KIX:
“We have no time, Jade, they’ll be here any minute.”
I surveyed Jade’s body. She had several more scratches in her legs, but she wasn’t bleeding heavily from any of them.
This was bad though. They’d be able to trace her immediately through the scent of her blood.
“We have no time. You have to hide first.”
“Wait! Wh-What the hell do you mean by vampires?”
I can see my mate’s – or ex-mate’s… I’m not sure what to call her yet – eyes full of questions. She looked quite surprise to hear about the undead.
“I have no time to explain, Jade. Just know that the Misha and those other girls – their deaths were caused by vampires, and I’m positive you’re their next target. We need to get out of here bef-”
Suddenly, the pale moonlight illuminated from my now broken veranda door was obscured by shadows.
I glanced into the destroyed door as a thick collection of dark winged objects came flying straight into the room.
“Darn it, they’re here!”
Before Jade could even scream, I clutched her by the waist and hoped away from her bed into her bathroom – the only available place where there’s a door.
The space was cramped. The two of us barely fit inside as I shut the door closed.
“Wh-What are those?”
“They’re just bats and ravens, don’t worry. They’re here to scout for your scent.”
Even in the darkness, my eyes were able to see tears trickle down Jade’s eyes.
“Don’t be frightened. I have a plan to distract them. Don’t cry…”
I wanted to wipe her tears, but I was afraid Jade would hate it. I know I was the last person she would have wanted to see just now.
We heard several scuttling sounds from her main room. The bats and ravens must have been working hard on trying to locate her.
Darn it! I should have prepared well for this and informed Edril where I was going. He could have alerted the pack or helped me with this mission. Now, Jade’s life is on the line, and if I don’t get her out of here soon, she’ll be in greater trouble.
A few minutes ago, I was just down on my basement hearing the confession of the IT personnel who created the blog site for The Red Shoes’ Curse - Roden Valerius.
The moment he saw me, he began to tremble.
I smiled internally. My intimidating aura was a good enough weapon when extracting the truth.
“Ready to talk,” I snarled at him.
“Y-Yes… I-I mean yes, sir.”
I sat in front of him. His face was unrecognizable now, which made talking to him quite smooth. He didn’t look so much like that Liam rat anymore.
“So who asked you to build that blasted website?”
“The man c-came to see me… He gave me a name – Edwin Flores. H-He said he was a lawyer.”
“A lawyer?”
“Y-Yes,” Mr. Valerius nodded. “He said he represented some sort of group. He didn’t say what it was at first, but he threatened me... If I dare say that I created the blog to anyone else, I’d be killed.”
“And this is the first time you’re revealing this to anyone, correct,” I asked.
“Yes, yes…”
“You did the right thing. Rest assured we will protect you from harm, Mr. Valerius,” I said. Edril coughed as if to point out the extent of direct injuries I had caused on our witness, which made my promise less believable, but I ignored him.
“So tell me… Which company does this Edwin Flores represent?”
Mr. Valerius seemed to hesitate. “He is from Brooklyn and Burke…”
I frowned. That pharmaceutical company again…
“Alright. What else did your contractor said?”
“The contractor, sir… He… They… aren’t human.”
Just then, Mr. Valerius’ body started to twitch. It was as if he was relieving some sort of trauma.
“No! S-Stay back! No,” he shouted.
Several of my guards tried to subdue him, including Edril, but he still kept thrashing wildly despite being chained on the chair.
“Hey, Mr. Valerius, Snap out of this. Say it again well.”
I was losing my patience. I clutched Mr. Valerius’ collar and tried to slap his face lightly to get him back into reality. “What do you mean by they’re not human?”
“I… I stabbed that Mr. Flores when he attempted to grab me, b-but nothing came out of his body… Not one drop of blood. Then… Then, he said something very frightening…”
I looked at Mr. Valerius’ pale face.
I came closer towards him, but he winced. It seemed like he was too afraid to continue his story.
“Mr. Valerius, I assure you, you’re safe here…” I leaned closer to him. “Come on, you can trust me. What did he say?”
“H-He said… They needed the strongest prey to obtain the purest blood… And they’ll use the website to get j-just that – the woman with the strongest blood…”
Suddenly, Mr. Valerius passed out. I loosened my grip on his collar and felt for his pulse.
“His pulse is too weak. Get the pack doctor,” I ordered Edril and my men.
Soon the doctor came, but he was too late.
“Alpha… There’s poison in his blood…” As if the news wasn’t terrible enough, the doctor’s brows continued to twitch. “It’s unlike any poison I had ever seen... Did he drink or eat anything here?”
I shook my head. “He refused to take anything when we offered it to him.”
“Based on my initial assessments, the poison didn’t enter his system until about five minutes ago,” the pack doctor exclaimed.
How was that possible? Unless the vessel containing the poison was already in his body and was triggered by something, he couldn’t have died and be fed with poison within that short span of time…
“Alpha, did he say what the Brooklyn and Burke lawyer revealed to him,” Edril asked.
“Yeah, he said -”
I stopped at my tracks as Mr. Valerius’ words repeated themselves inside my head.
The woman with the strongest blood… The woman with a strongest blood is their target prey…
Misha had a strong blood for sure. After all, she was a werewolf…
Suddenly, my mind travelled back to Jade.
The luna – a werewolf alpha’s fated mate - is considered as one of the strongest women in a lycan pack. No matter what kind of creature she is, she will always bear the mark of strength especially after consummation with her mate…
Even if she would never accept becoming my luna, Jade and I had already mated once, making her a prime candidate for whatever they were planning…
As soon as I realized what those words meant, I tore of my clothes and sprinted towards Jade’s dormitory as fast as I could.
If those vampires were able to discover that Mr. Valerius had already come to us and spilled the beans, they surely won’t waste their time in getting their number one target tonight.
I hated proving my suspicions right… Their main target was no one else but my Jade.