Chapter 39 - The Hunt I

CELESTINA VILLARAMA'S POV

"I'm the one who invited her here, Alpha Siege. Don't be too hard on her; she recently came back here," Amelia told the alpha, who still hadn't removed his fingers from my shoulders even though they were already gushing out blood. "We were in the middle of a discussion too, so if you may please let her go..." She stepped in front of me, and I could see the concern through the depths of her eyes.

Amelia attempted to pull Siege's hand away from me, but it was already buried deeply, and once it got pulled out, it would definitely give me a wound that wouldn't heal. Even so, she didn't give up on me. Those little hisses of Siege made me think that Amelia was the only one here that he could never oppose.

As if those words he said earlier was only a mere threat by mouth, but he won't even take it seriously.

"You're lucky that you stumbled upon her. If not, I would've taken your life," Siege muttered before he released me, letting me regenerate at will. "Forget about proceeding with your conversation with Celestina. You're forgetting the number one rule that I told you, Amelia..." There was a sense of dominance in his tone, which led the maid to sincerely apologize for what she did.

"Why are you trying so hard not to let me know her name?" I randomly asked, as if I hadn't even gotten injured by him a few seconds ago. "I'm the one in that picture, aren't I?" I pointed at the frame, which he hid behind his back.

The alpha couldn't look me straight in the eye as soon as I asked him that question. "You pretended to be my fated mate, and now you're assuming that you're the woman that I treasured since I was a small kid?" He scoffed, shaking his head in disbelief of my arrogance.

I rolled my eyes at the same time that I crossed my arms below my chest. "If you say so..." I tried to get out of the room, but Amelia shut the door before I could've left. "I have no business with the alpha, Amelia. Don't lock me here with this man who rejected me... My wolf is getting infuriated just by looking at him," I murmured through the center of the door, as if the maid could hear me from the other side of it.

"Stop bluffing, Celestina. You don't even possess a wolf," Siege mocked me.

I sensed his footsteps getting closer to my position, so I turned to face him before he could corner me on the wall. "I have a wolf within me, Alpha Siege. I was simply cursed by the moon goddess, and that's probably the reason why you can't even detect our mate bond," I said to stop him from advancing any further.

There was a hint of despair in his eyes, making me wonder if it was really Siege who felt that or if it was his wolf. I don't know what to feel about him. I detest him, but...

The fact that we've known each other since we were kids just makes it more difficult for me to deal with him.

Siege grabbed my arm, dragging me along with him inside his walk-in closet. “Take what you think would suit you. We’re heading out the pack house,” he coldly demanded, leaving me behind without anything else to say.

Even if I wanted to ask where our destination was, I was already astounded by the variety of clothes to choose from. Though I only picked simple attire—one that would let me move comfortably without restraint—in case I needed to engage in fights.

“I want to hate him, but my heart just won’t let me…” I murmured to myself with my clenched fist on the edge of my shirt.

Walking out of there, I returned to his room. I saw Siege standing still on the wall with his hands inserted in his pocket. His spiky, gray hair was blocking his face as his gaze was fixed to the floor, and he only glanced in front when he noticed that I was about to go near him.

“Don’t misunderstand my actions, Celestina. I’m doing this for the sake of my damn brother,” Siege mumbled in between his sighs. “He went missing, and he still hasn't returned home for almost a week now,” he added to clarify.

“Master Kristoffer is gone?” I covered my mouth with my palm. “T-that’s impossible… Didn’t he tell you what he was—”

“Stop with your inquiries. I’m not here to entertain you." Siege cut me off, holding my wrist as we moved out of the pack house at such a fast pace as if there was no one blocking our paths.

We went to the Dark Valley, where most of the rogues reside. Even though I couldn’t get a glimpse of them right now, my senses were telling me that they’re around the area. They were probably hiding their presence from the alpha, knowing how powerful Siege was.

“You’re going to join me in my hunt for Kris. If you don’t find him within the next twenty-four hours, I’m going to lock you up in my cell and get you exiled the next day,” Siege informed me.

I quickly grabbed onto his arm before he could leave me behind, like a while ago. “What? Are you telling me that you’re giving me the responsibility to search the beta without any leads?”

Siege nodded his head. “Do you have any problems with that?” He gave me such a deadly glare. “If you do, then I don’t care. Whether you get eaten by the wolves out here before time runs out or you find him, I don’t care.”

Left with no choice, I let him go. “How can I even trust you that Master Kristoffer really is missing? Who knows if you just kept him captive so you could fool me around?” I asked him.

The alpha placed both of his hands above my shoulders, holding them tightly. Then he leaned his face closer to mine, letting our foreheads touch each other. “Stare deeply into my eyes, Celestina,” he ordered.

I gulped when I could no longer avoid having eye contact with him. “What…”

Siege’s eyes turned blue, hinting that he wasn’t merely kidding around; Kristoffer, his brother, was seriously lost.