"I tried to stop Thalia from going on this mission too," answers Hayder. "Are you going to stand there and decided whether to attack me, or are going to stop that bloodbath?"
I don't answer him, but I sheath my swords and continue my sprint to the border, completely ignoring his presence. I hear him turning into his monstrous form and jumping in front of me. I barely stop in time to avoid colliding with his fury leg and I give him a pissed-off frown.
"Come on," I hear him telling me even if I'm well aware he can't speak in this form and I can't hear him through the mental link he uses with his fellow shifters. But the movement of his head mimicked the words I've heard and I shake my head in return.
"I can run just fine on my own, thank you."
"Do you want to arrive there in time to have anything worth saving, or are you only looking to get your answers and slay some vampires?" He once again says in that weird, dream-like voice and I roll my eyes before I hop on his back. I grab his shoulders hard once he starts running and I unknowingly start praying that Hayder doesn't hate me enough to let me fall at this speed and break my bones.
But if he is slightly concerned about how little away I'm from falling to my death, he clearly doesn't show it as he continues sprinting through the woods faster and faster.
"You know that if you get me killed, your cousin will eviscerate you."
"Just because we're on the same side of the battle, it doesn't mean we're back to being friends, Adeline. So I'd keep the comments to myself if I were you."
"You clear love to hold on to your grudges," I say and then he manages to unnecessarily avoid a root by jumping above it and giving me a small heart attacks as I almost lost grip of him. I manage to keep holding and keep myself from dying, and I also keep the foul words I wanted to muster so I won't give Hayder yet another reason to play with my life.
"Can I ask you something, though?" I say and he groans in what I guess is annoyance. "Why can I hear you talking in this form?"
"You may be a spoiled brat and a nuisance, Adeline, but you're still a Lycan's mate. And it gives even a human like yourself, some perks with time."
"I'm glad you finally agreed I'm human."
"Of course you are. A supernatural would never treat her mate like that, curse or not."
His comment hurt more than I'd like to admit because he was right. And I couldn't find any excuse for myself.
"If you believe I'm a heartless bitch that doesn't deserve to have a mate, then you're right. And I have nothing to say for myself, other that I'd bargain my life with the Moon if she'd be so kind to give Asher someone who'd love him like he deserves to be loved. Like I could never love him."
"Don't questions the Goddess' gift, she chose you for him. And I believe everyone deserves a mate, no matter how shitty they are. Everyone deserves to know love like that."
"I'm still afraid of accepting it and he knows."
"You're a fool, Adeline. And don't give me the I've-been-hurt-before bullshit, because we both know that bastard never loved or cared about you like Asher does."
"I never loved Thomas like I love Asher. This is why I'm afraid." I manage to say the thing I didn't dare admit before.
"I've never met a girl that is scared of serious relationships," mocks me Hayder but I don't bother to reply. He wouldn't understand now anyway.
Hayder stops and I realise we must've arrived. I look around, my eyes a little watery from the run. But I blink a couple of times and I can see that we're still in the middle of the forest. Before I get to ask Hayder anything, I see his wolf ears turning as if they were antennas catching a signal. He continues listening to whatever he is hearing with his enhanced senses and he lets a low snarl to shake his whole body, before jumping into a sprint again, faster than before. A few more minutes clinging to dear life and his fur, and he stops again, a few feet from the actual border. Hidden behind two old oaks and their big trunks, I get off Hayder's back and watch at the people gathered in the glade ahead from us. Hayder turns back in his human form and motions me to wait as he disappears in the woods. I turn to look at the hunters gathered there and the moment I spot my brothers and Will, standing before Thalia and her team, I run straight to them.
"I'm surprised you convinced them so fast," I say and look at Will, then at my brothers who both roll their eyes in annoyance.
"You wish, Addy. This mission hasn't been approved by the head hunter in charge, and as her second-in-command I demand every hunter here to abandon any order to engage into battle and return to the headquarters," says Jeremy and Iet out a laugh. Mother can't ever stay out of anything, can she?
"We all know Lady DeGrey has her personal reasons to avoid a direct conflict with the vampires, which make her decisions in the matter seem questionable at best," Thalia replies, fully turning to face me as she finishes her sentence.
"If I recall correctly, you should be as eager to avoid a conflict with them, given your last encounter, Thalia," Hayder appears from the woods and comes to stand by me and my brothers. Will has a few steps behind us, his eyes carefully assessing the border for any vampires that may have sensed us here.
