And There Were Wolves

twenty seven | bad blood

"You are not Adelina," said Ryker. His voice was both assertive and frightening that I had to glance at him just to make sure that it was truly him who had just spoken. "Tell me where she is and I won't harm you."

The creature laughed menacingly. "You wouldn't dare. We will summon The Erebos if you dare to touch any of us," she threatened back.

The mention of Eros's pack made me recall what Eros had said to me before.

My pack made a deal with those Easterners ages ago that we won't cross their land. If someone sees me there, they can tell that I'm from The South and that my pack has breached the treaty. I really want to help you, trust me, but I can't come with you.

If what he had said had been true then there was no way The Erebos would come here to her aid and risk breaching the treaty. In other words, this creature was lying. I surprised all of us when I stepped away from Ryker and came forward saying, "You're lying."

The creature's eyes narrowed infinitesimally but she scoffed. "And you're a fool."

"The Erebus won't come here. Your kind makes it perfectly clear with the treaty." My words met the surprised look on her face, she clearly hadn't expected an outsider to know about this. For a moment there, I wondered if she told The Erebos that The Ethereal would attack them if they ever crossed the East region. The sorceresses and the witches could be playing both ends because they knew that The Erebos and The Ethereal practically hated each other and there was no way they would sit and talk. I was the unforeseeable factor, the one person who was a friend with a member of The Erebos and was also a mate with The Ethereal's Alpha. "Now I wonder how did you make a pack agree with your terms. I bet you said nearly the same thing you've just said to Ryker."

The creature hid her expression well but even so, I could see annoyance glimmer in her eyes. She'd expected us to leave once she laid down her threat, she'd never thought we would instead reveal one of their secrets that protected them and also kept the wolves away from their territory. "What do you want?" she said in a hissed tone.

"Tell us where Adelina is and we won't be telling your neighbors in the South about your little lie," said Ryker. In his voice, I could tell that he truly meant it and I wondered why on Earth he would let his pack's name be used to sway The Erebos away.

Whatever his reason was, the creature seemed to believe him. "Adelina will meet you shortly. Please come in and make yourself at home." She waved her hand and the red wooden door opened.

"Can we trust her?" I whispered to Ryker, wasn't entirely sure that this creature would bring us to Adelina. She could lead us to a trap for all I knew considering honesty wasn't one of her traits.

"No," answered Ryker surprisingly. "But the chances that she would harm us is quite low."

I was going to tell us that the creature could easily kill us in order to maintain the lie she had, but Ryker gave me another look that told me it was going to be alright. "Worst case scenario, I'll let Khrysaor deal with her." I didn't immediately know what he meant then as I caught the flash of fear in the creature's eyes, I instantly knew that she knew how dangerous Alpha Ryker could be and that she would be a fool if she tried to harm us.

It didn't take long for us to wait for Adelina. Only two minutes since we had gotten inside the cabin, Adelina appeared from a small door at the back. Unlike the creature who had the elf's ears, Adelina looked every bit like us, humans. Her attire was less colorful compared to the creature earlier. And although Adelina looked like she was in her late thirties, I could see the wisdom in her eyes that were beyond her age. It made me wonder if perhaps she had some youth potion or whatever it was that witches and sorceresses could brew to make them preserve their youth. I knew I was reading too much Harry Potter, and content online but I couldn't help it.