Chapter 14: A New Ally

One thing Hazel knew was that she needed allies. There was no way she was going to take out her plan alone.

And there was only one way she knew she could gain allies –money.

This complicated her situation the more. 

It was more like this mission was out to challenge her rather than her just killing these Alphas. Every time she crossed over a stumbling block, another came rolling her way.

With her head slumped backward and her eyes closed, she thought of ways she could get money.

She placed the back of her hand against her head. Despite the cool breeze blowing, her temperature was high. 

Her head was probably overheating due the amount of thoughts that went through her mind per second.

She had nothing she could sell.

She could not even beg for money. That would draw too much attention to her and it would be easier to remember the redhead beauty who had begged for money.

Damn it!

She had only one option –to steal, but as easy as it seemed, it was not.

She had never been one to steal anything when growing up, that had always been Maeve's turf so she did not have an experience or an inclination on how to go ahead with it.

Stealing the dress and the shoes earlier on had been much easier but stealing money would not be. But she desperately needed to get her hands on money —lots of it. 

She immediately remembered that she actually did have an ally.

"Raglan?" Hazel called out in a small voice.

She got no response.

She needed to ask if he could help her. 

"Raglan?" Hazel called out again, this time, much more loudly than she had the first time in hopes that Raglan would hear her but she got the same response.

Silence.

She needed to sleep then, she thought. Perhaps he could only communicate through dreams.

Try as she may, Hazel could not fall asleep. Her mind kept on drifting to other things rather than sleep.

After about an hour of trial and failure, she gave up.

She flung her eyes open and the amber of frustration in her blazed, causing her green eyes to look like a green furnace.

Since that bastard was not going to help her, she would as well prove to him that she did not need any of his help.

In anger, she got off the sofa and stumped out of the gazebo. 

She was really in such fury that –unlike her, she totally ignored the beauty of the garden.

She was still in that rage as she left the palace grounds and marched back to the town, this time however she took the road rather than the little path through the forest.

Hazel had never been one to accommodate negative emotions but in the past days, Hazel had practically been dwelling in such emotions.

Her mind has been a whirlwind of anger, sadness, regrets, and worst of all, hate.

They were already becoming one with her soul and she was gradually forgetting what it felt like to be happy.

And with every decision she made, she became less and less of the person she used to be.

The Hazel of the past would have been gleefully walking down the road she was currently threading, appreciating the beauty of nature, picking flowers to go put in the blue ceramic flower vase that sat on the dining table, listening to the beautiful songs the birds whistled and letting her hair fly with the wind.

But today, she stomped through, not giving a damn about anything.

All she did was curse. 

She cursed every single person that had contributed to leading her down this path.

She even cursed Raglan with death for luring her into taking such an offer without giving her a good bargain. 

She was so engrossed with her evil chore that she did not hear the sound of the approaching car nor did she hear the sound of the repeated honking behind her.

"Are you deaf?" The rugged voice of an angry man called out from behind, cutting short her cursing session.

Hazel nearly jumped out of her skin in fright.

"I'm —I'm sorry," she stammered, shaken by the sudden interruption as she moved to the side.

She stared in shock at the sleek beautiful black Ford Anglia which was parked behind her with its engine still running. The head of its driver stuck out of the window a little. 

"You better watch your back! Except you have a wish on meeting with the devil," the man retorted back harshly.

If only he knew she had already checked that off her bucket list, Hazel thought concerning the man's remarks.

She stood watching –still trying to get a hold of herself, as the car slowly drove by. 

As the rear end of the car came into view, not only was her sight filled with the beautiful shiny car but a beautiful face added to it.

Her eyes locked on the most beautiful blue eyes she had ever seen and her gaze followed the blue eyes till it was out of sight.

She snapped out of her trance and continued on her trip back to the town but this time, she took a more familiar route –through the forest. 

Her encounter with the car and the beautiful man who was seated behind it had reminded her that she had to be cautious.

That could have been someone from Kael's pack who could have recognized her.

Her mind had been too preoccupied that she had totally forgotten to be careful.

She walked into town late in the evening. 

She wandered around aimlessly, not knowing what to do or where to go.

She still had no incline of how she was going to get the money she needed. All she knew was that she needed to steal it. But how, she had no idea.

It was as she was moving about aimlessly that she felt a gentle tap on her shoulder.

Surprised, she turned her head sharply thereby landing her eyes on a familiar set of blue eyes.

"I had a feeling I would be seeing you again." 

A voice which in Hazel's opinion should be considered lethal as it could render anyone helpless with the beauty of it, escaped from lips she had seen before.

Hazel was not sure whether she was in shock at the fact that she was gazing at such beauty or the fact that she was talking to this person who was a complete stranger.

Well, not entirely a stranger. He was the owner of the beautiful set of eyes that had locked on hers as she watched the car pass by her earlier.

Hazel did not reply to the man's earlier comment. All she did was just stare in shock, and then later fear.

The fear started to trickle into Hazel, little by little as her brain analyzed the man's statement.

Had he perhaps seen her before their encounter earlier on? 

Could he have been present last night at Kael's party? 

The man standing before her let out a smile that contrasted the mixture of fear and shock that was on hers.

"I am sorry for barging up on you like that. I just wanted to say hello to you since we were not able to do so at our earlier meeting," the man said.

Hazel made to open her lips and respond but she shut it once again. She feared that if she opened her mouth to speak, her voice would sound like it was coming from someone strapped to an electric chair and so she simply nodded her head.

"I am Sam, nice to meet you," The man said with an arm stretched out towards her.

Hazel took the hand and offered a handshake, "I am Ha–" She started to say before catching herself.

She pretended to cough before continuing, "Sorry, I am Edith," with a smile.

Sam responded with a smile.

"I am sorry for the altercation with my chauffeur earlier on. I hope you did not take it to heart," Sam said.

"Of course not, I should have been mindful of where I was going," Hazel replied.

"You live around here?" Sam asked Hazel.

"No, I'm just visiting, " Hazel said.

"Oh..." Sam exclaimed as he thought then added, "For the Moon festival?" 

Hazel nodded her head in response with a smile.

"It is a good thing then, I kindly volunteer myself to be your guide," Sam said, "with your permission that is," He quickly added.

Hazel did not know what to say. 

Getting involved with anyone at this point was very dangerous. She didn't even know who this man was.

He could even be one of the Alpha she was supposed to kill.

She knew she needed help and an ally but this man was not fit for any of those positions.

He had been coming from the palace also which meant he had an affiliation with that place.

Her mind reeled as she tried to make the right decision. 

How she wished she could have a chat with Raglan about this but the bastard was probably doing death duties somewhere else.