"Stay out of this, Hayder. You know very well this has to happen," Thalia snarls at him, which makes Hayder show his teeth at her. The girl stepped back as soon as registered the threat, her wolf senses clearly telling her that she already know what the outcome will be, if she started a fight with him.
"No, it doesn't," I say and Thalia turns to me in a second. I could see she wanted to laugh in my face, tell my that I have no idea about how important bargains are to her kind and that this matters don't interest humans like me, but I didn't give her the time to talk back. "Taylor was wrong about the dhampirs moving on to the wolves' territory to strike a war. They're looking for shelter from the monsters that created them and someone was willing to give them."
"Who is the traitor?" demand Thalia, but I shake my head.
"I'll explain everything, Thalia, but please drop the attack. We have enough wars to battle in as it is."
"No, I've made a deal, Adeline. And I'll honour it whatever you may tell me."
"Then I'll make you another one," says Hayder. "If you walk away now, I won't let the others know about your mission, hunter."
The hatred that laced that last word made me shake a bit. I looked at Thalia and she seemed terrified. And I hate to admit that I was, too. Because if Hayder isn't bluffing and he knows about the mission, then everything may as well be lost. And not only because of what Asher will do if he hears about my role in it. But because it will shake the whole shifter community when they'll learn that their King was involved too. And if everything will come to light and the mission will be compromised, I'll make damn sure the Heirs will know the King was a part of it. Even if it won't make much a difference to the rest of the world, for the meeting we had today, I'll gladly bring some chaos into his perfect life.
I may secretly wish that Thalia won't take the deal and Hayder will uncover our mission now. I'll help me a ton of heartbreak, if Asher will ever forgive me for nearly leaving him. Although I know he would, eventually.
"Fine," Thalia agrees. "But we'll discuss it later."
"Gladly," answers Hayder with a smirk, before turning to me. "Right, Adeline?"
I casually nod my head and mutter a swearing as soon as his attention moves back to Thalia. Exactly what I didn't need, an interogation from Hayder. And I'm not glad Thalia will also be there, because I know she'll get off easier than me. After all she only betrayed half of her family, not her soul mate.
"It'll have to wait, Thalia and her team will have to answer in front of the head hunters for disobeying an order and organising an illegal mission," Jeremy casually recites as if he was some policeman in an American movie, clearly masking his relief. No one was looking for a fight now, when we're days away from such an important mission. Well, everyone but me who doesn't want to leave this city with unfinished business.
"I'll go watch the rest of the fight, if anyone wants to forget about this unfortunate meeting and avoid any other complications that may arise if we go on to tell other people about it," I say casually and look at my brother who crosses his arms, not willing to let it slide. "Now it's not the time for internal conflicts, Jez. And don't tell me you can't lie to mother, because I know very well you are an expert at half-truths."
My brother frowns at me and wants to comment back, but he decides it'd be better if he did not. Especially since Jonathan seems very interested in whatever upper hand I have on our brother that made him stand down this easily. Luckily for me, when you're on house arrest for some months, you learn to be more perceptive to the things happening inside your home. And I was observant enough to discover some pretty interesting things that I intend to use in my favour once I'm back in London.
For whatever reason, my brothers and Will decided to accompany us back to the pack. Thalia and her team were ordered to stay under observance tonight, which meant that a handful more hunters were also following us there. The thing is when you travel with a lot of people is that it not only assures you a greater chance of winning if a threat appears, but it may also attract the kind of threats you wish to evade. Because if natural predators are intimidated by large groups, some unnatural hunters are rather thrilled by this kind of challenges that could ensure them a great feast. And it seems that I was the only one to remember that vampires don't hunt like wolves, but lions.
I heard the snarl coming from behind me, but before I could grab my dagger I was sent shooting ahead of the group, in the middle of the colleagues and hidden by them altogether. I jumped on my feet just in time to see Hayder back in his monstrous, lycanthrope form. He grabbed two vampires in one hand and sent them flying into Thalia's open mouth, her fangs piercing through their fair skin and chomping their bones until they were left a bloody pulp. Other vampires were attacking the hunters, but most were able to stand their ground. But I spotted a boy wearing a Yeti bracelet and had a moment to grab my bow and shoot an arrow at the monster that was preparing to rip into his unguarded left shoulder. The arrow struck the vampire's heart and I danced around the hunters and pushed the trainee into the safe circle, taking his place in the barricade.
