Hunter stared at River, feeling numb in the brain. Mia killed Natalie? His heart thundered in his ribcage. This was not possible. When Rosalie’s words hit him, his hands shot at her throat. He grabbed it and lifted her in the air with a dangerous rumble that vibrated his chest.
“You are lying!” he growled. “Mia can never do it!”
Rosalie started to shake and splutter and cough in his grasp. “I—” She coughed and started crying. Her feet dangled in the air. She held his wrist as she struggled to be free. Her oxygen supply was cutting off. “I don’t know…” she said with difficulty. “Alphaa…”
Hunter’s beast wanted to kill her. But Hunter had to stop him from murdering her. He removed his hand from her throat and she dropped on the floor with a loud thud. He towered over her and growled. “How did you get this letter?”
Rosalie was groveling on the ground, coughing and wheezing. “I— I found it in Natalie’s drawer only a few minutes back.”
Hunter clenched his teeth. With the crumpled paper in his hand, he rushed back to the castle where he called his men for a meeting.
He went to his bedroom. A dull headache began to form. His chest tightened in anticipation as to where River and Mia were. He began pacing the room with a thousand thoughts bouncing in his head. He felt like crying. He rubbed his chest and then with a roar he picked up a marble statue from the table and threw it across the room. It shattered into millions of pieces. As if that wasn’t enough, he picked up the glass table lamp and tossed it on the ground. In a few minutes the whole room was a mess with almost every item and furniture strewn across broken and shattered.
He leaned on the edge of the table with his hands as he panted. “Where are you, River?” he murmured, his eyes red with unshed tears. He felt like… dying. His gaze roamed around the table on the papers that were scattered when all at once lie saw a paper sticking out of the top drawer. A crease formed on his forehead. He pulled the drawer and took the papers out.
They weren’t papers. They were photos. When he flipped through the photos, his eyes went wide with shock.
The photos were of him watching Natalie. It was of him stalking her and some around her house. He froze when he saw a drop of dried tear on one of them. How did these photos come in this drawer? He sniffed the photos and they smelled of River and… Rosalie.
“Fuck!” He tossed the photos on the table and stabbed his fingers in his hair. Did Rosalie give these photos to River? And what did River think of him when these photos were given? When did Rosalie give these photos to her? When he had talked to River last, she sounded so cheerful. There was not a trace of nervousness in her voice. So it meant that Rosalie must have visited River after she had talked to him.
“Bertaaa” he yelled. She must be knowing it better.
Hunter was so shocked after seeing the photos that he sat down on the chair with a thud. He remembered that Rosalie had given him a letter. lie pulled out the crumpled letter from his pants pocket and straightened it. The letter was from Mia to Natalie. It said:
Natalie,
Stop spreading false information about my brother. He never had interest in you nor will he ever have. Tell the truth to everyone or else I am not going to spare you. My brother’s only love is his mate who is his Luna. Go and withdraw your accusations about my brother, else I am going to hunt you in hell and kill you.
Mia
(PS — Don’t talk to me ever again.)
Hunter’s mouth fell to the floor. The letter indicated that Natalie was spreading rumors about him, but according to his information, Natalie always kept it a secret as to who the older man was who was seeing her. He had thought of finding the identity of the older an but he never knew that the problem would culminate to this level.
Nothing made sense. He couldn’t connect the dots. Everything was like a big giant puzzle that was refusing to take shape. Either the pieces in the puzzle were riot enough or there was something that wasn’t fitting.
The topmost thing that was bothering him was that River must have doubted him seeing these photos. And his hatred for Rosalie grew so high that he regretted not killing her.
The door of the room opened and Asher and Elijah walked in. ‘Alpha Hunter!” Elijah said and bowed to him. He was looking just as pale as Hunter was. And Hunter knew that reason. River bad told him that she suspected that Mia was his mate.
Hunter took a shaky breath. He swallowed his emotions down his throat and in a very hoarse voice said, “Did you find any lead on Mia?”
“No…” Elijah said in a low voice that could be taken as a cry. He was struggling to keep himself in control.
Hunter picked up the photos that were on the table and tossed them to Asher. “Take these photos to the IT guys and get them verified.”
Just then Berta stepped in the room. “Alpha!” she said and bowed to him. She was shaking with terror. She cried, I am so sorry, Alpha I-hinter. I should have stayed with Luna. I shouldn’t have allowed her to go alone to Mia.s school. It is all my fault!”
Hunter clenched his jaw so hard that his teeth hurt. “When did Rosalie come to see River?”
“She came in the morning,” Berta replied. “But after she left, Luna River was unhappy:.
“What did she say to River?” I hinter interrogated.
“She said that—” she glanced at Asher and Elijah as if hesitating to speak in front of them.”
“Go on!” Hunter growled.
Berta trembled. “She said that it was you who was stalking Natalie and then she handed over an envelope to Luna River.”
“And then?”
Berta gulped and continued, “Luna River came back to her room. When I came after her, I saw her crying. She wiped her tears and smiled at me.
I warned her that lady Rosalie was a nuisance when she was here and said that we were all with her. I assured her that Lady Rosalie was only speaking lies. Even if you were seeing Lady Natalie, we all still loved Luna River. However, I told her that Alpha I hinter isn’t the type who would like anyone other than her.”
Hunter closed his eyes, thinking about River’s misery. He took a ragged breath and thought his knees wobbled. Where was she? “Then what happened?”
“Then we found out that Mia wasn’t in her room. Luna River rushed around everywhere, called her friends and called Beta Elijah and Gamma Asher to find out about her, but…” she stopped as she peered at Elijah. He was trying to stand tall, but failing miserably. “But no one could find Mia.”
Dread bubbled in his chest, thinking that Mia must be in big trouble. Did she really kill Natalie? Couldn’t he. The girl couldn’t kill a fly, let alone a she-Lycan. His heart sank. His sister loved him so much that she got herself involved in something that shouldn’t have been her concern. At this point of time, Hunter couldn’t help it. A tear rolled out of his eye.
“When was the last time you saw River?” he asked Berta.
“She was coming out of her room in a hurry. I was going to give her a glass of orange juice. When I asked her where she was going, she said that she was going to Mia’s school to find out about her.”
Hunter looked at Elijah and asked, “Did you find out at her school?”
“Yes Alpha,” Elijah said, clearing his throat. “She isn’t there. In fact we believe that she has been missing from her room since last night. Luna River came to know about her disappearance this morning.”
And the rest was history. Hunter had tracked her down to Howard’s house but there he met Rosalie. Now the picture was slightly clearer. In the crux of it all, only one name rang loud. “Rosalie!” he rasped. “Find her and get her here at once!” he barked orders to Elijah. When Elijah started to go, he said, “No wait! I will come with you.”
As Asher left to get the photos verified, Hunter jumped in his jeep along with Elijah and they drove to Mrs. Jenna’s house. Hunter pounded the door harder. If it had been for his beast, he would have ripped the door apart. Why the hell did he leave Rosalie at that time?
Mrs. Jenna opened the door and her eyes became wide when she saw him. She bowed 10 him immediately, “Alpha Hunter!”
“Where is Rosalie?” he growled, his fangs elongating.
Mrs. jenna jerked her head back in surprise. “In the morning she said that she was going to see Luna River and she hasn’t returned after that.”
