HUNTED-Chapter 344: Words of Hate

Harry continued to watch Mark as Aldric drank from a pint of beer, and the children were distracted. Mark was constantly looking at his phone now, which wasn’t suspicious. If anything, he’d assume the man was checking some scores on a sports team he follows or possibly has a mistress.

Mark had a vibe that Harry couldn’t get on board with, so it was one or the other. But what made him suspicious was the way he kept glancing at Aldric and the kids.

It was almost like the topic of discussion on his phone was his friend and family. Harry narrowed his eyes slightly. This was not the time to cause drama or issues. Aldric and the children had enough to deal with than a potential evil uncle.

Harry wasn’t about to sit around and chill, though. He might not be affected by Emma’s death besides the gloominess of the day, but he could be there for his friend while he mourned the loss of his mate. Which came in the form of investigating Mark and protecting the family from him or any other potential threat.

While he began planning on what to do next, he scanned their surroundings again. It was a small wake, much like the funeral. Emma’s parents were there, but it seemed like they mourned their daughter whilst dismissing Aldric and the children’s presence. Rex and Elissa also didn’t seem overly affectionate towards them. They even acted like they didn’t know them. There was definitely some tension there.

It was possible that they either blamed Aldric for their daughter’s death and/ or they never accepted Aldric in the first place, and so they also had never seen their grandchildren. But what did he know? The rest of the bar was full of humans who were not aware of or ignored the obvious tension in the family.

Harry’s gaze landed on Mark again. He heard him tell Cathy he needed a ’leak’ and put his phone in his trouser pocket, standing up.

"I’ll be back in a bit." Harry tapped the table. "Do you need anything?"

Wasn’t he the helpful little rogue lately?

Aldric smirked, his thoughts lining up with Harry’s, but he didn’t comment and shook his head. Harry stood to go, only to pause when there was a small tug on the bottom of his suit jacket. He looked down to see Elissa, bright brown eyes staring up at him. "Can I have some cake, pleeease?"

Did an arrow just pierce him in the heart? Why were Aldric’s children so cute?!

Sensing Harry’s crumbling heart, Aldric chuckled lightly. "Is Elissa allowed cake?" Harry asked, looking away from the little angel-turned-bossy demon. He would not feel embarrassed by it.

Aldric nodded. "But no more after that."

Harry nodded and turned to go towards the other side of the bar where Mark was heading. Luckily, the lycan saw an opening as he swiftly walked around people in groups with their drinks and food conversing. As Mark started to slip through a group, Harry went around them and tripped up a server who bumped into Mark with his tray of potted sauces.

At the same time, he bumped into another man who hid Harry’s approach.

The server fell into Mark with the tray, coating the front of his jacket and shirt in an array of sauces before they crashed to the floor. One of the pots also bumped into the man who was beside Mark. "I’m so sorry!" The server panicked, grabbing serviettes from the bar.

While Mark and the other man were distracted with their sullied outfits, Harry deftly took the phone from his trouser pocket. Like the smooth criminal he was, the lycan continued walking past the toilets and to the door for the terraced garden. Once Harry slipped outside, a smile twitched on his lips. Mark’s phone was locked, but he’d been observing him so closely he knew his passcode.

Typing in the correct numbers, the screen unlocked. Harry strolled away towards the trees at the end of the garden, acting nonchalantly like the phone in his hand was his own. There were a few others in their black clothes smoking in a type of huddle. They nodded at him in greeting, then continued to puff away.

Harry opened the messaging app Mark was using and started going through his messages. At first, there was nothing there, and he began to get bored reading through mundane messages, but after the fourth group chat he tapped on, he realised his suspicions were coming true.

He scrolled through the messages of hateful comments about the supernatural creatures and how they were going to rule over them and take their women and their jobs. Harry smirked at that.

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The lycan was not offended by their comments. Harry just saw them for what they were ignorant, scared humans. He wasn’t surprised either by the venom spat out by Mark.

Harry continued to flick his finger, so the messages scrolled through quickly, blurring until he stopped to look at a link shared about the first sightings of the supernatural creatures. As he predicted, everyone was outraged, and their anger grew increasingly as the days went on, with more news articles shared in the group.

