Chapter 66: Running From The Wind

[HAWI]

'Why did I even do that?' Hawi scolded herself as she walked back to her shelter. However, instead of reaching the shelter, the rejected alpha sat a few meters away from her shelter, like she was waiting to see what Rukiya would do.

She may have been shy to go back to Rukiya right now, but she had promised Adolf that she would look out for Rukiya, and that was what she was doing right now. She watched as Rukiya sat on the nearest stone, cold as it was, she didn't seem to care, and Hawi was worried for her.

She could tell there was a storm in Rukiya's eyes, and slowly, Hawi was learning that there was more to the both of them.

She could have stopped the blood oath and could have gathered a different army for herself without any difficulty, but instead, she had pretended to be amused when Rukiya offered herself and her army.

Hawi was smart, but it was also that which stopped her from making a mess of herself even more. Tomorrow would come and then they would go their separate ways.

'Goodnight, Rukiya,' Hawi whispered into the night as she watched Rukiya finally walk into her shelter after a while. The night had grown colder, and she went to her shelter to rest and wait for tomorrow.

However a few minutes later Hawi was shaking Malika, waking her up like there was an emergency that they both ended to attend to, and maybe there was especially now that Hawi was thinking on overdrive.

She had regrets and in her experience, regrets while on admission was never a good thing.

"Wake up, Malika, I can't do this anymore. I need to... Please wake up," Hawi said and that's all it took for Malika to straighten up, rubbing her eyes, and switching into protective mode.

She knew Hawi hated using the term 'please', and that itself meant that something had happened or something was wrong. But what could be so urgent that couldn't wait till morning when they had been suffering in the hands of the weather they had triggered themselves?

"Why, what happened?" Malika asked and Hawi stared at her, like she wasn't sure where to begin. She knew that this was probably the most insane thing she had to do, but she felt like she was in a block and did not know if there was any other way out for her.

"Hawi... You're scaring me. Is it something Rukiya did? Do you want me to kill her? Is it Adolf? Or the damn healer?

"Did they do something to mess you up or put you in this state?" Malika asked as she finally sat upright, ignoring her wet back thanks to the rain taking out everything they could have used to keep themselves warm.

"That's so inhumane of you... Which reminds me, lips or cheek?"

"What?"

"Where'd you kiss her?" Malika insisted and Hawi threw the blanket at her.

"Get up, we're leaving and we're not taking anything other than the bloody crown and the gown. All of these things are wet, we can steal clothes on the way and find other things to deal with," Hawi said and Malika sighed, before getting up to pick whatever they were to take.

Hawi was in a real hurry and in the next five minutes, they were ready to leave their shelter.

It wasn't the ideal time that Malika had thought that she would be leaving here, but then she didn't have much of an option and clearly, Hawi wasn't in the mood to talk about the mistakes she had made.

Malika had grown to know Hawi over the past few months and she knew that he would never admit to any emotions, which was why it was easier for her to run than embrace the fact that maybe, Rukiya crushing on her wasn't exactly a bad idea.

If anything she would have more than just an army. She would have the reassurance that things would be alright.

However, Hawi had been betrayed by the people she loved the most. People who meant the world to her and she was definitely not going to trust easily.

The only person she trusted right now was Malika, but that was because Hawi was sure of the control she had over Malika. Besides, Malika was so invested in her well-being that she wouldn't dare to betray Hawi.

"Where are we going? You do realize that we might cross into other people's territories while on the run?" Malika said, reminding Hawi that their options were a little limited given the time they were running away.

However, they were the wildest and smartest duo right now, so it wouldn't be hard for them to find a place to settle. Maybe there would come a time for them to embrace that which they were seeing, but when would that time come?

"The Clarkson pack," Hawi responded with a knowing smile.

"The weakest pack in the realm?"