A Question for a Question

"A very nice brother, is he not?" Corbett was raising a brow suspiciously, his words coated with sarcasm, but he didn't dwell on it. "I will take you wherever you want to go. What do you want to see in Nightwind, Lady Melva?"

Melva was staring at Vance, who was focusing on his bread. He had been livid when he had found her together with Corbett. However, today he encouraged her to go with him, not even caring about where they were going nor what they would be doing.

What did he want exactly? Why was he being so confusing? She couldn't understand him at all. And he was supposed to be her ally.

To spite him, Melva answered the one thing Vance despised the most. "Will you take me to the forest? I would like to go hunting. I have a set of bows and arrows, also a pair of daggers. Do you happen to know how to use daggers, Lord Corbett? I'm afraid I am quite unfamiliar with them. I might get a bit clumsy."

"No need to worry, Lady Melva. I am quite skilled with weapons. You will be safe with me." Corbett had been trying to get her alone with him since yesterday and her current tension with Vance worked well for him. "Would you like me to fetch a horse for you? Or would you rather ride on my back?"

Melva understood instantly that Corbett was only humouring her, for that would be a ridiculous suggestion if it was not. Who would hunt while riding a wolf? He seemed to be trying to get on her good side for a reason she didn't know. She wanted to find out why he kept on trying to talk to her, thus she had to play along.

"I have always wanted to know what it feels like to hunt from a wolf's back," said Melva determinedly. There was some kind of truth in her words, so she appeared convincing. Riding a wolf would make chasing the prey easier and the hunt should be a lot more enjoyable. She was not totally lying.

Flinching, Vance momentarily stopped eating at the idea of Melva riding on Corbett's back. She knew this would irk him if other things wouldn't. Alphas were mostly possessive from having the heavy responsibility to protect their territories—or in other word, their mates. It would be impossible for an alpha to let his mate ride another alpha's back.

But who cared about what he was feeling? It was not like he cared about hers.

At least she would get something out of spending her time with Corbett, who offered her answers to all her questions in exchange for answers to all his questions. It seemed to be a pretty good bargain. Although there was a chance he might be lying to her, she could find out more about his answers later and treated them as hints. It was better than nothing.

"Alright. Will you help me pack my clothes and carry them as we travel? You know we don't wear clothes while we are in our wolf form." Corbett was now the one who was trying to get on Vance's nerves.

There was a low growl heard from Vance as he glared at Corbett, fuming with anger. His step brother responded to the growl with a light chuckle, finding his reaction amusing. Vance had always had his short temper, so it was easy to rile him up.

"I am going to visit my sister's shop in town if anyone wants to know," said Rosina with a sigh while enjoying her breakfast, as if she had been dealing with the foolish step brothers fighting every single day.

A thought crossed Melva's mind as she recalled when she had initially thought that she resembled the blacksmith. "Lady Rosina, may I ask a question? Does your sister happen to be the town's blacksmith, Rosetta?"

Rosina was pleasantly surprised by her question. "Oh! Yes, she is my twin sister. Have you met her, Lady Melva?"

"Yes, I have. Actually, I got my weapons from her shop. They are wonderful." The compliment was only given for the weapons she had made, but nothing for the arrogant blacksmith.

"My apologies, I have never used any weapons, so I am not familiar with them. But yes, I am sure she makes the best weapons out there. I believe in her outstanding skills." Rosina put a very sweet smile on her face and Melva was unable to tell whether it was sincere or not because she had very little trust in everyone since she had come to Ethia.

"Shall we leave now and give those wonderful weapons a try?" said Corbett while still holding his gaze, not wanting to miss a chance to irritate his step brother further.

"Of course." She stood up and smiled at Rosina to excuse herself, pretending that Vance didn't exist. "Please excuse us."

"Follow me." Corbett got to his feet as well, leaving first to lead the way.

As she was standing, Vance was now staring at her, begging her not to follow another alpha. It was stated in his rules that he had told her on her first day here. He forbade her from going into a chamber that was not his or hers. The rules were foolish anyway, so breaking them was only right. It would prove to him how useless they were.

Corbett and Melva were now walking down the corridor on the first floor when he asked her a question. "Are you in a lovers fight with Vance?"

"I will count this as a question," said Melva, taking advantage of their deal. She thought she would lose nothing if it was disclosed, so she said the truth and made it vague. "Yes, in a way. As you can see, we are not talking for the moment. Now it is my turn to ask. What is your relationship with Lady Rosina?"

"The same as your relationship with Vance. She is my future mate. Why did you buy weapons?" Corbett countered her question with another question.

Melva had not expected that Corbett was going to marry someone as well. Corbett was an alpha, so Rosina would face the same danger as her for being an alpha's mate. She hoped that Corbett would be capable of protecting Rosina as she had mentioned that she was unfamiliar with weapons and probably she was not able to protect herself.

"I love hunting," answered Melva simply, because she wouldn't want him to know that the weapons might be used on him one day.

Corbett spoke first before Melva was able to come up with another question. "We shall stop our session here and continue later in the forest. I want to tell you something, but not here."

They came to a halt in front of the chamber at the very end of the corridor. A butler opened the door for them, following behind them as they entered the chamber. Corbett asked him to prepare some fresh clothes and put them inside a drawstring bag for her to carry on her back.

The chamber was decorated with wooden furniture unlike the glamorous ones inside hers nor the all white ones like Vance's. She was admiring the simple yet beautiful arrangement in his chamber. Upon noticing the various preserved animal heads hanging on the walls like trophies, her curiosity was piqued.

"Do you also like hunting, Lord Corbett?" asked Melva, her eyes darting from a preserved deer head to a bear's.

"Yes, very much. I am a wolf after all. It is in my nature," answered Corbett genuinely. This must be the most honest thing he had said.

She also noticed that he had not prepared any weapons for their hunting session when he had mentioned how good he was in using them. "Do you not use weapons when you hunt, sir?"

"I prefer to hunt in my wolf form." He quickly added when he realised what she was implying, "When I mentioned about using weapons, it is used for another purpose. If we were still doing our session, you would owe me two answers."

Corbett was telling her to stop asking questions in the most indirect way. She needed to think twice before she understood that he was threatening her to break the deal. She was not going to push her luck and remained quiet until they were out of the manor.

Much to her shock, Corbett suddenly took off his clothes in the open for everyone to see. She quickly turned away to avoid looking at him changing. These werewolves and their tendency to strip in any time and any place without considering their situations were definitely going to kill her some time in the future.

The wolf that walked over to her had brown fur and yellow eyes, just like Corbett. It was big, but it was nothing compared to Vance's. If Vance's wolf was as big as a horse, then Corbett's was just as big as a donkey.

They were both alphas. They were the strongest of their packs. However, why did Vance seem a lot more powerful than his step brother? Were there many kinds of werewolf species? How could they be that different when they were both alpha werewolves? What made Vance superior?

It was not until they were deep inside the forest that Corbett turned into his human form to speak to her.

"Let me tell you a dark secret about Vance and his pack."