The girls laughed at what Ethan said. They were now free with him. He was the only one who had come to talk to them though.
"You are so funny, Mr. Ethan." Belle said while laughing.
"I know right? You are probably the only ones that think that, those other guys are not fun at all. And please just, Ethan." Ethan said, pouting. "Aren't I handsome enough to be your brother? Hmm?" He raised his brows at them.
Arielle giggled and then said, "Of course, Ethan."
"Good."
Ethan said with a small smile, satisfied. He suddenly felt the hairs at the back of his head stand on end. He didn't need to turn to know who they were.
'What the hell are you doing, Ethan?' Brian asked not liking that Anna was laughing at Ethan.
Ethan heard Brian's voice through their mindlink and he smirked.
'What does it look like?' Ethan asked back sarcastically.
"I'm sorry ladies. I have to go, I fear with the way they are glaring at me, I could die." He said with a smile.
The girls looked confused not understanding what he meant but they nodded.
"Alright, Ethan." Arielle said and Ethan walked away.
"Why are you glaring at me? You know you could also go to them and talk, right? Besides they enjoyed my company since none of you are willing to talk to them." Ethan said with a smirk.
"Don't tell me you are jealous, Brian. Ohh right, Anna said I was… cute!"
Brian growled dangerously.
"Jeez! Brian! Calm the fuck down! Look, I'm not the one that said you don't have the balls to go talk with your mate." Ethan said with a frown.
"Why are you taking it out on him?" Drake asked, frowning also. "Seriously, what's wrong with you and Gayle? You both were worse than I was."
Brian sighed and didn't say anything. If his mate was a werewolf he could easily talk with her but his mate was human. He knew he was giving lame excuses.
•••••
Arielle was looking around when her eyes caught the king. They had not said a word to each other since they left the palace. She noticed that the king felt different again. She remembered when she was pulled away before hugging, Davis, he had this warm demeanor but now he was cold and distant.
She noticed Mason approaching him. They talked in hushed tones while he rubbed the horse's neck. She couldn't deny that he looked regal in those ordinary clothes. His hair glistened under the sun and she wished she could touch it.
What was she thinking?! Stop it, Arielle. She chided herself and looked away.
Adrian stood beside his midnight horse, patting it softly as he talked with his gamma.
"How far are we from the south?" He asked behind the mask.
"Since we have crossed the south border, we just need to get to the west harbor and board the ship going to the north." Mason replied.
"And how long do you think the journey to the west harbor would take?" Adrian was already tired of the slow journey.
"We have used a week to get out of the south, so if all goes well, we could get to the west harbor in a week and the journey to the north through the sea would take us two weeks."
"All has been well, we have not encountered any problems so far, so it should be alright." Mason said.
"Alright, we leave in a few hours. Go find something to eat before then." Adrian instructed.
Mason bowed and left the king alone.
Adrian had a lot to think about lately but the first on the list was the girl who was his mate.
Ever since the night in the forest, he could not get his mind off her and he blamed it all on Kaelos.
He didn't like her, he already had someone he liked and would be his queen.
"I can assure you that, Arielle will become my Luna, whether you like it or not. So you better forget about that witch." Kaelos said disapprovingly.
"Who is the king here, am I not?" Adrian asked.
"And who has the most control over your body, am I not? You are not strong enough to control your body, Adri. I can take control of your body anytime and create trouble for you and then leave you to fix it." Kaelos retorted with a laugh.
Adrian clenched his fists and didn't say anything more. He would find a way to get stronger so, Kaelos would not catch him unawares.
After they all had their meals, it was time to begin the journey to the West.
They had been riding for some time now and, Arielle was already feeling sleepy. She glanced at her friends and noticed that they had slept, she smiled and shook her head.
She was about to doze off when the carriage suddenly shook violently as if something had rammed into it. Anna and Belle opened their eyes due to the noise.
"What's that about?" Belle asked, fear evident in her voice.
"I don't know." Arielle replied.
"We are under attack!" Gayle shouted from the front.
"Attack? Are we going to die?" Belle asked as she began to panic.
"Calm down, Belle. Nobody is going to die." Anna tried to reassure her.
The carriage shook again and the girls dared not go out to see what was happening. Suddenly the door of the carriage was opened revealing, Ethan.
"None of you should come out, okay? Stay in the carriage no matter what!" Ethan said seriously, all traces of playfulness they had seen earlier, had vanished.
They nodded and he closed the door back.
"How come there are so many rogues in the south?" Jarred asked as he plunged his sword into the heart of the rogue in front of him.
"I don't know, King William mentioned that the rogues have been disturbing them for quite a while now." Drake replied.
Meanwhile, two rogues had managed to slip past them and walked towards the carriage. They opened the carriage door quietly.
The girls' faces turned aghast when they noticed the person who opened the carriage door. They were about to scream but the man brought out a dagger and placed his bony finger on his mouth to hush them.
Before the girls could climb out of the carriage, something crashed against it with force and the girls were hauled out of the carriage.
"Just close your eyes, I don't think you would want to see this." Jarred said to the girls who had their bodies flat on the ground. He had noticed the two rogues who had slipped past them and went towards the carriage. He cut off their heads in one clean stroke.
Minutes later, the noise had died down.
"You can open your eyes now. We have to get moving, I think a storm is coming." Ethan said to the girls.
"We found this girl, I don't know if she is amongst them but she kept claiming that her friends were in the carriage." Drake said dragging a girl by her collar, gently.
"I'm not lying!" The girl said through gritted teeth.
"Deal with her." Adrian said emotionlessly.
"We have to move now and find shelter, we can not be caught in this storm. Hurry up, Drake." Mason said.
"No, please. My friends are really here." The girl continued to beg.
Drake was about to carry out the task but he paused when the girls called out at the same time.
"Emily?"
"Emily?"
"Emily?"