Chapter 74

“Intruders!”
My eyes flew open. Hycinth and Lola woke up with a start too. We could hear loud voices outside our tent and what sounded like a stampede.
“What’s going on?” I gasped.
“That’s what I intend to find out,” Hycinth grumbled. I could tell that he was seriously pissed about being woken up so rudely.
We scrambled to get dressed but we were barely halfway through it when Gertrude burst into our tent. Her eyes were wide with fear.
“Quick, we have to flee! There’s an army of werewolves out there trying to kill everyone!” She shouted frantically.
“Where are they from?” Hycinth asked.
“Who cares? There’s too many of them and they’re here for blood.”
We ran outside with Hycinth in front and we were shocked to see the chaos going on outside. The enemy werewolves were pouncing on every Gypsy in sight, attacking them viciously.
It only took me a few moments to recognize the Alphas leading them. Fear paralysed me. I knew I should run but I simply couldn’t.
Hycinth swung into full battle mode. He howled in anger and began to shift into his wolf form. The triplets noticed him and when they spotted me, their anger increased.
“There stands the traitor!” Darius snarled.
“We are happy to announce to you that the idiots you sent to kill us are all dead,” said Dominic.
“Kill the bitch!” Damian yelled.
The Betas that came with them fanned out, running towards me from every direction. Hycinth was ready for them and he slapped away the first few that came close to him.
To my surprise, Gertrude showed up with Hycinth’s sword and she sliced two Betas swiftly with fluid movements.
“Hurry, hide,” Lola whispered desperately to me. She grabbed my hands and led me toward the back of the tent and away from the fight.
A few of the Gypsies who survived the surprise attack were already running ahead of us. I looked back to see what was going on and saw that Hycinth was surrounded by the triplet-Alphas.
“Damn it!” I cursed. “He’s going to die in this life too.”
“What are you talking about?” Lola asked as she continued to run beside me.
“They’re going to kill Hycinth.”
“Not while Gertrude is alive. She’ll never let them hurt him.”
“There’s only so much Gertrude can do. This is all my fault!”
“Let’s find a safe place to hide first and then you can feel sorry for yourself later.”
We arrived at a cave where the others were already hiding and we squeezed in with them, hoping that we were finally safe. Several minutes passed and we heard nothing.
“Do you think it’s safe for us to go out and check what’s happened to Hycinth and Gertrude?” I asked tentatively.
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” someone answered from the dark.
“It’s too soon to check,” Lola agreed.
So, we waited. Eventually, hunger and thirst set in. Everyone was getting restless but nobody wanted to be the first to suggest that we should step out of our hiding place.
“I think it’s time for us to step out,” said Cherise. “If the invaders don’t kill us out there, we’ll end up dying of starvation and heat inside this cave.”
Someone farted loudly and that was all the encouragement we needed to get the hell out of the cave. Outside, the woods were quiet except for the chirping of birds and crickets.
“What now?” I asked in a low voice.
“We need a volunteer to scout the camp and see what has happened to our family,” said Lola. She sounded like the werewolf in charge.
“Why do you get to decide?” A young Delta asked her boldly.
“I choose you as the volunteer,” she replied to him. “Now, go out there and see what has happened to our Alpha, his mother and all the other Gypsies who stayed back to fight on our behalf.”
“Who appointed you Luna of the pack?” Another Gypsy challenged her.
“Are you daft?” She fired back. “Who else? Alpha Hycinth, of course!”
“When?”
“Who cares? He’ll announce it to you when this madness is over,” she replied confidently.
“If you’re the Luna, what does that make her?” Cherise asked, referring to me.
Lola looked at me from head to toe and then she laughed scornfully. “Are you kidding? She’s a guest, she’s not one of us.”
I was amazed. And here I was thinking that Lola and I had bonded after our time together last night and how she whisked me away from the battle in the camp not too long ago. Truly, some things never change. Our rivalry was eternal.
“I’m not a guest, Lola. I am Alpha Hycinth’s mate,” I said to her sternly.
“Is that so?” She replied saucily. “Then please, explain to these survivors why three Alphas are out there, killing our family because of you.”
