The heiress without a wolf

Episode4

LEON

The tavern looked emptier than yesterday when I walked in. Only a few of the men from yesterday were present, chugging down on new bottles of wine.

Bran noticed me before I could slip behind a table.

“Come join us!” He roared.

“Thank you Bran,” I waved once. “Not today,”

The bartender came to take my order a few minutes later, but I wanted nothing but to see Indra again.

“There’s fresh beer on today's menu,” she tossed the long black menu board to me.

“Nothing today, thanks,” I replied absently.

“Are you looking for someone?”

“Yes,” my focus swerved instantly. “A girl. Black raven hair, amber eyes, and a boy. About six feet tall, jet black hair. They both look…raggedy. But the girl she’s…she’s pretty. Oddly pretty,”

“You’re talking about Dylan. They were here earlier,” she said.

I leaned off my seat. “Here? Where?”

“Here. They waited for sometime before leaving,”

“Oh…” I cut in with a breath. “They left. Thank you.”

She was still speaking when I stormed out of the tavern. The air outside felt thick, and a heavy familiar scent lingered in it. There were boot prints on the track, scattered but noticeable. I followed them until I arrived at the center of nowhere, where there were more clusters of the prints.

The scent grew stronger when I bent over and scraped the sand. My wolf growled in my head.

Elaris city wolves were here. But under whose command? Were they following me all along?

A necklace lay in the sand. It looked exactly like the one I saw on Indra's neck yesterday. I sniffed it, inhaling every bit of metallic scent around it.

Someone coughed at the corner, pulling my attention away. My claws snapped out instinctively before I figured who it was.

“Dylan?”

He struggled to his feet just before I got to him. Blood trickled down his nose, his forehead was split, creating a pathway for blood to gush out. He staggered into my arms.

“What happened? Where’s Indra?”

He looked at me with blood red eyes, hands trembling around my neck as his breaths wheezed weakly through his nostrils and mouth. “They took her,”

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INDRA

A loud shrilling noise rang in my ear, drawing my consciousness back. It felt like the noise came from inside my head, buzzing loudly and aggressively until my eyes flicked open. A sharp ache stung my brain, forcing my eyes close and open again.

Even with the darkness surrounding me, the figure standing a few meters away was unmistakable. Manly shoulders, tall frame, and a strong masculine scent.

“I was beginning to fear you wouldn’t wake up,” his deep voice broke the eerie silence.

“Where am I? And who are you?”

“One question at a time,” he finally turned. The first thing I noticed was the cup in his hands. His facial features were difficult to describe because they were hidden behind the flames of the lantern. Even when he closed in and offered the cup to me, his head remained buried. “You must be tasty,”

I stared at the cup, then his hands. Very stable, slender, neat fingers wrapped around the cup. A story Dylan told me once eased through my thoughts. The tale of a boy who played along until he got what he wanted. This felt more like that story. Being kidn*pped, fed, and tortured like an animal whose s*******r was being delayed.

The point is…I’d have to play along.

I took the cup and felt the heat steaming from it. It smelled like boiled grass.

“What’s this?”

“Something to ease the poison in your system. I apologize for the method used in bringing you in. According to my sources, you wouldn’t have given in to my brother's stories or persuasion. So I chose to use the method I know best. Hopefully, when we get to know each other, you’d forgive me,”

“Your brother?” I asked. A smile etched on his face before he stood.

“Drink. You’re about to discover who you truly are,”

The man from the tavern. That must be whom he was referring to. My nose hovered around the beam of the cup, sniffing and buying myself time to come up with an escape plan.

“We’ve waited for you all these while. Everyone lost hope. We thought the heiress was dead,” he faced me again, distant this time while he worked on the desk covered with books. “This is…unbelievable. Leon was right all along,”

His words fell on deaf ears. They sounded more like words a predator sang to his prey before s*******r. The moment a plan pieced up in my mind, I sprang into action without second thought.

The lantern perched on the edge of the desk flew from my hands. It smashed against the curtains with a deafening crash. Flames leapt up instantly.

“What are you—”

I didn’t wait to hear the rest.

My feet carried me through the doorway before the fire had time to spread. The corridor outside stretched endlessly in both directions, lit by flickering torches and lined with towering pillars.

I chose the left. Footsteps thundered behind me.

“Stop her!”

The command echoed through the hall.

Panic burned through every vein as I ran, bare feet slapping against polished stone. I knew nothing about this place. Every hallway looked the same. Every staircase led somewhere unfamiliar.

Another turn. Another corridor. Something pulled me towards a door. I darted through it, slammed it shut and twisted the lock into place.

My lungs screamed for air. The pounding on the other side hadn’t started yet, but it would. Slowly backing away from the door, my breathing came in sharp bursts.

One step. Another. Then my back collided with something warm.

No. Someone…

Every muscle locked. A familiar scent reached me before I found the courage to turn around.

Slowly…Very slowly… My eyes lifted.

A broad chest. Dark trousers hanging low on narrow hips. And above them, Blue-grey eyes widened with just as much surprise as mine.

“You?” The word slipped out before I could stop it.

Leon. The man from the tavern.

Standing shirtless in the middle of the room as though this were perfectly normal.

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LEON

“I knew he was lying.” The words left me before I could think better of them.

Hayd had insisted no one was brought here last night. I argued with him all night and day, but he refused to give in to the truth.

The pounding on my door arrived moments later.

“My lord!”

Another knock. “My lord, is she in there?”

Indra’s frightened gaze snapped toward me. She shook her head desperately, silently pleading for me not to answer.

A sigh escaped. Crossing the room, I unlocked the door. Wolf guards crowded the corridor beyond.

“Be easy with her,” I said evenly. “She’s not a hostage.”

Without waiting for a reply, I pushed the door wide open and stepped aside. The guards rushed in. Only to freeze. The room was empty.

One of them hurried toward the open window where the curtains fluttered wildly in the wind.

“She escaped!”

“Go after her.”

Within seconds, every guard disappeared back into the corridor. I shut the door, turned the lock, walked to the window and closed it. Silence settled over the room.

Finally, I dropped onto the edge of my bed. “You can come out now.”

Nothing. A few more seconds passed. Then the wardrobe doors creaked open.

Indra stepped out slowly, every movement filled with hesitation. The moment our eyes met, she rushed forward and collapsed onto her knees.

“Please…” Her voice trembled. “You can have the sketch. I’ll give it to you for free. Just… don’t hurt me.”

A lump formed in my throat. She really believed that was why she’d been brought here.

I reached for the shirt hanging over the bedpost and pulled it over my head.

“No one’s interested in hurting you.”

Confusion flickered across her face. “Then why am I here?”

Buttoning the last cuff, I crouched before the bed and reached underneath. Dust coated my fingers before they wrapped around the edge of an old wooden frame. It hadn’t been touched in years.

Standing again, I brushed the dust away with my sleeve before placing it gently into her hands.

“Look carefully.”

Her trembling fingers accepted it. The portrait showed a woman seated upon an elaborate throne. Beside her stood a little girl.Dark hair. Amber eyes. One tiny hand wrapped around the queen’s fingers.

Indra’s breathing stopped.

Her gaze darted between the child’s face and her own reflection in the dusty glass.

“There,” I said quietly, pointing to the woman. “That’s Queen Elara of Elaris.”

My finger shifted to the little girl. “And that’s you.” Silence swallowed the room. “Her only child. The heiress of Elaris.”

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