It had been an hour since Hunter’s was running in the jungle. His beast became unbearable, clawing at him, howling to go to his mate. He ran at God-speed, his aim never faltering as he dashed between the endless dense trees. He would stop at places, p*anting with nervousness and worry, twitching his nose, desperate to pick up her scent.
The forest became darker with overhead canopies not allowing sun to filter through them. The whole jungle felt ominous. It was as if he had never come to this side of the jungle. Demons had once inhabited this place but he was sure that even they had abandoned this part a long time back. Gusty wind would susurrate the leaves, humming a song of terror. Every Lycan had unleashed their beast except Asher who had joined them half an hour later. He remained in his human form in order to lead them in the direction of the destination where the call was traced to.
All of a sudden, Hunter stopped. He picked up a strong whiff of River. “She is here,” he said in his animalistic voice that was half gravelly and half growl. He veered to the left and followed the scent only to come to a large pit. He jumped in the pit. Her scent was stronger as if she was here only a few hours away. That meant that River was somewhere nearby. He scanned the pit to see if there was any entrance that was hidden from the normal eyes. There wasn’t.
“The call was traced to a location just a mile from here, Alpha,” Asher said. “It is to the north.”
Hunter jumped out of the pit and dashed to the north with his team following him.
“Mia, please wake up!” River said to her. She was trying her best to wriggle out of the ropes, but her limbs were too slow. “Talk to me, Mia!” she cried after struggling and struggling endlessly. In the end, she gave up and her shoulders caved in. Tears flooded her eyes. Her t*hroat was paper dry and she wanted to drink water. Lots of it. As she sobbed, she looked at Mia who was still motionless. “Why? Moon Goddess, why?” she wailed. The heavily booted footsteps on the outside drew her attention. The door opened with a loud creaking sound, evidently showing that this door was barely used. The room was filled with light from outside. It seemed like there was a room out there because the light was not as bright.
River looked up and through her blurry vision she saw a familiar silhouette standing at the door. “Rosalie!” she growled.
Rosalie walked in and closed the door behind her. She had two water bottles in her h*ands. “Yeah, me,” said, closing the gap between them. “I got something for you,” she said in a casual voice as she f*licked the bottles in her h*and. “You are going to need it after all the drugs that I have put in your system.”
“Why are you doing this, Rosalie?” River asked. “Why can’t you leave us alone?” There was exasperation in her voice. “Please just let us lead our lives peacefully. I have had enough of it. Please!” River was actually too desperate and exasperated. All her life she always had adventures and was never able to sit quietly. All she wanted was a quiet life with Hunter.
“Good question,” she said, opening the bottle’s lid. She came in front of her. She pinched her jaw to open it and poured the water down her t*hroat. River spluttered and coughed as she drank some water, she couldn’t drink it all but Rosalie continued to pour it over m*outh. Once she emptied the water, she threw the bottle aside. Then she walked to Mia and did the same thing. Mia, subconsciously had some water, threw out some and coughed a lot. Rosalie poured all the water over her face and tossed the bottle aside.
“Stop it!” River cried as she tried to wriggle her wrist out of the ropes for the hundredth time.
Rosalie’s face split into a grin. She sauntered to the edge of the room, leaned against the wall and then slid down to sit on her a*ss on the ground. “Isn’t this lovely?” she said. “It’s great to see Alpha River down on her knees.” She shook her head as she laughed. “Some s*hitty Alpha you are. You don’t have enough power to break through those ropes.”
“Being an Alpha is not just about muscles. One must have the brain to run a pack, and you forget that I have to run two packs,” River replied. “But I have to say that you are some s*hitty Lycan. You had to use drugs to tamper me down.” She pointed at Mia with her chin. “Mia is not so strong and you drugged her too.”
Rosalie glared at her. Suddenly, she got up, hurried to her and slapped her t*ight. “B*itch!”
River shrieked as her chair fell to the ground at the impact. The sting of the slap hurt her l*ips and she tasted metal in her m*outh. Rosalie lifted her chair up and when she was upright, she knelt in front of her. She placed both her arms on her t*highs. “Do you know that everyone now thinks that Mia murdered Natalie? And the truth has come out that it was Hunter who stalked Natalie.”
“It’s all untrue. Hunter would never do that. He is loyal to me and can never betray me,” River spat. “And what do you mean by saying that Mia murdered Natalie?”
Rosalie’s l*ips lifted into a mocking smile. “Yes. Before k*illing Natalie, I made her write a letter.” River’s m*outh dropped to the floor. “Y— you k*illed Natalie?”
“Hmm…” Rosalie replied, her eyes having the same maniac glint. “I k*illed her. Stupid girl. She couldn’t stick to the plan. Her guilty conscience made me k*ill her.”
“But why?” River asked with disbelief. The way Rosalie said that she k*illed Natalie, it was so casual as if it didn’t matter to her.
Rosalie took a deep sigh. She got up and traipsed to the door where she leaned against her back. “I convinced Natalie that Hunter liked her and that he would marry her. All she had to do was make you hate him because he would never hate you. So, we both came up with a plan in which we cooked up a story of him stalking her.” Rosalie shook her head as she chuckled.
River’s blood drained from her face. Rosalie had been playing this game for a long time.
“Natalie started spreading the rumor. She would report every day to me. Foolish girl. She was desperate to marry Hunter. But little did she know that it was me playing her all the time.” Rosalie paused. “Everything was going fine, but her father, Howard, came to know that Natalie had started spreading rumors about her relationship with an older man.” She took a deep breath again. “He demanded Natalie as to what was she doing. Poor Howard. He shouldn’t have started probing.”
