A few minutes later, Emma was trudging through the silent forest with five strange men. She had pleaded countless times for them to reveal the person behind their operation but they refused. The other three men who had shot Axel and his counterparts had joined the two who had captured her and were chatting away about things related to their pack whose name she hadn’t been told. She didn’t dare run from the men because it was pointless. They would catch her within a minute. Besides, annoying them would not make things better for all those involved.
When they came out of the forest, two black cars were waiting. Having given up on escape, Emma got into one. She could only hope she was not being taken to someone who hated her like Michelle. She sat in the backseat with one of the men and looked through the tinted glass as the car sped towards the city.
The human city was bustling with activity, very different from most of the places she was used to. There was a lot of traffic, noise and crowds. Emma wondered how the humans did not get headache every day, having to live in that kind of environment.
The car stopped outside a large gated mansion with a big yard. Emma could not even admire the place as she was too worried about what she would encounter inside the mansion. Sometimes beautiful-looking places are the ugliest. The foyer was large. Almost everything in the mansion was golden in colour. From the floors to the walls and the chandelier. Even the lights gave off a golden hue. It was around seven pm when they got there.
They found one person. She was wearing a maid’s uniform with a half apron.
“Hi dear,” she said to Emma. “Come with me. I’ll take you to your room so you can get cleaned up.”
“Okay,” Emma said. A person who ensured she cleaned up couldn’t possibly want to kill her. As she was following the friendly-looking woman, she remembered how she had been cleaned up when the vampire king wanted to have his way with her. Her face fell.
“Why all this secrecy?” Emma asked the woman when she opened a wooden door at the end of the hallway.
The woman smiled. “Don’t you worry about a thing? The person in charge of this operation is a good man and will not let you be harmed. That was why he had Axel White killed. That man would never have stopped hunting you down. It was either you or him.”
Emma smiled sadly. “I’m glad it was him. I’m grateful to whoever this person is. That’s why I’m very curious. Do you live here as a pack?”
“Yes, all the houses around this neighbourhood belong to my pack. Humans are banned from buying houses in this estate. When houses are vacant, we never advertise them to humans because there are always those stubborn ones who say they’ll do anything to buy certain houses. They have no idea that we don’t need their law enforcement to make them disappear.”
“Interesting,” Emma commented, looking around the clean room. It was small but had all the necessities of a guest room. “So, does it mean it’s your alpha who had Axel killed?”
The woman smiled. “Don’t worry so much about these things. Everything will be okay. I have no reason to lie to you so believe me. As long as you’re in this house, you’ll be very safe. No one can harm you.”
“I wish I could believe you.”
“No worries. I’m gonna leave you to take a shower. I’ve already prepared some clothes, as you can see.”
Emma glanced at the two folded dresses on the bed. There was some underwear and a jacket as well. “Thank you,” she said to the woman.
“No problem,” the woman said. “I’ll leave now.”
When the woman had closed the door, Emma removed her clothes and went to the bathroom. She turned on the cold water and stood under it, shivering as the icy water cooled her body. She was feeling so low that she didn’t even care about what she was doing. Her movements were mechanical and fairly uncoordinated. When she got tired of the water, she turned it off and removed the towel from the hook near the door. She wrapped it around herself and went into the room where she lay on the bed and stared at the ceiling.
About an hour later, the woman returned to the room and woke Emma up. She had fallen asleep. After begging the woman to let her sleep in vain, Emma got up and put one a blue dress. It was short and had pink flowers in it. The woman who had introduced herself as Margaret brushed Emma’s hair. Emma felt something she had not felt in a very long time. A motherly touch. It relaxed her and made her tear up.
“Why are you crying?” the woman asked.
“It’s been so long since I’ve felt like this, cared for by a motherly figure. I know I shouldn’t be feeling this way for a stranger but I feel safe with you.”
The woman smiled, looking at Emma through the mirror they were both facing. “It’s okay. Where is your mother?”
Suddenly, the door opened and a man peeped in. “The boss will be here soon. Can you please bring her downstairs quickly?”
“Which one?”
“Both,” the man replied.
The woman immediately dropped her comb on the table.
“Get up, let’s go.”
“You said he wasn’t a bad man. Why are you in such a hurry? Were you lying to me this whole time, trying to gain my trust?”
The woman shook her head. “Didn’t you hear him? He said both. Our alpha is very strict when it comes to time management. In fact, I’m even surprised that he is late today. They should have been here by now and you should be in the dining room.”
Emma sighed and followed the woman out of the room. While heading towards the dining, Emma caught a whiff of a very familiar scent.
She froze.