Cursed Lycan: Stand-in For My Sister's Mate

Chapter 8: Reason

Thousands of scenarios ran through her brain, all composed of bloody scenes. Maybe he would hack her for days or instantly turn her body into a bloody puddle for deceiving him?

She tensed, expecting the worst possible outcome. After she miraculously survived in Selia’s coming of age ceremony, today wasn’t going to be her funeral day, right?

“Am I that scary?” He whispered to her, his voice tickled her ear, giving a strange sensation.

She opened her eyes and was stunned when she realized that she had closed them.

“Sorry, it’s just that I am not used to it yet.” She inhaled deeply and then exhaled to soothe her nerves.

Rion didn’t do anything? She couldn’t help but look at herself and sniffed, looking for any smell of hers that might be somewhat similar to Selia.

“Oh, you haven’t taken a bath yet?” Rion let go of her and raised his eyebrows.

She looked away, a bit embarrassed. Sniffing herself like that, she must looked like a weirdo. The most embarrassing fact was that he had found out about her lie.

Werewolves’ senses were naturally high, and he must have smelled the fresh soap on her. It made her a bit guilty. Mostly because she was acting so close with a man that wasn’t her mate; worse, he was her sister’s mate.

“That’s fine.” He stopped teasing her and gave her a slight smile. Then, as if he couldn’t help himself, he chuckled loudly, “I can help you get used to it over time.”

Hearing his words, she was in a momentary trance. She felt really conflicted. When people started treating her in a good way, it was still because of Selia.

The pack members’ attitude toward her also changed overnight. They might have hypnotized themselves into thinking that she was the real Selia. It was only Danny who occasionally showed his dislike because she was pretending to be her.

“What are you thinking about? Your face is so serious.” He flicked her forehead. She let out an instinctive growl.

Realizing what she just did to Rion, she took a peek to find out about his reaction. His bottom line for his mate wouldn’t be so low, right?

He was staring at her with an inexplicable expression. He wasn’t annoyed nor angry.

Iris suddenly thought that maybe it wasn’t so bad to follow them to their pack after all. Although she still needed to pay attention so that they wouldn’t find out the real her, the condition was good.

At the thought of many powerful warriors, her eyes light up. Last night, Rion gave her a lot of advice and pointed out her flaws. If she could spar with some of the Silver Royal pack’s warriors, her strength would definitely increase.

She just needed to remind herself to stay careful and always conscious of her position, though. After all, it has always been Selia’s. She should set an obvious goal.

That man also wasn’t someone to be trifled with, including his sharp and strong pack members. The way he treated her and other people was vastly different. It was as if in front of his mate; he was a completely different person.

He had more tolerance for his mate. As if all his tolerance were reserved for only her.

She inhaled. She deeply just realized what kind of pirate ship she had just boarded. The more he loved his mate, the greater his anger would be when he found out that the pack shoved him an impostor.

It was bound to happen someday. There was no denying it.

Iris could hypnotize herself with this line of thinking. After they found Selia and she returned to Rion’s side, she would take the fastest step out of their sight. She would have been hundreds of miles away, embarking on her own journey and thus, saved her little life.

She also just found out about the pack’s motive that they insist on her pretending to be his mate.

The pack’s herb garden was ransacked by a strong demonic creature. They needed help from a stronger pack to get rid of it. So, they thought of Rion’s pack and they also agreed, as long as he could take Selia away.

Rion put the strand of falling hair behind Iris’ ear and he suddenly dropped a bomb at her. “Be prepared. We are leaving tomorrow.”

She opened her mouth, looking at him in shock. “Tomorrow? But-but…”

“If you are wondering about that creature, we are going to get rid of it tonight.” He explained, “so, tomorrow we can immediately set off.”

“Isn’t that too soon…?” She trailed off.

Rion had a thoughtful look on his face. “Do you want to wait for your sister to come back and say goodbye?”

Iris’ face twitched inwardly. Wouldn’t that be akin to blowing up their own spectacle? Once ‘Iris’ never showed up, they would immediately sense that something was wrong.

“It’s fine.” She lowered her eyes and swallowed. “My sister doesn’t like me anyway…”

As if Rion could sense the turbulence in Iris’ emotions, he didn’t press her further. “It’s decided then, we are leaving tomorrow.”

