How infuriating! Allana was the princess of the Owen family; the it girl who so many boys at school dreamed of having a chance to be with! But Zayn was not only not thrilled by the chance—he called her a royal pain in the neck! Was Allana that... unpalatable?!No, it could not be the case that her charms were lacking. She rather believed it was because of Zayn’s sexuality than that!The night matured into a darker shade as it ushered a cold into the air. Allana was wearing a thin layer of clothing with her, and when coupled with her tears-stricken cheeks, bracing through a nightly breeze made her shiver.Zayn took off his outer garment and put it around her. “Look, he’s not worth your reaction, you know? There are way nicer, decent men out there who will happily take you up. Dying on a hill like Bo is just a dreadful waste. Now, it’s getting late, and you should go home. Get a good night’s rest and you’ll see—it gets easier to bear the next day.”Just a second ago, Allana had felt
Faye felt bad for leaving Zayn hungry, so she threw her arms around him and purred, “Maybe… it’s high time I share you with another woman?”“You—what?!” Zayn cried out in surprise, “You’ve gotta be kidding, right?”Faye shook her head. “No, I’m serious. I can’t satisfy you, I know that. Your endurance is leagues beyond a normal man’s, and not getting fulfilled can’t be a good thing in the long run.”Zayn was stunned into jaw-breaking silence. It went on for a while before he broke his own spell. “That’s it, silly girl. You’re being weird. For crying out loud, do I look like the kind of guy who would do that?” he rebuked. “Anyway, let’s just end the topic right now. We go to sleep and say no more about this, okay?”Faye had a bit more to add to the conversation, but Zayn had already lied down on his side. Seemingly asleep, he had his back against whatever it was she wanted to say, so Faye kept quiet and let the topic die.Of course, Zayn never did fall asleep, because the shock of
The Great Hunt was about to begin.Once again, Shaelyn extended the competition’s invitation to Zayn, making it a point that it was the place to be if he wanted to be acquainted with even more ‘interesting characters.’ The Great Hunt was supposedly a boon to his social networking, which then paved an even better way to his future.Zayn was not really in it, though. Hunting did not interest him, and he would rather spend what time he had with Faye. It was Hyde who managed to convince him with an intriguing claim.“I think you should join the Great Hunt, Young Master.”“Because…?”“Because many of the nation’s best fighters and hunters will be there. Those who hunted the game won a hefty reward. But most importantly… The competition tacitly allows people to be killed during the competition.”That piqued Zayn’s interest. “Really? You can kill games and people? Does Aeolus House own so much power, it’s beyond reproach?”Mr. Hyde shook his head. “No, Aeolus House isn’t the host of th
Zayn answered the call with a direct request. “Cut to the chase.”Infuriated, Shaelyn harrumphed loudly enough for anyone to hear the resentment and embarrassment etched in her voice. “What, is this your way of telling me I don’t mean a thing to you?”“Can you please stop flirting with me already, Shaelyn? Get down to business already before my wife gets the wrong idea,” Zayn retorted snappishly.Shaelyn was confused. Why is this specific man such a tough nut to crack? Why was her charm not working on him as it should?Of course, since Zayn had made it clear that he was in no mood for flirting and fun, she did go straight to the point. “Since the Great Hunt starts tomorrow, we’ll have to be there by this evening. The venue isn’t anywhere within Waltz City but a remote location deep in the northern forest. This is the real reason why you should be here already.”After confirming her information with what Mr. Hyde knew, he finally exclaimed with an undertone of resentment, “For God’
Zayn jolted backward right there and then. Him—sharing a room with Shaelyn goddamn Peach?! To hell with that!“You’ve got to be f**king kidding me. Since when am I supposed to share a room with you?!” Zayn cried, his eyes widening. He might have inserted a few conspicuous steps between himself and Shaelyn, but his heart was still beating like a drum despite himself.How could this not be a joke? To share a room with a renowned sex bomb like Shaelyn Peach was precisely the sort of impression no masterclass explanation or defense could possibly clear. To add more into the impossibility, Zayn was a married man—how was he supposed to say “this is okay”?Worst of all, one look at the way Shaelyn carried herself, and Zayn knew how possible a very messy entanglement between them was.Shaelyn seemed oddly surprised at Zayn’s surprise. “Are you telling me you didn’t know so many joined the Great Hunt to the point of room shortage, which is why many of us have to share a room with someone el
Shaelyn might have as well slapped Stephen on the face with a retort like that. Naturally, the man’s scowl deepened. Of course, the real target to bear the brunt of his fury and malice was not never going to be Shaelyn. To Stephen, the culprit had been no one but Zayn.“Oh, so you think you can just come out of nowhere, snatch someone I’ve been working on, and think everything’s cool now? You got nerves, pal. What’s your name? I want to see if you’re worth any sh*t,” Stephen grunted, his malicious eyes drilling through Zayn like stakes.Zayn was starting to get very annoyed at how frequent this happened to him. People just keep finding new ways to misunderstand him! Now, he would have tried to be a bit more amicable if they were still within the bounds of Waltz City, but the Great Hunt was about to begin, and the fact that it allowed participants to murder each other in the process quickly made maintaining civility a pointless effort. Trying to explain himself to small fries like t
“Alright. He’s gone. You can unhand me now, right?” Zayn intoned, rolling his eyes in annoyance.She widened her eyes and gawked at him with disbelief, as though this was the first time they had ever met.Zayn rubbed his cheeks, confused. “Okay, now what? What’s on my face?”Shaelyn drew her eyes away from him without releasing her grip. In fact, she doubled down on the strength of her hug and let Zayn’s body smash against her soft, fleshy assets. Nothing was more ludicrous than the expression she wore, though, evident in her swooning, “Oh my god. Oh! My God! That was soooo manly, I don’t even think I know you anymore, Zayn! That was like, so hawt—I’m crying in love right now!”Zayn was at a loss of what to say about her acting chops that he could only roll his eyes. For crying out loud, Shaelyn was a grown woman who was acting like a swooning teenager! “God, can you act your age for a change? You’re too old to put on those teenager mannerisms! Aren’t you embarrassed of yourself?”
“God, just thinking about how we never got to f**k him up pisses me off so hard!”“I know right? You know, I’m starting to think that even if we did punish him, the Aeolus House isn’t gonna really hold it against us, man!”One by one, Stephen’s friends began to rant and whine about missed opportunities and their chief stopping them.Stephen narrowed his eyes as they glinted in icy killing intent. “What do you people know about punishment, hmm? All a beating could do to him was inflicting some bodily harm—he doesn’t deserve that kind of charity,” he growled with a sadistic edge. “It’s the Great Hunt tomorrow, after all. If he has the balls to attend it, good. This competition would just turn into a manhunt. I want him to die watching himself bled dry. I want his hopes to die before he joins them.”His friends, who started out more as a rowdy band of indignant brothers, froze. Chill began to crawl through their spines. For them, the punishment was simple—they gave him a lesson that,