I was a little weirded out by the amount of enthusiasm that Suzan’s father showed right now. But then again, Suzan’s mother had shown the same amount of enthusiasm towards me. It made me wonder whether Suzan ever brought any friends along with her apart from me. “It is great to finally get to meet you as well, Mr Brayden,” I addressed him officially, knowing he was the Prison supervisor. 

“Don’t be so formal, Selene. Take a seat,” Mr Brayden said in a daunting yet soft tone, “What would you like to have coffee or tea?” 

Suddenly, I felt I was dating Suzan and was being introduced to her parents for the first time. Only the thing was her parents were very friendly, “I think I will have some water.”

“Bring some water for the lady,” His voice boomed, and I unconsciously jolted. 

Mr Brayden had a bright smile on his face as he took a seat in the chair in front of me. The man was hefty to look at, but the smile on his face completely opposite of his looks. He had a battle scar running down his face from the left eyebrow, cutting in a smooth curve over the left side of his lip. Despite it, he looked less intimidating to right now and more excited. 

“Tell me, Selene, what can I do for you?” Mr Brayden placed his elbows on the table. 

I passed him an awkwardly tight smile, “Actually, I was wondering if you could help me with information about a certain prisoner.” 

“Absolutely,” Mr Brayden got up from his chair before I could say anything and walked to the rack on his right. He pulled out a huge green register and then another red one and then a pink one before landing them on the desk with a loud thud. He took his seat back and pulled the chair forward when there was a knock on the door, “Yes, come in.”

I turned around to see a man in his fifties, slender and small in stature, bring the tray with one cup and one glass of water. The man bowed to be and with a smile kept the glass on my side of the table. “Thank you,” I drawled my words. 

He had almost given the same reaction as the guard outside, and it really made me feel uneasy. 

I waited for the man to take his exit before asking Mr Brayden, “Does everyone smile like that around here? The guard was the same.” 

Mr Brayden laughed at my question and it confused me whether I had asked something odd. “Suzan comes here sometime and last time she was here to get the details on prisoners, she went around telling everyone that the new Beta was going to be her best friend.” My eyebrows raised in shock on hearing that. “Not only that, she had made a special sweet dish and had asked me to distribute it here in celebration of you becoming the Beta.” 

I chuckled at that, “she overdoes things sometimes.”

“She always does,” Mr Brayden replied with a sunny smile, “Well, I have told everyone here to treat you well. Who will dare go against my word?” He casually sipped his tea, and I blinked at him twice. 

“You did not have to do that,” I murmured as I drank the water from my glass. 

Mr Brayden waved his hand while his cup was still near his mouth, “You are Suzan’s best friend and that girl has never brought a friend home in her entire life. I am so glad you are taking good care of her.” 

“She is a lovely girl,” I said as m smile flattered remembering last night when I had almost lost her. 

It would have been so disheartening for me. I wasn’t coping with what happened to Ellie and Sam well, if something would have happened to- No, she was safe now and that is all that mattered. 

I drank some more water before I broke out of my thought and looked at Suzan’s father sitting in front of me. Last time I had met her mother, I was sure she took her over exciting characteristics from her mother, but her father was equally enthusiastic and now I thought both of them contributed a huge share towards Suzan’s character. It had me uncontrollably smile before Mr Brayden asked, “So what were you looking for?” 

“Yes about that,” I wrung my hands together as I leaned forward, “I wanted information on Zelda Cermesi. Is she in the prison right now?” 

The question rang some bells inside Mr Brayden as his brows knitted and he hummed. He thought for a while before getting up to get another grey folder, which was rather short in size. He carefully flipped through pages before he flipped back a page, “Here she is.” Mr Brayden read through the contents, “She was granted a month’s bail for her marriage. I don’t think she came back yet.”

“What do you mean, marriage?” I asked in a confused tone. 

Mr Brayden lifted the folder to flip it in front of me, “See for yourself, it was granted by the court, so I don’t have any details. The police station would have the official details of the bail.” 

Jack would definitely not let me have the details from the police station. I would have to go to the court to get them after all. That wasn’t a problem, as I was headed there any which way. “Thank you for the information,” I offered a handshake, and the man returned a firm handshake. 

“Always happy to help you,” he said with a bright smile on his face, “Is that all you need?” 

I thought for a second when Channing’s words came to mind about how only was capable of handling Zelda’s imprisonment. “I wanted to ask you something,” I said when I received a hum from Mr Brayden, “I thought the Alpha controlled Zelda’s bail. How did she receive one from the court?” 

Mr Brayden creased his brows, “Didn’t the Alpha send Chief Jack here for the same thing?” 

“Did Chief Jack say that?” I asked him immediately. 

“Yeah,” Mr Brayden casually replied, “He has to officially sign some papers before he could take anyone away from here. The paper should be right behind this.”  Mr Brayden leaned forward to flip the page and as he realised it, he took the register back towards himself. He frantically flipped through all the pages with his brows creased, “I remember making him sign it.” 

I understood what had happened here, “It’s okay Mr Brayden, Zelda must have snuck in here when you weren’t there.” 

The man’s demeanour completely flipped in a second. His eyes hardened, and I did not have to wait here to see how the guards were going to get a good punishment tonight. “Is there anything else you need, Selene?” Mr Brayden asked in a gravelled voice. 

I wanted to ask something else, but it totally slipped out of my mind. “No, that would be it.” 

“Okay, let me see you out,” Mr Brayden said with a raging fire in his eyes. I did not complain as I stepped outside and he came from behind me before locking the door with keys. He walked me out till the main gate and flashed a smile which did not reach his eyes, “Next time come home for dinner.” 

“Sure, Mr Brayden,” I replied, “See you later than. Thank you for your help.” 

“Any time, Selene,” He chuckled, this time hearing my formal words. But I knew his hell was going to break loose inside the prison. 

I waved him a bye as I headed towards the outskirts of the village this time. It was a long walk to the capital and for a moment I felt like it would have been great even if I had a carriage in today’s date. It instantly reminded me of Fang and with the kiss had happened in the field that day. I fanned my face as I thought about it. That was my first kiss, and he had just dared to steal it, just like that. But even if I wanted to deny it, that place was something memorable. Except the man who needed a good beating. 

I was worried that Fang would call or text me to tease about it, but I supposed he had not got any time with what had happened in Waterwoods yesterday. Even they had faced casualties and it just made me think whether there was a bigger mastermind behind this. 

As I reached near the forest, I dismissed the thought out of my mind and my feet made way straight towards the capital city. 

After a long walk, I reached the capital city by late afternoon. I was parched and decided to make a stop by the market area to buy myself some water. There was a stall who sold juice and had a refrigerator. Went ahead and rested my hand on the counter when I smelled the familiar scent of burning embers. I quickly turned around but was only greeted by a bustling market.

I turned back to the stall owner, “Give a bottle of water.” 

“Iced?” he asked. 

“Iced,” I replied. There was no way my thirst would be quenched by normal water right now. 

He kept the bottle on the counter, where there was a foggy look on the outside while I exchanged it with cash. I opened the lid and started drinking, finally tasting heaven, when suddenly I felt two hands on my shoulder pull me back and the bottle jerked out of my mouth, spilling the drink over me. Before I could react to whosoever it was, the bottle flew out of my hand and I felt something sharp graze across my the side of my palm. 

My eyes shot to the left, where the bottle now spilled all the water down while the dagger held the lower part of it against a pineapple.