Chapter 36: CHAPTER THIRTY SIX
Alisha was taken aback at the recent event, she knew the locket just had to be with Sam. She started searching the whole corners of her room, noting important places she must have kept it or stood. It would be insignificant to put a call to Sam again to fully find out if he had seen it. She couldn’t have misplaced it, maybe at the club or it would be somewhere in her room.
Alisha was even more satisfied with the state she met Sarah, she never liked her one bit, she was glad she finally got what she deserved and whoever did it to her must have trailed her properly. When one of the maids told her about Sarah’s attack, she had to see things for herself. As she opened the room, she met Sarah asleep. She wanted to press the close pillows against her face so she’d die completely but one of the maids saw her come in, it would create suspicion.
“She would die anyway,” Alisha snorted out those words like she was the devil herself.
On second thought, Alisha knew something wasn't right. Xana was attacked some days back, now, Sarah was fully unconscious.
“The puzzle is coming together,” she stated as a smile formed her lips. She needed to congratulate Xana on the swift attack on Sarah. She loved the fierceness Xana used in dealing with Sarah, just in time to take back what belonged to her. The minute she stepped into Xana’s room, she saw her knitting a scarf, she clapped her hands, and greeted her with a smile.
“You did a beautiful job, Xana,” Alisha said to Xana, Xana was perplexed, had to stop her knitting to fully understand why Alisha came in with such a smile on her face and congratulations.
“Did what? What job are you talking about?” Xana replied totally confused, her blue eyes sat still in confusion, she curved her brow in a frown, this way her freckles displayed effortless. She was completely in awe.
“I know you planned the attack on Sarah. I just placed the puzzles together. She attacked you then you planned a counter attack which is extremely commendable. Its better she is put in her place.” Alisha spoke while her eyes surveyed the room; she was still trying to see if she could get a glimpse of her locket anywhere around the house.
“Me? Stop it, Alisha. I did not plan an attack on Sarah,” Xana replied in utter disbelief, however, she was undeniably glad the attacker did a good job in making her bedridden, that way she could get what she had always wanted. Adam.
“I’d never be inhumanly enraged to send arrows to her body,” Xana added, trying to completely exempt herself from Sarah’s attack. She knew Alisha was smart enough to know that she wanted revenge on Sarah for the other night but she was still hatching her plan”.
Alisha kept giving her side glances just to ensure she was telling the truth, Alisha wanted to know if her mouth would twitch while she spoke or she’d skip a word- then she’d believe she was lying.
“It still does not deny the fact that I am glad whoever did that did it well,” Xana confessed.
Alisha brows raised to look at Xana.
“Stop it, Alisha” I am damn serious, I had nothing to do with her injury” Xana replied intently.
“If you didn’t do it, who did it?” Alisha queried, she still placed her hands on her jaws processing the event and looking for a close suspect.
Her main suspect was Xana, but she just confessed about her involvement.
“Since, the attacker has done a perfect job to pin her down for some time, I’d do anything to keep her out of the way so I can have my entrance into Adam’s life,” Xana grunted. If Sarah was not in the picture, she knew a marriage with Adam would have long been completely since. Even with her still in the picture, she would have her way and she would not stop her. It was just a matter of time before she got Adam.
“Who?” Alisha asked again, it became clear again that there was someone else who wanted Sarah out of the way since Xana confessed not planning the attack. The more she thought about it, the more she knew Sarah’s stay in the house was numbered.
"Maybe someone who hates her as much as we do,” Xana replied, leaving Alisha’s mind to travel down the lane of “who wanted Sarah out of the way?”
“My gosh! I think I know...” Alisha said, taking herself aback but stopped abruptly.
“What?” Xana asked in anticipation
“Never mind, just trying to put bits and pieces together,” Alisha said in a bid to cancel the recent realization that struck her some minutes ago. She did not want to think of what formed her thoughts when her brains did the calculation.
