Chapter 349: Boo--
The man blinked up at her like she had asked him a question related to the philosophy of life. Or maybe he thought that she was just playing hardcore because no one would take a woman with pink hair and a matching pink dress seriously. She shouldn’t have dyed her hair cotton candy pink. She shouldn’t have done that at all.
"There were two women in that prison," the man tilted his head. He spoke in a slow drawl as if speaking was putting his health bar at risk. Fine, she admitted that the man was old, and from the many, many countless scars on his face and body, he must have been locked up in here for a long time, but couldn’t this man speak like any other normal person? Why was he lagging like the television of the eighties?
"Are you looking for those two women who ran away?" Another man adjacent to the cell spoke up.
"Ran away? They ran away? Are you sure about that, or are you mistaking them for someone else?" Tracy questioned sharply. Inez was such a sweet soul; it was nearly impossible for her to break free from the prison. She couldn’t imagine the sweet and silly Inez breaking free from the prison and killing a guard in tow. Of course, Scarlet was with her, so they could never be sure of what went down.
"Of course they did. I saw them run." Another man clicked his tongue and sighed heavily. "They are one lucky bitches. The guard fell right into their trap. I have been trying to do the same, but nope. Guess it all comes down to having a pretty face." The man sounded quite annoyed with the very fact that he was not a woman.
"Thanks for the info." The old man was of no help, but the other two certainly were. Envy had always been the one leading and making the world go on and on. As long as jealousy and envy were there, you could never make someone shut their damn mouths. But then again, it was useful sometimes, so you could never hear her complaining.
There was another buzzing notification, and Tracy looked down at her wristwatch. This time around, the one who was texting her was the lycan heir.
[Killian: We are almost there.]
[Tracy: There is no point coming here. Inez is on the run, and so is her sister.]
[Killian: .... What?]
See? She was not the only one finding it hard to believe that Inez had not only escaped the prison but also was on the run now. She was so sweet and cuddly that it was hard to imagine that she could even commit such a deed. Believing it was equivalent to believing that a rabbit had set the world on fire. Not that it hadn’t been done before; it was just too hard to believe.
[Tracy: The two of them are on the run. So you’d better find them down before the guards do.]
Of course, she was going to do it as well, but there was always a chance that she might miss out on a detail.
[Killian: Okay, but I am sending Finn. He—believes that splitting up and finding the two of them would be easier in this enchanted forest.]
[Tracy: Honestly, there is no need.]
[Killian: He is on the way.]
She let out a groan, annoyed that the lycan heir was raining on her parade, but then again, the man had never been one to listen to a thing that others were telling him.
She walked out of the prison and almost ran into the wall of nothing but sheer masculinity and muscles. Raising her head, her eyes met with Finn’s, who was smiling at her in that gentlemanly sort of way. Just what she needed. Two people who had nothing to offer and yet they were somehow trying to manage the situation. It was going to be such a clusterfuck that Tracy was about to go crazy.
"You shouldn’t have bothered," she spoke in a voice as dry as the dry sand of the desert.
Finn shoved his phone inside the pocket of his trousers. "This is not bothersome at all."
That was not what she meant, but whatever. She shook her head and walked past Finn, trying to trace the bare minimum amount of aether that was pulsating in the air.
"I can trace her scent," offered Finn, but in response, Tracy simply scoffed and said, "You can try, and we will see if you can trace her scent down."
A frown appeared on the smooth forehead of the man, and he took a sniff of the air. Two seconds later, the frown deepened even further. "What the hell?"
"Yeah." An unamused smile etched on Tracy’s lips. She turned and looked at the man before saying to him, "It’s not that I don’t want to track her down the old way, but I cannot."
"It’s like someone had erased her presence and scent from the prison...like she never came here."
His muscles twitched with tension and frustration. He was just as confused as she was, and Tracy didn’t blame him. She understood how annoying it felt when you were closer to the goal and yet you missed it just by mere inches.
She turned and started concentrating on the flow of the aether. It was subtle. The energy shimmered like countless shimmering stars in the air. They were too refined, too in line and too determined. There was only one single dotted line that was uneven, but it was weak. So weak that it might even get exhausted if she were to trace it down.
Whoever wove it had to be a master of causing catastrophe. Someone who just loved to mess with people on purpose.
Finn turned to look at her. "Can you track her?"
"Shut up; don’t disturb me." Tracy extended one hand and started to slowly and gently tug the uneven dotted line, making sure it didn’t snap. This entire thing reminded her of something or, more like, someone —
"That motherfucking bitch."
**
"Why is he even here, and that too at this hour?" Mister Jones questioned his beta angrily. He looked really upset.
His beta, on the other hand, looked nervous and said, "He said that he is here to check on something."
Mister Jones clicked his tongue in distaste. He snarled, "Like hell he is here to just check on something. I bet he is here to snatch this case from us. He had to be!" He turned around and looked at his beta. "Where is he?"
"Right at the reception of the council, waiting for you," replied the beta as they continued to walk toward the main building. However, when they reached the council’s building, they didn’t see anyone standing. The beta frowned. "I asked him to wait for me right here."
Mister Jones turned and questioned the guard standing on the right. "Where is Alpha Sokolov?"
"Alpha Sokolov?" The guard turned silent before replying, "He went outside. Last I saw, he was headed to the forest."
"The forest? Why would he go to the forest?" Mister Jones whipped his head toward the forest. He had a very good idea that if Killian went inside the forest, then the man certainly had some rotten plan in his mind, or else he wouldn’t have wasted his time and effort for no reason.
He turned around once again, looking at his beta; he said to him, "We need to find either those two women or Alpha Sokolov. This case is mine, and this is the perfect chance to get a promotion and become a member of the inner circle of the council. We cannot let it slip; this is where the future of our pack lies. Do you understand? We cannot let this opportunity slip, no matter what."
"Yes, I understand." His beta agreed at once as the two men broke into the clearing.
While the two men went to look for Killian, they missed Inez and Scarlet, who were hiding in the corner. The two of them had tried to break out of the forest, but there were too many enchantments that they couldn’t break, as neither of them knew how to break enchantments and spells. Left with no choice, the two of them had to return to the prison.
"Did you hear that?" Scarlet whispered. Her voice was barely audible as she peered up at Inez.
"I did." Inez’s heart was bursting with happiness.
Killian was here. He actually came to look for her, and how he found her – she didn’t care about all of that. The one thing that mattered the most was that he was here. For her.
She twisted on her feet. "Let’s go. We will go back to the forest—we might run into Killian."
They had somehow managed to escape from the clutches of these shifters; somehow, if they were lucky enough, they might keep on dodging them—
"Boo."