Derek’s POV
I clenched my fists and pounded on the wall, leaving a dent with blood stains on it. We had searched for Erika in the forest for two days and there was no trace of her. All we knew was that she escaped with the help of her former student. But now, it turned out that she was caught by Richard. The instant I saw the picture and recognized that the bloody body was my mate, my heart stopped pounding for a second. I threw the phone on the sofa and covered my face with my hands, having no courage to check that photo again.
For the last two days, I didn’t sleep much. I had a lot on my plate and I couldn’t fall asleep without Erika by my side. I thought that she must have been popping a bottle of champagne to celebrate her escape. But judging from the photo, she didn’t sleep much either. She seemed to be tortured badly and it must be a hard time for her. I looked up at the ceiling and rubbed my throbbing temples.
I summoned an emergency meeting with Francis, Kent, Gerald, and Carl.
“Fifteen minutes ago, I received an anonymous message. Erika was kidnapped.” I sat in the middle and announced.
“What? How is that possible?” Carl asked.
The others also frowned.
“According to the message, I needed to go to a waste dump near the border alone with one million dollars at midnight to get Erika back, otherwise, Erika would be killed. There is also a photo of her attached. I won’t show it to you. She’s in a bad condition. But I’m sure that it’s real. There are no hints of PS. What do you think about it?” I glanced at them.
What I just told them was so astonishing that it took one minute to sink in.
Kent rubbed his chin with his fingers and first said, “I think it’s not for money. If I were the kidnapper, I won’t kidnap Erika. Firstly, Erika is a good fighter and it’s not easy to get her, even when she is weak. Secondly, you have a reputation for being savage and cruel, no one can afford to mess up with you. So it’s not for money. The target is you.”
“I agree. It’s not as simple as it seems.” Beta Gerald agreed.
I nodded and cleared my throat. “You are right. Erika also contacted me just then and told me that it was a trap. Richard wants to kill me.”
“What?” Carl asked.
“Yes. She blocked me these days and didn’t contact me until now. She might know that I received the message. She told me not to fall for it,” I said, trying to sound as serious as possible. She asked me not to fall for the trap even though I was to save her. So she wasn’t as heartless as she seemed. I had to admit, Erika’s message did soothe me to some extent. I was highly irritable these days, which I could tell from my pack leaders’ faces. When I was in good mood, light jokes were acceptable. But ever since Erika was gone, they didn’t dare to look me in the face when they reported something to me.
“Wait, are you talking about Richard? Isn’t Charles the Alpha of their pack?” Francis asked.
“Richard killed his father and became the new Alpha recently,” Carl explained.
“Yes, sure. He’s a very ambitious guy. Earlier this year, he kept messing around and invading the border of my pack. That’s the cause of the border issue. His father discovered it and scolded him harshly. I wanted to teach them a lesson. That’s why I asked you to pretend to form an alliance with them. Now Richard wants to kill you, does it mean that he has found out that your alliance with him was a fake thing,” Francis explained.
“That’s possible.” I pondered over it for a while. I didn’t know much about the new Alpha. But now, a lot of things made sense to me.
“Let me guess, he wants to kill me first. Then he will attack the West Ford Pack after my pack is in a mess. That’s his plan,” I said.
Francis looked at me agape. “He is over-ambitious. We need to teach him a lesson.”
Eleven o’clock at night, I walked out of the pack house with a large case. I put it in the trunk of my car and went to the driver’s seat. I would drive alone to the appointed place and give the kidnapper one million dollars to save Erika. Alpha Richard walked over from the door. A dozen warriors were standing by the door with weapons. I glanced around and discovered five more warriors on guard. I put down the case and opened it in front of Alpha Richard. There was one million dollars in the case.
Richard studied me from up to down and asked, “Are you alone?”
I nodded.
“You’d better be. If I find another guy with you, you and Erika are both screwed.” Richard scowled.
“Where is Erika? I need to see her, right now,” I said as I glanced around the place.
“She’s not here.”
“Where is she?”
“She’s in a safe place,” he said with a weird smile on his face.
“I’ve given you the money,” I said with a scowl.
“I didn’t say that you could take her away immediately. The truth is that I always want to fight you. Let’s have a fight and if you can win, I’ll let you take Erika away. How about that?” Richard asked.
“I need to know where she is and whether she is safe,” I insisted.
“OK. She’s right in the little hut beside you and she’s still alive. But if you can’t defeat me quickly, I can’t guarantee that she’s alive.” He sneered and pointed behind him. It was a low and small room without windows in the corner. If he didn’t say it, I wouldn’t even notice it. I gritted my teeth and clenched my fist.
Suddenly, his smile disappeared, and asked, “You are his mate. Can’t you feel her presence?”
“She blocked me,” I answered with a frown.
“Of course, she hates you,” he chuckled.
We came to the empty ground in the dump.
“So what’s the rule?” I asked.
“No rules. We’ll fight until one can’t stand up.”
“OK.” I nodded and rolled up my sleeves, ready to defeat him and take Erika back.
That was how it seemed to Richard.