Chapter 6

Mira tucked her hands into her pocket as she walked down the empty street. At this hour, not many people walked about. Glancing over her shoulder, she knew she was being followed by the bounty hunters from the club. A faint smirk appeared on her lips as she kept walking.

She made a turn to the dark alleyway in between two commercial buildings. When she felt she was far enough from the main street, she stopped walking. Her head tilted to the sky, staring at the full moon.

“If you were to hunt me down, you could have done it better than following me from the club,” she said over her shoulder.

Eight men with guns were nothing compared to what she could do. Not that she was bragging about her capability, but she felt bad they thought a silver bullet could do intense damage to her. It would only slow her down for a few seconds. She would still bleed if they shot her with silver bullets. Yet, it wouldn't be able to incapacitate her.

She took off her jacket. She bought it yesterday and felt attached to it. The chilly air didn’t bother her at all. In fact, it never bothered anyone from the supernatural species. They had a high tolerance to the cold temperature.

“So, who’s going first?” She smiled.

They cocked their guns in her direction. Adrenaline rushed into her body; her canines elongated. The Redheaded Huntress licked her lips in anticipation.

“Let’s dance, boys.” She gestured to them.

The man on the far right attacked first by making the first shot and throwing a knife in her direction as a means of distraction. The Redheaded Huntress dodged the bullet while her hand caught the knife by the tip of the blade. A second man raised his right foot, wanting to kick her at the side of her head.

His kick was equal to a love tap.

He swung his other foot, ready to send another love tap, but she caught his foot. As she was busy defending herself against the two men, the other four men cuffed her wrists and ankles before the remaining two men clamped a shackle around her neck. One of them injected her with a tranquilizer dart. Seeing the silver chain had secured her, and weakened by the tranquilizer, they pulled it—spreading her arms and legs.

Her head hung low as her blood in her body was fighting against the tranquilizing liquid. She took several short breaths. Her heart beat as fast as ever, pumping the tranquilizing liquid faster around her body. Mira could feel her hands and legs grew numb.

Too little time. Not enough strength, she thought. Her canines elongated inside her mouth, good enough to pierce her own lips before it retracted back. The smell of her own fresh blood awakened her. It felt like the smell of the fresh blood rebooted her entire system and alerted her brain that if she didn’t do anything any time soon, the attackers would win the fight. 

“Not so strong against it, huh?” One man snickered.

He spoke too soon. Mira grinned. Her head shot up, eyes blood red. It shocked them.

“Boo,” she mocked them.

Her right hand wrapped around the chain, pulling the man who held it to her direction. Shocked by her strength, the man who held her left wrist’s chain dropped his guard. She punctured the man on her right before targeting the one on her left. The third man who held the shackle around her neck pulled it, tilting her head backward. The chain tightened around her neck, cutting off the air supply. She kept pulling them to her one by one before they could even fire their guns.

Eight bodies lay in the pool of their own blood on the ground. The Redheaded Huntress broke the cuffs and shackles as if it was made of papers. Her palms barely felt the burn of the silver.F

She took out her phone and dialed a number. Once the receiver picked up, she said, “Job’s done. Send cleaners to Alley 17th.” She ended the call before the receiver could answer her. Mira glanced over her shoulder. “Are you going to fight me too, Alpha?”

The Alpha and his friends had arrived at the scene. Mira picked her jacket from the floor and wore it, ignoring the fact they had shot her a few times. Silver bullets couldn’t take her down even if they shot her in the head. It would take more than a barrage of bullets to kill her.

Cohen froze on the spot. His hands clenched into fist. Mira covered in her own blood didn’t seem to bother about it. Not even a slightest hint of pain on her face. She looked as if she just walked into a park and someone sprayed her red. 

She dug out one bullet stuck in her flesh just below her shoulder bone. She pulled out the bullet like it was nothing. 

She met the Alpha’s eyes. “Keep it that way and we won’t have a problem with each other.”

She throttled her motorbike to the pawn shop where someone named Cole Griffin was working. He didn’t work there. He owned the place. Griffin handled all her payment and had them cashed out. Grover handled her contract and the success of the payment transaction. Mira much preferred to have her payment in cash unless she had no choice. Grover made her a bank account with a separate identity. That way, it would be more problematic for the Werewolf’s Council to track her.

Griffin was talking to three girls at the counter when she arrived. They giggled to something he was saying before his eyes met hers. Mira signaled him to continue entertaining his girls. She wandered around the place to see if something caught her attention. The pawn shop was too crowded for her liking.

“Bye, Cole.” the girls waved to him as they walked to the door.

“See ya, girls.” he sat down on his chair. “You came earlier than usual.” he resumed his work on the antique clock.

Griffin was a high school dropout. He was three years younger than her. His incredible experience and knowledge performed a wonder for her profession. She associated with him after she rescued him before he could become dinner to a vampire about five years ago. Since then, she placed him in contact with Grover while he was working on his own pawn shop.