“Well, from now on, I’d take my place and position with or without Sarah.” Xana picked her knitting pins from the table and continued knitting, leaving Alisha to admire the artistic image of an alpha at the end of the wall. “Do you have any idea where Adam is?” Xana asked, dropping the balls of yarn on the table.
“I don’t know,” Alisha replied. “Have you checked his room?”
“Let me check him now,” Xana responded, wrapped herself up in a beautiful cotton dress and walked out with Alisha.
Alisha found her way back into the room. She wanted to call Sam reminding him of her locket.
***
It’d been a week since Sarah’s attack. She managed to say a few words, her body was still feeble, she was taunted by the enclosed room, she was claustrophobic, and she hated the painful awkward silence of the room. She left like she was floating.
Maybe I am dead, she thought.
Opening her eyes, she saw nothing, just the bleakness of the room. She could do nothing too, the upper part of her body could barely move but her legs were able to stretch gently. Her neck was still in pain, she groaned loudly as she tried to reposition herself on the static bed. The bed must have added to her weakness, it was as hard as a stone and she wondered if they had ordered the nurses to change her bed.
Rethinking the event was null because the single question that formed her lane of thought was why was the arrow aimed at me? Or was it aimed at Adam then it missed and hit me? She just couldn’t comprehend the feeling of a total stranger. It was obvious someone wanted her dead.
She placed her three guesses on the table: It was either Xana, Alisha, or Alicia.
Those were the main people who physically hated her, they didn’t hide their hatred from her almost like an open hatred. She just didn’t know how dangerous each of them was, her major suspect was Xana- this is because of the attack on her some days ago. Her counter attack was pretty dangerous. She was fighting for her body to recover.
Sarah didn’t care how long it would take her to recover, she just wanted to be up on her feet again. She was told she lost so much blood, so she needed fresh blood to rejuvenate, it was getting frustrating to lay alone. As she allowed her thoughts to roam around the room, she didn’t notice Adam sitting at the left corner of the room. He was asleep. She didn’t know what time it was but she knew it was pretty dark out there. Adam was always with her, holding her hands, planting soft kisses on her forehead.
She wanted to tell him how glad she was that he was here, she wanted to reach him and tell him how beautiful he looked while sleeping but she knew she wouldn’t be able to say all that plus she couldn’t even stand to face him.
Adam was on the lookout for the killer, he had fallen asleep thinking about different ways to kill him when he was eventually found.
Maybe his wolf would do the killing. Or he would strangle the attacker. Or he would do the exact thing they did to Sarah.
Probably pin him to a tree, aimed for his face, his eyes, legs, body and neck. It was a man, Adam saw how fast he ran out of the woods.
Reports reaching him yesterday were that they couldn’t find the source of the arrow, no sculptors affiliated with the making of the arrow, no sign at all to trace the sender. He decided to do the task himself. He wanted to sneak out that night but he decided to see Sarah before he left. As he sat on the sofa, he knew he wanted some rest, he slumped on the little couch in the room and fell asleep. He was awake, he knew someone was watching him while he slept, his connection was fast.
As he turned, he saw Sarah, her eyes were wide open looking at the ceiling basically because she couldn’t twist her head. He felt guilty for taking her hunting, he would have stayed indoors with her teaching her things.
Alisha decided to call Sam for the confirmation; she was majorly disturbed due to the importance of the locket. She called his number, he picked at the first ring;
“Babe, how are you?” she said to Sam over the phone, she didn’t want to say too much because she would be in his pack house and that meant trouble because they found out.
“Good, babe,” he said, sounding very distant, his voice was shaky like he had just had an exchange of deep words with someone.
“Uhm, do you happen to see my locket, just asking?” she asked him, hoping he would say yes.
“No, love.”
“Okay, bye," she said before hanging up. Something was definitely wrong with him. He wasn’t his usual self.
Sam wanted to tell her he was with it but he did not know where he kept it, it must be somewhere in the room. He was getting tense about the misplacement. Hurriedly, he checked his room, turned some places but to total futility.
