Hunter had inspected the site. There was no way they could find & ta and he was sure that if she daretha Mand the forest and out of the Ver, then she must be knowing demens or there must be people on the bedside who wrote help her to escape His mood had daped to the point that he wanted to kift #tha te shouted at the pards and NPHOTS and ordered them to comb the forest in order to trace her after whochhe went dire by to see ther
She was lying on the bed in pajamas and a tank top and Fana was arranging the tooth
“River?” he called her. She got up instantly and looked at him with wide eyes
“Alpha Hunter!”
He was next to her in an instant. He looked at Faria, who bowed and left at his silent command He was very angrJ and wanted to punish her in some way In fact, he was very angry with everyone, but the moment he came to set gr River, his anger subsided. “How are you feeling?” he asked, grasping her hand and checking her forehead
“I am well, Alpha Hunter,” she said, happy to see him River was amazed at herself that she was feeling this happy to see Hunter She never felt this jubilant and it was like she missed him in his absence She tried to search taya on the inside to understand this sudden change in her feelings, but she didn’t get any response
Hunter stared at her for a long time as silence descended in the room Neither wanted to speak even though they bot had a lot of things to tell each other.
“Thank you!” River said finally.
“You should rest!” Hunter said.
They both spoke in unison and then both laughed lightly Hunter tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear and cupped her cheek with his hand. “I am glad that you are well. I know that rejection can be extremely painful”
River leaned in his palm instinctively, feeling utter relief that he was with her. “It is all in the past now,” she said, unable to take her eyes off him. “Thank you so much for helping me out. I think my life couldn’t have moved forward without it. And Hector-” she closed her eyes and turned her face into his palm. It was so reassuring. Why was it that she never felt like that even when Hector was her mate and she craved for him to touch? “And Hector is undeserving of a mate 1 just hope that he keeps Victoria happy.”
Hunter loved the way she had leaned in his palm and now her face was buried in it. She was such a petite and lovely girl that his heart squeezed. He wondered if her wolf came back. He was dying to tell her that he was her mate, but if he told her now, he was sure that River would run away at the mention of the word ‘mate’. She had undergone a rejection and he wanted to give her time to recuperate. “And what about you, River?” he asked. “I want you to have a bright future. I want you to grow and develop in a way you want to. What is it that you want, River?”
River was stunned. The Alpha of the Dark Moon pack had been so sweet with her that it was hard to believe. She really wanted her wolf to come out and explain what was happening. She smiled at him. “While I know I am nothing but a breeder, Alpha Hunter, I was wondering if I can specialize in interior decoration?” Then she looked at him as if searching for an answer in his eyes. When he frowned, she knew that she had stretched her limit and her eyes dropped to her lap. She chided herself for pushing her limits with a man who had done so much for her. Who would have thought that he would have brought Hector to her only so that she could reject him?
Hunter curled his thumb and forefinger beneath her chin and forced her to look at him. In a very serious voice he said, “First, don’t treat yourself as a breeder, okay? I don’t like it when you say that word. And second, if you want to get into interior designing, who am I to stop you? But how will you go about it?
Because we don’t have that kind of a college inside the Veil. You will have to go to the human world.” Though he would never stop her from what she wanted to achieve, the thought of living away from her, gnawed at his heart.
River wanted to kiss the man on his lips. Why was he so good? And she didn’t want to leave him at all. Goddess, what was happening to her? “Oh no!” River countered him. “I am not going to go anywhere I have searched for an online course. But it will cost a lot of money!”
Hunter grinned. “Then you may join it from today!”
River couldn’t help smiling because his happiness was so infectious. And she couldn’t help leaning near and placing a quick kiss on his lips. Her reaction surprised her but it stunned Hunter. “That won’t do…” he said. He cupped her head at the back and pulled her towards him. He brushed her lips on hers and soon that little caress of his lips turned into a deep kiss. River opened her ****for him, welcoming him to explore her. When he pulled himself away, she let out a reluctant cry.
“Thank you,” she said in a soft voice, unable to take her eyes off his lips.
“For?” he asked huskily, his eyes on her lips and her nape.
“For everything. You are taking so much care-”
He placed his finger on her lips. “I am doing what I want to.”
And River felt that it was impossible to not fall in love with this man. She wondered what would happen to her if he found his mate. That thought was so ***that she shoved it immediately out of her mind.
*I have a confession to make…..” she said.
“Confession?”
She nodded. Lowering her eyes to her lap, she clasped her hands. She had to tell him the truth.
“What is it, River?” he asked, getting impatient and wondering what it was.
She took in a ragged breath. “I had met Ella the day I had come here. I mean not met her, but talked to her.”
Hunter froze. “Ella? You went to the south tower?”
She nodded once, feeling guilty as ***. “I wanted to escape from the Veil and in order to do so, I went to the library and got a map of the castle and Dark Moon pack. I was strolling around the palace when I chanced upon the tower and
heard Ella’s voice.”
“Goddess!” Hunter said, shocked. His hand on her loosened its grip.
“Ella misguided me. She said- she said-” River was too embarrassed to say it but she wanted to be clear with the man who had done so much for her. She wanted a new start desperately. “She said that she was the former breeder of the Lycan King and that after using her, she was thrown in the dungeon. She wanted me to help her escape.” River’s throat burned at the revelation. She stopped herself from crying. She was sure that Hunter would think of her as a tanol
“She wasn’t a breeder!” Hunter said sharply and got up from the bed. He stabbed his fingers in his hair and walked to look outside the window.
“I know!” River replied. “Faria told me all about her. But Ella said that she was a breeder and since I am also a breeder, I felt bad about her. I have heard tales about how breeders were treated in the Veil. That panicked me a lot. Combined with it, the way Hector treated me-” she paused, unable to speak after that, feeling terrible when the familiar feeling surged through her. “I wanted to run away…” she managed to say it out hoarsely.
Hunter spun and was in front of her, kneeling on the rug. “You wanted to run away?” he asked, his expression that of disbelief, his heart thudding against his ribcage in panic. “You want to get out of the Veil?”
“No!” River shook her head as her tears broke the dam and came out in a rush. “I don’t want to leave.” She wanted to say, she didn’t want to leave him, but she pressed her lips. “I want to stay here for as long as you will allow me. The thought of leaving is… bad.”
Hunter’s panic ebbed and he threw his arms around her. He hugged her tightly. “Oh River! I don’t want you to leave. Ever. Never. Never. Never.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in the ***of his neck. “Then I will never leave,” she said through her tears. Even if he found his mate, she would continue to stay here.”
Hunter squeezed her tightly. “I don’t care what happened with Ella and you in the past. But I want both of us to bury the past and move ahead together. Promise?”
She giggled. “Promise.”
River registered for her online course and on the third day, Hunter brought her to the west wing of the castle to show her something.
