98
NIRVANA
My breathing held in my lungs as Liam threw the gas canister on the gate, ensuring no one was stupid enough to follow us.
“You didn’t have to do that. You made your point. They won’t follow us anymore.” I turned on my seat to watch the canister break, and greenish smoke spread all over the gate. Fabian and Azrel ran inside.
“Oh, yeah. And your pack is not stupid not to even try.” He looked over his shoulder and glared at me.
“Knight gave his word not to follow, and he will keep it.” I tried harder to prove a point, though I knew this was useless because they all wanted to get paid.
“Do you think I believe you?” Ben snorted. “I’m sure they’re planning at this moment. You are his mate. He will move mountains to come looking for you.”
“He could have fought harder for me, but werewolves sometimes get a second mate, right?”
“Just shut up.” Liam spat out. “You don’t have to talk. We don’t give a shit about your opinion.”
“What does the council want from you?” Ben’s side glanced at me through the rearview. “You’re just a pathetic little human. In fact, I don’t see anything special about you.”
“Good point. I was asking the same thing,” I muttered under my breath, trying to process the glorious reality they just captured me.
“And the fact that they want you alive, you must be of value to them.”
“Yeah,” Liam agreed. “I mean, five hundred grand? That’s a lot of money, and she’s not even a royal to have that amount of bounty.”
“Just take the win, guys. You’re lucky you’re all getting paid, while me, not so much.” I rolled my eyes. One thing I was thankful for? They did not even cuff or tie my hands because they underestimated what a human like me could do.
I knew I was stupid. I wasn’t thinking rationally, but this was all happening because of me. I couldn’t risk everyone more than I already had.
If they were willing to risk their lives for me, then I should be willing to do everything for them. The best I could do was save them the trouble, no matter how stupid my plan was.
“I can already feel the taste of money in my tongue,” said John beside me, grinning like a moron. He had already put his handgun behind his back. He was pretty confident I couldn’t hurt a fly, what more a male werewolf.
“What made you think you will get your share?” I watched the road as I got far from the vineyards and lost our pack link.
“Shut up, bitch.” He had already raised his elbow, about to hit me, when Ben stopped him.
“Don’t even try. We get paid if we deliver her alive. She’s worth five hundred grand, moron. Control your shit, or you won’t get a penny.”
“You know, I’ve seen this situation many times where a boss makes a plan for a heist with a group and has a plan B if things go south, and there’s another plan C that he only knows.”
“Can you just put duct tape on her mouth?” Liam grunted at John.
“Just let me knock her out.”
Ben glared at him, and they both shut up.
“Just saying, guys.” I shrugged.
After Knight told me about Ben, or whatever his real name was, he could efficiently run away with his bounty money.NôvelDrama.Org © content.
“For a weak human, you seem pretty comfortable sitting next to us, considering you have a bounty on your head.” Liam snorted. “Well, I mean, they need you alive, but you know what I mean.”
“I’m freaking terrified!” I screamed at him inside the car. That one was true. They could have just executed me in the desert for all they cared, but they also wanted to get their payment, so I could still execute my plan if money mattered more to them.
“Stop screaming, or I will shove my socks into your mouth, bitch!” I just pissed off Ben. He almost showed off his fangs and claws.
“I’m sorry. I’m sure you can hear my heartbeat. I don’t know what they want from me. As far as I know, it’s not anymore a crime for a werewolf to be mated to a human because I can’t think of anything I did wrong. They could have just gone to the vineyards and read my Miranda rights or whatever rights they read before arresting someone, then cuff me and take me to the council. I am confused as you all are. The fact that they are willing to spend that amount of money, I’m perplexed, and it’s beyond my understanding.”
“You know they lost a lot of their mercenaries over this virus? That’s why they offer money to anyone who can bring you to them. As far as going to the vineyards, they know the risks. Blackwell has many allies,” Ben explained.
“But apparently, he’s also stupid. He just got played.” Liam laughed out loud, which made me angry.
