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Chapter 26
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2024-10-29 19:42:56Greg had been paying more attention to her facial transmutation after hearing from the queen - through Tristan - that Sush didn’t smile a lot around anyone. He was surprised to learn that it was true. For someone who claimed to be able to extract humor from anything, she didn’t smile a lot. That entire morning, as she checked on each department and handed out orders, her lips either remained flat or were pulled to a frown. Yet he himself had witnessed her smile - even laugh - several times in the previous week.
“They’re still running through them. Nothing out of the ordinary yet,” she said, slipping her tablet back in.
Thoughts of touching her took the backseat as his protective instincts kicked in. The suspect pool - in other words, the people who knew she was headed for the ministry - was enormous. As
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The mention of Enora got Greg on high alert. His pupils dilated, his claws underneath the innocuous nails ready, and his shoulders stiffened. It was common knowledge that the king and queen had pups, but it wasn’t common knowledge that Greg shared a bond with their youngest. “How do you know about my sweetheart?” his voice dropped to a deep baritone as his eyes darkened.Trying to sound bored, Sush looked out the windshield and uttered, “You took a call last week after work and rushed out after that, like you’ve been caught cheating on her.”There was one word in that sentence that smothered his defensiveness and splattered perplexity on him instead. For a brief second, he wondered if they were referring to the same person. Then, the waters of amused comprehension washed over him. So that explained
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It wasn’t the mate bond, Greg knew that much. The sparks from one would be stronger, clearer, more will-bending. This wasn’t it. But the flicker warmed his skin, dilated his pupils, and made his heart beat like a pack of rogues running toward their prey.Reluctantly releasing her hands, he uttered, “Let’s go. We don’t want to be late.”Both doors lifted and Sush was forced to get out of the car when the person she wanted to scream at had already gotten out. The temptation to yell was as strong as the need to hide away for a few hours until she’d decided how best to present herself again after that debacle.She was jealous, even though they weren’t anything.
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“Your Grace. This is a surprise.” Ferdinand finally yielded.“I can tell, seeing that your shock impeded your visual and auditory perception,” Greg replied monotonously, still disregarding the man’s title and position. The gears in his head continued to turn. They’d never met. He’d seen the man’s photo, but that wasn’t where Greg recognized… parts of him. This person - his energy and scent were as new as they were foreign, but segments of his features reminded Greg of someone. He just couldn’t figure out who.Ferdinand’s frown forced itself into a superficial smile as he straightened himself in his seat. Dropping the ball next to a paperweight, he stated, “I can see and hear you, Your Grace.”
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“WHAT?” Sush’s voice blared in Greg’s car and his lycan was pushed back by the volume before he got back up and demanded his human to ask what was going on.Sush put Hazel on speaker as the deputy reported at a frantic pace, “...autopsy said she’d been dead for ten hours before the body was found. They took a full hour to identify her before notifying us about…” Greg double-parked as Hazel’s voice continued ringing through. “...the cause of death - multiple stab wounds to her chest, abdomen and face. No belongings were taken. Cash, credit cards, a five-figure watch remained intact and present on the property. They weren’t after money. Valor is sending four archers to retrieve her body and the defense ministry has been notified. Did Ferdinand say anything?”&ldqu
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Sush and Greg were the only two at the cafeteria. Two mugs of black coffee sat between them, along with cream puffs, bagels and a chicken sandwich - all untouched, even after Greg had spread the cream cheese for her.“One thing, Sush,” Greg urged, leaning in. “Just eat one thing.”She blinked, coming back to the room. Eyes assessed her options, and she picked up half a bagel - the half with a more generous amount of cream cheese, biting into it without really tasting the flavors and texture.Greg popped a cream puff into his mouth as he continued watching her, praying Jade got the archives and correspondences fast so her mind would be kept away from the whys and focused on the hows.This
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Greg’s thumb fiddling the ear of the mug paused, eyes enlarged and jaw tensed, finding no humor in Sush, who simply shrugged.Annoyance set in, and he noted pointedly, “Sush, as much as I want to, we’ve established that I can’t read your mind. Kindly elaborate.”She was going to tell him. She just didn’t know where to start. Patterson and Carter were an item for quite a while, before Sush herself joined the hunters. Greg’s impatience had put a stop to her mind that had already been slowed from the day’s events. The words “as much as I want to” did most of the magic, conjuring thoughts that Sush never thought she had.Deciding for
