Hazel, Kirk and her stepsister, Brianna, were sitting with Alpha Maxim. They were having a hushed conversation. As soon as River entered with Lena, the two bowed to him. All of them became quiet the moment they saw River, River glanced at her half-sister, Brianna, who smirked at her, jealousy written all over her face.
River was surprised the Alpha would actually come to her house. If he wanted, he would have called her parents to his place.
“Go inside!” Hazel said in a harsh voice, snapping her out of her reverie. “And don’t come out unless allowed!”
River was sure Alpha had come to negotiate terms with them so that the word didn’t leak out that she was Hector’s mate. River lowered her head and along with Lena went inside her bedroom wondering how much would her parents ask for. She didn’t know what her worth was in terms of money, but she was sure that, as Hector’s mate, her worth increased quite a lot.
“Oh, River!” Lena said and wrapped her arms around her shoulders when they were in her tiny bedroom. “Now what will happen?”
River leaned her head on Lena’s shoulder and said, “What if I escape?”
Shocked, Lena pulled away. “Are you *******?” she scolded her. “If you are going to run away, you will be termed as a rogue. Do you know what they do when they catch hold of rogues?”
River bit her lip and trudged to her bed. She was feeling both ****and physically exhausted. “I know…” she said in a hoarse voice. “They are put down if found, and the packs find them without fail.”
“If you know, why are you even thinking of escaping?” Lena chided her. “It’s better for them to decide your fate, River.”
“I know what they do to the rogues!” River cried. “They are going to ***me in a day or two and make it look like an accident!” She plopped on her back on the bed. “If I escape, at least I will have one chance of survival. I will go to the human world and find my mother.”
Lena came to sit on the edge of the bed. “Only if it was so easy to leave the pack, River…”
The door of her room opened, and Brianna entered. Brianna was two years younger than River and left no stone unturned to make her miserable in the house. She was half of River’s problems.
River had to clean her room, iron her clothes, make dinner for them and sometimes, when Brianna would be tired, she even had to massage her legs. If Brianna wasn’t happy with her work, she would complain about it to her mother and then the beatings would start. It was a normal scenario in their house because Brianna was never happy. At school too, she ridiculed River openly..
Brianna leaned on the door and crossed her arms across her chest. She sneered at River.
“I’m amazed at the Moon Goddess. She didn’t do her job well this time. How could a scraggy and a *****wolf like you. could be mated to Alpha’s son?” She waved her hand at River in repugnance. “***has asked you to stay inside, so don’t even think of stepping out of the house. Alpha Maxim has decided that tomorrow, you will be offered to those in the Veil. They are coming here for you.”
“What?” Lena said, her eyes going wide with fear. “How do you know about the Veil?”
“Didn’t I just say that Alpha told us about it, ***?” Brianna snapped.
No one knew about the Veil. It was a guarded secret that only few knew about. And those who knew, never talked about it. “There must be a mistake, Brianna! How can they offer River to the Veil? It’s practically ***her! In fact, it’s better you ***her here rather than offering her to those ruthless ***.”
Brianna laughed, feeling excited. She scoffed, “There isn’t a mistake. And you better get out of our house as soon as possible, Lena. ***and Dad don’t like that you are here with her.” She turned to walk out of the door. She flicked her hair, saying. “You deserve it, ***!” and then swayed away, closing the door behind her.
River was confused and terrified.
“What does it mean?” she asked Lena. She had never heard of the offerings. No one had ever mentioned her about the offerings or the Veil.
Lena grabbed her shoulders. She was looking so panicky that her anxiety affected River.
She said, “By the Moon Goddess! River, you should escape!”
“But why?” River asked, her gaze darting between Lena’s gray eyes.
Lena’s lips quivered. She removed a lock of red hair from River’s forehead and said, “Lycans live in the Veil. They come every ten years out of the Veil to take away she-wolves who are then used as their breeders because Lycan females are unable to give birth to pups.”
As if her miseries weren’t over, another shockwave rippled through her. River stared at Lena as blood drenched from her face.
Lena continued, “Every ten years, an offering is made to the Alphas of the Veil in which a girl from the werewolves pack is offered to them. It is mandatory for every pack to make that offering. This time it’s Crescent pack’s turn. However, from what I know, this time a Lycan will be coming out of the Veil after a gap of fifty years. The last time an offering was made from the Crescent pack was two hundred years back.”
“How do you know so much about it?” River asked.
Lena sighed. “One of my aunts was offered to a Lycan more than sixty years back. No one saw her after that. It’s a well kept secret of our family.” Lena held River’s hand as sympathy washed over her for her best friend.
She continued, “Lycans are even more powerful than werewolves. A Lycan can take over and ***a dozen werewolves easily. They live deep in the forest in a place called Veil. No one dares to go there. A thousand years back, the Lycans would raid the werewolf packs and take away the most eligible she-wolves to mate with them. After mating with them and having pups, it was said they threw the girls into dungeons to spend the rest of their lives inside.
“Werewolves were no match against the Lycans in protecting their she-wolves. In order to stop the mindless kidnappings, a treaty was drawn between Lycans and werewolves in which every ten years the werewolves offered a girl to the Lycans. And because the process was nicely streamlined, it resulted in a growth in the healthy population of the Lycans. They had stopped coming, but-” Lena looked at River. “They are coming again. For you.”
