HUNTED-Chapter 399: Sibling Matters

Keira’s mood plummeted further during the car journey back to the pack. Already, there was a video uploaded to social media, trending from a new account created with growing followers that claims to spread ’real news’ about the ’real royals’.

In a matter of 20 minutes, there were already many comments, both haters and those disgusted by the video.

Some commented that it was unfair to judge from a short clip. Most either hated or backed Keira.

’She has every right to be angry.’

’Woah, the most I’ve seen her react. Ever.’

’Most I’ve seen her face. Ever.’

Keira watched it again. Luckily, the video was a little blurred because the person’s hands were shaky from giggling so much. Everyone knew the basics of Keira’s looks and that she attended one of the Cross Academies. She wasn’t wearing the usual uniform, but the sports clothes still had the academy logo stitched onto the left side of her shirt.

By the time they pulled up outside the mansion, Keira had pent-up energy that needed to be released. She didn’t wait for Rex to open her door and escaped, immediately going to the training grounds and dumping her bag on the ground as her legs picked up speed, her arms pumping, and she was running.

She could distinctly hear her name being called out, but nobody followed her.

Keira felt constrained, her clothes too tight, her body heavy, and her temper rising more and more about the social media post and the chains society put on her as a royal, keeping her in check, keeping up appearances, and halting her form of acting out like any normal being would.

Running helped.

It always had.

Running away from these feelings kept her from completely losing it.

Keira breezed past Gamma Chiara, who was in the middle of speaking with her brother, Eamon. With one glance at her older brother, she shrank even more, her heart squeezing and her arms and legs pumping quicker. With one look, he could tell something was up.

"Keira!" Eamon called out.

She almost paused in her tracks, but this tightness and the fire spreading from her chest needed to douse out.

"Leave her be." She heard Chiara tell Eamon before the pair were out of her sight, and she continued, continued and continued until her legs were shaky and she was on the brink of collapsing. The skies had grown darker, and she had to slow down to a walk.

"You done?" The Gamma asked once Keira was hobbling back, ignoring the few glances of the warriors going through their tactic training. She was relieved to see Eamon was nowhere to be found.

Keira nodded silently, hating herself for the outburst. Chiara’s gaze flicked to Keira’s arms and legs, checking for any injuries before her gaze went vacant for a moment. "Alpha’s asking for you," she murmured.

With a sigh, Keira grabbed the bag she’d left on the ground and began walking to the terrace and the patio doors leading back through the kitchen of the pack house. Rex was already waiting by the door, holding his hand out expectantly for Keira’s bag.

She paused; now that her mind was clearer, she almost cursed under her breath. "Don’t tell my mum or dad about something as useless as this"

"But-"

Keira gave him a look, and her guard quietened.

She would resolve it.

Murmuring her thanks, she ignored his concerned look and passed her bag to him. It wasn’t unusual for Keira to go for a run when things became too much for her, and only a few knew about it. Those that were closest to her or forced to protect her, like Rex or occasionally Finn, were part of that small circle.

It was embarrassing.

She was a Cross.

Before Keira could check the living room or her dad’s office, she bounced off a wall of muscles. Rubbing her nose, Keira frowned as she slowly looked up and met Eamon’s crystal blue eyes. His white locks were dishevelled from where he’d obviously run his fingers through them.

His hair was slightly longer on the top, the shorter locks shades darker, making his hair colour almost look unnatural, dyed, and ombre. Yet he’d never dyed his hair. He had the classic Cross genes, white hair and crystal blue eyes. Besides his hair and eye colouring, he looked like their dad the most.

"Who the fuck punctured your tyres?" Eamon growled, his eyes glimmering with violent intent. "How dare they think they can do that to you. Why didn’t you fight-"

"Now, now, A. Keira did the right thing." Cato rounded the corner from inside the living room, patting Eamon’s shoulder. He wasn’t short but Eamon’s bulky and tall frame made Cato appear skinny and small. He was far from small.

He was leaner than her other brothers, still muscular, and at least 6ft2 with long white hair that he kept in a loose ponytail running down his chest. His features were soft with pearlescent skin many gawked at, but his eyes were sharp like a hawk, perceptive to everything.

"Think about it. They were recording her. She couldn’t act out," Cato concluded in that matter-of-fact voice that used to annoy them growing up.

"So." Eamon crossed his arms, biceps straining to rip his short-sleeved shirt, his attention zeroed in on Keira now. "Give me their names, and I’ll crush them!" He closed his fist like the perpetrators were crushed within them.

"I don’t know them-"

"You don’t need to protect them," Eamon growled again, not understanding that she genuinely didn’t know the girls’ names. Although, she wouldn’t tell Eamon anyway.

Cato tsked, pushing aside a strand of white hair from his pearlescent face. "Eamon, you are the next Alpha. You cannot ’crush’ anyone."

Finally, someone speaking a little sense!

This content is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.

"Leave it to me. I will be discreet."

"Cato!" Keira hissed, eyes bugging out.

Cato didn’t usually do such things. He was the logical one, the brains of the family.

Cato grinned, his sharp blue eyes glinting with malicious intent. He stepped closer and placed his hand on Keira’s shoulder next. "You did well, little sis," he whispered. "Now, leave the rest to me."

"How are you even going to find out…" Keira trailed off and sighed as Cato was already briskly walking away.

His antisocial behaviour was almost as bad as Koa’s. Cato was unable to converse for long; he preferred efficiency, getting what he needed to know and not sparing any time on dramatics, even though, like just now, he could be just as dramatic.

Keira sighed. Cato could track the girls down even without their names.

He was a tech genius, among other things.

"Ah, so this is where you have been hiding."

Keira froze at the sound of her dad’s voice; his powerful presence should have alerted her sooner.