SOMEONE IS WATCHING HER
After walking around for a bit, they finally came to the grain exchange district. Unlike the lively bustling scene in the other streets, it was very quiet here, only a few stores were open for business, but even those had a pitiful number of customers inside.
Even though some of these store owners were selling their own crops, the majority of the merchants here were middlemen in charge of the money. All they cared about was the cash, not the details of buying and selling.
"Now you know!" Redmond glared at Cane, who was walking beside him and then threw a glance at Iris, who was walking between Ethan and Will.
Redmond didn't want to talk much about this black market, nor did he want to provide this knowledge to Cane, because he wanted to make things difficult for him, but all the alpha did was only tell Iris to tell him that he had to answer all of his questions.
And of course, Iris did as she was told and Redmond didn't have any other option but to follow his master's orders. He told Cane everything from his knowledge about this black market.
He felt that he was just being robbed!
"The delivery would be free and I will make sure that you will get the items before winter comes!" The merchant was sweet talking to Redmond, while Cane just watched from the sidelines. "Where is the young master? Is he not coming here?"
He was Zen, an old merchant whom Mason always visited whenever he needed to buy grains and dry meat for winter, therefore, he was familiar with Redmond.
"He is not here," Redmond mumbled, not paying this man any attention.
"Who is this? New warriors? And who is that girl?" The old merchant nodded at Iris. "Did you just buy her for sharing?"
Iris didn't understand what he meant by that, but the other four men with her absolutely knew what he was talking about.
Will and Ethan shot him a dagger look, while Redmond was furious, as his face turned ashen.
However, Zen didn't notice that and because this was not uncommon for Redmond to buy a girl when they came to the black market, so he assumed Iris was another chick that he bought to accompany him and would sell her again before they left this place.
"I know a place to buy a good girl. A virgin! You will like it! I am just telling you because you are a regular!" He said excitedly. "Give her to me when you are done, I will pay half of the price!"
But, no one shared his excitement and a moment of awkward silence descended. It was so disgusting to see a man thrice Iris' age to look at her with lust swimming in his eyes.
Iris backed away and hid behind Ethan' body.
They were familiar with such eyes, but Iris was mortified when she finally understood what he meant and missed what Cane said.
"You can't afford her," his voice was so cold and detached. "The items are not good here, we will leave." Cane turned around and walked out of the store, followed by the others. He didn't even spare the merchant another glance, nor did he stop when he told them to wait.
Iris was sure Cane was saying something, but she didn't know what it was. She could only see his retreating back and how his veins protruded from his arms, even the sight of his back was so scary.
"You made a big mistake, Zen," Redmond sighed, as he patted his shoulder. "That chick is the luna and that scary guy is the alpha. You offended them."
Zen blinked his eyes, as the information sank in. "The luna? The alpha? From which pack?" He had never seen them before. "What about Mason, isn't he the next alpha of the Blue Moon pack?"
Redmond shrugged his shoulders. "You can say that he is as good as dead." And then he too walked away from that store.
=============================
Iris was tired from all the walking and when they could finally rest and Redmond found a good inn for them, she was able to enjoy her bathing time.
The warm steam wafted in the air, as Iris dipped her body inside the tub, she could feel her muscles relax a bit.
She couldn't forget the image of those crying children and women and how callous people were to their predicament.
Just because they were of low birth, they were treated less than them, as if they were not more important than grains or dry meat for winter.
Iris was spacing out inside the tub when she felt that feeling again, as if there was someone watching her.
She was currently on the second floor, so there was no way someone could accidentally walk into this room, especially when this bathroom was connected to the main room and all the windows were closed, but she couldn't shake this feeling off.
In the end, Iris hurriedly finished her bathing and put on a robe around her body. She didn't even dry her hair before she walked out of the bathroom, only to see Cane was waiting for her. He was sitting on the bed, holding a few papers in his hands.
"Al- alpha… what are you doing here?" Iris felt the urge to go back to the bathroom, but he waved his hand to beckon her to come closer.2
"Come here," Cane said impatiently, because Iris just stood there and didn't move.
"Hm…" Iris fidgeted. "I need to put on a dress first."
Cane lifted his head and looked at her state. She was dripping with water while her wet hair stuck to her face. She looked so small, as she stood uncomfortably, while hugging herself. Fear evident in her bright blue eyes.
"Hm." Cane nodded, but he didn't move.
Iris frowned. Wouldn't he go out?
But then, thinking back on it, he had seen everything, there was nothing to hide from him, yet Iris felt it was not right.
"What are you waiting for?" Cane knitted his brows when she didn't move.
pqdm.com