Chapter 102
“After all, the alpha has marked her, so it is natural for the bond to grow between them. They even spent the night together when she was in heat.” Dalia brought this topic up because she wanted to find an excuse to explain why the alpha was bringing Iris along with him.
However, before she could continue, to explain the correlation between the two topics, Aria got agitated beyond words.
“Shut up!” Aria hollered. She looked at Dalia with pure malice. “If you talk about that again, I will whip you!”
Dalia sucked in a cold breath when she heard that and then lowered her head. She shut her mouth, not even daring to make a sound as small as a peep.
However, after Aria calmed down, she asked about the sorcerer. She was at her wits end, where she would do anything to get Cane back, as if he was hers from the beginning.
“I heard this sorcerer uses black magic. He can make someone forget about anything, even their own mate and fall head over heels for the person he wants to.” She wetted her lips because she was too nervous. “But, the price….”
“I don’t care about the price.” Aria cut her off immediately. Cane gave her so much stipend every month.
“But, the black magic…” Dalia looked fearful. “The black magic is highly banned and whoever performed it will be punished,” she reminded her.
“In that case, why can he still perform it and you are able to know?” Aria knitted her brows, clearly displeased because she didn’t offer any solution to her.
“That… because this is a secret among the servants.” Dalia intentionally lowered her voice, even though it was only the two of them here. “You know… slaves use black magic to gain favor from their masters.”
Aria found it was very ironic of her to seek for a solution in a way a slave would when she insisted she wouldn’t live like one.
“I want to see this sorcerer.” The words sounded so contemptible in her ears.
Dalia said this sorcerer used to help slaves to gain their master’s favor? Was that what she was to Cane? A slave and her master?
With a carriage in the entourage, they couldn’t go scale the mountains and chose to take the road instead.
Inside the carriage, Iris opened the small window to look at her surroundings and was amazed by what she was seeing. She couldn’t help but crane her neck.
After they went through the vast barren lands with nothing, but dirt and rocks, pointed and looking as if they had been carved with a chisel loomed precariously, surrounding them, they finally came to the verdant terrains, out of the territory of the Howling Wolf pack.
Lush hazel trees lined the narrow path through the valley. Somewhere from a distance, the sound of rushing water floated over to them. The wind felt refreshing against her face, carrying over a hint of wild flowery scent.
They rode for a little longer before stopping to rest at a brook. Iris couldn’t help being impatient to get out of the carriage and look around her, while the men took their horses to guzzle in the brook.
They would stop here to have their meals before continuing their journey again.
“What are you looking at? Come here, you need to eat before we move again.” Ethan approached her, as he refilled his waterskin and gobbled up a chunk of jerky, as hard as a block of wood, which he grumbled about. “We will not reach the next pack until tomorrow.”
“Which pack will we visit?” Iris sat down next to him and refilled her own waterskin. The water was so refreshing.
“Bloody Wolf pack. If we hurry a bit, we can arrive there before sunset tomorrow.”
Iris glanced over her shoulder and found Cane talking to Will, while Redmond was eating with the other two warriors.
And after they rested for fifteen minutes, they mounted their horses again and set out.
At night, they stopped near another brook and set a tent to sleep there. Actually, this small tent was only for her, while the men would sleep in their sleeping bags and use their bags as pillows.
“I have set up your tent, you can rest now,” Redmond told Iris, as he walked over to her.
“Thank you.” Iris was truly clueless as to how to set up a tent. She was fascinated how they could light fire and make a bonfire, using which they cooked soup inside a pot. From the looks of it, she didn’t have any high expectations, as Cane just tossed everything inside, but to her surprise, the taste was so good.
However, even now, Cane didn’t talk to her. He didn’t even look her way, as if she was not even there.
If he was really determined to not acknowledge her, then he shouldn’t have brought her with him, but then she knew why he did that and that he didn’t have any other choice. His choices were so limited.
The next day was the same, thankfully, the scenery was alluring enough to distract Iris from her thoughts, until they arrived in the Bloody Wolf pack right in time before the sun went down.
Redmond and Will went to find an inn for them to settle for the night.
Iris got her own room, which was not really big, but it was clean and nice. When she was pondering about dinner and considering approaching Redmond or Ethan about it, someone knocked on the door. After three times of repeating this, he finally remembered the person inside would not be able to hear him. He was about to enter, but unfortunately, it was locked.
Thinking what he should do to notify Iris, he stared at the closed door and right at that time, she walked out.
“Oh, Alpha…” Iris was surprised to see Cane standing there. Did he need something?
“Call my name when we are outside,” Cane said in his impassive tone. “Come outside.” He waved at her to follow him.
Curious and hungry, Iris followed him to the bar downstairs, where it was so crowded.