and headed down the left path. He listened the the echoing of his boots hitting the ground with each step so he tried to step more quietly. Pretty soon they came to a cavern that had a hole in the ceiling and there were torches lit. Arthur ducked down behind a rock with his group and peeked out. He saw Lilly in a cage and his heart jumped in his throat. She looked miserable and Arthur also noticed she had some kind of iron bracelets with red gems on her wrists. He also saw Willow and Dothur standing by her cage along with some men in black hooded robes.

"Soon the full moon will hit that hole up there," Willow said, pointing upwards. "Then you'll join us."

Lilly spit on the ground. "I will not join ya, I dunna care what kind of tricks ya have up yer fucking sleeve to try and turn me to yer god damn cause! I wilna do it!"

Willow held up her hand and a dark orb appeared in her palm. "Recognize this?" Arthur narrowed his eyes. He wasn't sure what that was but he vaguely remembered Lilly describing a dark orb that had corrupted both Dutch and Micah. Was Willow about to do the same thing to his wife? "This is dark magic. It's what we use to keep the werewolves under our control. And now..." Willow's orb became full of some type of lightning and Arthur watched as Willow's minions came to open the cage. Lilly backed up as they grabbed her and she struggled. "We're going to tah use it on you."

"Arthur, we need to stop them now!" Morrigan hissed.

Arthur stood up and aimed his gun at Willow. He fired his shot and Willow turned and held the orb up to absorb the bullet. She laughed with an evil look in her eyes. "Ah, Mr. Morgan. So glad you could join us."

"Arthur!" Lilly yelled.

Arthur fired one shot after another but Willow's orb took the bullets. Dothur growled as Brian and James leaped over the boulder and charged him. Dothur was significantly bigger than the two brothers but their odds were still good. Arthur ducked down with The Morrigan as his bullets went flying his way from the orb. He reloaded his gun as The Morrigan shape shifted into her red wolf form. She leaped over the boulder just as Arthur finished reloading and then he pulled out his other gun. He got back up and kept shooting at Willow who made a shield of some kind from her orb to block. Arthur holstered his guns and growled as he closed in on his quarry. "Okay, let's do this the hard way."

Men came from every angle as Arthur fought them. He punched one hard in the face then kicked another into the cavern wall. He knocked another away with a swing of his arm and then another with his other arm. One guy got a punch in but Arthur barely even felt it. He chuckled then headbutted the guy which knocked him out cold. He grabbed one man by the neck and squeezed so hard Arthur felt the bones in his neck crumble. He dropped the man to the ground and snagged another guy, bashing his head into Arthur's knee. Blood spurt from the enemy's nose and he cried out as Arthur broke his neck with an iron grip. A man jumped on Arthur's back and tried to choke Arthur but the gunslinger was having none of it. He elbow the man in the stomach and sent him into the wall. Soon all the men were down save for the two holding his struggling wife. Arthur immediately pulled out his guns and aimed at the two. "Let my woman go," he said with a dangerous look in his eyes.

Dothur was still fighting with The Morrigan, Brian and James but he wasn't going down. Willow was busy feeding him her dark magic. The men let Lilly go and ran. Lilly ran to Arthur and hugged him. "Always my knight in shinin' armor, ain't ya?" she said.

Arthur chuckled and held her in his arms. "Always, darlin'."

Suddenly Lilly pushed Arthur away. "Look out!" Arthur moved as black lightning hit Lilly. She screamed out and went to a knee as she was wrapped in it. The orb hit Lilly and she went flying into the wall. It had happened so quickly the moment hadn't even registered in Arthur's brain until it was too late. Arthur ran to her but then moonlight showed through the hole in the ceiling directly onto Lilly's form. She looked up at the moon and the change began. She glanced at Arthur as her eyes went pitch black. "Run," she whispered.

But Arthur didn't run. He watched as bones crunched and poked out from her skin. She cried out in agony as her hands grew into paws, red fur grew on her body, and her face started growing a snout. Her ears and canines grew in size and sharpness and the mass of her body got bigger and bigger. Soon she was a full fledged wolf about nine feet tall and she howled loudly. She stared at Arthur for a moment then she snarled at him. Her eyes were still pitch black but they kept flickering to sapphire blue. Lilly ran past Arthur to another corridor in the cave and Arthur watched as Willow and Dothur escaped through a portal. Arthur chased after Lilly but couldn't keep up and soon he got very lost. He growled in anger, fell to his knees and threw his fists into the ground, making indents in the stone floor. He felt The Morrigan's palm on his shoulder and he bowed his head. "I am sorry, Arthur."

