Meanwhile, Claire was seen stirring the porridge in the kitchen by herself, not letting the guards with cooking skills help her.
Adrian peeked out from behind the wall, thinking that he had to take the chance while the big sister was still cooking for her dear little brother. He suspiciously glanced right and left before silently pacing his steps upstairs.
Going inside the Alpha's room without knocking, he gasped as soon as he saw Lucas push the bed to the other side.
"What the… What the hell are you guys doing?" Adrian closed the door behind him with a confused look.
"I will go and look for Ryley. You do something about my sister. She can't stay here for too long," Clyde said without even looking. He put on silencer to both of his guns and shoved them into his shoulder holster.
Adrian opened his mouth to say something but not a word came out. He turned towards Lucas with a worried look, as if demanding an answer. But the tall man just gazed at him without saying anything, or rather couldn't say anything since he didn't think he could prevent Clyde from leaving.
When he saw Clyde open a hidden panel on the floor, Adrian stepped forward and said, "Wait, Clyde! I need to talk to you!" His hand reached to his pocket and pulled out a small fold of paper then handed it to the Alpha.
"What is this?" Clyde tilted his head and opened the fold quick, nearly tearing the paper. His sky blue eyes scanned the lines of numbers and unclear pictures presented.
"I swear you won't believe it. I took a sample of his blood and had my crew test it in my private lab. Lucas delivered it when he went back to New York and the result just came out." He didn't tell his friend that he ran a blood test on Ryley when the model was still unconscious.
Adrian did it out of curiosity since he learned from the bite marks and bruises on the blond's body that Clyde and Ryley must've done it. He knew Clyde was special as an Alpha, so he doubted that a mere Beta could trigger his friend's rut.
Still, it didn't change the fact that they had an intercourse and Clyde collapsed because of it. Not to mention that it happened twice and the Alpha couldn't wake up for almost two days by the second time they were connected.
When Adrian and Lucas found out about it, the room was densely clogged with Clyde's scent. Even an Alpha like Lucas coughed hard after he inhaled the air inside.
What worried Adrian the most at that time was that Clyde kept emitting his scent even when he was still unconscious. That's why he sprayed perfumes everywhere when Lucas came back and told him Claire was going to visit.
If it weren't for Adrian having a partner and bond of his own, he could've died on the spot.
He was sure no Omega could survive Clyde's 'deadly' scent.
"I thought this couldn't be happening but look!" Adrian pointed to the bottom of the paper, directing Clyde's vision to the last line.
The Alpha's dark pupils instantly constricted, the veins on his hand protruded even more when his friend translated the result for him.
"This is what made you collapse after so many years."
Clyde crushed the paper in his hand as he asked in an angry tone, "What is the meaning of this? What kind of drug is this?"
"I don't know, I need to go back to Manhattan to check it further. But you can be sure of one thing, Clyde," Adrian answered, his face was full of concern as he looked at his friend's furious face.
"This drug is made to kill an Alpha."
****
The four walked down the stream as soon as Ryley agreed to show them the way though he himself barely remembered the route. He walked right after the biggest man among them, followed by the pompadour head and the crew cut as they marched towards the villa— or rather mansion with his hands still tied.
Ryley didn't take his his eyes off his dirty toes, too invested in whatever he plotted inside his mind including that of a scene where he imagined how that bastard Alpha would react when he managed to lead these hitmen to his mansion and ambush him. He didn't even realize his stomach was growling.
The man in front suddenly stopped, almost making the blond bump into his back. His hand lifted, giving them a signal to halt their movement.
"You, come with me. And you, take him behind that tree," he ordered, then Ryley felt his arm grabbed as the person behind dragged him away from their main route and saw the guy with the crew cut stepped forward following their leader.
"Ugh, let go of me! You're hurting my arm!" The blond protested, trying to free himself from the grip.
"Sssh! Shut up or I'll tape your mouth!" The guy said, then let go of his grip.
Ryley raised one of his eyebrows at the pompadour's strange tone. He somehow felt that the guy wasn't as bad as the other two. The blond then tilted his head at the figure who was slightly shorter than him and scanned his pair of big eyes that seemed to move awkwardly under his curly bangs.
However, before he could even utter a word, his stomach had talked faster.
"You… Are you hungry?" The guy asked in an innocent tone.
Ryley was too embarrassed to admit it, so he just slid down the tree on his back and crouched with an annoyed look.
"H…Here, have this." The guy rummaged his jacket then shoved his palm in front of Ryley, offering him what appeared to be small chocolate bars.
"How do I know you won't poison me with this? I'm not hungry!" Ryley said with a scowl.
"Damn! Just eat it and don't make things difficult for me," the guy opened one of the chocolate bars and shoved it back to the blond's lips. "Come on! If you don't eat it now the boss won't give you anything to eat later!" He said, grunting in a low voice.
Ryley tried to distance his face but he couldn't lie that his stomach would really kill him if he didn't open his mouth. In the end, he chewed the chocolate with a grumpy look on his face.
"Don't tell them that I let you eat," the guy said then opened one for himself.
"Why did you give me that?" Ryley asked after he swallowed the rest. "You better let go of my hands if you really want to help."
"Nah, can't do that," the curly pompadour head answered. "You will escape and I will lose my prize,"
The blond's perfect eyebrows raised high, his chest was filled with air as he was about to snap. But Ryley realized that he wouldn't gain anything from unleashing his wrath on this kid. So he held back his anger and tried to negotiate.
He leaned closer and whispered, "I'm actually rich, you know. How much did they promise you? I can give you twice the amount if you let me go now."
The guy tilted his head and scratched his nape, seemingly uncertain. He fastened his gun's belt and answered, "I can't. I can't betray my brother."
The blond was about to bargain for his life again when the man with the crew cut came. "Hey, come here," he said, then the pompadour guy stood up and walked over to him.
Ryley couldn't hear what they were talking about but from the looks of it, they couldn't continue their journey tonight.
"Okay, I'll be on the look out," he nodded before the crew cut guy tapped him on the neck and left in a hurry. Not long after, he walked back to Ryley and sat in front of him.
His pompadour curls couldn't hide the awkward glances he stole at the sulking figure in front of him. The guy then exhaled a deep breath. "Just go to sleep. We will continue moving once my brother and the boss return later," he said as he pulled out a rope and tied Ryley to a tree.
It'd be a stupid move to protest, Ryley lost his phone moments before he was sedated by force and now, the handsome model was pretty much exhausted from walking quite far with an empty stomach.
The blond could only pout his lips, looking irritated. Not to mention the itchy feelings that made his slender fingers couldn't stop from scratching his exposed thighs— Ryley felt like he could explode anytime soon. The model hissed and clicked his tongue all the time, completely distracted from thinking of a plan to sneak his way out.
But then a loud sound snapped Ryley out of his annoyance, making him flinch a little.
His heartbeat turned erratic as several gunshots echoed throughout the silent, dark woods.