Hamish placed Amber down once they were in front of the diner where they had their meal earlier. He was tired after carrying Amber, running all the way to the diner. He gasped, trying to catch his breath. He ignored her, who was visibly scowling at him, with her arms crossed.
"Exaggerate much?" Amber asked sarcastically, narrowing her blue eyes.
Hamish looked at her for a second. He then studied her from bottom to top. "You need to lose more weight," he said as he took off his glasses and wiped them with his handkerchief. She was not really that heavy. But because he was running at quite a distance, at the same time, carrying her, it took a lot out of him.
Before he could finish his sentence, she had already hit him in the arm, nearly making him drop his glasses. "Screw you," she cursed out loud. 'Was I really that heavy?' she thought grumpily, pouting.
Hamish winced and then turned to look at the direction of the abandoned barnyard.
"Where's Erick? Is he alright?" she asked, coming over to stand beside him, also looking over at the direction. She thought that Erick would have been behind them. So, she was quite surprised to see that he was not there. She knew how fit he was so he should have not lagged behind.
Hamish shook his head. "I don't know," he mumbled. He was worried about Erick. He too had thought that Erick was behind him. He did not noticed that Erick did not followed him back. All he could think as he ran was to carry Amber to safety.
Few minutes later, they saw someone running fast towards them. Before they could say anything, Roel had stopped in front of them, with Erick over his shoulder. He looked pale, grimacing after they came to a stop.
Roel dumped Erick on the street walk unceremoniously and turned to Hamish. "Let the doctor over at the 'house' examined this idiot." The 'house' he refers to was the pack house where most pack mates lived. Other than the Alpha and Beta's family, the other pack mates lived there. Though, these pack mates were mostly for those who have not found their mates. Those who already have their mates would live on their own, but not far from the 'house'. 'House' was the code name they used to refer to the pack house when they are in the vicinity of a human. Out of the triplets, only Latham has his own house since he already has a mate.
Hamish nodded as he helped Erick up onto his feet.
Roel glanced at Amber and frowned. Amber, who was watching the whole conversation, found herself being stared at by a cold man. Her eyes met his icy eyes and she visibly shivered at the coldness of his look. He looked apathetic with just one glance.
"And you…" Roel said slowly to her.
Amber immediately stood up straight. "Yes, sir!" She nearly raised her arm to give a salute.
"If you say another word of what...." he warned icily, narrowing his eyes at her.
"No, I did not see anything!" she quickly cut in, shaking her head. She felt like she would freeze to death, just by one look from this man. Even the atmosphere around them suddenly turned cold. This is one unfriendly man.
Roel nodded. He then ran off again, back to the direction of the abandoned barnyard.
Watching as he had gone out of sight, Amber turned to Hamish and Erick, who was leaning on the former for support. "What exactly is going on?" she asked, feeling curious. Even if she promised not to tell anyone, it doesn't mean that she was not curious.
The two of them looked at her, surprised. "Didn't Roel just told you not to say another word about it?" Erick asked, frowning. She was really one curious child.
"Yeah, but-"
Hamish shook his head, cutting her off. "Better off not knowing."
She pouted, sad that she will be left confused and lost about the whole thing. "Fine."
"Come on, we'll send you home," Erick said, as he tried to walk on his own. But he staggered after a few steps.
"Whoa there!" Hamish said, grabbing Erick's arm as he tried to help him stand.
Not realizing that Hamish had grabbed his wounded arm, Erick hissed in pain. It felt like thousand of needles had pricked underneath his wound, making it stings.
Hamish quickly let him go, his hand now covered in blood. He stared down at his hand with his eyes widened. It was then Amber and Hamish noticed how badly injured Erick was. His arm looked like it was bitten, as there were teeth marks on it. And his foot, above his ankle, was bleeding, with a huge tear on his pants.
She gasped, her hands covering her mouth in shock. "What happened to you??" she asked, looking appalled. How could she not notice how serious his injuries were, she chastised herself.
Both Erick and Hamish exchanged a look.
Hamish cautiously supported Erick by placing his arm around Erick's waist to support him.
"My foot was caught in some old trap in the barnyard. I tried to get it free but instead, my arm got caught in one of the sharp edges too," Erick lied, forcing a smile as he tried not to show how much in pain he really was.
Amber began to wring her hands in agitation. "We should bring you over to the hospital!" she exclaimed. Her brain already working on how to bring him over to the nearest hospital.
Erick shook his head. "Nah, I'll be fine once I get to the 'house'."
"The house?" Amber repeated, confused. Earlier, that unfriendly guy also mentioned 'house'. Just what is this 'house' they are talking about, she wondered.
"Yeah, we have a live-in doctor at the 'house'," Erick replied, not knowing what was going through the girl's mind.
Amber nodded as she finally understood. 'These guys probably have a huge 'house' with their own group of doctors or something,' she thought to herself. She studied the two guys in front of them. 'They sure are rich.'
As Amber helped supported Erick, gingerly placing her arm around his waist, Erick could sense Dane purring in his mind. He inwardly rolled his eyes. Dane seems to liked Amber. He was surprised to see Dane being amicable to humans, especially female humans.
The three of them walked slowly, with Amber and Hamish supporting Erick on each sides.
----
Meanwhile, at the abandoned barnyard.
Lachlan hurled a dead rogue onto a pile of rogue corpses. He spit out the blood in his mouth to the ground and moved his icy glance at one of the rogues that they had kept alive for interrogation.
The barely alive rogue was snickering as he watched Lachlan walking towards him. He unwillingly shifted back to his human form when Lachlan ordered him to shift. At that moment, he was sandwiched by both Fergus and Roel. Both of them were also in their human forms, with Roel holding down the neck of the rogue with his hand.
Lachlan shifted back into his human form, accepting the clothes from one of the pack mates. He put it on and hunched down to look at the rogue straight in the eyes.
"Why?" Lachlan asked. It was a simple question of trying to understand what was the rogues' purpose.
Instead of answering Lachlan, the rogue tried to spit in his eyes. But he did not get the chance as Roel knew what he was going to do and pushed him further roughly to the ground. His cheek kissing the ground unceremoniously.
"Don't make me repeat my question," Lachlan warned, scowling as he looked at the rogue icily.
"Answer the Alpha!" Fergus warned too. His face no longer the cheeky look Erick used to see. In fact, if Erick was to see Fergus' face at that moment, he would be surprised to see how similar Fergus and Hamish's looks were.
The rogue only kept quiet, still smirking as he watched Lachlan with his beady eyes, his face bruised from the pummeling he received from Fergus.
Tired of waiting, Lachlan stood up and ordered, "Fergus, you and the other three, go and bring him to the underground basement." The underground basement Lachlan mentioned refers to was the basement of the 'house' where Lachlan and the higher members of his pack usually did their interrogation. It was also where they kept the rule-breaking shifter prisoners.
"Yes, Alpha!"
Lachlan turned to Roel. "Roel, you and the others burned the corpses. Make sure to leave no evidence behind."
"Yes, Alpha!"
Lachlan turned as he began to leave the area with stride steps.
"Will you be heading straight to the 'house', Alpha?" Fergus asked, as he grabbed the rogue from the back of his neck. The rogue's arms were shackled with silver handcuffs.
Lachlan scowled, a determined glint in his eyes. "No, I will join you later. I have a pup to disciplined first."