CHAPTER 71

Asher never expected to see his nemesis hidden in his own territory. All the rage he had been feeling since he had noticed his mate is missing propelled him towards the man the moment he saw him.
Cole was not expecting the aggression and he took the hit to his gut with a surprised grunt. He felt his feet go off the floor at the impact, and Asher was coming for him again right after he hit the ground. He realized he was going to have to fight back harder than the enraged wolf if he was going to remain in one piece later.
"You," Asher growled before his hand connected with the wolf's jaw. Seeing him had let loose the beast that had been thirsting for blood inside him. He could not believe the man had the courage to stay right under his nose after what he had done.
When Mila had opened her door and he had almost rushed out of the house, Asher had recognized the face immediately. Everyone knew about the twins from the Bleeding Moon pack and the whole story surrounding the death of one of them. And Asher had encountered the surviving twin in passing once, when his ravaging actions had been brought before some select leaders of certain packs. Like everyone had expected, he had called their bluff despite threats of sanction. No one had the right to do that in the first place because he was an Alpha by his own mandate.
At the time, Asher had been uninterested in whatever the man was up to. But not anymore.
Mila watched the two wolves pummel away at each other. She was helpless as to what to do. Running into the heat of the fight was not an option. She was no match for the two strong wolves and she would be crushed with just one strike from either of them. The next best thing was to get someone to separate them but she did not want any more attention than was necessary. Both men were on the verge of creating a major scene already and at the end of it all, Cole was going to bear the brunt.
He was the intruder and if her guess was right, Asher had just mistaken him for his twin, just like she did the first time she saw him.
But standing there and watching the enraged Alpha tear at her mate was no option at all. Cole was giving as good as he got but then, he was no match for a man ticking like a time bomb.
"Stop!," she screamed the first time but none of them paid her any attention. Then she screamed again, louder but still low enough that no one came running. But both men continued their fistfights, rolling around the floor like school kids.
Then she tried to be diplomatic. "He's not the man you want Alpha. This is his twin," she said hurriedly, rushing around the two men as they rolled around. Asher wasn't even aware she was still there.
"Rose asked for his help!"
He went still when he heard the name and Cole landed a mean punch on his cheekbone. Even that did not make him raise his fist against Cole again.
Finally, it worked. Even if it was a lie and it had been Cole asking for Rose's help. She said a silent prayer for the dead to forgive her for her actions.
He sat on the pavement breathing heavily while Cole remained lying on the floor. Both looked battered but thanks to their genes, the wounds were healing as fast as they had opened.
Mila was grateful that throughout their fight, none of them did any damage to her home. She could not begin to imagine Asher crashing through her wall.
"Rose?," he asked her a moment later, gazing up at her with a pained expression. "How?"
"I'm not who you think I'm. There's no reason for her not to want my help," Cole answered for her as he rose from the floor. He extended a hand to Asher to help him up.
Asher stared incredulously at the wolf standing over him, noting for the first time the scar that ran down his face and the different shade of his eyes, nothing like the cold expressionless one of his brother. "How?," he asked incredulously. He could not keep the shock out of his voice. Standing before him was a man the whole world believed dead.
"You can come in out of the open and I'll be happy to make your ears bleed with the whole boring details," Cole answered with a shrug, his hand still suspended in the air towards Asher. "But then again, I know you care less about the stories I've to tell," he added.
Asher took his hand and followed him inside while Mila closed the door.
"I'm sorry about your grandmother," Cole said as they both stood facing each other in the small sitting room. He watched as the other man's eyes clouded over with pain and anger but said nothing of it. "She was a fine woman and I know she's in a better place," Cole said, at a lose for something else to say. He was not used to comforting anyone.
"Better place my ass," Asher scoffed. Cole's speech only made him feel like a clueless kid instead of comforting him. "How did you know Rose?"
Saying her name felt weird and again, Asher regretted he never called her 'grandma' like he always wanted to while she was alive. He knew he was going to live with a lot of regrets regarding Rose for the rest of his days.
"Despite the claim of my mate here, I was the one that went to her for help," Cole said nodding towards Mila. She stared back at him in shock. It was the first time he admitted openly he still thought of her remotely that way since their first encounter. In her head, she assumed he ready moved on from the whole 'mate' thingy and hearing him say it out loud and before a third party-not just any third party at that, made her happy.
Like he knew her thought, Cole gave her an involuntary smile through his swollen lips.
Asher watched the undercurrents between the two but that was the least of his concern. All he cared about was how the wolf before him could help him find his mate.
★★★★★★★★★★
Shana slowly came awake. She felt really tired, like she was recovering after a heavy labour and her mouth felt woolly.
Shana wished for nothing more than to have water to quench her thirst. She began to rise from her bed when she realized in actual fact that it was not her bed, and the place she was in was nowhere close to her room.
The place was dark and dank, and she could barely see right ahead of her. She rose up slowly from the dirty floor and tried to feel around her for a door, her heart thumping wildly in her chest.
Everything came back to her. She could remember being tired and going to bed so early in the day. She remembered her dream and Rose entering her room to....
It was never Rose. She remembered someone had entered her room though and had carried her out of her bed. She remembered calling for Asher but after that, she went blank about everything else that happened.
But no one needed to tell her what had actually happened to her.
"Help!!!!," she tried to scream in the place she found herself but the best her vocal cords could do was a little shout. Her parched throat protesting at the abuse.
Shana felt the hot tears stinging her eyes.
This was not how she envisioned her life, buried in a dark place she was yet to even feel the wall. She prayed Rose had noticed her absence and was at that moment searching for her. She prayed Asher had it in his heart to look for her despite all that was between them.
"Asher!" She called him name through their bond, hoping she would get a reply but all that came back at her was silence.
She heard a sudden creak and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw light streak in through an opening, making her blink her eyes in rapid succession.
At last, she was not under a deep, dark tunnel in the ground like she had imagined.
She could not make out the figure that entered the room with a flashlight but something about it struck a kind of familiarity.
"Who are you?," she asked as she moved quickly towards the source of light, forgetting for a moment the weakness in her limbs. The figure continued to move towards her without an answer and when they both stood really close together, the full beam of the flashlight was turned to her face. Her hand went up to cover her eyes.
Then, she hit the ground as the figure pushed her with force. Hot tears burned her eyes when her buttocks connected with the hard surface.
"Stay down and keep quiet. You've no right to ask any questions. You are no Luna here, just a foolish,little Crier," a feminine voice replied her.
Then and there, Shana understood why the figure had looked so familiar. In a million years, she would have never guessed the woman before her was capable of a treachery as great as this.
"You?," she asked in shock.
"Yes. Why do you act so surprised? You aren't the only one good with putting up a good act."