His Huntress Mate

Betrothal Annulation

While tugging the gun an inch away from his neck, Jane stared at the man's eyes to ensure the seriousness of his words in her endeavor of anticipating not falling for the trick he set.

"I will gladly grant your wish."

Her index finger moved to the deadly part of the revolver, her eyes fixing on him. With merely one pull on the trigger, she could send him to hell. However, as if falling under the hypnotize of his gaze, her hand shook; she lost all her strength. It was not only the gun dropping from her hold but her surroundings also conspiring to betray her. For her carelessness, her feet slipped and tumbled; if only Andrew's hands did not catch her body, it was her who met the grim reaper.

In Andrew's arms, her body still stuck for the time being with the darkness of the jungle and the depth of the cliff witnessing their closeness. None of them initiated to release their body from each other until the time jerked them up.

"You shouldn't have helped me." Jane hissed while creating the space between them.

"I shouldn't have. But, my instinct told me not to let you die."

"You surely know the consequences of letting me live. You may be safe this time, not another time."

"I admire your confidence in your capability. I'll be looking forward to the day when I meet you again."

The conceited sneer arose in his curled lips upon throwing her with the contempt that annoyed her more. To her reaction, the urge to slap his face flooded her chest but she was too weak to hurt him now.

"That's for certain, for I won't allow those who killed my father to wander around."

That man stood up with no purpose of giving a verbal response to her words. He watched over the area where they were which raised Jane's suspicion about his effort for a way to flee.

In this situation, however, Jane was unable to fight against him or anticipate his escape for her unfit body. It was no good anyway to force to harm him for her failure in her mission of killing him.

The trauma of nearly plunging to the cliff still haunted her; her body still shook because of that. With this condition, it was hard for Jane to hold the gun properly let alone to shoot him to end his life. For nothing she could do in this dark forest, Jane's feet carried her away, paving the narrow street. Andrew's voice ceased her footsteps. It was not his yell that unnerved her but his vow.

"Let God bear witness that in our next counter, either it is you or me; one of us should leave this world."

***

The turmoils filled the ballroom. It was only a second for laughter to change into tears; the sorrow removed the joy. The music stopped at the news the bodyguards brought. No more dance as the quietness took over the area of the room.

The people swarmed in groups; from their mouths existed either condolences or complaints. Some of them questioned the incident outside the mansion they were clueless about.

The Douglass pack who had not learned what happened looked sorrowful; pale painted their faces. Even tears puddled in the eyes of some of the old women in the room who failed to hold them back for forfeiting Andrew, their pride.

The situation hit Aeron with guilt for he knew it was a part of his brother's trick to free himself from the engagement he never wanted. He, with a pale expression, standing next to his mother, who managed to act normally behind her fake calmness, had nothing to say but to listen to the whispers of the people in the room.

As the bad news of Andrew's a*******n had caused this occurrence at the event, his great name faded away. The murmurs spread the rumors of his weaknesses. Some judged him as incapable; he did not deserve his position. Others had no say in their lack of information about him.

"How could someone like him be an alpha?" questioned a man from the Blood Moon pack; the nods of agreement followed his protest.

"He undeniably lacks the capacity to be a future leader." Another comment came from another guest who also doubted Andrew's capability.

"I think it is important to hear from the pack leader." The one among them who appeared to be wise soothed his friends not to easily judge for none of them had an idea what actually occurred.

"You are right. Mr. Douglass should say something about this matter." His friend concurred.

In the other corner, the Williams family seemed disappointed with how the Douglass family served them as a guest for not guarding the party safely. Some grumbled under their breath at the pause of the ball. The others commented on how hurtful it was to be Scarlet, being abandoned by her fiance.

Scarlet's gazes dropped to the floor in sadness for the day she should have celebrated her happiness, she faced a bitter reality, instead. When her father approached her, her chin lifted and a fake smile bloomed on her red lips which contradicted her woeful eyes.

"I shall talk to Mr. Douglass about this." Her father decided, noticing the sorrow in his daughter's gazes, but Scarlet's hands along with her shaking head stopped him. "It is their responsibility to cope with this situation."

"I know but let them say something at their own initiative, father." She, in her weak voice for losing her fiance, begged her father to stay where he was. With a heavy heart, he shifted nowhere for the sake of his daughter.

Meanwhile, under the circumstances of frenzy induced by Andrew's disappearance, Oliver, in his effort to calm the mass of the people, made his decision to close the event. In the center, he stood firmly facing the throng of people whose mouths were still full of criticism toward his son. Deeply, he sucked his breath in preparation for his speech, conveying his last words to convince them of the credibility of the alpha.

"I stand here, on behalf of my pack, to express an apology for the unexpected incident which has caused inconvenience to all the guests. My son has indeed disappeared. However, it is his duty of fighting against the rioter which forced him to leave the party earlier. The news about his kidnap is completely baseless and wrong."

The bee-like buzzing voices of the people's whispers responded to his statements as soon as his speech met its full stop. Even though most of them believed in his words through their nods and verbal comments, those from the Blood Moon pack would not easily devour his arguments as the truth. Their eyes assertively doubted whatever came out of Oliver's mouth.

"Mr. Douglass…," Mr. Williams took his place in the center beside Oliver to express his thoughts. "We appreciate your good intention, however for this betrothal, it will be better to look upon whether or not we should continue this relationship between your son and my daughter."

It shot Scarlet with a broken heart, rather than relief upon listening to her father's remark. Her stares of disbelief and frustration went to the old man she respected the most; how could her father disappoint her this way by canceling the engagement? An urge to protest his decision loaded her chest and one of her feet had taken one step further but her father's next sentence halted all her effort.

"We are grateful for the warm welcome and great banquet you have organized for this unforgettable moment. However, we should excuse ourselves as the party has ended. Thank you so much, Mr. and Mrs. Douglass."

Oliver's chin jerked up in surprise at Williams' announcement which exhorted him to speak up. It was too quick for him to make such a decision without asking his opinion. Oliver, in response to his farewell words, stated his objection regarding his conclusion of the engagement.

"Wr. Williams, as for the betrothal, I suggest we shall arrange another meeting to talk about it. My son is not here with us; in my opinion, it is important to listen to his thoughts about this before deciding whether or not to discontinue the connection."

"I do apologize, Sir. However, we no longer take this as an interesting matter to discuss. We should be leaving."

He, with a displeased expression, bid farewell to the Douglass family before he gestured his people to go. With the regretful looks of the Douglass people, Mr. Williams and his daughter along with his people left the room without even looking back. Scarlet took a final behold at the people in the room with the hope of spotting Andrew among them. Her vision only caught the agony of the faces there.

***

In his chamber, Aeron walked forth back in apprehension about his brother whom he had no clue of where he was now at this hour. Did they truly kill him and throw his corpse in the forest so that no one would discover it?

That thought hit him with craziness for nothing he could now in his strive of seeking him. His father would surely punish him if he ever knew the lie his sons created. It got them either whipped or imprisoned for a certain amount of time.

Landing his butt on the chair, Aeron sighed in despair as there was no idea of how to overcome this problem he could think of. In the middle of his struggle to find a way to break out of the mansion to save his brother, the knocks on the door startled him. Who visited him in his room at midnight?

Once the door was pulled open, Aeron's eyes balled out in shock.