When her eyes opened again, Riley's blood turned cold immediately.A very fetid smell came to her nostrils and she suddenly realized what was happening when her blurry eyes saw the black, ominous objects around her. Vultures! They had surrounded her, four of them, thinking she was dead. She was so tired and weak, but the fear of the sharp beaks of the ugly birds digging into her flesh made a rush of adrenaline fuel her for a short period. The birds watched with their crooked necks and hideous bald heads keenly and when their prey moved, they took steps back. Riley's groping hand found and gripped a stone and she hurled it at one of the big birds. They scampered away, but not too far, they hung and waited on low branches of nearby trees. With a desperate effort, Riley struggled to her feet and tottered forward. Her knees felt wobbly and like they were going to give up on her anytime soon, her body was burning with exhaustion. She was starving, her whole body was weakened, languid,
"Nothing? Nothing?" Lucas bellowed as Dolph walked in with the news.Dolph sat down on a chair and breathed deeply, "You've got to relax, Lucas. The men haven't found her yet but I assure you, they will." He said. "There's no fucking way she can outrun them for long, you know, those are trained men and they know the forest better than she does. They'll surely get her.""I'm not fucking convinced, if she remains in that bloody forest for too long, who knows what will happen to her!" Lucas said, his voice angry and worried. "You know her scent, don't you?" Dolph nodded, "Yes, I do." He replied."If by this evening, those men do not have anything reasonable to report to you, we'll move in tomorrow," Lucas said, his face contorted and his eyebrows furrowed. "I won't let her get away, not with my child in her womb and not after all that stuff Madeline said.""Thought you didn't take Madeline's answers that seriously," Dolph remarked. "Well, this is different, when I get fed up with this
The other maids in the house stared at her as though she was an alien that had just fallen from space. This town was so small and old-fashioned that a visitor was such a rare thing. In the room Riley had been kept in, from time to time the maids snuck in one by one to have a look at her while the others peeped from the door which was left ajar.Riley had been unconscious for almost six hours and she woke up when she felt something poking at her face. Slowly and with a groan, she opened her eyes and stared at the startled maid who was poking at her cheeks in awe. The maid froze, terrified, she let out a scream that rang throughout the room and Riley was so surprised by her actions. The other maids at the door, noticing what had happened scampered away but when they turned, they froze as they saw Caleb staring at them."What the hell are you all doing here?" He bellowed and they bowed their heads and walked briskly away, leaving the frightened maid stranded in the room. "Ugh! They can b
Caleb was extremely nice to her and he had no other intentions towards her other than to help her recuperate fully. The only doctor in the small town was quite busy when Caleb walked into his small office in a stone building. When the bald, middle-aged doctor saw that it was Caleb and he noticed the urgency in his voice, he decided to suspend what he was doing."What's the matter, Caleb?" The doctor asked."You need to come with me, doctor, I've got an injured girl who fainted on my doorstep. She's got bruises all over her." Caleb replied in haste.The doctor frowned but he didn't ask any questions until they were on their way, walking briskly towards Caleb's beautiful house. "You said she fainted on your doorstep? Who is she?" The doctor asked.That was a question Caleb couldn't answer, he didn't know who Riley was or where she had come from, all he knew was her name. "I don't know, doc." He replied and the doctor shot a stern look at him from the corner of his eyes and asked in bewi
Lucas was furious and irritated at the same time as he stared at Dolph who stood with his head bowed down at the doorway. "I should imprison all of you, shouldn't I?" Lucas asked angrily. Dolph nodded furiously, "Yes, they all need to be dealt with!" He concurred vehemently. Lucas glared at him, "Without the exception of you too, Dolph!" He snapped. Dolph's eyes widened, "Me? What did I do?" He asked, aware that Lucas wasn't kidding with his words. "Exactly!" Lucas exclaimed and got to his feet. "The same question I've been asking myself for about four days now, what have you done?" Dolph frowned, "Oh common, don't push this entire search mission on me, I do not have bloody clones, neither am I fucking omnipresent or something." He retorted. Lucas squinted at him, "What the fuck do you mean by that, Dolph?" He asked in a menacing tone, but Dolph wasn't to be intimidated this time. "What I fucking mean by that is that I have to be at the pack office every bloody day to make
Brenda didn't speak to Lucas for a while, she was still staying at his pack for a reason.She wanted to know how progress with the search for Riley was going while still keeping up with reports from her men. From the latest reports, her men were convinced that she was not in the forest. They had combed the entire forest and frankly, they were surprised how she got past there despite the wild beasts that flocked the forest. One night she met with one of them, Shaw, who was in charge and he reported news that shocked her."We were attacked by beasts, the Sabertooths seem to have taken over that entire area. We lost two men last night, but that was due to their carelessness." He said with a grim expression on his face and faint traces of blood smeared on his collar and neck. "I warned and alerted everyone to keep a sharp eye out for attacks like this so any man we lose didn't take the warning." He frowned and she did too. "With how dangerous the forest is, we became open to the idea tha
The next morning, Lucas was already up and ready before the clock struck seven.He felt dumb for not taking part in the search right from the start, by now, they would have gone far with the search for her. He had kept a distance from Brenda ever since the incident, the last thing he was going to do was apologize to her, it would be stupid to do that.The more the days passed by without them talking, the higher the cold wall of pride that was building between them grew and the more desperate to find Riley he became. As he was about to step out of his room, he heard a knock on the door and he opened it. It was Brenda. He was surprised to see her here but he was also very impatient and in a hurry to get rid of her. "Lucas, can we talk?" She asked gently.First of all, he wasn't in the mood to talk to her, secondly, he didn't want to waste any more valuable time. Riley had to be found as soon as possible and the more time he wasted, the further she got away from him. He shook his head
Riley enjoyed her stay in Shenhai but she knew she had to leave."It still beats me how you're so hospitable to someone like me, Caleb." She said the next day as he walked into her room with her medication. She was doing so well now, she looked as healthy as ever but those scars of hers were still there, and it would take some time for those to fade away."I'm glad I was, look at you now, you're the best company I've had in years." He replied. "You've made Shenhai a pretty interesting place for me and you've only been here for a few days." She smiled at him, "I would like a tour, Caleb." She said and he looked at her in surprise."Really? Taking a tour around Shenhai will take about two hours or less." He replied. "No way! This town is that small?" She asked in surprise.It took almost two hours to walk the full length of Lucas's pack. How could a pack be as big as a town? Well, a pack was some sort of a town after all, wasn't it? She thought.He nodded, "Shenhai is small and that'