Ch 3- Where would I find this ruffians?

Maya 

“I have an idea!” Valeria said, clasping my face in her hands. “Let’s run away!” 

Gracious goddess! The idea was so tempting. It wasn’t the first time that Valeria and I had contemplated running away from my family. Pack up a bag, slip out the kitchen door, steal a steed from the stables and ride out to start a new life where no one knew who we were, or where we came from. But that was a childlike wonder.  

“I can’t,” I said sadly, staring into space. “Lord Darken will still hold my father responsible. He might retaliate against the pack.” As much as I wanted to be selfish, and preserve my own life, I also didn't want to condemn anyone else.” 

Valeria let go of my legs and jumped to her feet to pace in front of the chimney. Valeria has a habit of being in motion whenever she wants to generate an idea. She often said she couldn't think clearly while her body was not moving. She tapped her lips with her fingers, “What if we use a reverse mechanism? What if you were taken against your will? That dead bloodsucker won’t blame the pack and he would have no option but to count his loss.” 

I shook my head in confusion, “I don't understand whatever thing you’re trying to say.”

“What I am trying to say is what if you were abducted?" 

“Abducted?” I resounded

Valeria was getting more excited with her weird plans, “Yeah, what if you were taken away by a scoundrel on your way to the vampire’s gothic fortress. Your father and brothers would be innocent and free from his wrath.”  

I wrapped my numb fingers around the arms of the chair and gripped it hard, “Are you suggesting I plan my own kidnap?” 

Valeria nodded enthusiastically. “Exactly! We could pay some miscreants to pounce on you and make it convincing. And immediately they carry you out of the scene, and then we can run away. Then the story will spread about how the Alpha’s daughter was abducted by unknown enemies.”

I sat back in my chair, “Val, this is the most brilliant plan you’ve ever invented.”

She grinned at the compliment, her wide smile shining brightly with the sun's rays. “All my plans are always super brilliant.”

“True!” I laughed a little, and then grew sober again. “But how do I achieve it? Where do I find the bandits that would agree to do the job? And where do I get the money for their services?” 

Valeria twisted her hand into her apron again. “What about your mother’s nuptial dot?” She whispered

My mother’s room, the Luna suite had remained untouched since her demise, apart from the servants who were assigned to clean it once 

a week. All her things were still intact, from her hairbrush in the dressing table to the old-fashioned clothes in her wardrobe. When I was still a little girl, Valeria and I would sneak into her room and admire and search through her things. I would smell her clothes, trying to catch a hint of her scent. Those little things that could make me feel like I knew her. I would even wear her necklaces and stare at my own reflection in the mirror, wondering why I didn't look as gorgeous and stunning as my mother. 

That’s how we knew that inside her closet, there was an ancient box, which contained all the treasures my father had given her. Different types of Muga silks, Persian pearls, and gold jewelry. At the bottom of the box was a mulberry silk satchel with three hundred gold coins. 

“If father, finds out I took something from my mother’s chamber…” I shuddered, remembering the beating I had gotten the only time he had caught me trying on her clothes.

“Maya, I want you to know that if your mother were to be alive, she would want you to take it,” Valeria said firmly. “No mother will allow her child to be married off to a monster.”

“I know but,” I sighed. “How do I find the men to do the job?”

Valeria stopped pacing and moved closer to me, “I know someone.” She muttered. 

“You do!” 

“Well, not like I have seen the person but I heard the stall keepers talking about him a few days ago.” 

“Who?”

She crossed her arms across her breast, not caring that the act was making her cleavage too visible. “He’s called Kingston. He’s a rogue hireling and he will do just any job for money.”

“A rogue!"I flinched, pressing my body back into the chair. 

I don’t know why I was surprised. Who else would be so felonious and unrestrained, that would be willing to do other people’s shady work for a price? I took a deep breath, “Where would I find this ruffian?” 

“One of the stable keepers Troy made mention of seeing him in the Grim Goblin Inn in the downtown village two days ago.” 

“Then I need to go to the village,” I said,

It wasn’t the first time I had snuck out of the pack castle to visit the village. Valeria and I had done it multiple times over the years. But I can’t just walk into Grim Goblin and tell a rogue wolf to abduct me. I needed a disguise and an interesting ideal story. 

“Let’s go!” I said, humping out of the chair 

“Where are we going?” Valeria asked, while trailing behind me. 

“To loot some clothes from Kai’s chamber,” I said, sucking in a deep breath. “And after that, we will sneak into my mother’s chamber to take the golden coins.” I looked at Valeria hopefully. My father always kept my mother’s room locked with a gigantic iron padlock, but Valeria had a clever hack for picking locks. I pressed my hands together in a prayer-like supplication. 

“Please, Val!”

She huffed and pulled out a tiny straight pin from her auburn curly hair. “Maya Russell, you will be the death of me,” she whined

“Maybe! But not today.” I grinned at her.