Meanwhile Alvin was in a meeting, communicating with some renowned men who came into his pack for a very important business.
The elders were also present, and as he kept addressing the audience, his phone began vibrating in his pocket, but he couldn't afford any distraction, so he ignored it.
The thoughts of Annabelle had made him uneasy after leaving her in such conditions in the woods, but Emily was there with her, so he couldn't worry much.
'Emily had gone to get her some drugs, that's why he couldn't find her and saw Annabelle alone' he thought, trying to quench his uneasiness. As he kept speaking, he kept feeling her fears which was a distraction to him.
When the call came again, he pulled his phone from his pocket, and glanced at it, while continuing to address the audience.
He became more worried when he saw that the caller ID was his little mate.
Despite how important the meeting he was conducting was, his little mate was more important. He had to excuse himself and attend to his mate.
After communicating with his mate, he called his beta, wanting to send him over to bring Annabelle to his office.
"Good day, boss," Lucas, his Beta voice, sounded from the other end of the phone.
"Lucas, I want you to go over to Annabelle's school and bring her to my office right now," he instructed, his voice cold, hands clenched beside him. He doesn't know how he'll react if anything happens to his mate.
"Okay, boss. I'll be on my way."
"Where is Emily? If she's there with you, hand over the phone to her."
"She caught a fever lately and is sleeping."
"Wake her up immediately," he commanded, and waited patiently.
"Greetings, Alpha," Emily's dizzy voice sounded through the speaker, and Alpha Alvin chuckled upon hearing her weak voice.
"Is this as a result of staying with my little mate," he asked with amusement laced in his voice.
"I'm sorry, Alpha. It's just too stressful to live with a human."
"That is a considerable excuse, but…" he trailed off, his voice turning cold, making Emily hold her breath.
"Emily?"
"Yes, Alpha?"
"Did you inform me that you'll be leaving my mate all alone in the woods?"
"I'm sorry, Alpha, but I took permission from Luna," she spoke with a trembling voice, but flinched at the sound of Alpha Alvin slamming his hands on a desk.
"She is still a kid, Emily, dammit. At least you could have told her not to have gone to college today. She would think I've abandoned her, how would such a case cause an improvement. Lucas!!"
"Yes, boss?" Lucas answered immediately.
"Why didn't you tell the gammas to watch over her? She is all alone in that useless school, if anything happens to Annabelle, you both wouldn't like what I'll do. No one should tempt me into doing something cruel, if not…" he threatened before switching off his phone, his angry demeanor noticeable.
He was tempted to teleport over to his mate's school and take her with him since he could feel her fear, and it made him restless and couldn't concentrate on the meeting he was handling.
But this was the first time he was pained that he couldn't use his supernatural powers for his personal gain. He couldn't even help his mate with it.
Emily and Lucas hurriedly left their house and drove over to Annabelle's school, but on reaching the school, they were shocked by the scene that had unfolded.
Lucas called in the gammas to take care of the unconscious rogue, while he locked everyone in the school, and left with the key in search of Annabelle.
~
"Annabelle!!!" She heard Emily scream her name, and turned to see her and her mate running towards her.
'It was Emily that had screamed my name like that, no wonder my heart had skipped' Annabelle thought to herself, rolling her eyes.
"Annabelle, what happened?" Emily yelled with fear visible in her eyes, staring in shock at the brutally injured and bleeding Annabelle who only had her singlet and school skirt on.
"Would you stop screaming at me like that? You're making it seem as though I'll die," Annabelle complained, her voice coming out in a weak whisper, before she turned and began walking away from them.
"Annabelle, come with us, we'll take you to the hospital. Alpha shouldn't see you like this," Emily pleaded, her eyes scanning the severely injured Annabelle, and her mind was in chaos.
But Annabelle only shook her head and continued walking home with wobbling feet.
"You are bleeding, Annabelle, look at the floor, your uniform and hair, please!!" Emily yelled at her, and ran in front of her, obstructing her from walking away.
"Don't yell at me like that, I don't want to talk to any of you. Tell your Alpha to return me back to my home, I need to take care of my daddy," Annabelle said and eyed Emily, before shifting away from her and walking home.
Emily was devastated. She felt sorry for Annabelle, despite her condition, all she cared about was her dad.
It made her feel as though their Alpha didn't do the right thing by taking Annabelle away from her home, but she knew better than thinking that way.
He was only trying to keep her safe, knowing that if she remained in her home, she wouldn't survive.
They couldn't have the mind to tell her what had happened to her father who she cared so much about.
Whenever she talks about him, they would only exchange glances, feeling bad for the unfortunate things that had befallen her and her family.
Their Alpha had also told them not to say a word about it to her, so for now it was best she remained oblivious of how delicate this situation was.