“Or did I drop it mistakenly?” he asked himself before checking the pants he had on the previous day.
If he had dropped it mistakenly, that meant trouble.
If someone picked it mistakenly, it was trouble too.
He hoped it was somewhere in his room so he could get hold of it and give it back to her before someone else got a hold of it. It was unsafe to even have it with him let alone be in his room. He wanted to get through the mess of hide and seek, the one he had created.
It was obvious there was a connection, a plausible “dangerous” one at that but he didn’t know how to jeopardize what he felt for her. It was funny how the one that made him happy is the trouble he was avoiding.
It just had to be somewhere.
***
Alicia felt the need to show her face to Sarah, she had not bothered to check on her ever since her admission into the sick room, and it gladdened her heart to see her in pain. It was time to show her the stuff she is made of, so next time she doesn’t mess with her. As she strolled into the room, the smell of iodine hit her, she felt nauseous immediately. It was unreasonably dark but she saw Sarah’s frail body on the bed, alone. “Alone like she deserved” she thought. She walked towards Sarah’s bedside. She had not noticed the glaring look Sarah sent her the minutes their eyes met.
“Poor little soul” Alicia said in utter disgust. She wanted to spite her, make her life miserable before she sent her out of the mansion so that Xana and Adam would be united. She knew Adam loved her, she saw it in the way he looked at Sarah when she was not watching, the little things he did for her — for her growth, for enhancement.
“You are a disaster, a total mess,” she said in an irritating tone. “I warned you about your stay here, I told you wouldn’t get what you asked for."
Sarah had nothing to say. Her body was still weak because she had just finished her morning dose of drugs. The moment Alicia came inside the room, she wanted to tell her to get out and leave the room but she remembered it was Alicia’s house and she could not make a loud sound.
“You will be left here to suffer like a vampire, you little swine,” Alicia hurled the words straight to Sarah without noting the tears that were threatening to fall out from her eyes but didn’t.
“I am not done with you yet, the next time, you won’t be lucky,” Alicia informed her while pointing one of her fingers straight to her face.
Sarah raised her head trying to understand the “next time you won’t be lucky” phrase which almost sounded like a speech after an attack in most cases.
Then everything became clear, her suspicions were actually correct.
“Wondering how you got attacked? I planned it all, you fool,” Alicia said.
Sarah could say nothing because the pain at the neck area was just healing. She was groaning trying to tilt her head so she could face Alice and tell her what a failure she was in aiming and not killing.
Alicia saw her groaning in pain, she laughed at the struggles before her and wondered why she was still battling to live.
“I planned the attack on you, Sarah. The only method to keep you out of the house is to have you killed, I am surprised at your agility. Those silver arrows were made from the best, the sculptor told me how to strike and where to strike to make you weak” She laughed loudly.
Sarah was furious, she lifted her right leg, kicking into the air, and her two legs fighting each other in complete anger. She was going to kill her once she got off the bed. She tried to tilt her head but the sharp pain from the right side dragged her back to her previous position. She hated that Alicia was seeing her struggle.
Sarah starts searching the room with her static neck, looking for any object that was in full reach so she could aim it at her, this woman obviously had no joy. She was searching but the flower vase she fixed her gaze on was beyond her reach.
“There is no use fighting, Sarah. You are going to die, anyways. Either by me or by anyone else but I am certain about your eviction,” Alicia added without pity.
Sarah was defeated and there was nothing else she could do in this state, she started dragging her hands to reach Alicia but she moved away from her reach with a full grin on her mouth.
Sarah promised herself she was going to deal with her, she was boiling with fury enraged by the announcement by Alicia and thought of killing and pinning her down. She tried again to get up, she used all of her might but she fell back just too soon.
She tried to move again. On impulse, she grabbed Alicia by the skirt, tried to dig deep, but Alicia shoved her hands against her grip, slapping her hands off her in utter disgust and fury.
Sarah couldn’t do so much. She wanted to harm her but a part of her didn’t want that basically because she was Adam’s mother.
Her Adam.