Inwardly, Iris groaned. Why should she enter the wolf’s den so soon?

Of course, that’s because of that stupid demonic creature that invaded their herb garden, making the pack thin in their supply of medicine. The pack was also worried if that creature would suddenly turn to the pack’s residents and attack them.

She had some hatred for that demonic creature. Should she sneak in and try to fight it before the Silver Royal members kill it?

The idea sounded so tempting that for the whole time they were having lunch; she kept on fidgeting. She couldn’t wait to run there and vent her anger.

After all, because of it, she was tangled up in this situation. If the pack were to tell her sooner, maybe she could try to test out its strength straight away. Even if she couldn’t kill it, she might be able to chase it away. That way, they didn’t need to invite the Silver Royal pack and sold her ass.

As soon as the lunch finished, she snuck out of the pack residents and headed toward the herb garden.

“What are you doing here?” Danny appeared out of nowhere and dragged her as she was about to enter the area.

“Oh, my sister’s henchman is here. Say, Danny, what’s the chance of killing whatever creature is there without involving the Silver Royal pack?” She put her hand on her cheek in a thoughtful gesture.

“You are crazy.” Danny scoffed. “We would have a lot of casualties if we were to deal with it on our own. Don’t you see that we can’t even wound it even a little? All the pack members who came were killed by it.”

He rubbed his temples, feeling that this girl was becoming more and more lawless! Shoving her toward the direction of the pack residents, he told her with gritted teeth, “You go back. Don’t make things difficult here.”

Iris took a peek inside, and then obediently followed his instructions. Forget it, since she couldn’t get out of this situation, anyway. Let the Silver Royal pack do the job. They shouldn’t kidnap her for free, at least.

Letting out a sigh, she finally jogged back to the pack’s residents. On her way there, she met Mary and another woman that walked side by side with her.

“Ah, I am really sorry, Miss.” The woman suddenly stumbled, and she instantly apologized. Her shoulder bumped against Iris; her face showed a very frightened expression.

“That’s fine,” Iris said nonchalantly. After exchanging small pleasantries with Mary, she continued to jog toward the pack’s residents.

However, before she could take another step forward, she frowned. Behind her, there was a deafening roar that resounded through the woods, shaking the trees and chasing off the birds away.

She turned back. Instantly, the sight of a giant ape with red eyes greeted her. And it was coming toward her, full speed and filled with anger.

Iris secretly cursed. She avoided the trouble, but it always insist on knocking at her door instead. This giant ape looked incredibly strong with a robust body full of muscles. She wondered how she could fare against it.

If she couldn’t deal with it, there was still Rion, right? She subconsciously put her trust in him.

The pack members who watched the incoming giant ape were all horrified. Iris glanced at it, and then shifted to her wolf form. Whenever she went, it followed her. She guided the giant ape in the direction of the woods.

The pack members who were watching were inundated with anxiety, especially when the giant ape reached for Iris’ neck.

She was fast, nimbly avoided it. The small wolf was such a contrast to the gigantic ape that was as tall as an enormous tree. Iris and the gigantic ape immediately disappeared from the sight.

Iris tried to make some wounds on its body, but she found that its skin was incredibly hard. She couldn’t even make a dent.

With a frown, she tried to hold off the gigantic ape. She needed to find its weakness fast. Every demonic creature had at least one or two weaknesses. She tried to bite its neck and swung her body to its shoulder.

Yet, before she could execute the plan, she spotted something. She saw the vague outline of a person, who seemed to be sprinkling something around them. All of a sudden, the giant ape became restless. It was more aggressive than before.

Iris had no choice but to fight it. Until it was unknown how long she had been fighting. Her arm was already badly mangled; she was becoming tired. She almost couldn’t hold it anymore, but there was no sign of Rion or the Silver Royal pack member everywhere.

Some hours later, she finally let out a bitter laugh. For how many more times she was going to believe someone and get betrayed for it?

“Did he know already that I am not Selia and planning to get rid of me this way?” She muttered under her breath. She didn’t know whether that suspicious person was from Silver Royal pack or not.

This time, she managed to deal some damage to the giant ape’s body. However, she fell into despair when she saw another figure of a giant ape coming their way.