Erika’s POV
For a moment I couldn’t understand what was going on. It seemed to be a trap. While I was planning to get out of Derek’s pack, Alpha Richard was also plotting against me. But I couldn’t understand why he did so. I didn’t think that I once offended him. He was a little older than me and there was no bad blood between us. Was it about their cooperation? But last week he was discussing the alliance with Derek. It was just weird.
Alpha Richard walked in front of the wolves with a meaningful smile on his face.
What do you want? I mind-linked him again. Faced with so many wolves while I was both fatigued and cold, I would be lying if I said that I was not nervous at all.
The wolves surrounded me soon. It also happened last time when I escaped. Last time, Derek found me and saved me. This time, Derek didn’t even know that I had escaped, so I couldn’t be so lucky. Of course, I could mind-link him and turn to him for help. But I wouldn’t do so. I had chosen to escape and I would accept everything that was in store for me. What was more, I guessed Richard had also set up a trap for Derek. Now I understood why Orsen prevaricated when I asked him the reason Alpha Richard killed his father. Because Orsen couldn’t understand it himself. Alpha Richard was much more ambitious than everyone thought he was.
I summoned an arrow and bow. I knew that I couldn’t win this battle. It would be hard even when I was at my best. But I wouldn’t give up until I breathed my last breath. I targeted the wolf closest to me. However, its short and black fur looked quite familiar to me. No! It was Lance, one of my students. I glanced at the warriors and found that all of these warriors were once trained by me. Of course, the fighting capacity of the Fly Rock pack increased greatly after I became the Gamma. The warriors I chose were the strongest and most talented young men and women. And now, Alpha Richard was using the warriors I trained against me! What a bastard! I had never found that he was such a treacherous guy when I was still the Gamma.
Hesitation could be fatal on real battlefields. The one second of hesitation put me at a disadvantage. Before I released the arrow, another wolf attacked me from behind and bit me on my leg. The sudden pain in my leg made me kneel and grimace.
Derek strutted with a triumphant smile on his face.
He gloated over me, “I’ve never thought that defeating you could be so easy.”
I looked up at him and spat at him.
Irritated, he gave me a hard slap on my face and I fell to the ground sideways. The cold touch of snow on my head made me shudder.
I was defeated. It was already horrible and humiliating being defeated, let alone by a bastard in such a dishonest way. I felt both bitter and desperate.
Suddenly, I could feel that Derek was trying to connect with me and ask where I was. After all these hours, he finally discovered that I was gone. He was still worried that something might happen to me. Poor Derek, I bet he had never been fooled this way in the past. He was blinded by love. I closed my eyes and tears oozed out of my eyes.
I was fixed to a wolf with my hands and feet tied. Then the wolf began to run. I was jolted and wanted to vomit. On the way back, my only wish was that I could pass out. I did pass out. Before I passed out, I managed to crane my neck and take one last look at Orsen. As the wolf ran away, Orsen’s figure got smaller and smaller and finally became a red dot.
When I woke up again, I found myself in a kind of prison with my hands and feet shackled. Because the shackle on my hand was fixed on the ceiling, I had to stand while my injured leg was still bleeding. I had to shift my weight to the other leg to relieve the pain in my injured leg, which made little difference.
Alpha Richard was sitting in front of me with a cigarette between his fingers and noticed my movement.
“Erika, you’re awake. We have grown up together. We are friends and I’m really sorry for what I did. I always want to be as strong as you are. You know what, even my dad didn’t think that I was strong enough to be an Alpha. He said even you could be a better one than I was. But I have proved it by defeating you. Then I’ll defeat Derek,” He said as he paced back and forth.
What he said made me want to laugh although I was in such a perilous situation. He wanted to defeat Derek. Was he serious? So he didn't mean to ally with Derek at all.
“Erika, It’s not my intention to hurt you. I’ll be honest with you, Derek is searching for you and I want to kill you. You’ll be free if you are willing to join me. We can work together and kill him. I know you hate him. Otherwise, you wouldn’t escape from him. After it, you can choose to go anywhere you want or come back to our pack. You are always welcome…” Alpha Richard said with a smile. He must think that he sounded very sincere. But he was such a lame actor and the affected smile had betrayed him. He couldn’t even conceal his ambition after he became the Alpha. At this moment I realized that Derek was really a good Alpha. He had a reputation for being savage, but he never abused his power. He could also accept it when his authority was challenged in a proper way.
“Erika, answer me!” He suddenly realized that I was not listening at all.
I tilted my head sideways and didn’t want to say anything. Yes, I had been escaping from Derek, but that didn’t mean I would betray him. And I would be a fool if I believed in his bullshit that I could come back to the pack.
Alpha Richard chuckled at my reaction. He walked towards me slowly while staring at me fixedly. Suddenly he grasped my chin and growled, “You’d better take a look at your surroundings. It’s not in the Pack House. You’re in the cell! You’d better be wise.”
He pressed his fingers against my chin so hard that it hurt a lot. I shook my head all of a sudden and got rid of his hands.
He sneered and beckoned the man beside him.
“Whip her hard until she agrees to work with us,” He commanded coldly. After this, Alpha Richard left the cell.
The man nodded and raised the whip.