Contractually Yours Alpha (Riley)

Chapter Eighty One

I ran as fast as my feet could carry me away from the castle. I could only hope that while I was gone, Julia wouldn't have a reason to check on me-because if she discovered I was missing. Then I was doomed. The city was alive as always.

I headed straight to the fortune teller's hut. Ever since my last visit, all I could think about was coming back here to ask her more questions-normal questions any girl would want to know. Questions that had nothing to do with me being a 'chosen.'

Trian believed that fortune tellers were all liars, maybe they were, maybe they weren't.

I stopped before the small, odd-looking hut with bones hanging from its door. I walked in and immediately spotted the old woman. She sat on a wooden stool directly in front of the fireplace, her eyes fixed on the fire. She muttered some foreign words before blowing a whitish powder into the flames, causing them to burn brighter.

"How can I help you, girl?" She asked, without looking at me.

"I came here to ask some more questions."noveldrama

"You came alone this time." She noted, her gaze still on the flames.

"Yes, I did."

"You want answers, and I want good pay. Do you have any money?" She asked, and that's when I realized something important I had let slip my mind. I never had much use for money, so it was easy to forget that I needed it.

"No."

"Well, I can't help you."

"Please, I will make sure you are paid."

"When? Next year? In a decade?"

"Do me this favor..."

"I don't give out favors. This is a business, my source of livelihood. If I gave out favors, I would be nothing but a broke, old woman."

"The last time we came here, my friend paid you very handsomely. I will make sure you get your money." "You want to be read?" she asked, and I nodded.

"You will meet a long-lost friend, and you will lose him again. That's all the reading you get with no money."

I gave her one last look before walking away from the hut.

Well, that didn't work out well.

I stopped at the fields, close to the lake. The very same lake where Trian had taught me how to swim. Alone, the lake looked darker, scarier; I couldn't even imagine swimming in it.

I caught a flash of gold eyes and grey fur. A wolf.

Ash.

He was supposed to be in the wild. What was he doing here?

Chapter Eighty One

"Ash," I called, but he zipped off, running away. I chased after him. "Ash, don't go, wait!"

Ash finally came to a stop on a farmland, a good distance from the lake. I walked to him. "Why would you run off like that?" I asked, and he circled around me before pouncing on me and bringing me down to the ground. He licked my face, and I couldn't help but burst into laughter. I thought you were dead."

I sat on the bare floor, running my fingers through his fur. had missed him so much. "You shouldn't be here. They hate wolves; they will kill you."

I should take him somewhere safe, but I knew nothing about this place and... I might have just gotten myself lost.

Ash snarled.

"You are fine..." I began but his gaze was fixed on something behind me, he snarled again. I turned, and from a distance, I could spot a man walking towards me. The man was completely naked, with deep injuries all around his body. But the closer he got, the more I realized this was no man. The creature had no eyes-only a nose and mouth.

Flesh eaters.

Empress Julia had explained it to the Alpha king; she called it a creature straight out of a person's nightmares. She wasn't exaggerating.

the

"Ash, run!" I screamed, but he wouldn't budge; he stood his ground, snarling at the creature. Ash lunged at it, tearing out its arm. The creature didn't scream, didn't even seem to be in pain; but it retaliated, sinking its teeth into Ash's neck, and the wolf howled in agony.

I picked up a rock and smashed it into the creature's skull, freeing Ash from its grip. Just then, I felt a hand wrap around my ankle, and I was yanked to the ground by another of the nightmarish creatures. I cried

out as I fell. I struggled to fight it off, but it was too strong. It all happened in a flash. The creature's head was severed, landing beside me with a sickening thud.

Standing above me was Trian, his sword in hand.

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