Channing took his distance from me with all the awkwardness that had brewed in the environment. I cleared my throat, barely knowing how to go ahead with my request again, but Channing did not wait for me to clear my running mind or come up with anything to fill the awkward silence.

He simply walked away and I saw him go to one of the guards. Channing said something to the guard in a hushed tone which my brain wasn’t able to process.

What had happened just now had me on the edge with my thoughts. 

I always thought Fang was one of the dominating people who got for themselves what they wanted without having the need to ask the others in that equation. But the way Channing had kissed me just now was no different to that. He did warn me with his look, but him just going in for it was the most unexpected event of my day today. 

“Selene,” I heard my name and snapped out of my thoughts. My eyes rose to meet with Channing’s as he signalled to the cell door in front of him. 

I looked at what he was pointing towards in a confused state of mind when I saw the guard starting to unlock the door. Each of the cell guards had an emergency key for the door which they guarded. It was something only to be used when extremely necessary or usually the prison supervisor send someone with the main bunch of keys to open the door. I saw the guard use his emergency key and only imagined that Channing had asked him to hurry with the process. 

As I walked ahead towards him, I was more confused than before. Channing had been angry a minute ago about my decision to release Hailey, but now he was helping me. 

I went and stood to face him but he had his side faced towards me while still looking at Hailey’s cell. 

After muttering all my strength to speak up, I finally asked him, “Are you fine with this?” 

Channing’s head slowly turned to me but his eyes never met mine. They were oddly fixated somewhere else, “I have to be fine with a lot of things, Selene. I possibly can’t force my insecurities and worries onto you now.” My brows were creased with the pain that he oozed right now. I opened my mouth to say something when Channing gave me a tight smile before meeting my eyes, “I will get the paperwork done.” Saying that he just walked away without waiting or anticipating any word from me. 

I gulped down on the heavy feeling which rose in my chest. 

What Channing had said was not too hard to code. He had to compromise on a lot of things in his life and somehow I was making him do the same for me. 

Letting that get to my head was not done right now, even though it was tough enough. I turned to face the front of Hailey’s cell awkwardly as the guard opened the door on Channing’s order. It had been a hard thing digesting the fact that Channing had actually kissed me. Now all that I hoped was Fang did not meet him or me anytime soon or the war between the villages would come sooner than expected. 

Hailey got out of the cell and stretched like a feline after her energising slumber. It is easy to think that the feline is harmless when sleeping but it is just her way to power up before her attack. 

I took a deep breath, looking at the blood thirsty person in front of me. 

Who would even believe this was a princess of a renowned clan. Though no one would guess me as a princess as well but Hailey was other level. She was no less to a criminal. But then again, she was the heir to an assassin clan. I can only imagine how she must have grown up learning the skills of bestowing death. 

“You look heart broken,” Hailey spoke with doe eyes, “is everything fine? Did your lover boy break your fragile little heart?” 

I looked at her and for a moment there was nothing I wanted to do more than push her back into the cell. But we had bigger matters at hand and as far as I had come to know about Hailey, she liked to fight. 

My head looked left and right before I slowly pulled out the dagger from my pocket and showed it to her, “Does this belong to your clan?” 

I was already sure because of Fang that it was a Cermesi dagger but I still had to confirm it from Hailey. She did not even go closer to take a look at it, rather a smirk rose on her face, “Yes, this is mine.” 

My eyes narrowed at her sudden confession, “What do you mean this is your?” 

Hailey pushed my hand holding the dagger back to my side, “well put it inside first, you don’t want to commit a felony by bringing this inside the prison now do you?” 

“What do you mean this is your?” I stepped forward to stand face to face with her. Usually I am taller than most of the girls around me but Hailey always matched me eye to eyes. I wasn’t scared of this dagger being seen by the prison guards as long as I don’t plan on stabbing Hailey with it. My eyes blazed remembering how this dagger had almost killed me in the market this afternoon, “answer me!” My voice formed a grunt in the back of my throat. 

