Chapter 71. Mind Games.

Gideon was following the scent of the fox king, wishing for nothing more than
tearing his head off. This would solve most of his problems, as the sly bastard
was the brain behind everything and eliminating him would be crucial for the
victory.
He sped up, letting Mars take the control. Soon they saw the red blur ahead of
them. Castiel’s scent was evident. And they didn’t hesitate to charge at the fox,
knocking him off his feet. His beast was huge, but not a match for a lycan wolf.
Gideon would have overpowered him easily if not for the two bears that joined his
enemy. Those were extremely big and aggressive. So, it took him a bit longer to
rip their necks off. And now two things worried him. First, he did not see the girl
that Castiel took hostage anywhere close. And second, they were watching the
area and these two bears came out of nowhere.
It was a bad sign. Very bad. The fox started running again but he managed to
catch up with him and dig his canines
into his side to make him stop. The red beast whimpered and in no time the lycan
king
managed to submit him. A few slashes of sharp claws here and there and the fox
under him
whimpered from pain, shifting back into his human form.
And this was when Gideon snarled in anger.
Before him was a young man in his twenties with red curly hair who was
trembling in
horror.
It wasn’t Castiel. It wasn’t the fox king. “What the hell?!” Gideon gritted his teeth,
talking to his wolf. “How did this happen?!”“We’ve been tricked,” Mars was furious. “He has the king’s scent on him! It’s
identical! The foxes are the only ones who can do this type of thing!”
He was angry at himself for falling for this. Of course, he shouldn’t have relied on
the scent when dealing with this sly kind...
“Reid,” he called his Beta via the mind link, “I lost the king. Anything from your
side?”
“We got the whole group and I just sent them to the dungeons of your Queen’s
pack,” his friend replied.
“Good. Keep your eyes open. Don’t trust the scents too much.” Gideon told him
and then tried to connect to his mate, “Riannon.”
She did not reply and he got tense. It wasn’t that far. He was supposed to feel
her. And now, trying to sense his bond, he couldn’t.
“Riannon!” he called again and again, only to get no reply. Two of his warriors
“Reid! Do you see Riannon?” he asked while taking a huge leap.
“No,” the reply echoed through his ears, and now he was really worried.
“Can you connect to your mate?” the lycan king still tried thinking rationally.
“No, I haven’t marked her yet...” Reid sounded apologetic. “But I am going there
now. If I find out anything...”
“Good,” Gideon stopped him.
Yet nothing was good. He couldn’t feel Riannon anywhere nearby.
Finally, he picked up her scent and started following it. It led him to a small ravine
and from there Ria’s traces were going in five different directions.A loud growl emerged from the depths of the lycan king’s lungs and it made the
flocks of birds fly away from the trees.
They used her scent to cover their tracks. The foxes copied her scent and left it
all over this part of the woods, so it would be impossible to trace them.
But the worst thing was that to copy her scent, they had to have her... Just how
did they do it? The plan worked perfectly! She was safe! They won!
He was running all over the forest trying to find her and growling loudly, howling
in the
loss of his mate. Desperate, angry, broken...
“I don’t feel her anywhere nearby,” Mars told him, “We are wasting our time
here.”
. It was true and Gideon knew this. He raced back to the packhouse, where
everyone was already waiting for him with stern faces, shifting in one breath.
“What do you know?” he asked through gritted teeth when he saw Reid walking
out of the
mansion at the same time as Maya, who did not look great, bleeding in a few
places.
“I am taking her into the infirmary,” his Beta told him, covering her with his body
as if to
defend her.
“What happened?” he still insisted. “Where is Riannon? Who saw her last?” “I
did,” Maya lowered her head, and he knew that he wasn’t going to like what he
heard
next.He clenched his fists and growled loudly, making Reid step in front of his mate.
But she pushed him away carefully and looked the lycan king in the eye.
“I was fighting Roxy when I thought I saw her,” she said firmly, taking the
responsibility. “I felt my Alpha’s presence during my battle and then I saw a man
taking her away. I think it was
“Taking her away?” Gideon’s breathing fastened. This was the worst thing that he
could ever imagine. His beautiful Ria was in his enemy’s hands. “How the hell did
that happen?!”
“She seemed unconscious,” Maya admitted. “He was holding her in his arms. I
was in the middle of the battle and couldn’t do anything. By the time I won, they
were gone, and her scent was all over the place. This was when Reid found me.”