Everyone switched their attention to me. I was speechless.
“Go on,” Lola taunted me. “Tell us why those beasts are after you. What did you do?”
“That’s what I’d like to know,” said Gertrude from behind us.
We turned to look at her and there was a collective gasp among everyone. She was injured all over her body and her sword dripped with blood.
“Where’s Hycinth?” I asked.
She swallowed hard and her chin wobbled. “Those bastards killed him.”
Everyone instantly dissolved into grief. I knew this would happen but it still hurt me.
“I got one of them too,” said Gertrude proudly. “I tore him up properly. His brothers barely escaped with their lives.”
“You fought them off all by yourself?” Lola asked her in awe.
“No. A kind Lycan showed up just in time to defend me.”
“Hazim,” I whispered.
“Do you know him?” She asked me suspiciously.
“Er… not really,” I replied. How was I going to explain to them that Hazim had rescued me before in another life?
“Those monsters said they’ll come for you again,” she informed me. “And I don’t want any part in their nonsense when they return.”
“I am so sorry about Hycinth,” I said sadly.
“Well, at least you made him very happy on his last night on earth,” she said. “We have no use for you here. You should leave.”
“B-but where would I go?” I stuttered.
“Wherever you came from,” she replied dismissively and walked past me to join the others.
“Come, Mother. Let me tend your wounds,” Lola said dutifully.
And just like that, they walked away, leaving me to stare after them in disbelief.
“What a cold world we live in.”
I recognized Hazim’s voice instantly. I turned to look at him and he was leaning against a tree as he’s done in my other life on the day he rescued me from Dominic and Darius.
“How did you know where to find me?” I asked.
“To find you? Have we met before?”
“Oh, right. I forgot. We haven’t,” I replied with an apologetic smile. “I’m Jade.”
“Hazim,” he said plainly. “So, you’re the hot she-wolf those rascals came to look for?”
“They weren’t looking for me for my hotness. They were trying to kill me.”
“So I gathered. It seems it had something to do with this.”
He held up the mate necklace with its wolf head pendant glistening in the sunlight.
“Where did you get that?”
Hazim shrugged. “Your angry boyfriends dropped it in their haste to get away from me. I haven’t been in a fight for months, so that was a really good exercise.”
A clever thought occurred to me. “Please, let me have that necklace.”
“Why?”
“I need to destroy it.”
He raised an eyebrow. “I beg your pardon?”
“It’s cursed. It has caused so many problems for me in my other life and if don’t destroy it, those triplet-Alphas will keep coming after me.”
“What?” He said with a laugh. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Look, it’s a long story but believe me when I tell you that that necklace is dangerous and I need to get rid of it immediately.”
The humour was gone from his face. He stared at me with a curious expression.
“I don’t want to call you stupid, but I find it puzzling that you believe that a necklace has some powers in it that can control people.”
I let his insult slide. “As I said, it’s a long story. Now, let me have it.”
He rolled up the necklace and shoved it into his pocket. “No.”
“What? Why? It’s not even yours!”
“It’s not yours either.”
“It is. I lost it – “
“And I found it. I’m not going to let you waste a perfectly profitable piece of jewellery just because you’re losing your mind. It’s mine now and I get to decide what happens to it.”
“I can’t believe this,” I muttered in frustration.
“You can reclaim it if you want,” he said with a sly smile. “You just have to pay for it.”
“I don’t have any money.”
“Well, I’m sure there are other ways for a hot she-wolf like you to pay for things. You don’t need money for that.”
“Stop calling me hot. Besides, I shouldn’t have to pay for something that’s mine, to begin with.”
“I don’t see your name written on it.”
“I don’t see yours on it either.”
“Fine. My answer is no. I’m leaving. Good luck with fighting off those angry ex-boyfriends of yours.”
“They’re not my ex-boyfriends!”
“Whatever,” he said with a shrug. “So, do we have a deal or not?”
I groaned. “Why are all male werewolves obsessed with sex?”
“It’s fun and exciting, that’s why,” he replied seriously. “So, what’s it going to be? Will you pay for the necklace or not?”