Harry paused when he found what he was looking for, and for the first time in a while, his body temperature dropped, and a chill erupted across him.

[15:59 Mark: I know a woman married and has children with one of them.]

[16:01 Tom: No way!]

[16:01 Gary: Stfu. You’re lying.]

[16:03 Dominic: I don’t believe you. Unless you’re saying you knew about them before all of this?]

[16:03 Mark: That’s right.]

[16:05 Dominic: Why are you telling us now?]

[16:07 Tom: ??]

[16:07 Gary: I knew it. He’s just messing with us.]

[16:10 Mark: ..]

Mark uploaded photos of the family together, their family home in the woods and even caught a sneaky shot of Aldric transforming into a large brown wolf. It was a little blurry, and the photo was taken from behind a tree at a distance. But the photos would come to the conclusion that Mark had told them.

The wolf was near Emma, who was tiny in comparison, and her hand was reaching out towards his face.

[16:12 Gary: Woah!]

[16:12 Tom: Wtf ]

[16:13 Dominic: Why are you telling us now? You just said how you want to rid this world of them, yet your wife’s sister is with one of them.]

[16:14 Mark: I couldn’t before. Have you seen the size of that thing? Now.. The fucker breeded with the slut and left her. He’s been gone almost a year. Probs fucking another.]

[16:15 Gary: Fuckn slut.]

[16:16 Tom: Shit! I knew it. They’ll breed us out. It must have been happening for years.]

[16:17 Dominic: What do you want to do about this?]

Harry continued to read the beginning of their plan, his hand was tightening over the mobile device, and he had to look away and breathe so he didn’t break the only evidence he held in his hands. The messages continued until the night of the fire and the aftermath. They were disappointed they didn’t kill the ’demon spawn’ of a monster.

"Shit," Harry breathed, trying to calm his wolf, who was just as outraged.

Aldric was a nice guy. He didn’t deserve this. None of them did. It just showed how much trouble was on the horizon for the supernatural creatures. If they’d kept Aldric’s abilities a secret, then they wouldn’t be in this mess.

Did Cathy not like Emma- He cut his thoughts off instantly. She was outraged at Aldric’s arrival, and in the time he’d spent there, he knew how much she loved her sister. This was purely her husband and his friends. They didn’t see Aldric and his family or any supernatural creatures as people with lives and families. They thought they were monsters.

"That fucker is in there playing happy families," Phoenix, his wolf, growled in his mind. "They’re not safe."

Harry’s chest rumbled in response. The urge to spill blood grew strong, but this was a funeral. This was a matter that needed to be dealt with quietly. They would need to bide their time.

"Tonight," Phoenix hissed. Harry could feel the adrenaline already pumping through their veins. But it wasn’t his life to take.

Aldric needed to know.

"What are you doing here?"

Harry paused his inner debate with Phoenix and turned around to face Aldric. His eyes roamed over Harry’s features, then narrowed slightly. Did his expression look like he’d been caught red-handed doing something he shouldn’t have? Or could his lycan friend tell his temper was brimming beneath the surface?

The urge to kill tugged on his canines to descend into his mouth.

"You’ve been acting strange, Harry. What’s going on?" Aldric asked, eyes flicking to the phone in Harry’s hand.

"Now is not the time to tell you." Harry feigned nonchalance, slapping Aldric roughly on the back as he began to pass by, pressing the button on the phone, so it went to a blank screen.

"Harry," Aldric’s voice shot through him. The command of an Alpha rumbled through him from his name alone. Harry’s brows shot down into a frown. His immediate reaction to disobey and cut down any who believed they had control over him distracted him momentarily.

Aila never used her command on him, even though she had the most power out of any besides her mate to do so. He followed her wishes willingly, and if he didn’t, she let him have that choice. Harry inhaled deeply through his nose and released a long exhale out of his mouth, calming Phoenix and the tendency to instantly attack.

"My grief will not suddenly go away after today," Aldric continued, and the anger, the resentment Harry felt deflated. "Whether you tell me today, tomorrow or a week’s time, it won’t make any difference. And since when did you care about proper behaviour and manners?"

Harry turned around then. "Aldric.. I know who killed your wife."