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A day later, after taking off from work, Jade, Sush, and Hazel met at Greg’s place after Greg had completed his chat session with Enora. Only when Enora had to say a sad goodbye and utter the routine “I love you” did Greg let the three in, replying, “I love you too, sweetheart. Sweet dreams. Talk to you tomorrow.”The words drew nothing out of Jade, who - like every maverick - knew who it was at the other end of the line, so he extracted his stuff and methodically arranged everything on the kitchen counter like it was just another evening after work; it shocked Hazel, who kept up with news and gossip of all kinds yet didn’t know Greg already had someone; and as for Sush, who knew he said those words while letting them in on purpose - she shot him an annoyed glare which ea
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The octopuses completed the screening Valor asked for within a week. Hunters were either relocated, given more team members or reassigned completely. They sent a formal request to the government, urging them to improve communication systems in remote areas. Once Ferdinand shared the horrors of Catrine Carter’s death, the motion to see through the hunters’ request received a unanimous vote.There was some noise made by a member of the opposition party, a young woman named Joyce Clearwater, who promptly reminded the house that her party had made those recommendations several times before but was brushed aside by the leading party, using this opportunity to argue that the leading party would never take precautions seriously until the people suffered “in the most tragic manner”. Despite the slurs that went on for a few minutes after that, the result was the same - improve
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Days after Kenji’s update, Sush was no closer to figuring out the last time she came in touch with Upshaw, and Asahi pointedly told the eastern leader that despite the eastern attacks - which he was still blaming Kenji and his octopuses for - he would never stoop below professionalism and hunter hierarchy. That assertion was entirely believable because Asahi has never broken a single rule in his career - be it something as serious as committing treachery or as trivial as abiding to lunch hour to the dot. That brought them back to the lead itself: what did Upshaw mean? When did she and Sush last meet? It was probably when Upshaw was still in the western headquarters, and the exchange was either in a queue during lunch at the cafeteria or that they brushed past each other on the archer’s floor when their practice sessions coincided. In both scenarios, they wouldn’t have even spared each other a nod or greeting. Did that count as being in touch? “What’s on your mind?” Greg’s drawl bru
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After the meal, the families strolled around the greenery of small trees and flower beds, mingling with other families and teachers. Pups either left their parents’ side to play with their friends or were clung onto tightly by their respective parents as their teacher spilled every detail on their grades and behavior in class. Some grinned with pride while others hid behind their parents’ legs, which were as good a hiding spot as having none. Little Ken was well-loved in terms of character and behavior, but could use some help in sports. Reida and Ianne were a lovable pair mostly due to their inquisitive nature, but their chatter during lessons was incredibly hard to stop. The teachers - especially the science teacher - appreciated that their chats were about the scrawls of facts and processes on the board, but he made it a point to note that he’d appreciate it more if their discussion didn’t come when he was still talking and trying to get the pups to pay attention. Lewis was ado
The Indomitable Huntress & the Hardened Duke Stina's Note
Dear readers,We’ve come to the end of The Indomitable Huntress & the Hardened Duke, and I want to thank everyone who has stuck around. I hope you can spare a few minutes to rate this novel and leave a review here and on *Goodreads*. It'll help a lot in seeking new readers and sharing the love!Thank you for the gems, comments, reviews, follows, and - most of all - patience throughout this journey. When I started Book One, I would have never thought this would be the direction I’d take in Book Three, especially not when I was writing the first few chapters of my debut, but here we are.I named the female lead Sushmita after my closest friend in the sixth form (she doesn’t know yet), coupled with Alagumalai which means “beautiful mountain” and is part of the name of my favorite English teacher (she doesn’t know either). I almost chickened out and was going to use something generic, but the tale didn’t carry the spark I wanted as I began writing, so I swapped it back. If either of them e
The Indomitable Huntress & the Hardened Duke Epilogue
