HUNTED-Chapter 305: Breaking News!

Lying on her back, Aila’s head rested on Cassius’ lap, where his hand stroked gently at her hair. If it was her mate or her mum, she would have fallen asleep to the rhythm and warmth of their hand, but it wasn’t. It was the man, no vampire, who almost killed her mate and her Beta, taking down most of the street and revealing the supernatural creatures to the humans.

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She fumed under his touch, but the blood healing her body and the whole ordeal of the day left her feeling groggy, beaten up and unable to refuse the comfort she brought Cassius. As disgusting as she felt being there with Cassius instead of her mate or the others, the bond between Aila and her master was warm.

Silence followed them with a thick tension that hovered over everyone’s bloodied selves in the car. Davian drove, his hands tight on the steering wheel, knuckles white, and his brows knitted together in a scowl.

By his side, seething in his seat, Harry sat still, mostly naked beside the hot pink shorts; his arms were crossed, eyes glancing to Aila every few minutes, a furrow in his brow before glowering at Cassius. The vampire was staring out the window, his eyes hard, but Aila could see he was concentrating, plotting, scheming even with his stoic expression.

This close, she could see the slight plump of his lips purse ever so slightly, and through the bond, she could feel his feelings flickering between being smug and distraught.

She flicked her gaze away, watching the buildings fly by outside the window. She didn’t care about what was troubling Cassius; she had her own worries that seemed to pile on top of each other. The one person who could stop Cassius had disappeared by a damned warlock and under Cassius’ orders. Would he be killed?

They made a quick escape after the whole ordeal, but people still recorded, took photos and gaped at them. This could easily spread, but surely critics and people on social media would comment that it was all fake?

Aila sighed, scrunching her eyes shut, as other thoughts tumbled through her mind and caused a headache.

Clint was now dead. Died by her hands, turned into the ’monsters’ he despised so much, tortured like how he tortured her and possibly others. Aila thought now, with him gone, avenged for all he had done not only to her and her parents but to countless others, that she’d feel a sense of closure. She did, by the Moon Goddess she did but it felt bittersweet.

She was ashamed of how she acted; even if he deserved everything, it was not like her.

She also hurt Damon in the process, shaming her more as her stomach twisted, making her feel sick. But her mate was now healed.

"After Cassius almost killed him," Malia spat. She was barely tamed in her mind; it was only the heavy feeling of a warm blanket over her that stopped the wolf from taking the reins and trying to stab the vampire beneath their head. It was probably a compulsion of some kind, though Aila didn’t hear Cassius speak any words to her. Maybe he communicated with Malia separately?

That seemed the least of their problems, though. Cassius’ hand halted on her hair, and Aila tensed as she heard a pulsing, repetitive sound, one she was familiar with. She pushed up and looked outside to see a helicopter; men holding guns sat steadily on the sides of the aircraft. Was it the hunters?

Sirens rang in the distance, but they were getting further away.

Were they after her mate? Her friends? Her chest tightened, and her nails elongated to claws, digging into the palm of her hands.

"They’re closing off the city." Davian slowed the car down to a stop as traffic started to build up. The sign revealing the exit out of Bramhurst was ahead of them.

"You just had to cause a scene!" Harry yelled at Cassius, turning in his seat, his hands enlarging and claws growing into the fabric of the cushion, but the vampire didn’t even blink as he gave the lycan a death stare.

"There is another exit, not one well known down White Church lane. The authorities will block the main exits first before that one. Go now before others get the same idea," Cassius ordered quietly before looking out of the window again. He didn’t seem concerned at all.

Davian pulled away, causing a slight commotion to oncoming cars who honked at him, but he skilfully manoeuvred around them and set off down a small one-way road. While the hybrid drove through different streets to find White Church lane, Aila focused on her mate. Damon seemed nervous, but there were no new injuries; he was concerned about his friends and the authorities after them.

Aila inhaled sharply, finally putting together what was going on.

These weren’t hunters portraying themselves as the authorities; they were the actual authorities. Aila blinked and looked outside again, eyes widening slightly as they stopped again in a small queue down the lane Cassius mentioned. A store selling TVs was on, flashing with BREAKING NEWS gliding across the bottom of a news reporter and a witness to the events in Bramhurst.

’Large wolves terrorising Bramhurst and a mysterious magician?!’

"It was like a fricken movie! Can I say that?" The man with thick-rimmed circular glasses asked, turning to the reporter, who smiled tightly but urged him on with a nod. The witness, Sam Thorpe, was his name, as stated on the screen below him. His eyes were wide, amazed, and if a little frightened.

"Seriously, they were all like superhumans! I saw a bird transform into a man and then into a panther! He must be some sort of skin-shifting superman. Another was like a wizard! He disappeared with some super strong man who drank another’s blood!"

On and on, this Sam raved, sounding crazier by the minute, making Aila relax in her seat. Nobody would think he was in his right mind. That was until there was footage of the events that took place between her friends.

The reporter spoke over the video. "We confirmed that this is real footage and has not been tweaked. There were multiple eyewitnesses, some injured from what you can see is of glass suddenly breaking and buildings crumbling to what has happened here in Bramhurst. This is not a movie set, and these.. wolves and superhumans or possibly aliens.. are indeed real.

It is exhilarating to learn of these beings’ existence, but the state and terror the city is in now.. are quite frankly terrifying. These.. super beings are much stronger, faster and deadly. Are there more out there? Is this the beginning of…"

The car sped away, leaving the TV shop behind and the report of the superbeings and aliens. Aila pinched her eyes shut as the car remained in silence once more. But she felt Cassius’ glee even after hearing the news and the sirens, and gunfire in the distance, the panic of citizens around them. But as they left the city, Aila watched Cassius, the shadows of his face as the day grew darker.

"You wanted this to happen," she whispered with a slight gasp.

Cassius blinked and looked back at her, his features blank except for the slight curve of his lips. "I wanted what to happen, sweet Aila?"

"Why?" Aila asked, searching his eyes. "You’ve just made our lives harder. It won’t only be the hunters we worry about anymore; it will be everyone!"

Cassius smirked and looked away. "Do you really fear them, Aila? You.. who is above even the strongest of werewolves and vampires. Please. This is nothing."

"People who live in fear do crazy things. Inhumane things.." Aila retorted with a snarl, thinking back to the witch trials and then how easily people would cheer not even long ago at people being hung. "Surely someone who was a part of history should know that above all."

Cassius scoffed. "I was never in the firing line." He whipped his head to face her. "Sleep now, Aila. I am in no mood to debate this, it has been a long day, and it is not yet over."

Aila’s lips parted, but then her body seemed to melt against the seat, relaxing, her mind shutting down as all she wanted to do was sleep.

"You ass.." Aila trailed off, her anger dissipating at his use of compulsion. The Alpha Queen flopped onto her side, asleep with questions still brimming in her head, needing answers. She’d had enough of everything but sleep tugged at her mind, and she was comforted by the darkness.