Blue Moon (Colors of the Moon #1)

Chapter 20

"What will your scum of a werewolf mate think when he learns you're the daughter of a notorious hunter? That your father killed countless werewolves and that your cousin is a hunter as well. Will he believe you're not involved? Or will he think about his dead friends every time he looks at you?"

His words sent my brain into a muddled mess and my stomach squeezing into the size of a cherry. Yet I forced myself to turn back to him. Before I allowed myself to flee, I needed to know one thing.

"Why?"

"What why?" He cocked his head to the side.

"Why are you all doing this?" I nodded with my head in the direction of the dark hallway, and the tinny cells I guessed decorated the inside of the building. "Capturing women."

"It's mostly female monsters, but that's just because they're easier to capture than the males."

"Why?"

Ever since I had been captured, I had been wondering the same thing. Why? Was there a point in all of this or was it just someone's insanity taking over?

"Isn't it obvious?" A slow smile uncovered his teeth, which were colored with a bright red. "We used them to lure out their mates, and then get rid of them both. The moment their scents returned the dumb animals went out to search for them. It was almost too easy."

I forced myself to swallow the bile rising up my throat at his wide smile. "Who would think of such a sick thing?"

"Someone far beyond your thinking capabilities. Someone you could never imagine."

I was about to finally leave when another question popped into my mind. Something I hadn't yet considered.

"You said you were capturing female werewolves. Why was I captured?"

"It wasn't just those monsters." Ryou shook his head. "It was also other creatures that we found out had werewolf mates. But in your case it was to protect you."

"Protect me?"

"We found out there were more and more of those beasts spotted in your college campus, so we locked you up to keep you safe from them."

"We?" The room around me began to spin, but I forced myself to stay put.

"Of course. And I must say, you were damn fast. I almost lost you when I was running after you in that forest. Luckily, the chloroform worked quickly, so you didn't feel a thing when we brought you into the hideout."

My family. My own family was behind my kidnapping.

Without saying anything else, I spun around and finally walked out of the room and out of the hideout. I headed straight forward, with no particular destination in mind.

My thoughts were moving with the speed of light, skipping from one thought to the other. Despite everything I had learned, however, my every thought came back to one person.

Jared.

I had seen how much werewolves despised hunters. Me being connected to not only one but two, would only end in one way. With me losing Jared. No matter how hard he would try, he could never get past my father and cousin being a part of them.

My mumbled thoughts were stopped when I ran straight into a tree. The squished tip of my nose hurt like hell, however, the throbbing physical pain was nothing compared to the anguish inside my soul.

I took step backwards and turned my head upwards. Instead of the rough wood, I was met with a pair of denim eyes.

Definitely not a tree.