"Don't follow me!" she yelled at Emily and her mate, glaring at them, while they followed beside her, trying to stop her.
"None of you, not even you Emily, should follow me. You all should leave me alone. This is my damn pathetic life, so let me manage it the way I can. Tell your Alpha that I want to go home, my dad is looking for me. I'll be safe in my hometown!! My dad would pay the ransom, no matter the price, just name it," she yelled, tears blinding her eyes, her hands wrapped around her bleeding belly, before walking to cross the road.
"Annabelle!!!" she heard her name being screamed again but this time it was as though there was no tomorrow.
Turning behind to yell at Emily who had screamed her name like that, the shock of seeing a truck running towards her at high speed made her finally lose consciousness and pass out on the highway.
~
Blinking her eyes open, Annabelle stared at the white ceiling, groaning.
The beeping sound of the electrocardiographic heart monitor made her clench her hands, her eyelids feeling too heavy to be left open, worsened by the sun rays peeking into the room.
Remembering what had happened before she passed out, she sat up abruptly, grunting from the throbbing headache.
"Ouch…" she grunted, feeling the pain deep within her head.
About to climb down the bed, the voices of people behind the door made her lie motionless, pretending to be asleep.
"She lost a lot of blood from the fight she got engaged in, but we are so fortunate that you arrived quickly before she could have been run over by a car on the highway, if not she wouldn't have survived it."
"And the markings, your absence has started making it have negative effects on her. Since she is a human, you need to be by her side always in order for her not to feel the pain excessively and make her get used to staying by your side."
"I've heard you, Sam," Alpha Alvin replied, his eyes fixed into his phone.
"Then I'll take my leave now, Alpha."
With that said, the sound of the door opening and closing made the room quiet.
Her heart skipped when she heard the approaching steps of someone.
"Open your eyes now, Annabelle.." he said, but she didn't oblige, startled that someone was in the room.
"You got into a fight, didn't you?" he asked, but she ignored him, not saying a word.
She felt the light sparks of his hand brushing away strands of hair from her face, and it made her eyes flutter, but didn't still open.
"Okay…. I know you're angry at me, but I'm sorry, okay? You won't live in the pack house anymore, I'll take you home, so open your eyes," he said, and she finally squinted her eyes open, peeking at him.
"Did you say you will take me home?" she asked with her eyes completely opened.
"Why was it so difficult for you to open your eyes?" he asked, staring down at her, his eyes scanning her condition with a worried look on his face.
"Wasn't it obvious that I didn't want to see you?" she asked back, frowning at him.
"But wait, did you say you'll take me home?" she repeated.
"I will take you back to the mansion, Annabelle, that's our home," he said, and she glared at him.
"I am not going to your home, take me back to my real home," she said, turning away from him.
"Annabelle stop being stubborn and try to understand," he said as he sat beside her.
"I can't understand anything. With all I've learnt here, it feels like my head is about to explode."
"Don't worry, you'll understand everything gradually," he spoke, his eyes fixed into his phone, while she stared up at him.
She was getting tired of everything, and wished he would send her home on a fateful day. Would her home be piled up with empty bottles of alcohol?
"So tell me, how was your fight with your college mate? I'm hoping she has beaten the hell out of you," he said with a light smile, finally turning to her.
"Is that how to sympathize with someone?" She asked with a glare while he only shrugged his shoulders.
"Well, if you really want to know, I did beat the hell out of her," she said while trying to sit up.
"Really?" he asked sarcastically and helped her sit up.
"Yeah… could you believe she poured water on me? But me trying to be a good luna as they all want me to be, I didn't say a word to her and she still poured me another. When I had asked her what her problem was, she had ignored me and continued requesting for more pails of water. So I got offended. She had thought I was a late bloomer but didn't know that I was a human, so I gave her what she deserved."
"So what did she deserve?" he asked as he stared at her in amazement.
"As an anti bully that I am, A slap is the first thing you give to a fucking bully. I slapped her twice, and she was like: did you just slap me? Then I was also like: you don't believe it? I'll make you believe it, so I gave her another slap to make her believe it."
His mouth slumped open, slightly agape. He wasn't expecting his mate to have spoken at such a fast pace that he almost didn't hear what she said.
How could his little mate be an anti bully? Who made his little mate an anti bully? He couldn't imagine what his little mate had been through before he discovered that she was mated to him. This means she wasn't naive, and that was good.
"Did you say you were trying to be a good Luna?" he asked as he stared at her in disbelief, but she only shrugged.
How could she now say she was trying to be a good Luna when she always hated it?
"So, what did she do to you after you had slapped her trice?"
"Well ... .since I wasn't expecting it, she pushed me to the wall, and it was terrible," she said, and she used her hands to feel the bandage wrapped around her head.