Patrick blinked in awe as Arthur finished telling the story. "You say she grew nine feet tall?" he asked.

Arthur nodded. "I'm guessing so."

The carriage stopped and Arthur found himself staring at Buckingham Palace. The men both got out and greeted the guards. They held out their invitations to the palace. There was to be a ball tonight but first they were to have a private audience with the king himself. They were allowed in and they slowly walked across the courtyard to the palace. They were greeted by a man in a brown suit and he welcomed them in. Soon they were directed to the throne room. The king was waiting for them on his throne and both the men bowed. "Your Majesty," they both said. Arthur was grateful that Patrick had coached him on what to do and say, even if he hated the bastard king who had put his hands on his wife, but the moment Arthur laid eyes on the fat man, all his sense of mannerisms went out the window.

"Gentlemen. It's so good of you to come. Mr. Morgan, I've heard a great deal about you."

Arthur lifted his head. "I would imagine so," he said through gritted teeth. Oh, Arthur really hated this fat bastard of a king. There was no way he was calling this asshole "sir".

The king chuckled and directed his attention to Patrick. "Sir Patrick, so good to see you again. Last time I saw you, you were being knighted by my mother."

"The feeling is mutual, sir," Patrick said. "And yes, it was an honor to be knighted by her, God rest her soul."

The king got off his throne and stood in front of it. He was also wearing a sort of tuxedo, presumably in preparation for tonight's ball. "So tell me, Earl of Moycullen. Any idea where your werewolf of a wife is now?"

Arthur narrowed his eyes. "No." Patrick nudged Arthur. "What?" Patrick gave him a knowing look and Arthur's lips puckered into a scowl. "I ain't one for decorum, Patrick."

The king waved him off. "It's alright, Sir Patrick. He's American, after all."

Arthur glared at the king. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Patrick nudged Arthur again. "Yer being a little too snarky," he said through his teeth.

Arthur sighed. "Why are we here, exactly?"

The king chuckled again and started walking to them both. "Mr. Morgan, you're to finish what your wife started. Defeat werewolves. I hear your strength is legendary, much like your wife's is. Patrick here was invited to, well, I wasn't sure meeting a king would overwhelm you so I assumed you'd want a friend with you for our first meeting." Arthur's fists clenched. He didn't want to be anywhere near the king but for Lilly's sake, he had to play nice. Well, not completely nice but enough to make sure he wouldn't be imprisoned. "Also, I hope you got your invitations to the ball tonight."

"We did."

"Good. Would you both care for a tour of the palace until then?"

Arthur blinked a few times. Now that would be a sight to see. "Well, I should be gettin' back to my kids."

The king shrugged. "You should have brought them here along with Mr. Van der Linde and Mr. Matthews." Arthur's jaw dropped and the king gave him a toothy grin. "Oh, I know a lot of things about you, Mr. Morgan. I do my research. Ever since I laid eyes on your wife, I endeavored to know more about the both of you."

This new knowledge made Arthur a bit uneasy, and he didn't like the way the king was talking about his wife. "Laid eyes on or touched?"

Patrick's face went pale and the king guffawed loudly. "Oh my. She told you about that, did she? Well, she was quite adamant on staying loyal to you so I did not press it. Still, she is a very fine and attractive young woman. I do envy you." Arthur felt one of his eyes twitch. If this guy wasn't king, Arthur would have killed him already. "So, tour or no tour?"

Before Arthur could speak up, Patrick interjected. "Actually, I think a tour would be delightful."

Arthur eyeballed Patrick with a warning. "But what about-"

"Oh, I can arrange for your children to come to the palace along with your adoptive fathers, if you prefer," the king interrupted. "I do love children. I have four of my own, you know. All grown up now, of course. What are their names? Aoife and Arthur Jr., yes?"

Arthur eyed the king suspiciously. "Yes. You really do love your research, don't you?"

The king smiled brightly. "Yes I do. Now let's go call upon your family."