"How good are you with a bow?" I ask the boy as I trade my weapon for the wooden daggers in his hands. I don't wait for an answer as I twirl and kill another monster coming directly for me.
"That's her! Kill the bitch!" I hear a vampire shout above the snarls of the others and my knees shake a little when I see the eyes of their whole army turn to me. But I gather myself when an arrow pierces the vampire that spoke, poking one of his eyes out. I turn to face the hunter I gave my bow and give him a little nod.
"Good shot, but aim for the heart next time," I tell him, just as I turn and put a dagger through the same vampire and quickly take down one of his friends that came to avenge him. I find myself in the middle of their little pride, slashing and cutting through undead skin, a few lucky arrows coming to my help from the trainee. But the scene was starting to seem a lot like my last encounter with them, encircled by the bloodthirsty monsters that swore to kill me and with too few weapons to protect myself.
Which was good. Because I was dying to get myself back to that day since I woke up with Thalia's torch in my eyes. I was dying to get myself some answers and to finish this chapter once and for all.
"I'm curious, which one of you has some actual beef with me. Did any of you see me before?" I tell the vampires around me, just as one comes to attack me and I punch him in the gut, before I dig my dagger into his heart. "I mean, I know a handful of redhead hunters in Boulder. Even fake ones. Any one of them could be your girl."
"Shut up, wolf slut," says one of the vampires and I recognise him as one of the two guards that caught me and Thalia on tresspassing last time.
"Oh, I do know you. Where's your friend?"
"If you wish to see him, I can help," he replies with a vicious smirk on his face and bares his fangs at me.
"Not yet," I say and as I fend from his attack. "But lower myself to your level of training and offer a fair fight, if you can answer a few questions for me. What do you say?"
"I'm going to rip you to pieces and wear your teeth as a trophy."
The vampires lungs, but I grab one of my swords and cut his head off in one move. I sheath my daggers and grab the other long sword, talking to the vampires circling me like vultures. "Is anyone else more inclined to talk, before I behead them?"
Two of them step closer, but they're ripped to shreds before I can ask them anything. Hayder a way through them, grabbing the back of my head and dragging me back to the barricade the hunters have formed.
"You don't cease to amaze me with your idiocy, Adeline."
"And you're just as much of a buzzkill as the rest of your kind," I tell Hayder and slap his paw away from my neck.
"This isn't a joke, anymore. The patrols mind-linked Thalia and I and told us that the vampires are attacking the pack from all sides. The wolves are barely keeping them from entering the pack limits and our allies are too far away to help. We need to regroup back to the arena and help them there."
"But they're supposed to come after me, what's their deal with the pack?"
"You're part of the pack, you bloody idiot!"
"I'm not!" I yell back at him. This wasn't supposed to happen, the vampires were supposed to attack me, not the pack. But because the wolves helped me and I stayed so much in their territory, I gave the enemy the wrong impression.
"I have to fix this," I tell Hayder as I take a few steps back to the fight.
"No, you're not. Now is not the time to be the martyr, Adeline. You'll have plenty of time for that."
I stop and look at him dumbfounded. I knew he found the truth, but still hearing him talking about it makes me uneasy.
"Please don't tell Asher about it," I ask him, terror rushing in my blood. If he finds out it's game over for us. For the changelings captive in the slums. For ever gaining an upper hand on our enemies.
"I won't break the deal, although I wish you could've been honest with him about why you're acting so cold."
"The curse is real, Hayder, but you're right. I'm keeping myself from fully giving into this relationship so I can go on with my mission. I hurts me to leave him, but if we were mated, it'd be impossible for him to go," I admit and sigh. "Or for him to move on."
"Move on? You're fooling yourself if you believe Asher will ever heal from losing his mate. You're not just a chosen lover, you're his Moon-given partner. This thing doesn't happen twice, but once in a million years."
"Then I'll pray for the rest of my days that Asher will be that once in a million years wolf with a second mate."
"Careful what you wish for, Adeline. You're not dead yet."
I want to say something back, but the heaviness of that sentence lingers on my throat and I can't muster a word. A roar sounds from behind us and I'm grateful that it distracts Hayder's attention from our talk. I slip past him and I want to return to the battle, when a familiar, strange figure catches my eye.
"You again."