Hailey raised her eyebrows, not shocked but rather thrilled by the daring I was portraying right now. She whistled lightly in front of me as her breath hit my face, “You are getting better than before, can’t wait to see you out of your little submissive shell.” 

I caught hold of her t-shirt collar and pulled her with all my force, “did you send someone to kill me?” 

“Did I?” Hailey asked innocently, even at the brink of my anger. No doubt she was an Alpha or by now any Omega would have shaken to their core, looking me in my eyes. That was how an Alpha’s blood worked. It made other werewolves fear them and comply with them. Very rarely, the Omegas would fall out of this pattern and leave the pack as lone wolves. Hailey did not lose the smirk on her face, “Well, I never intended to kill you and what if it had hit you, aren’t you a healer type?” 

My teeth gritted as I grunted in her face before pushing her away. This woman was impossible to deal with. The fact that she knew about me being an Alpha just after one fight with me was enough to keep myself safe from her or that day won’t be far when she figures out my true identity. 

“How did you know where I was?” I asked calmly. 

Hailey reached out for the dagger when I retracted my hand. She clicked her tongue with possessiveness over her dagger but I simply pushed it back into my jeans. I was expecting answers from her, not silly tricks.

Hailey sighed before shrugging, “Well, I knew what my sister did at the eastern border, how unfortunate it was.” Her face turned into a fake expression of pity and I narrowed my eyes at her along with pursing my lips. Hailey almost pouted before she realised I was not falling for her fake sympathies. I did not expect an assassin like her to be warm-blooded. She rolled her eyes, “well I was tired inside the prison and thought this was a good opportunity to get out and maybe help you-” 

“So you simply wanted to get out and go behind your sister?” I spoke before she wasted any more of my time. 

Hailey did not speak for a good minute as she admired me for how much I had already got used to her craziness. It wasn’t like I actually had got used to it but I had to accept this piece of garbage if I had to spend the following few days with her till we find Zelda. 

When I raised my brows questioningly, Hailey raised her palms in the air to show she was guilty as charged. 

I did not need any explanation from her as I rolled my eyes and started walking away from her. Before I could dodge her, she did a little sprint to catch up to me, “wait but how did you figure it out so soon?” 

“I enquired about it to someone,” I replied blandly. 

“Heh,” Hailey dragged on her words a little proudly, “Well, we Cermesi are pretty famous you know.” 

“Good for you,” I replied as I increased my pace to walk ahead. I did need a lot of help from her but apart from that part, I did not want such negative influence floating around me. Being a healer myself, it was suffocating to be in the same space as a killer. 

Not a second later, I heard my mobile ring in my pocket and I stopped to pull it out. Hailey had already caught up when she saw the name that flashed on my screen, “Oh my my…” 

I looked at her with a deadly glare before cutting the call. It was not like I cared what had gone between Hailey and Fang previously, but as far as I knew, they had it all physical and there was no reason for them to come back together now… Was I? I was… I was thinking about Fang’s past relationship and… I was defensive about him! Was I possibly jealous?

No, no that is not possible. 

My mobile rang again and I saw the name Fang flash on the screen again. My fingers tightened around my device before I cut the call again.

There was no way I was talking to him right now. Not when I had possibly gone jealous of his past relationship for no reason at all. 

“You look red, Selene,” Hailey whispered beside my ear and I jumped up on my place before sneering at Hailey.  That girl had a gleam in her eyes like a teenager, “Oh my god! Are you his new interest? Must say, Fang is kind of into Warchilds… I mean I am one and then even you-“

“Will you shut up?” I almost shouted before I ran down the stairs.

The guards could bring Hailey down but right now my mind was swirling enough trying to understand what my heart was going through. When I reached the ground floor, I realised how warm my face had got. I gently tapped my cheeks to calm my nerves down when my mobile rang again and I accidentally picked it up without looking at the name, “Hello?” 

An irritated raspy voice greeted me from the other end, “Exactly how busy are you to be cutting my calls constantly?”