VICTORIA'S POV

"Vic? Victoria?" ​​

"Victoria darling?"

"Why isn't she waking up, Theodore? I will never be able to forgive myself if something happened to her today."

"Victoria, wake up damn it. You are scaring everyone now!"

Uhhh.…why these people are so loud.

'Victoria, I need to tell you something about Alexander. You know he is not himself these days and is behaving quite model, right? Well, I am not sure if my guess is right, but I think it's because--' I heard Carla speak, however, her voice was cut off when I felt cold water splashing on my face.

"What the heck!" I shouted, opening my eyes as I blinked them to improve my sight and look around who dared to annoy me.

"Look, I knew it was the only way." I heard Daniel speaking from my right, making me glare at him as everyone chuckled along with him.

What was happening?

Gazing at Rosaline's teary eyes, I suddenly remembered the events that happened before I fainted, making me sit abruptly.

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked Daniel, looking for any sign of injury or anything.

"That, we need to talk about this. But later, okay?" Daniel whispered in my ears, and I nodded at him, smiling at everyone in approval when they asked about going back to the mansion.

'Alexander Hunter, I think now is the time for revenge. You hurt my friend, now you'll see what I am going to do with your beloved.' I thought resolutely before sitting inside the car.

_____

"It's almost night, Daniel, what was so important and secretive that you needed me here in the woods. You do know that I need to be back for dinner, don't you?" I asked Daniel for the umpteenth time.

"Sshh...I am trying to hear if anyone is close to us, who might hear our conversation." Daniel said.

'Well, you could've told me that half an hour ago. I could've used my powers and checked that.' I thought, crying without tears when my stomach rumbled.

"So here's the thing. We all know that Alexander ordered to throw me out of the mansion, didn't he? And I should've been out of the pack and here already, right?" He asked, holding my shoulders as if making me understand a great physics phenomena.

"What about that?" I asked quizzically, all of my attention on him now.

"Don't you find it weird? The alpha king ordered to cease the pack bond and link, but nothing happened. I know I did felt that pain, but when I opened my eyes, I could still hear everyone's thoughts. Don't you find it strange?" Daniel asked.

"I don't know much about these things. What if Theodore protected your pack bond by talking to Alexander about it? He is the council head." I shrugged.

"No, Victoria. You don't seem to understand. A council head doesn't have that power to null a king's order." Daniel said.

"Can you come to the point, please? I don't have enough patience to play 'guess the reason' with you." I couldn't help but say.

"Huh...when it comes down to food, you surely become stupid. You are hungry. I get it, but can you concentrate? I think Alexander didn't use his power when he gave those orders, or maybe he restricted his powers and said those words casually, or this wouldn't have happened. I wouldn't be here in this forest if he had used his power." Daniel said.

"Then are you by any chance implicating that Alexander doesn't want to hurt us deliberately?" I asked, making Daniel nod.

"You are kidding, right? Didn't you see how he treated me? Look, if this was the important talk you were so secretive about, I think you've wasted my time." I said, turning around.

Though I have denied Daniel's proposition, I couldn't help but think it over again. However, that wasn't something I was exactly thinking about.

I was having my opinion about Alexander, and what Daniel said had half confirmed it already. Now all I need to do is find if what I am thinking about is right or not.

Reaching inside the mansion, we all sat on the dining table as I scrutinized the annoying pair silently.

"Cody? Why is the dinner taking so long today?" Theodore asked the head chef Cody, who had a panicked expression on his face.

"It will be out in few minutes, sir. It's just, when I got inside the kitchen today, all the food was left open by somebody, and I am making one of the maids check all the dishes before they can be served. I don't want anything happening to the royal family." Cody said, bowing his head in respect.

"That's fine. You can take your time. We can wait few minutes." Theodore said.

As Theodore was talking to Cody, I couldn't help but notice the flicker of emotions in Laila's eyes before she became calm again.

It felt like she has a guilty conscience or something. And the only way to find out the truth is by entering her mental barrier.

Concentrating my gaze on her, I tried to enter Laila's mind. The fact that her mind was protected by a hazy greyish cloud both surprised and amazed me.

Just what the hell is this girl?

Concentrating harder, I tried to break off the hazy cloud and pass through it, but it felt like something was pushing me back.

Closing my eyes momentarily to gather all my witch powers and use them to break off her mental barrier, I couldn't help but force my spells in her mind to pass through it.

I knew what I was doing was ethically wrong, but seeing how Laila looked guilty when Cody mentioned food and it might risk all of our lives, I just couldn't sit around and do nothing about it.

It wasn't long before I was able to enter her mind after multiple trials.

It won't be wrong if I say her mind was empty, and that to be in literal meaning. I searched around for few seconds when I was finally able to pass through her actual mind barrier that every werewolf is provided with.

'What is she hiding in there to have soo much protection.' I scoffed before rummaging through her thoughts.

'The food will be out soon. I need to find a reason to exit the dining room. I can't eat this food while I have such an important task in hand. I can't let him eat it either. I can't let my mate eat such food and risk his life when a war is going to break out soon.'

Did she just call my mate, her mate, and what about the war?

What is she thinking about?

What is she hiding?

'I have to tell Alexander- I mean him-' I was about to know the whole truth when I was shook violently.

"What?!" I shouted, feeling irritated that I was disturbed when I was this close to finding the truth.

Looking around me, I noticed the shocked expressions of everyone before my gaze settled on the person that disturbed me.

"I am sorry, mom, it's just, my mind was not here at the moment. Were you saying something?" I asked politely.

She said something again, however, this time also I didn't listen to her because my gaze was focussed on the trays of food that were brought and placed on the table, and surprisingly enough, they all had a tint of pink in them.

'Do these guys drug themselves with food, like this?' I thought since this was my first time dining with them.