Xandar’s jet landed next to the Forest of Oderem and everyone trailed out to meet Pelly, Octavia, Rafael and Amber. The forest greeted them with the waft of freshly baked goods and a gentle breeze, growing pink and amber-colored flowers around Enora and bringing the butterflies that she always loved seeing. One landed on her nose and Enora’s hands were about to catch it when it flew away. The breeze brought along dried leaves of different shape, color and texture, raining them on Reida and Ianne who collected them. The girls even brought a small sack to gather them after their first visit, always patting the branch that would magically extend toward them as a way of conveying their thanks. Sush lay her eyes on the forest for the first time, feeling an undeniable
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A week after they’d returned from their honeymoon, the pups came over. Christian had been adamant about keeping his family away from Greg in the beginning, but it was difficult to keep his son away from Sush, so trust was built over time. In the first twenty times Sush and Greg brought Lewis to the park when they took Enora, Christian and Annie went along, staying on the benches solely to observe, learning from there that their son had a knack for something other than his camera. Unlike Ken, Lewis wasn’t good with puzzles - wasn’t patient enough, but he picked up catapulting quite quickly, shooting fake nests off high branches, even accidentally catapulting Greg in his ass in his first try when Greg was placing the nests into trees. Lewis gasped and quickly hid the weapon behind his back the moment Greg turned around with a
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In the following week after returning from the kingdom, a paternity test was taken, and it confirmed Sush carried Ferdinand’s genes - a fact that didn’t surprise him but disgusted her. Of all the things she imagined her birth father to be, a defense minister that was the epitome of an irresponsible, disloyal, and unreliable hypocrite was not one of them.Upon learning this, Sush sat on the couch and stared into space.Greg came over soon after, placed her on his lap and asked whether she wanted to talk things through; preferred if he just held her and stayed silent; or simply wanted to be left alone so he should leave for now. At the mention of the last option, Sush grabbed onto his shirt - her action conveying that she did not want him to leave before her words did. She asked for the second option, and a very quiet
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Back at work, many were pleased to learn that media scrutiny and public pressure were immense enough to force Ferdinand and Valor to take a temporary leave from office pending investigations of the reports made. Therefore, the two defense systems that human territories relied on now fell into the hands of the deputy defense minister, Agu, and for the hunters, the majority decided they wanted Sush, who received the same magnitude of support from the ministry with Agu placing the discussion of lifting her suspension as the first thing on the agenda in the first meeting held without Ferdinand.The second thing on the agenda was to officially remove the defense ministry’s superiority over the hunters, letting them exist as a separate entity with its own independence, working with them as a partner rather than a subordinate. Agu’s proposal was not well-received, and many suggested they
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Before her eyes opened the next morning, Sush’s heightened sense of smell detected the distinct scent of musk and sandalwood wafting stronger than before from the creature lying next to her. Her eyelids slowly lifted as her vision adjusted to the darkness, and she was welcomed with a very clear view of the most gorgeous man in existence. She wondered if it was possible to find him more alluring simply from being able to smell him better now. The tip of his lips quirked, lilac eyes gazing into hers.He dozed off seconds after her the night before, and woke up just minutes before she did, using the time alone to watch her sleep, then watch her wake, which was better than watching the sunrise or sunset. He never understood the point in those. It was something that happened everyday. Surely, at some point, anyone would get bored of it.
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After a very long day of surrendering the hostages to the police and making reports, submitting a public statement for the media to circulate throughout the kingdom, empire and human territory in case someone did something to cover-up the truth, everyone dragged their exhausted selves back home.In the diplomatic residence, Sush was in sweatpants and one of Greg’s shirts as they lay in bed. She lay on her side facing him, head resting on his arm, hand on his bare torso as Greg’s fingers fiddled with her hair, relishing in the tiny sparks that dotted his fingers when he touched the strands. When he wanted to feel a higher charge, his fingers went to her shoulder, pulling up the sleeve to feel her bare skin, leaving goosebumps that his fingertips continued stroking through.“Hey,” she began in a whisper.
