“It’s nothing, love,” he said. “It’s just a routine exercise”
She relaxed somewhat in his arms. “Okay.”
When he had gone to drop River back to his room, he said, “I want you to move in my room, River. This is where you belong.”
She blushed but nodded eagerly. Even she couldn’t stay away from him.
“Also, I want you to keep this as a secret that we are mates” he added.
She craned her neck up to look at him as pain flickered through her eyes. He placed his palm on her cheek and brushed it with his thumb. “I know it is difficult for you, but it is more difficult for me, River. I want to change these stupid laws so that we are all free to choose our mates. So many of us are devoid of pleasure and those who find their mates in other worlds are forced to reject them. I want to stop it, but for that we need a lot of patience. Are you with me?”
Without hesitation she said, “I am with you every and each time, Alpha Hunter.”
His breath was ragged when she spoke those words. It was as if their souls even thought for each other and were in tandem. “You should call me Hunter and not Alpha Hunter from now on.”
She gave him a big smile. “I will.”
Hunter had left soon after. For the whole day, Hunter became too busy with training and picking his best warriors to attack the werewolves in the forest. He wanted to meet River, but was caught up in one or the other job. Out of his busy schedule he came to have lunch with her and Mia. He noticed that there was a drastic change in Mia’s attitude these days. She was more bubbly and seemed happier. Her relationship with River was healthy, unlike that with Rosalie. They both shared a lot of secret moments and conversation that was normal for the teenagers, and they developed a stronger bond mostly because they were almost of the same age.
“Brother, can I come with you to the forest tonight?” Mia asked as she dug her fork into saut? mushroom and pumpkin.
“No,” he replied. He lifted a platter of cheese and gave River more of it. She was hardly eating. She needed to be strong if she had to run the Dark Moon pack and be his Luna.
“But why?” Mia’s lips downturned. “I can easily help you with it-
“I won’t allow you for now Mia. Maybe later. At least a year later.”
He spoke so firmly that Mia pursed her lips and sulked.
“Mia, I am staying back in the castle,” River said as if to cheer her up. “Won’t you give company to me?”
Mia chuckled, nodding slightly but there was tension in the air.
Hunter soon left to pick up more warriors and discuss his strategy with them. River went back to her room where she asked Faria to help her move in Hunter’s room.
“Are you sure?” Faria asked, bewildered.
“Yes, he asked me to be there.”
Faria didn’t ask further questions and gave a sweet smile to River. She just helped her pack up her stuff to move into Hunter’s room. “Do you know it’s such an honor to be in his room?” she said as she unpacked her clothes and made space for her in his closet. “Alpha Hunter had never ever invited any she-Lycan to live with him in his room. Even Lady Rosalie was living in a different room and that too in a different wing.”
River blushed as she tightened her lips so as not to smile and accidentally reveal that she was Hunter’s mate while Rosalie wasn’t.
It was 4PM by the time River settled in Hunter’s room. It was the most beautiful and luxurious room of the whole castle. There was a large chandelier in the center. A four-poster bed with a canopy of gauzy material was in a corner. There was a writing table with a cushioned chair in the corner that overlooked the balcony. The floor was covered with a soft plush rug and apart from it there was a music system that looked way too complicated.
She waited for Hunter to come and be with her, but he hadn’t. She knew that he was too busy and even though she was dying to meet him, she stayed in the room and decided to catch up with her course.
By 6PM when Hunter didn’t come to her, she grew anxious. Mia had come and gone because she too was busy with her school’s projects.
The moon had begun its ascent in the sky making her all the more nervous. She paced the room, hoping to talk to Hunter at least once, but hesitated. Suddenly, she heard commotion in the hall downstairs.
Wondering what it was, she rushed there only to find Rosalie arguing with Faria.
“Where the ***is that breeder who has started thinking herself to be the queen of the castle?” Rosalie shouted. “I want to talk to her!”
River narrowed her eyes at Rosalie. She knew that since Hunter wasn’t in the castle, she was taking the advantage of his absence. She came down the stairs, watching her shouting at the servants.
As soon as Rosalie saw her, she stormed towards her. “You!” She came to stand right in front of her and pointed her index finger towards her face. “You ***. Because of you and your kind this whole problem has come up. If Ella hadn’t been freed that night, she wouldn’t have attacked us. Now that she is free, she has teamed up with the demons and is attacking us. This all happened because of you. I am sure that you have a hand in this fiasco. Why don’t you just go back to your*** and save us from your pathetic fate?”
River was… angry. She had taken enough of her. “Do you have evidence that I am the one behind releasing Ella?” she asked. “If you have, let me know, otherwise-“
“Otherwise what?” Rosalie snapped. “You will go and snitch to Alpha Hunter?”
River crossed her arms across her chest. “Yes, I will go and inform him that you are accusing me without evidence.”
Rosalie ****her face back with shock.
But River Continued, “And this whole situation is not because of me. It is because of a long-standing feud between Lycans and werewolves of which I am not even aware of. So you can shove up your pathetic excuse of coming up and insinuating me for everything that goes wrong in this castle.” She stepped away from her. “It is time that you move on and not dream of becoming the Luna of this castle.
If Alpha Hunter doesn’t want to talk to you, then it means that he never ever loved you!”
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