459: A TRAP

A TRAP

Alpha Dristan greeted Iris politely. He looked like he was in a good mood, while the woman that was riding with him lowered her head. She looked so young, probably no more than eighteen or seventeen years old, while alpha Dristan was twice her age. 

"Is this your first time to go hunting?" Alpha Dristan rode his horse so close with Cane and Iris's horse, as he nodded politely at the alpha to acknowledge him. 

"Yes," Iris replied with a small smile, but her concern was on the young woman. She looked so skinny and pale. She must one among hundred of people that was being starved by alpha Gill, but now when the alpha had died, she needed to deal with another alpha. 

"Don't be scared, there are a lot of warriors that surround us, there is nothing could go wrong in the mountain," alpha Dristan reassured Iris. 

But that was not the assurance that she needed. Iris blinked her eyes and spoke innocently. "I am not afraid. I am with my mate and Cane knows this mountain like the back of his hand. It's great the royal warriors are here, so no one will get lost and bother my mate."

Iris didn't mean to sound so sarcastic when she spoke, but when she saw the young woman, she felt so vexed. Whatever that happened between alpha Dristan and her, it must be something dreadful for her, because it was written all over her face. 

Iris hated it. 

On the other hand, alpha Dristan was slightly taken aback by how fierce her answer was, because he didn't expect such comeback from her, but he masked it well and before he could continue to bother her, Cane had taken over the conversation. 

"Where are your people?" Cane asked. He could only see the royal warrior, while none of the warrior from the Red Claw pack nearby. 

"I only bring two with me," alpha Dristan replied, nodded to the two personal guards of his, who rode behind him. 

Cane narrowed his eyes. Something was not right about this. The amount of the royal warriors was not right. It almost felt like they were hunting a horde of monster, instead of a few foxes. 

"You left them?" Cane himself brought around ten people with him, which was not a significant number, but enough for this hunt. 

"Yes." Alpha Dristan nodded, but when he saw Cane's expression, his face turned serious as well. "Is there something wrong?" he looked around him and then lowered his voice even more. "The amount of the royal warriors…"

Cane said nothing and let this alpha to think on his own about their current situation. 

"Do you think the king is up to something?" Alpha Dristan finally came to his sense when he noticed they were indeed being surrounded by the royal warriors. In the beginning he thought it was for their protection, since they would go hunting with the king and lady Cyan, but wouldn't the amount be too much?

However, Cane didn't think this was the king. He was sure this was lady Cyan doing. Before, Cane was still having some doubts about how much influence that mistress had, but right now, he could see she was literally the mastermind of every critical decision that the king made, while keep a low profile about herself. 

What the leverage she had to be able to control a king? As far as Cane learned, lady Cyan's background was not as fantastic as queen Della, that was why, she was not the queen, even though the king favored her. 

But even so, after lady Cyan, the king kept getting more and more mistresses, yet at the same time, he insisted for Alan to be the next in line for the throne, no matter how stupid that man was and how strong the objection from the people in his court. 

There were a lot of holes in this logic. 

And right now, it was too late to make an excuse to leave, as they went into the mountain and the shades of the trees, covered them from the sunlight. 

"Alpha Cane?" alpha Dristan called for him, but Cane beckoned Avid instead, he talked to his warrior in a very low voice, none of them could hear the conversation. "What is it?" alpha Dristan asked again when Cane had done talking briefly to his warrior, in which he left in hurry. 

"You better prepare yourself for the worst," Cane said coldly. "Send word to your people."

"What?" Alpha Dristan furrowed his brows, but just like what he said before, they were indeed being surrounded by the royal warrior, thus they couldn't converse freely. 

Gritting his teeth, he beckoned one of his warriors, and said something to him in low voice, in which, the warrior also left the group. 

"Cane?" Iris lifted her head she looked at her mate with a frown. 

"Hm?" Cane kissed her head, as if to reassure her that she would be alright. "If something went wrong, go with Dyne and Eron, understood?"

Cane didn't know the amount of the royal warriors that would go hunting with them, as they assembled in the last second, even his people was taken aback when they saw the royal warriors kept coming and joining the group. 

The only advantage of their current situation was; just like what Iris said, Cane knew this mountain like the back of his hand, so did his people, since alpha Gerald used to let them roamed this mountain for days just to see who would survive in the end. 

However, Iris ignored Cane's instruction and asked him instead. "Are you sure this is the right path to find the white fox?"

"I don't think we can even find them." White fox was a sensitive creature, they needed to hunt them covertly. 

"Cane, I don't think we are heading to where the white fox is…" Iris furrowed her brows. "We are going to the direction where there are a lot of black magic stone."0

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