“She was heavily bleeding but still searching for her Alpha,” his Beta chimed in,
clearly
trying to protect her, which only made him more suspicious.
“Why were you far away from other warriors? None of us should have been
alone!” Gideon narrowed his eyes at the girl, who lowered her head in
submission again. “Who were you fighting?”
“Roxanne,” her voice was barely a whisper, but he heard it loud and clear.
“Roxanne the fake mate?” he snarled. “You went for her alone and Ria followed
you. Isn’t
that right?!”
“That’s correct, my king.” She acknowledged his title for the first time since they
had known each other.“You didn’t follow the plan! She went to help you but because of that got
captured!” Mars was trying to get out. For a lycan wolf of his rank, he wanted to
punish the Beta. But Reid
covered her with himself again.
“Gideon! She made a mistake! It happens...” He pleaded.
“This mistake cost me my queen!” the king roared, not being able to hold his
anger. “Your best friend!”
“I know...” Maya muttered under her breath, shaking visibly.
“And we need clear heads now to get her back!” Reid reasoned with his Alpha.
“Get yourself cleaned and we’ll get to work. It’s not the end. It’s only the
beginning. They will not hurt her. Not with the current situation. But we need to
find her as soon as possible. Luckily, we got many captives today. And Roxy is
one of them. She sure as hell has some valuable
information for us.”
Giddeon stormed past the two of them, growling, “I expect you two in the
dungeons
within one hour!”
***
Riannon slowly opened her eyes, blinking a few times as she tried to adjust to
the Mind Games unfamiliar and for a few seconds, she thought that maybe
Gideon took her back to his mansion. Maybe it was a surprise and he prepared a
new room for her.
However, when the door opened, she was back to reality as her eyes locked with
Castiel’s. He had that smug grin plastered all over his face that told her that this
was his house. He was too comfortable here. Another thing that she realisedquickly was that there were cameras installed in this room. Otherwise, how did
he know that she was away?
closed the doors behind them and she heard the lock click.
“That would be an overstatement,” she lifted her chin high, assessing her clothes.
To her relief, she was still fully dressed. Only her beautiful leather jacket and
boots were missing. At least that was good news, nobody violated her in her
sleep. This was giving her hope. “You drugged me, remember?” She moved to
the edge of the bed and sat on it.
“I do and I am sorry,” he shrugged his shoulders. He wasn’t sorry at all. But he
was
“You are not.” Riannon stated plainly, rubbing her forehead. She never had a
headache
this bad.
“True,” the fox smirked. “I would have done it differently if there was a chance.
But there was not, so, don’t blame me. I wanted us to talk for a while.”
“We live during sad times if men have to drug women to simply talk to them,” she
scoffed, but he did not give her any reaction, walking deeper into the room and
taking a seat in one of the armchairs next to the window.
Ria decided not to waste any time and stood up, pacing slowly around the room
and
looking around. Any detail here could be an important piece of information to use
in the future.
But the more she looked, the more disappointed she became. This room had no
character in it.“It’s all brand new,” she heard the fox king chuckle behind her back. “I had it
prepared specially for you after our first meeting in person. You will not find
anything here.”
“Who said that I am looking?” she raised her brow at him and went to sit in the
opposite chair, placing one of her legs on top of the other. “Maybe I am just
admiring the design.”
“Yeah. Sure,” he let out a little laugh, tapping the armrest with his long fingers
while eyeing her. He was enjoying all this and she hated the fact that she was
providing this satisfaction for
him.
mood and that arrogant smile dropped off his lips.
“The question is whether I lost them or simply sacrificed them?” he was back to
sneering in less than a second. But this time she knew that it was an act.
“Why don’t we get to the point and you just tell me what do you want from me?”
Ria cut straight to the chase. Foxes hated that. They loved their mind games.
“Who said that I want anything?” Castiel winked at her as if they were good
friends.
“Well, you did prepare a room for me,” she pointed to everything that was
surrounding them and he nodded, giving up on that one little lie.
“Oh, Riannon,” he sighed, looking her straight into the eyes, “I want so many
things from you! You have no idea.”
She cringed a bit, hearing that, but did her best not to show it.
“I am not sure I want to hear this,” she parried and heard another chuckle of his.
Menacing
this time.again...
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