Louisa's POV
"Louisa, this is the best toast I've ever eaten in my life!" Colt munched and said. "And the syrup! Exquisite!" "I'm glad that you like it, Colt," I said. Darren hadn't said anything ever since he came back from the canteen with Colt. "Darren, are you OK?" I asked. "Yeah, I'm fine," he said. I could tell that he was deeply bothered by something. "Did Lucas say anything to you?" I asked. Sometimes Luas would contact him through mindlink, asking him to do bad things that he didn't want to do. "No, Master is still asleep," he replied. Colt stretched out his arms, leaned towards Darren, and said, "Come on, don't be so jealous like this. I knew I shouldn't have spent a whole night in Colt's tent, but I promise that nothing happened between us! We were talking about glazing machines and the next thing I realized, it was the next morning." Darren used a fork to poke his arms, forcing Colt to stay awLouisa's POV After Gianna was gone, I asked Darren, "What happened?" Darren looked away and said, "Nothing. I was..." I held his arms and said, "Darren, look at me. Tell me what happened." Darren looked at me and said, "Louisa, let's go to the Mountainside Village now. I'll tell you on our way there." Colt said, "I'll go to tell Alex to prepare the carriage for us." Then, he walked off the tent. "Darren, tell me. Is there anything going to happen to Gianna's child?" I asked. Darren looked at me and shook his head. "Then what is it?" I asked. "I really don't know, Louisa. I'm not powerful enough to predict anyone's future. I'm not a fortune teller. I can only sense some disturbance. That's it," he said. "That traveling druid said very disturbing things about Gianna and her baby. I will never ever let it happen to her. She's like a sister to me." I clenched my fists and said. "Louisa, please stay out
Louisa's POV Josephine's face was turning red and white at the same time. I knew she tried to come up with something to explain this whole situation, but she just couldn't say a word. She admitted wearing those earrings last night. Akela said she found the earrings in her tent. I found a piece of silk handkerchief jammed in Akela's window. Those soldiers saw Akela's maid wandering around Akela's tent. I connected all those pieces together and concluded what happened last night - Before Mana and Mata got into Akela's tent, Josephine sent one of her maids to check if Akela was at her tent. Then, she got into the tent for some unknown reason and put a piece of a handkerchief in the window, so she could sneak into the tent later. But before she left, her earrings dropped to the floor, but she didn't notice. Then, Akela came to the tent and saw these two earrings. She must have put them up somewhere before Mana and Mata got
Louisa's POV After Josephine walked away, I looked at Mana and Mata. They still looked terrified. "She really doesn't have to say sorry to us, Miss." Mata looked up at me and said. "We don't mind being beaten, you know." Mana rubbed his head and said. I crouched down and got at eye level with them. "Don't allow anyone to bully you again," I said in a soft voice. "When people do bad things to us, we should stop them. If we let it happen, they will keep doing bad things to us." They looked at me with their giant watery eyes and nodded. "Why didn't you hypnotize them?" I asked. "We can't do it." "People know that we're with you now." "We don't want to bring you any trouble." They lowered their heads and looked ashamed. My heart was throbbing. I hugged them and said, "Always protect yourself before you want to protect others. Please don't get beaten again." "OK, Miss. Next time we'll run away."
Louisa's POV "Darren, you know that you can tell me everything," I sat next to Darren and said. "You're like a brother to me and you just don't know how lucky I am to have you with me. I know you're worried about me and you wanted to protect me. But I really wish you could let me know what's going on?" Darren sighed and covered his face. Then, he said, "Mana and Mata were waiting for someone to throw a package at them last night when you found them. They were actually waiting for me." "What?!" I frowned. "I was supposed to get something from Alpha Zackery's tent and pass it to them," Darren said. "But... Why?!" I asked. Darren held his head with both of his hands and said, "Louisa, it's all my fault. I really wish I could see you earlier in my life. But I didn't. Instead, I met them. They came to me when I was most vulnerable. They promised to bring my brother back to life. So I listened to them... I really shouldn't have listened to them.
Louisa's POV "No, Leo. Lucas isn't going to kill me," I said. "I don't know what he's going to do, but killing me will not be part of his plan." Continued when I didn't get any response from him. "But he looked really angry this morning and shouted at Lucian. He had never shouted at Lucian like that," Will said. "They were arguing..." "What did they argue about, Leo?" I asked. Leo looked up at me and then lowered his head. He then wrapped his arms around my waist and held me tightly in his arms. I knew he didn't want to say anything, so I said, "Leo, don't worry about it. A lot of things happened recently and why don't we take a break by going to the Mountainside Village? You can help me to sell some ham and together we'll pick some presents for Gianna and her baby." Leo nodded and didn't say anything. He looked very worried and I knew he had wanted to tell me something, but he hadn't been able to. He looked just like a minia
Louisa's POV "Tail! Tail!" Will hung on Leo's neck like a little sloth. "OK. But you can't pull it or step on it. It will be painful." Leo said. Will nodded seriously. Leo looked back and a giant white tail appeared behind his back. I was amazed because most werewolves were only able to shift into wolves when there was a full moon. Only Lycans were able to shift at any time they wanted. However, even for Lycans, it was very challenging to control only part of their body for transformation. I had only seen Lucas doing it once while he was torturing me. Leo was just a teenager. He must be extremely powerful to be able to pull tricks like this effortlessly. "Tail! Giant tail!" Will exclaimed with happiness and excitement, trying to hold it in his arms. But it slipped away from his hands and moved to the other side. Will giggled and tried to jump at it, but Leo's tail moved away again. Will bounced like a ball in the cart,
Louisa's POV "What happened after that?" I asked. Leo rubbed his eyes and said, "Nobody knew who we were, so everyone tried to bully us. My brother had been brought up a royal prince back in the south, but he had to work like a slave in order to survive and protect me. Then, one day, he found Lucas at a dump site. He was hiding there like a stray cat and tried to attack my brother. My brother brought him back to the camp and gave him some food. Lucas slept for a whole day and when he woke up, he saw some soldiers trying to bully me. He smashed their heads against the ground. When my brother came back after work, he found Lucas holding me and eating an apple next to the dead soldiers. My brother was shocked and wanted to run away with me because it was a felony to kill soldiers, but Lucas persuaded him to stay. Alpha Batz, the Alpha of White Walkers at that time, was furious and wanted to punish Lucas, but my brother stood up and told him that he was the murdere
Louisa's POV Leo looked at me with an incredible look on his face. "Louisa…… Is he telling the truth? Are you Lucas' mate?" he asked. "Yes, Leo," I replied. "I thought Lucian had already told you about it." The look on Leo's face immediately changed into a mixture of disappointment and anger. He didn't know that I could see him in the dark. Even in the daylight, he still wasn't good at hiding his feelings. The wheels of the carriage must have hit a stone or something and shook turbulently. I grabbed Leo in my hand, but he abruptly pushed my hand away. "Don't touch me!" Leo said anxiously. "I'll never believe you again! Lucas is right! Women are liars!" I didn't know why he would act in this way. "Leo, I have never lied to you..." I said. "But you didn't tell me that you're Lucas' mate, either!" Will said indignantly. "I was so worried about you. And now it turns out that I'm like a joke! Are