Nature in Hiding

48- Elements in danger yet again

Hritika was confused by her weird behaviour, yet she had a smile on her face as she recollected the interaction with Neer. However the smile didn't stay long on her face after she received Nihal's call.

"Hell-"

"I have sent some news clips and videos. Look at them fast," Nihal said, ignoring all the pleasantries.

"What's with everyone cutting me off mid-sentence today?" Hritika grumbled.

"Hritika, it's urgent or rather life threatening, so hurry," Nihal informed.

Hearing his grave tone, she immediately got serious and pulled her phone away from her ear to see what was it that was making him worry.

She fisted the cloth of her pants tightly to stabilize herself as she saw the dreaded video of Neer using his powers to destroy, and read the articles of the supposedly death of the very five people, who were eating at their dining table right now. Her eyes had turned red with anger and also an emotion that could come close to a heartbreak.

Putting the phone back on her ear, she barked the orders to her cousin, "Get the pups, elderly, and those who cannot fight out of the pack house as soon as possible. Make sure to be stealthy. We need to get everyone to safety before these elements realize what is going on."

"You need to get out of there too," Nihal said firmly.

"No, I am needed here," Hritika denied, just as firmly.

"Hritika, you just said that those who cannot fight should leave. Then-"

"I can fight Nihal, just not physically. And this isn't going to be a battle of strength anyways. We cannot fight their powers solely on the basis of brute strength."

"But-"

"Don't waste time on arguing, Nihal. Give out the Alpha Command for all these orders, while I plan something out with the warriors," Hritika said, her eyes turned steel with determination.

She stomped ahead, ready to bring them all down. A battle was about to begin, but the battle inside her heart had already begun.

"What a great timing and fabulous person to have a crush on for the first time in my whole life!" She threw her hands up in the air, before forcing herself to put all the newly found feelings at the back of her mind with a huge lock that couldn't open even if she tried.

★★★★★

"What's with the sudden atmosphere?" Ahana questioned, as the chitter-chatter had suddenly gone down.

"Dondh noh donndh kaaree," Neer said, waving his hand offhandedly.

"What the?! Gyaan muttered, not understanding a word, before looking at others to see if they understood.

"Swallow your food first, disgusting fellow," Ahana scolded Neer, almost barfing at the scene.

Neer hurriedly gulped down the food, before speaking again, "I said, don't know, don't care. Now please stop talking and focus on food," he said, before doing exactly what he said.

"I agree with bhaiya. We shouldn't waste time talking," Avan said, while scooping a lot of rice and eating it in one go.

"Slow down, both of you," Sameera said, glancing between Neer and Avan, "or you two will end up getting sick."

"We got to eat food after such a long time. How can you expect us to have patience when all these lovely things are right in front of us?" Neer retorted, while gesturing to Ahana to pass him yet another serving.

"That's more of a reason why you need to slow down. The stomach who was just surviving on water wouldn't be able to handle such an amount of food," Ahana said, refusing to pass him the food.

"Come on, Ahana. This is the last, I promise. Please please, give it," Neer said, making grabby hands and puppy eyes.

"Please Didi," Avan joined Neer and started acting cute too.

"Just give up, they aren't going to listen," Gyaan muttered, speaking for the first time since he had left the room.

Ahana gave up, and passed the bowl to Neer and Avan.

"Look at her agreeing in a second once he asked," Neer commented, causing Gyaan to choke.

"Oh shit! Are you okay?" Ahana asked as she hurriedly stood up and went to pat Gyaan's back.

Gyaan nodded, and took deep breaths once his coughing subsidized.

"What happened suddenly?" Ahana asked, looking concerned.

Gyaan averted his eyes, not knowing how to explain, and immediately ducked his face to hide the blushing mess. It was different when Neer was just being overprotective. Now that Gyaan knew that Neer knew of his feelings, the situation had taken a different turn altogether. And Ahana's hand on his back wasn't helping the situation either.

"I am fine," Gyaan said, his eyes widening at his hoarse tone. He cleared his throat and spoke normally again, "I am fine, don't worry," before shrugging off her hand.

"Al..alright then," Ahana muttered, a little hurt by his actions. But she didn't let it show, and coolly went to sit down on her seat again.

No one said anything, not wanting to embarrass the two who were already feeling so awkward.

Suddenly Avan started feeling nauseous. He stood up to run to the washroom, but the room started spinning before his eyes. He would have fallen down, if Neer hadn't stood up in time to save the fall.

They hurriedly sat him down on the chair. Sameera looked at Ahana with wide eyes, as the latter grabbed her hands tightly, stopping her from giving Avan a glass of water.

"Neer give your water to Avan. We can't take the risk of giving their water to him. It seems like our food has been played with again," Ahana said, her tone calm yet deadly.

"What?" Neer muttered in shock, not believing that they had been betrayed yet again.

"Why?" Sameera whispered, as her eyes got watery.

Things were finally looking up for them, but now they were back to square one.

"Now along with humans we are being hunted by werewolves too. That too in the exact same manner," Ahana let out a sardonic chuckle, wiping off her angry tears while looking at the now unconscious Avan.