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 realised

quickly 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...