“Alpha I have something to tell you, it’s about our pack’s Beta…” I was hesitant about what it will lead to.

But the Alpha cut me mid-sentence, “Yaa he was gravely injured I have heard. They said he died in honour of protecting me and fighting off the wolfs from Waterwoods village!”

I put my head down narrowing my eyes with the awkwardness of how to say it. Our alpha seems to blindly trust his companions and especially his pack for that matter, it would be really heartbreaking when he hears that Beta betrayed him.

“You know what Selene” he took my attention back to him, “we will do a proper memorial for John Walter, he will be buried with respect”

The name felt very unfamiliar to my ears, “John Walter?”

“Our Beta – John Walter. Don’t tell me you don’t know our names rookie!” the Alpha exclaimed playfully as if it was a big deal, it was immediately replaced with gentle laughter, “You should go mix with others from our pack, and for your kind information no one calls me Alpha here.”

My eyes went wide as blood rushed to my cheeks, I should have at least known his name!

“I’m sorry Alpha I didn’t know about this rule. Pardon my rudeness I haven’t introduced myself properly; I am Selene the new member of the pack Winterwells, it’s an honour to fight alongside you…umm…”, I stuttered trying to remember his name that was never mentioned to me.

‘What kind of fool I am! I should have asked his name first.’ But he was quick to understand and introduced himself, “I’m Channing Warchild, the Alpha of Winterwells pack. It’s great to have a dedicated and loyal rookie like you alongside us.”

He smiled and greeted me raising his head a bit, I assume he bowed, “Why are you so stiff Selene? No need for sophisticated words, not like we live in the castle or something!”

I averted my face gasping, trying to hide the shocked expression that uncontrollably slipped on my face, does he know I am a princess!? No, he shouldn’t, It’s possible that I am overthinking.

Turning back to him I acted as if a speck of dust had invaded my only open eye. “Sorry just a little dust”, I laughed awkwardly and reciprocated his gesture giving a light bow, “Nice to meet you, Channing Warchild”

I went to lie back down on the bed facing away from him, why did I even react that much! and closed my eyes calling myself a fool.

“Wait a minute!” It suddenly clicked me and I bolted up again, “What am I doing in YOUR hospital room!”

Channing laughed looking at my reaction, “You realized it now! Haha, actually I had you shifted here. Since you saved my life! So as a small gesture of my thanks I paid for all your hospital bills and since this is a VIP ward, you’ll get proper VIP attention here.”

“Thank you Alpha, I mean Channing!” I responded fiddling my fingers, I have never been in contact with any other man or guy since I was 10. This was my first official and friendly interaction with one, and I was actually sharing the room with him!

“But I don’t need such favours I just fulfilled my duty…”, I tried to convince him to shift me somewhere else,

But he cut me mid-sentence again, “Pretty please, let me at least do this much for you. Also, I heard you don’t have any relatives in this town, so let me take care of you through your recovery.”

He had the most innocent smile I had ever seen, a kind you would never see inside the castle walls. The smile reminded me that the world was a better place.

I noticed his eyes clearer now that he was this close and conscious, they were Grey in colour and perfectly complimented his face. He had a defined jawline yet his face didn’t look like life was sucked out of it. A little stubble which was neatly trimmed, and a rather tanned complexion, but everything just added to his beauty, ‘I wonder how his wolf looks?’

Channing caught me staring at him and smirked childishly, “Am I that handsome? Don’t look at me like that I get embarrassed” he said acting like a teen girl covering his face, it immediately made my face cringe involuntarily.

“What’s with that expression now!?” He exclaimed.

“Nothing really! It’s just you.” I said with a weird smile.

“Ouch! That stings” he replied put a hand on his chest and doing the same teen girl act. I rolled my eyes not wanting to see any more of it.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door and Channing asked them to come in.

Three investigators in uniform – 1 female officer and 1 male officer with an evident-looking chief, walking ahead of them, entered. They walked in sync towards us and stopped between our beds.

“What is it chief jack? Did you find anything?”, asked Channing, I can tell he didn’t like to stretch important things.

“No! But we have other important information” replied the chief handing the documents to Channing and signalled the female officer towards me, I didn’t understand what that meant but she did! Immediately coming forward she cuffed my hands together in front of me.

“Hey!” I shouted, “What is this about!?”. Deep inside I kind of knew what it was about but I wasn’t expecting it this soon!

The chief ignored me turning towards Channing, “We checked the bloodstains on John Walter’s body as well as the stains that this girl Selene had on her” he pointed towards me, “The blood and flesh samples found on Selene were of John Walter’s. Similarly, the blood we found on John’s body was her, we believe they had a brawl as a result of which John died. We are here to take Selene in as the prime suspect of this murder!”

Channing looked through the reports carefully whilst listening to what the chief was saying, shuffling a little more and reading carefully.

My eyes widened with fear, this is exactly what I was afraid of! I should have told Channing when I had the chance, now it’s too late.

“And how can you say that so surely?” asked Channing. It had me look at him not understanding what was going through his head.

Channing continued looking through the reports until he found the right one, which he flicked and turned it towards the chief, “If you look at this report properly, it says there were DNA samples of two different wolfs on John’s body. One of the DNA samples matches Selene’s but the other one is of an unknown origin, plus it is clearly written here ‘DEATH BY BLOOD LOSS’ so we can’t be putting our people in cuffs before even checking who do these unknown samples belong to! Right chief?”

Channing turned to me, a comforting smile surfaced on his face, “Selene is a patient, till she heals you should focus on this other half of the information.”

The chief put his head down offended, but veered toward the female officer standing beside me, “Let her go and make sure to keep an officer stationed outside 24/7” Turning back to Channing the chief warned him, “You be careful Channing, you might have brought a snake inside your den”

Channing smiled cunningly knowing exactly what the chief felt, “Yes Jack, Thank you for your concern” and he waved them goodbye.

The chief and his officers turned on their heels and left the room.

“Thank you,” I said to Channing, but he was engrossed in his thoughts as creases formed on his forehead.

‘I shouldn’t delay anymore, Channing appears suspicious of me as well now!’ I thought, It was already late, whatever I say could be perceived as an excuse, ‘But if it goes any further than this it would get very hard for me to tell the truth!’

So I gathered my courage and called out Channing hesitantly, “Ehm… Channing, I need to tell you something important”

He just shifted his gaze towards me waiting for me to continue, so I did, “I know who attacked you back there! I know I’m new in the pack so it’s hard to trust me, but you must know the truth!”

Channing blinked at me asking me to stop talking and pressed the button in his hand. His personal guard walked in as Channing ordered, “Don’t send anyone in for some time and disable the CCTV inside the room.”

“Yes sir!” the guard straightened and left the room closing the door behind him.

I looked back at Channing as he finally opened his mouth to speak, “Actually I have been meaning to confirm some things from you, I was just waiting for you to start the conversation!”