“You looked like someone has mauled you.” He pointed to the bullet holes on her jeans.

“Rough night,” She answered. 

“Knowing you, you’d enjoy every second of it.”

Griffin used to call her a psycho. Nothing about killing made Mira sick. Maybe after years dealing with a brutal past, nothing fazed her anymore. One assignment after another, Mira never showed any sign of remorse before killing her target. Mira never asked why Griffin stopped calling her psycho. Maybe he figured out and just kept quiet about it.

“How’s the business?”

“Good as usual. Nothing major.” he shrugged his shoulders. “I’d assume you want your money.”

“Need the previous payment to cash out.”

This pawn shop was more than a shop. Griffin worked with many other rogues, but he refused to work with those who wanted her dead. He knew better not to stab her in the back while the entire world was her den.

If she considered he earned ten percent from every job she completed, Griffin could have enjoyed a better business. For him, this shop was more than enough. He didn’t want to capture unnecessary attention. People in the town would question things if he became the richest guy here.

He put down his glasses. “I’ve cashed it out. I was waiting for you to come to collect it.”

“Another contact will collect it for me. Put it in the usual locker at the mall.”

“Anything else you wanted to get done?”

Mira bent down to check the watches in the glass counter. “Take two million as your commission.”

“That’s too much. I got enough from your previous contract.”

“You risk your life working with me. The money is nothing compared to the risk you’re taking. Go for a vacation or something. Enjoy life.”

“You sound odd, Mira.” He observed her and his eyebrows pulled together. “Maybe you could use the advice to yourself.”

“I’m good. Why did you say such?”

Griffin scratched his temple before resuming his work on the same antique clock again. “I heard rumors. Your bounty increased. An Alpha took an interest in you.”

“You’re worried about that because?”

“The Alpha has much reputation.”

“Tell me.”

“He’s already captured half of my clients. I don’t want him to add your name to his list.”

“What else do you know about him?”

He tapped his chin, a sign he was thinking. “He’s the only child of his wealthy family. When I say wealthy, I really mean it. Royal wealthy. Basically the wealth can feed for the next ten generations.” 

“Anything else interesting beside his wealth?”

Griffin got up from his chair and walked to the metal cabinet. He pulled out a brown file and put it on the desk. “Majority he spends his time hunting rogues in and out of his territory. His family was part of the continual wars between werewolves and vampires. These are the lists of all his participation in every war, every crime case, just to name a few.”

Mira took the file and flipped it opened. The first picture was the Alpha standing in the middle of a crowd. Not a crowd. Those people were part of his pack. She knew those faces because she had been studying them for weeks. 

Tall, hazel eyes, black hair, muscular and well-built tattooed body like those male fitness models in the health magazine. She wanted to include that into the description, but she kept her mouth shut for now.

She leaned against the wall; her arms crossed her chest. “You’re keeping a tab on him?”

It might be unusual if he didn’t keep a tab on the owner of the town. Griffin wasn’t the guy who kept his eyes and ears shut. Whatever he could get his hands on, he would know everything about it.

His eyes glimmered with interest and a smile played on his lips. “Am I hearing it that you are interested in Alpha, too?” His hands stopped fixing the antique clock. “It’s rare to hear you’re interested in an Alpha. All these times, you took the other direction when you heard an Alpha interested in you. Why not this one?”

“Is that yes, I know more or no, that’s all I got?”

The smile never left his lips as he answered, “I know more than enough. As far as I know, he’s un-mated. You know what that means. It seems he’s not interested in other women despite he had wild adolescent years. But, you know, a man has his needs. So, I guess those girls are just his one-night stands.”

Mira felt something unusual in her after she heard about the Alpha’s wild years and one-night stands. She couldn’t feel jealous. What the hell was wrong with her? He was an Alpha and a man.

“He limits his interaction with humans. Hates our guts or something. I’d assume his girls might from his pack,” Griffin added. 

He sounded like he knew a certain feeling was bubbling inside the Redheaded Huntress. Mira recognized it. This was his method to bait out emotions from someone by poking them with something personal. Mira never displayed her emotions which encouraged Griffin to put bait on his hook to fish her out.

Cheeky bastard.

“Interesting,” she replied and pretended to not care for his information.

Deep inside, she was dying to know more and find out about those girls. What kind of girls did he like? Brunette? Blonde? Tall? Skinny?

And, why would she care? Mira huffed. Something was wrong with her. Perhaps, a few hours of sleep would wear off that feeling.

“Are you okay, Mira?” Griffin was doing his best not to smirk because he almost provoked that certain emotion out of her. “You look like you’re about to kill someone tonight.”

She nodded. “I’m good. It had been a long night. I should get back.” she walked to the door.

“You take care now. Don’t let the Alpha bite your bum,” Griffin shouted at her before he went on. “You know he has needs.”

“Shut up, Griffin.”

His laugh echoed in the shop.

“Damn bastard,” Mira grumbled after she exited.