“You can just let me go, guys. Please?” I shut my eyes close before Asina showed up and exposed what I was. Instead, I played a weak main character in my own story. I sniffled and wiped my tears. I didn’t cry for that reason because I knew why they wanted me. Alive? I wasn’t sure. Maybe the council wanted to make sure they would be the ones to end my life so Cyrius would walk away and live happily ever after.
“You talk a lot.” Ben narrowed his eyes at me. “But you’re right on one thing, though.”
Before I could blink and ask what I was right about, he just shot Liam in the head. Liam’s brain splashed all over the window. Before John could pull his gun from his back, he was already shot in the forehead. His blood spattered into my face.
My jaw trembled as I froze in my seat. For a moment, I forgot how to breathe. My heart pounded wildly to the point it became uncomfortable. I’d never felt so scared in my entire life until today when I knew I could die with a bullet through my head in just a mere second. With wide eyes and trembling chin, I met his mad, inhumane stare.
“Don’t piss me off or you’re next.” He got out of the car and opened the door on my side. “Get out.”
Still shaking, I managed to breathe and pull myself together. I was sure Asina would protect me, but what if she wouldn’t?
What if I died in Ben’s hands? Silently, I followed him, walking away from the two dead bodies. I saw a car parked at the curb in just a few yards.
“Get in the car and stop talking.”
With my muscles tensing, I nodded without a word and sat in the passenger seat. Throughout the ride, I couldn’t help but rewind what happened back there.
Ben killed those two guys without hesitation. I had a feeling that he might not take me to the council, and then it was over.
We arrived at a pretty rich neighborhood, exclusively for millionaires and billionaires. The car stopped before the iron-wrought gate of a mansion. It opened simultaneously, remotely controlled, and then he drove through an expansive driveway and pulled over at the front.
“If you behave, you might live another day,” he said before he got out of the driver’s seat.
When the door to my side opened, I got out willingly, and he gripped me tightly around my arm. His sidearm was still tucked behind him. I could have just snatched it without him noticing, but I had a solid plan if he brought me to someone I wanted to see.
He knocked on the door and waited. Then, it was unlocked from the inside.
I held my breath as soon as we stepped inside the house. The interior was like a classic Beverly Hills residential, but my wandering was cut short when the man in his fifties in a dark blue suit walked downstairs. He was not Cyrius unless he had a new vessel.
“I didn’t think you could pull it off.” That voice seemed familiar, making the hair at the back of my neck stand.
“Her mate offered me three million dollars. I’m sure you can raise-” He hadn’t finished his sentence when a single silenced shot echoed, making me jump, yet I was still standing, and Ben had just dropped to the white tiled floor.
“A greedy like you will never change.”
I yelped at the voice behind me. I swiftly turned to see a man almost as age and height as Knight in a white shirt with a leather jacket still with a gun in his hand. He had no emotion in his voice or face, and his Persian eyes were so cold they could freeze me to death.
“Who are you?” I asked as I stepped back close to the older man who had just come downstairs. My voice trembled as I watched the blood keep flowing from Ben’s head.
“You don’t wanna know.” If his eyes were cold, he could freeze me- his voice was calm as the sea.
“What do you want from me?” I turned to ask the older man.
He chuckled. “The man you just threatened over the phone.”
Of course. Now I recognized his voice. The man who shot Ben was one of the mercenaries. That was for sure.
I swallowed hard, acting like I was terrified and sorry for myself. If I was being honest, I was actually terrified. I tried to reach out for him, holding his arm. “I didn’t mean what I said. I’m so sorry.”
“Too late for an apology. You made a mistake by threatening the head of the Werewolf Council, Miss Thorne. Now you’re going to regret this,” said the man with a death glare, his gun still in his grip, hand over the other.
“I’m so sorry, sir Victor.” I looked him in the eye as if convincing him to pardon me. “I won’t do it again. I promise.”
“Let him go,” the guy behind me gave me a low warning growl that sent terror racing down my spine.
It was now or never. I gripped Victor harder, took a deep breath, and jumped.