Chapter 39: So close, but so far away

Chapter 39: So close, but so far away
Vander

The moment we entered into Bluewood, something felt off. A red hatchback had been following me as I drove behind Luca and Freya. I couldn’t see the person as the windows were tinted, but the moment Mason checked out the rearview mirror, I could see him tense.

“Do you know the owner of that car?” I asked, watching it carefully in the rearview mirror.

Mason nodded slowly. “That’s Caleb’s car. I assume he’s attempting to stop us.”

I let out a little cuss under my breath and then called Freya. I told her about the suspicious red car behind us and she immediately started driving faster. There was no way in hell that we were going to let this man stop us. Soon we were racing away from him as fast as we could until he was out of sight.

“I’m curious,” I began, “why does he not like either of you?”

Mason attempted to open his mouth but was abruptly interrupted when Freya’s car suddenly stopped. I hit the brakes immediately, giving both Mason and I whiplash.

“The fuck?” I exclaimed, before promptly getting out of my car. Immediately a sense of dread flowed through me as I gazed at the red hatchback in front of me. A man got out of the front seat, his frame tall and lean. He wore a black leather jacket and a pair of sunglasses. When he turned towards us, he lifted his glasses up, tucking them into his sandy brown hair. He had a familiar pair of snake-like green eyes which shifted about eagerly.

Luca, Freya and Louis had already exited their car and glared at the man before us, clearly not impressed either.

“Good afternoon, everyone! What a pleasure to see all of your faces!” he said sarcastically. His eyes then shifted to Mason and his fake smile faltered. “Well, a pleasure to see some of your faces. You have some balls on you boy, showing up in front of me after you broke my girl’s heart.”

I almost burst out into laughter as I made the connection between Mason and the man before us. What unfortunate timing Mason seemed to have.

“What business do you have stopping us?” Luca asked, speaking harshly. It was then that I made the connection between Luca and Caleb as well. Caleb’s daughter was responsible for Calina’s reputational damage.

The snake-like man smiled again and shrugged, “I had intel that you’d be crossing my border with unauthorised wolves. You know the rules as well as I do. You must first get clearance from me before letting any wolves into my district borders.”

I hadn’t quite been aware of how the LHS worked, but it was interesting to see that we had slightly similar procedures.

I could see Luca’s fists tighten and he stepped forward, clearly not at all intimidated by that smile of Caleb’s.

“Who is your source, Brutis?”

Caleb was great at pulling a perfect poker face. He didn’t even flinch at the sound of Brutis’ name. Instead, he cocked a brow and then chuckled.

“Come on, I’m not as stupid as Matthew Devan. I don’t associate myself with wolves. It only brings death.” I’m sure if Calina were here she would have had a knife to this man’s throat in seconds. But because she wasn’t, I attempted to instead.

I growled lowly and stepped forward ready to attack. But Freya placed a hand out and shook her head. She was right, I’d only cause more trouble for my pack and for myself. I couldn’t risk damaging our relationship with the LHS. It was much more dangerous than damaging my pack’s reputation in the werewolf community.

“I have reason to believe that my daughter is in that bunker. Move,  or I’ll expose what I’ve found out about you and Brutis.”

He chuckled and then shook his head.

“You? Do you really think they’ll believe you, Luca? After everything that’s happened with Calina? You’re lucky they aren’t thinking of demoting you to a sad little bounty hunter again.”

And that was when a switch flipped in Calina’s stepfather. One I’d never seen before. He ran forward and punched Caleb right in the face, sending him flying to the ground. Everyone was shocked, including Caleb who clutched at his cheek. Blood came spurting out of his nose. He was strong, very strong.

“You forget, Caleb, that I was the second strongest hunter in the LHS, right under Matthew. And today, I won’t let you leave this place conscious.”

He momentarily turned towards us and motioned for us to move on without him. But the look in his eyes sent chills up and down my spine. He was serious about his words. I gave him a nod, and then Freya and I got in our cars with Mason and Louis. I found it suspicious that Caleb let us go so easily. It could only mean that he had some kind of backup plan. We had to act quickly.

Freya and I sped off, driving at unimaginable speed with me following closely behind her. We were so close, according to the coordinates given by Luca. And the closer we got, the more excitement and fear built up within me. It was excitement at finding her and fear of something stopping us from getting to her. It ate away at me like gnawing anxiety. Judging by Mason’s silence, it ate at him too.

We arrived at our destination soon enough and wasted no time in looking for the hatch. I was sure that Caleb’s backup plan wouldn’t be too far behind.

It was getting darker now, but my senses were as sharp as ever and I searched the ground eagerly until Freya stopped me, as she yelled out, “I found it!”

I immediately turned towards her and broke into a sprint. There was a hatch in the ground, tightly closed up. This was it. She was here. I could feel it.

But just as I was about to open it up, the sound of the swift whizz of an arrow could be heard. I immediately got out of the way, unfortunately allowing the arrow to strike Louis. My head whipped towards the direction of the arrow, only to be greeted by her signature green eyes.

“Jenna…”

At this point my reunion with Calina felt so close, but so far away.