Beta Jiwon's POV
Zami told me that sometimes Beta Tan tells her how he made love to Kajan, but she dare not spill this secret unless she wants to lose her head. I was shocked when I heard this. Omega Yumpuah also added that Guyong sleeps with his own daughter, Nara. Well, that is no news because a few of us who are close to the commanders in charge know this.
"Nara is not even his daughter!" Zami added.
"Then whose daughter is Nara?" I asked, curiosity in my tone.
"I think she's…" Yumpuah fell silent at the sight of one of the prison guards who was walking past the cell.
Just then, Nara mind-linked me.
"You bastard! You see what you caused?"
"What!" I replied, feeling irritated by her disrespect for a higher wolf like me. She talks to me anyhow she likes because she knows that I love her.
"That good-for-nothing idiot tricked me! He gave me a fake diamond stone!"
"Are you with us?" Zami asked.
"Yeah, I am here."
"What do you mean fake? How did he get a fake diamond stone? Are you sure it's fake?"
"Yes, it is. I will destroy him for doing this to me!"
"I guess he is communicating with someone… maybe in his head or a mind-link," I heard Zami say.
"Kajan put me in the cell for nothing!" I said, changing the topic intentionally.
"What? I think she is doing too much already! Don't worry, I will return by tomorrow when I am fully recovered and get you out of there." Nara knows how to make things go her own way. Sometimes it baffles me how she gets that done.
"I am here now. Was just carried away in my thoughts," I said to the other wolves in the cell.
Jiah's POV
Yangmu was sitting just beside me. I tried to shield him from the jabs that Yula and Sungmin threw at him, only because he was caring enough to ask whether we were attacked. They accused him of plotting the attack since he knows so much but yet pretends to know nothing.
"Can y'all just let him be?" I asked again, out of impatience. "Next time when there is an attack, you will protect us just the way you did to that wolf that suddenly came up on us when you were still held in the magic spell, and then after 12 hours, he faded into the clouds," I said as I noticed the look on Yula's face.
Sungmin had already left. He couldn't stand us, especially the sight of Yangmu. He just hated him. And his reasons ain't even valid! He says he is too little to be a part of us — that a twelve-year-old kid is supposed to be sucking his mother's breast and not be a part of us. He says he is a little spy. In short, I can't say all, but Sungmin doesn't even want to stand in the same room with him, let alone engage him in any of our discussions. Now it was even worse — they had all suspected him in the escape of the two wolves whom we later killed in the fight with Nara.
I just remembered the map, and when I asked, he said he saw Sungmin with the map the first time he came to make peace with me. Oh! Now I remember — I also saw him walking into the room where I kept the map in a bag. Yangmu also added that Sungmin warned him not to say anything about it.
"What? Me?" Sungmin was already here in no time to defend himself. "This little brat of yours will soon have his face slashed mercilessly anytime soon! What did he mean he saw me stealing a map that I know nothing about? Not even its use… why would I even do such a thing?"
"Sungmin, I do not have strength for this. Like the popular saying, kids do not lie! So if you know you took that map, kindly give it back!"
He chuckled. "You must be joking, right!"
"Look, Jiah, you are beginning to behave strange. You cannot choose a complete stranger over us. You have to send this kid back to wherever you picked him up. Can't you see he isn't what we think he is?"
"No, Jiah! I belong here! My witch mother, who caused me to be in that spell, once told me that I would be a part of a small clan in the future when I am twelve. And this is it!"
"Not here! Maybe some other clan, but you do not belong here, you liar, deceiver, murderer, virus!"
"Stop!"
"We won't until you take him back to wherever you picked him from. In short, Hayan asked us to come with you to her territory. She says she has a message for you from your father!"
"My father? Is he awake now?"
"She refused to tell us anything about that until she sees you!" Yula said, scrutinizing Yangmu.
"Yes, Hayan said you must see her before the next full moon in 3 days' time."
"If it's about your father, please do not go. I can bring him out of Guyong's captivity and give him a chance to live again."
"Fuck you! You think you are wise, huh! We will never let you accomplish your plans," Yula said, looking straight in his face.
Yangmu buried his face in my chest from the fear that Yula was putting in him. I was left in a pit of confusion. I have never seen Yula and Sungmin strongly against someone like this. They wouldn't hate a child this much if something suspicious wasn't attached to it. Why was I the only one saying something different?
I faced Yangmu. "If you were truly one of us, how come none of us can mind-link you? How come we do not feel connected to you in any way?"
Sungmin and Yula maintained a quiet atmosphere, all eyes on him, waiting to hear his response.
"That's probably because I am a witch!" he said with no traces of fear in his voice.
"You complete witch?" I asked.
"Yes!" he replied.
"Man! You are a miserable liar," Sungmin snapped.
"Okay, fine. We are not going to do this with you!" Yula argued. "Come with us to Hayan."
"Hayan is an evil witch, but I am not, so I have no business with darkness."
"Kill him, Sungmin!" Yula mind-linked after hearing the rubbish he said. He provoked her the more. He must have thought we were all dumb asses.
Before Sungmin came closer to him, he had disappeared and suddenly appeared behind him.
"You all are a bunch of blind fools, driven by another blind!" he said, and my eyes widened. I was not surprised at what played out because I knew he was nothing but a symbol of the past trying to kill the present in order to wipe out the future. I knew all this from the start.
"For your information, you all have before the full moon to appeal your stars; if not, it would be gone forever. I have succeeded in making it more difficult. I have stolen the diamond stone. I mean the original one," he said, laughing like a witch. "I am not and can never be a part of your godforsaken blind clan," he said, already shielded by his magical bubble.
"Watch me! I will take this back to Guyong. He is more powerful than you'll could think. You can never defeat him." His black eyes became darker.
We listened helplessly. I do not need to be told that I have been fooled all through. Yula and Sungmin were right about Yangmu. I let my emotions take over me. I thought he was a helpless kid with no love from parents, and since he was an orphan, I just had an unconditional love for him. But I didn't know that he was a messenger from my biggest enemy, Guyong.
Sungmin fumed, but he couldn't do a thing — not to someone who already got himself shielded in his magical protection spell.