She has been playing us

She has been playing us


BERNARD’S POV

A scent filled my nostrils. I paused for a moment and looked all around. I wasn’t alone in the woods; the guards were with me, and the scent that filled my nostrils couldn’t be theirs.

The scent must have belonged to a werewolf I knew so well, for it to already be registered in my head. It definitely wasn’t Basil’s scent.

“Did you hear that?” I asked the guards after I looked back. My ears had caught some noise.

“Yes, your highness,” one of them responded.

“Someone is here with us. I need you to fish out whoever it is,” I ordered, already tired of looking around without finding anything.

My wolf needed to recharge, which was the reason I was here in the woods at this time of the night. It had been a long time since he last recharged, so he wanted it badly.

More than four of the guards were no longer with me; they had gone to do as I ordered. I remained on the spot and didn’t plan to leave until they returned.

I needed to be extra careful at this period, and I knew that. The rogues were everywhere and could show up from nowhere at any moment.

“I can’t wait for all of this to be over,” I lamented to my wolf.

“I think I deserve a new name after all of this is over,” he responded.

“A new name? What for?”

“It is what I want,” he said.

He wanted a new name, and he would be getting it if the rogues didn’t end up being the end of us. They had proven several times that they weren’t here to joke.

“Two of you should go in another direction,” I instructed the guards.

The ones who left earlier had all gone in the same direction, and that shouldn’t have happened. Two of the guards did as I instructed.

My eyes were fixated on the moonlight. It had been a while since it last shone its light on me. The war with the rogues had kept me away from the woods during the bewitching hours.

“Why are you bent on finding out what the scent is all about?” my wolf asked.

“It feels like I’m being tailed. Maybe that’s why.”

These days, I had been having the urge to be extra careful. I had a feeling something bad might happen. My feeling could be wrong though.

“After you recharge, I have plans to be elsewhere.”

“I knew it. You didn’t just decide to come to the woods because I want to recharge,” he growled.

He was right. I was here for two reasons. The first was for him to recharge, and the second reason would be obvious to the guards very soon.

The guards had been gone for more than five minutes, and they should have been back already. Remaining on a spot for that long was no fun.

I kept switching my gaze between the tall trees and the moonlight. My ears caught crickets chirping, while the smell of damp leaves filled my nostrils.

Before I left the mansion some minutes ago, I had quite a lot on my mind, and that was another reason I decided to be here. It wasn’t the second reason though.

“We found her, your highness,” one of the guards said, and I instantly looked back to see who they had found.

“Really?” I exclaimed.

Willow’s head was bowed. She was the last person I expected to meet in the woods. I should have known all along that the scent belonged to her.

The woods weren’t where I had placed her, and that was why I was surprised. She happened to be the second reason I decided to be here tonight. I had planned to pay her a visit.

“Why are you here?”

She thought it wise not to respond. Her hands were behind her back, and another two guards had just returned.

I had gotten her a place to stay. She was supposed to remain there and not step out so none of the pack citizens would find out she was no longer in prison.

She dared to go against my instruction, and not only did she do that, she put her life and my reputation at risk. The pack members wouldn’t be happy to find out that I was on her side.

“I’m sure you got my question the first time. I don’t want to repeat myself.”

Her silence got me more upset. If she knew what was best for her, she had better start speaking this minute before one of my clenched fists did something she wouldn’t like.

Our eyes locked. She no longer had her head bowed. It could have been a sign that she was ready to tell me why she was in the woods at this hour.

“I didn’t know you would be coming here tonight,” she spoke in an extremely low tone.

“That isn’t the response to the question I asked you,” I said, keeping my voice calm but sharp.

The rogues could have attacked her, and it would have been a different story entirely. The only reason I took her out of prison was because I didn’t want her dead.

“Excuse us,” I ordered the guards. I figured it might be the reason she wasn’t willing to speak.

“Alpha Basil is the reason I’m here.”

My fists loosened, and our eyes no longer locked. I couldn’t comprehend how Alpha Basil could have been the reason she was here.

“Go on.”

“He asked that I wait here for him today,” she said.

My ears couldn’t be playing tricks on me, and she couldn’t have lied against my twin. I liked that she didn’t give me a hard time while confessing.

“Are you sure of what you just said? He’s my twin, and I can easily ask him if it’s true.”

“I’m not lying to you. He wants to help me get out of the pack tonight.”

Willow must have just told me a lie. Basil couldn’t possibly want to help her get out of the pack, not when he had been nonchalant about her all this while.

I stole glances at her while pondering her words. She didn’t look like a werewolf who was lying. Could it possibly be true?

“Do you mean to say that he has been putting up an act all this while?” I asked.

“I don’t get that,” she murmured.

I could remember going to Basil to ask what could be done about Willow’s issue, and I could still recall the responses he gave me that day.

Basil had started hiding things from me. He could have just told me he had other plans for her, but he refused and decided to keep me in the pack.

He probably wanted to take her elsewhere without my knowledge so he could have unlimited access to her. He must have been fed up with sharing her with me.

“If you didn’t betray the pack for that silly reason, you wouldn’t have to run away like you want to.”

“I didn’t want to give them information like I did, but they promised to kill all—”

“Just shut your mouth. You got scared of an empty threat when you could have just spoken to us about it,” I cut her off.

Her excuse for betraying the pack was a very silly one to me, but I still didn’t think her getting executed was fair enough, or I would have left her in prison.

I didn’t know what to do. Basil wanted to act smart, and I would love to prove to him that I was smarter. I just didn’t know how to go about it yet.

The guards wouldn’t mention to anyone that Willow was no longer in prison, and it was all thanks to us. They knew a lot of our secrets but dared not spill.

“Bernard.”

Basil showed up from nowhere. He must have been surprised to see Willow standing right in front of me. He stood next to me, and we both had our eyes on her.

He must have approached us because he didn’t know I was the one standing there. He probably thought it was a guard from afar.

“I won’t be able to prove to him that I’m smarter anymore,” I said to my wolf inwardly.

Basil had a lot of explaining to do, and he had better start immediately. He might also be expecting me to give him an explanation too.

“Hello, Alphas,” a familiar voice spoke.

Without hesitation, my secretive twin and I both turned toward the direction it came from.