Hunter returned with River and the rest of the team to the castle. River’s wolf was not allowing her to shift. And the main reason was that River was too weak. Hunter carried her in his arms to the bedchamber and laid her on the bed. “River…” he called her. “Shift baby.”
But her wolf growled through pain and refused to give skin to her human. She was in tremendous pain. Hunter rubbed his h*and over her furs and caressed her gently. He said, “I know that the last few hours have been very painful, but I will make sure that you are fine from now on. I don’t want you to suffer so much, love.” Gia whimpered and looked at him with her beautiful blue eyes that were full of sadness. He held her snout and said, “Please shift. Come back to me.” But Gia only laid her head in his lap and closed her eyes. For the whole day, Hunter stayed with River’s wolf and didn’t leave her for a minute even during the night. And for all that time, he would speak tender words to her to coax her to shift. Her wounds had healed quite a lot and there were scars left on her t*highs. In the night, Hunter slept with her with his arms across her torso. He snuggled into her soft fur and continued to say words of affection to her. He started crying and cursing himself that he was responsible for her situation. In the end he went off to sleep snuggled in her warm fur. When he woke up in the morning, he found beautiful blue eyes fixed on him. River had shifted back.
“River!” he rasped and threw himself on her. He picked her up in her arms and cuddled her over his body. “Oh goddess!” he murmured. “You are back! I was so worried.”
“Hunter…” River whispered his name and k*issed his l*ips. “I love you…”
“I love you too. I love you too.” Hunter peppered k*isses on her face, n*eck, shoulders, head and everywhere he could. A feeling of relief surged through him, washing away the anxiety that had gripped his heart for the past few hours.
When he stopped k*issing her, he looked into her eyes for a long time, unable to speak a word. Even she couldn’t speak anything. They remained locked in each other’s arms for a long time until they were satisfied, until they both felt reassured. When they were taking a bath, Hunter asked, “Why wasn’t Gia letting you shift?”
“She wanted to keep the pup safe,” River said. Hunter closed his eyes as another wave of relief surged through him.
“How is Mia?” she asked.
“She is doing well. Rosalie had pushed a lot of drugs in her system. Elijah has taken her to the hospital and stayed there with her. He is not taking any chances to leave her.”
“I hate Rosalie!” River spat. “Where is she?”
“Currently lodged in the dungeons,” Hunter informed her. “With her parents.”
River was surprised. “I want to—”
“Hush,” Hunter said as he k*issed her shoulder. “We are going to talk about it later, love.”
River nodded. After a long pause, she said, “I have a question for you though.”
“Sure.” He smiled as he scrubbed her back.
“Which name do you like better, Layla or Gia?”
He chuckled. “Why does your wolf have two names?”
River sighed. “It’s a joke between us. I loved the name Layla and she liked Gia. So, we decided to have both names for her.”
Hunter burst out laughing. “You are funny, River.”
She nudged him with her elbow.
“I like both the names. Whether you call her Layla or Gia, she is mine.” River’s l*ips tugged up in a smile. He was just as crazy for her as she was.
“And those photos,” he said, voice low.
River tensed and stilled. “I—”
“They were doctored.” She jerked her head back to look at him.
“They were?”
He nodded. “There are too many things that I have to let you know, River. Rosalie was quite disgusting!” He poured warm water over her shoulders.
They both got ready and when they came to the main hall, they saw that Asher was there waiting for them along with some warriors. He h*anded a folder of documents to him. “These are all the records of Rosalie’s crimes, documented chronologically.”
“Where is Faria?” Hunter asked.
“She was being held by Rosalie’s parents all the time in a small room. They gave her drugs to contain her Lycan.”
“What the f*uck!” Hunter growled, his eyes turning amber.
Asher shook his head. “Mr. and Mrs. Jenna had been doing a lot of nasty things to her. They wanted information about River in order to harm her. They pressured her to k*ill River. When she refused, they abducted Faria and kept her in their basement all the while and. We raided their apartment yesterday to gather more information about Rosalie and that’s where we found Faria. She is—”
“What about her?” River asked, shocked to the c*ore. She caught Hunter’s h*and t*ightly to stop herself from shivering.
“She is in a bad condition but they have taken her to the hospital and right now thousands of tubes are running out of her. She looks… bad.” Asher’s gaze met River’s. “I would suggest that you don’t go there now.”
A sob wrenched out of her t*hroat. River sat down on the couch as tears ran down from her eyes. “Poor Faria. It happened because of me.”
“Nothing happened because of you, love,” Hunter said. He knelt in front of her on the rug. “It happened because of that mad she-Lycan, Rosalie. Her ambition to become the Luna of the Dark Moon pack overrode her logic to the extent that she went mad. It has nothing to do with you, okay. You are the only person who would suffice as the Luna of my pack and as my queen.”
“Hunter I-”
Hunter placed his f*inger on her l*ips. “No more talking about it.”
River chuckled and nodded. He placed a k*iss on her l*ips and then got up. “I want to visit them in the dungeons.”
“Alpha Hunter, we have a suggestion,” said James, one of the warriors.
“And what is it?” Hunter asked as he looked at all the papers.
“We want you to tie Rosalie to a post in the market square where we are going to allow the public to do whatever they want with her.”
Hunter jerked his head up to James. James was asking for the old-fashioned punishment in which the public would pelt stones at the prisoner until he or she died. He was surprised to sense that everyone else had the same anger about Rosalie. He could read their minds. “It’s too ancient…”
“But it is just. She has done a lot of damage. It would be a lesson to everyone.”
There was a silence in the air, and it was River who broke it. “If you implement that punishment, then I will be the first one to throw the stone.” She should have felt the guilt associated with such inhuman punishment, but she didn’t feel it at all.
Hunter parted his l*ips. He c*ocked his head and said, “Well, your Luna has made the decision.”
