“Mia,” River said. “Please tell me the whole thing.” Anxiety dug its thorns inside her chest. She had just taken over as the Alpha of her pack. She had to go to her pack in a few days and assess the situation. Everyone in her pack loved Hunter and they had tremendous respect for him. This piece of information is going to put a dent on their trust. It will be more because he was married to their Alpha who was carrying his child.
River suddenly felt like vomiting. She got up and rushed to the bathroom. Over there, whatever she had in the morning came out.
Tension marred her face when she looked at her reflection. She was so pale and it was not just because of her empty stomach. Mia came inside with a glass of water. “River, I am so sorry. I don’t know how this has aggravated to this level.” River gulped down the water. “You have to tell me everything right from the beginning.” She knew a lot about the case, but she was sure that Mia knew more.
As they sat on the bed to talk, Faria came running in with lemon juice and cookies for River. Mia had connected with her through the mind link about River’s situation. River had the juice and took in a deep breath. She lifted her face up and said, “Mia, just tell me everything.”
Mia hadn’t gone to the school because she hated the way her group was treating her. They wouldn’t speak anything on her face but they would gossip the moment she would turn her face away. She started, “Natalie was in our group and two months back she started saying that she was seeing an older man. When we asked her who she was seeing and whether he was her mate, she would always laugh it
off and keep it a secret. But once I remember her saying that she could ruin his family.”
A shudder ran down River’s body as her jaw locked in tension.
Mia continued, “At that time we just laughed at her words and the whole thing was shoved back. However, two weeks later, she started saying that she is being stalked and that there is someone who wants to harm her.” Mia looked up and closed. her eyes. “We asked her repeatedly as to who was stalking her and if we could help her. But she never revealed it. All she said was that she knew who was stalking her. She also said that the man who was stalking her was higher in the hierarchy of the Lycans and that if the secret came out, his reputation would nosedive.”
Faria snorted. “That ****”
Mia shook her head. “One day I decided to go with her to her home after school and realized that someone was stalking us. It was evening and most of the streets were empty. I turned back to see who it was, but there was no one. Not even a whiff of smell.”
“How do you know that someone was stalking you?” River asked.
“I had this feeling, River, Mia replied. “It was as if someone was matching our steps. I even ran back to find the stalker but it was of no use. He had run away. When I went back to Natalie, she was hyperventilating. I made her sit on a stone bench on the side of the street and gave her my bottle of water. She gulped it down and then started crying.”
“But Mia, why did you not come back in your own car and accompany Natalie?” River scolded. “Why did you break that protocol? You are too precious to be going alone on the streets for an adventure this dangerous!”
Mia pursed her lips. “I really wanted to help Natalie. If I had taken my car, I am sure we wouldn’t have attracted the stalker.” “Did Natalie tell you who was stalking her?” Faria asked.
“She said that she was sure as to who was stalking her. She hadn’t seen the stalker.” She looked at River with a sad expression. “She said that it was Alpha Hunter who was stalking her.”
“That’s **!” River snapped. “Hunter doesn’t have time to stalk her.”
“I know!” Mia whined. “But that’s what Natalie told me and also said that she was scared that I would not believe her.” Mia shook her head. “I was so angry with her over it that stopped talking to her. She cried and cried and said that I should believe her, and that she didn’t have evidence to prove it, but the day she gets the evidence, she would tell me.” “Evidence?” Faria mused. “Have the investigators checked Howard’s house for clues?”
“I don’t know,” Mia said, feeling defeated. “Howard is very sad about his daughter’s disappearance and he often doesn’t cooperate.”
River let out a rough exhale. “Did she show you any evidence before her disappearance?*
“I wasn’t talking to her. She would come to me and I would move away from that place. One day she cornered me in the gardens that lead to the library behind a willow tree. Over there, she was about to show me some pictures on her phone when someone called her and said that her family had come to meet her.”
“So did she show you the pictures?”
“No, she was surprised as to why her father had come to see her in the middle of the school. She asked me to meet her
after school because she knew who the stalker was. But I didn’t wait for her after school. I-” Mia’s lips quivered. “I didn’t want to see the pictures because I was afraid.”
“You were afraid that your doubts about Hunter would coalesce in the photos on her phone?” River said.
Mia nodded. “I regret this so much River. I wish I had stopped after school that day and seen those photos.”
“After how many days of this incident, Natalie disappeared?”
“She disappeared after a week, Mia replied, lowering her head and rubbing her arms as if trying to settle her goosebumps.
The thorns of anxiety dug deeper in her chest and River got up. She began to pace the room. There was a long silence between them. “Who all know about the pictures?” she asked.
“No one…” Mia said. “I didn’t speak about it to anyone.”
“I think we should somehow get hold of her phone,” Faria said.
“The investigators tried to get it, but they couldn’t find it. It is said that it disappeared along with her.
Her school bag is also missing,” Mia stated.
Faria narrowed her eyes. “There is something not right here. I don’t know what, but I feel that there is a missing piece of puzzle that we need to find.”
“The whole thing is a giant puzzle!” River gritted.
“Luna River,” Faria said. “We must make a list or production log of what we know and what is left out.” Then she turned to Mia. “You must somehow get me an access into Howard’s place. I want to check Natalie’s room.”
“What? That is ***!” River shouted.
“I would love to come with you, Faria!” Mia said, ignoring River’s words. She really wanted to clear Hunter’s name. “I am sure we will find something in her room!”
