"From someone who is not hunting in his wolf form," she taunted back and scoffed.
"I don't need to hunt in my wolf form, I can easily do that with my arrows." He boasted and struck the horse to start moving.
"If you kill more animals than your consorts, would you reward yourself?" She asked.
"Who said I was killing animals for myself?" He inquired, causing Tessa to gaze into his eyes.
"Then?" She asked, hoping it was not what she was thinking.
"I am hunting for you, you get the reward if I win." He said and Tessa forced back a scream. It was as she expected, he was hunting for her. This man was determined to make life miserable for her.
"I didn't ask for your help," gritting her teeth, she said, forcing back the curse that was about to come out.
"You were the one who whined about having no wolf." He said, almost making her believe he was being considerate if she wasn't aware of his intentions.
"This is cheating, I should do the hunting myself." She said, playing honest.
"A thief knows the meaning of cheating? That sounds hypocritical," he mocked, pulling the reins of the horse for it to stop.
Tired from the endless arguments, she sighed and kept mute, deciding not to argue with him further. There was no direction the argument was leading to, it was baseless.
Satisfied by her silent response, he said, "Since we agree on the same term…" and halted when he shot his arrow at his new target, before adding, "You can start thinking of your wish." Then he climbed down from the horse and stretched out his hand at her.
"What is it again?" Staring at his hand blankly, she asked, unwilling to take his hand.
"We need to walk on foot, that part is too steep for the horse." He answered and she hesitantly took his hand and climbed down from the horse's back.
Grumbling, she forcefully retrieved her hand from his hold and started walking into the bush, not bothering to wait for him.
"Don't get lost," he warned but she was too angry to even listen to whatever he had to say.
Walking through the thick forest, she would halt and whine, wondering why she was willingly obeying him when she could just fight back and have her way. But thinking about the wolf bite, she would be no match for him if he decided to fight her in his wolf form.
"That darn Alpha King," she cursed and punched the tree beside her, which made a small impact on the tree. She was not weak, she just happened to be inferior to the wolves. Sometimes it made her question why she was human when her parents were werewolves, could they have adopted her?
But no one would treat their adopted daughter the way her parents treated her. Her father, especially, loved her and protected her more than he protected her mother. It could be that she was the cursed one seeing how all her husbands died after getting married to them.
Lost in her thoughts, Tessa didn't realize the angry boar that was staring at her from a distance.
Elias, who was just some distance behind her, yelled out her name, but she was so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn't even flinch.
Increasing the amplitude of his voice, he yelled, "Tessa!!" And it finally reached her.
Turning her body to the voice that called her, she rolled her eyes when her gaze met Elias's own until he pointed his hand at the boar in front of her causing her to widen her eyes in fear.
"Oh shit, why are you staring at me instead of him?" Taking a step back slowly, she asked, keeping a safe eye contact with the boar. As she advanced backward, the boar moved forward and that process continued until the boar finally decided to sprint at her.
"I will kill you, Elias!!" She swore and took to her heels, looking around for a good tree with branches to climb, but couldn't find any. The trees were all branchless and she would have to use extra effort to climb them, in which there was no time for extra effort.
Elias stood rooted to his feet, the memory of his dead wife replaying in his mind. Seeing the boar chase after Tessa made him think about how his wife died and he started trembling.
Would Tessa also die because of him? His mind went blank and he dropped his hand on his head as he tried to stop the incoming migraine affecting his head. "Noooooo!" He groaned.
"Elias!!" When she didn't see him move, she called, frustrated at his position. Why was he just standing there instead of coming to save her? Was he truly planning to get her killed here? That would explain why he wanted to hunt for her when it would cost him a reward at his end. She had completely let down her guard and was a fool to believe him, men were liars.
'Our mate needs us!!' Eli, Elias's wolf said, screaming at Elias to get it together. It has been years since the death of his wife, why was he still struggling to move on? Eli could not understand as he had already moved on even if it was because he wasn't connected to Elias's wife in blood.
They weren't mates so he could not feel the spark Elias felt for her, unlike Tessa. He could currently feel her fear, and it was hurting him.
"No!" Elias muttered, fighting against the demons in his mind and finally got his grip.
"Our mate!" Reminding him, Eli yelled and Elias immediately ran towards where Tessa was, praying silently that he was not too late.
Fortunately, Tessa was a good runner and she was able to maintain a good distance with the boar.
"I am coming, Tessa!" Tessa suddenly heard a pained voice in her mind, interrupting her from running. The voice felt so real that it affected her mentally.
"No, Tessa, what are you doing?" Seeing that she was no longer running, Elias called.
Wanting to trace Elias's voice, she turned to face the boar and parted her mouth in shock when she saw the boar in the air, about to pounce on her.
"Yes, I am dead."