"So what did you do to her?"
"I felt as though I had died and resurrected. Touching my head, I felt liquid on my hands, and when I looked at my hands, I saw blood."
"Were you scared?"
"I have no idea. She has stabbed me with a fucking dagger. Everyone loves carrying a dagger, it seems I'll start carrying an ax," she said sarcastically, and heaved a sigh, before closing her eyes, feeling too exhausted.
"She stabbed you with a dagger," he asked, the alertness in his voice making her eyes open.
"Yeah…"
"Were you able to retrieve the dagger from her?"
"No."
"Holy shit. She doesn't need to leave with that," he spoke, standing up to leave, but she held him back.
"Annabelle, I need to…"
"Shhhh," she interrupted him, placing her finger on his lips and silencing him.
"Her blood mixed with mine, so I doubt it'll be able to be differentiated. You better sit right there, I'm not interested in a fourth round of pain."
With a scoff, she lay back on the bed, saying various cursing words to no one as though she was rehearsing, while he watched her silently, not interrupting her moment of childish concentration.
She suddenly fluttered her eyes open, checking if he was still there, and heaved a sigh when she saw him, but he turned away, pretending not to have seen the strange things she was doing.
"Why were you suddenly startled about her stabbing me with a dagger?"
"Was I startled?"
"Of course, you were."
"I had no idea then," he said, returning his attention to his phone.
"How could you have no idea? Was it because your life would be at risk if they were able to get my blood?"
He turned sharply to her, meeting her gaze.
"What did you say?" He asked further, not believing what he heard.
"I didn't mean to say that," she said, caressing her temple, "It just popped out of nowhere. I just feel as though I'm two, it could be because of how weak I am."
A squint remained on his face, and he watched her with an unfathomable expression. What does she know concerning the connection of her blood and him? Why was she acting strange lately? What has happened to her?
"Two? You feel as though you're two?"
"Yeah.."
"Why?" He asked, seemingly very worried, and she turned to him, before saying, "that's because I'm sick, silly. What the fuck are you even thinking? I'm not a werewolf." Her reply even made him grow more nervous about what has happened to her lately.
"Annabelle, did you read my thoughts?"
"I don't know. But didn't you just ask if I was a werewolf?"
"I didn't."
"Oh, but I heard you ask," she replied, turning away from him.
"Then you heard my thoughts. Annabelle, look at me," he said, cupping her face into his hands and making her face him.
"Are you okay?" He asked further.
"Yeah… but this headache is killable. She did hit my head pretty bad on the wall."
"Annabelle, you need to rest now, while I'll leave and go get a doctor because you're behaving weirdly. Are you sure you're still human, are you sure you haven't lost a knot? You're.." he paused and touched her head with the tip of his fingers.
"Nay… I'll just continue from where I stopped. I wasn't scared. I had rubbed the blood on my face while I glared at her, that was indeed a sign of boldness." He bit his lip, studying his little mate, and he immediately knew that something was off. Has the rogue done something to her? He had to play along and see how long this strange attitude would last.
"You only glared at her?" he asked with raised eyebrows, putting his phone back into his pocket.
"Hell, no. I had pushed her to the floor and started beating her up, but she cheated. She tried using her claws on me, but I was quick to roll off her."
"Were you scared when you saw her claws?"
"Yes, I was. I actually saw death just by the sight of her claws. But do you know the worst part?" she asked, and he shook his head, closely observing her, while she remained oblivious.
"Those students refused to hold her back when they saw that she was about to kill me. That isn't even the worst part; they held Emily's friends from saving me from my already dug grave that I was about to enter."
"So how did you escape?"
"I saw an abandoned desk cover on the floor beside me, so I used it to hit her claws and threw the other one at her, and it collided with her head, making her unconscious body fall to the floor."
"So you defeated her?"
"Yes, I did," she said happily, while he only stared at her as though he was in deep thought.
"Are you okay?" she asked him, noticing how he was staring at her strangely, as though he was contemplating.
"You know you got scratched by her claws, right?" he asked as he stared at her face to see how her reaction would be.
"There is no way I got scratched by her claws," she said before lying on her cushion.
"Aren't you feeling any pain?" he asked, and she shook her head.
"It's only a headache," she said after she closed her eyes.
"I mean, aren't you feeling any pain in your belly?"
"No, did something happen to me?" she asked with her eyes still closed.
"You got scratched on your belly," he said as he continued observing her.
"No. That was where I got stabbed. She didn't scratch me."
"She did."
"What!!" she yelled, and her eyes immediately flew open, while he covered his ears.
Raising up her dress, she loosened the bandage which was tied around her lower abdomen, but was shocked by what she saw.
Her smooth flattened stomach had long deep scratches as though she was scratched by an animal.