The next morning, I woke up early so I could sneak back to my house without people discovering I was perfectly fine. They were still under the impression that I was severely injured and probably went through surgery. I thought about meeting with Channing and clearing things out with him, but his house was locked and no one answered the doorbell.

My entire morning went by, sitting idly and waiting for Fang to call. Even when I took a shower, my mobile was inside the bathroom. What was that man even thinking, trying to take me to the castle for the date.

It was afternoon, and I sat by the back door of my house. The sun was high in the sky and dragonflies basked in it, flying over the grass. Such insignificant details of life I had missed in the dungeons. Watching it made me feel at bliss. These few hours I had got for myself, else I have been stressing over the mission since I got out of the dungeons.

I closed my eyes and my phone rang almost immediately, making me click my tongue.

It was an unknown number, and I already knew who it was. "Hello" but there was no voice from the other side. "Fang?" I asked in a low voice, doubtfully.

"Good to know you have been anticipating my call," Fang said in his sly tone, and I could already imagine what face he was making.

I did not have time for his stupidity right now, "Are you taking me to the castle for the date?"

"Yes, where else did you expect to go wearing that dress I gifted you?" Fang replied casually, and I felt a vein pop on my forehead. What stupidity was he planning again and what kind of audacity this man has, like the world, revolved for him.

"Why are you making things hard for me?" I spoke irritatedly, "you know the king and the queen would be there. Even my in-laws will be there. I want this postponed"

All I received was a chuckle before he hummed, "okay, let's postpone it." But I did not reply, as I knew there was more coming up. This much I had learnt about Fang that there are always terms and conditions, so I waited for him to complete his sentence. I could tell he had that wicked smile plastered on his face right now. He then said, understanding my silence, "Let's postpone it to later in the night. You come to Waterwoods after the feast in the castle and spend the night on my bed"

"Why are you doing this?" I snapped. What did he mean by spending time on his bed, he could have had some other plan. There was no use in reasoning with him, anyway. If I gave him some other venue and pushed it, he would put another price on it and there was no way I was spending time on his bed as a price.

He sighed as if he was asking nothing wrong. "You gave your word, little one, I am doing nothing, just taking you on a date"

There was no need for me to fulfil any of his prices, but I had given my word about the date. Little did I know it would be in the castle. If he was taking it to the castle, I would have loved to challenge him, but my in-laws would be there. My mother had grown me up, saying I shouldn't even lift my eyes and look at another boy, and if she found me going there hand in hand with Fang. She would be sure to lash out. But then again, if Fang was ready to keep it under the hood, then I had no problem.

"Are you going to introduce me as your date when in the castle?" I asked, hoping he would understand the pickle I would be put into then.

Fang chuckled at the other end of the line. He was now talking as if he was eating something, possibly munching on an apple. "What else am I supposed to introduce you as?" He asked, mumbling over his food. "This is my future wife?"

I rolled my eyes. Can this man never be any less of a burden? "Fang, I am being serious." My voice was a little stern, laced with irritation. "Can you promise you won't tell or show people we are on a date?"

Fag hummed casually, "sure."

I waited for more to come. He was giving it to me this easily. It was unbelievable. It made me sceptical, but he added nothing else. Instead of it coming back to bite me later, I asked, "That's it? No price, or terms and conditions?"

Fang took another bite of the apple in his hand. Making me wait for his answer and it was doing nothing but getting on my nerves. "As long as it is a date, I don't care about the people. If that is what you care about, we won't let them know. Now if people themself assume that, it won't be my fault." It was enough to tell he might try something funny. That meant I would have to take utmost care.

"I will also be meeting my in-laws. Hope you don't try anything funny," I said. It was better to keep it clear than have him throw a tantrum later.

"As long as you come back to me at the end of the day," said Fang, as if he was being considerate of me. It left me speechless. "Go get ready now, I will come to pick you up in two hours," he cut the call without waiting for my reply.

It took me some time to take my phone away from my ear. Fang was being unusually considerate. Even last night, he was keeping his distance. That only had me more and more sceptical of his behaviour. There was something else going on in the back of his mind and I needed to make sure what it was, or it might prove dangerous for me later on.

Thinking about it, he was always fine with talking about my in-laws. Previously as well, when I had mentioned to him I was betrothed, he casually talked about how I should impress my in-laws with this mission.

This man told me he wanted to marry me and was okay with me meeting my other in-laws. I needed to be careful during the feast today.

The worst that could happen was him doing something stupid and I would have to stop him by agreeing to another ludicrous price of his.

But the more I thought about it, something did not fit the pieces. He must have some other goal in mind. There was no way he wanted to marry me as his primary goal. This man was too hard to trust. There is definitely some bigger goal related to my in-laws or my parents. I will have to get that out of him.

There was a knock on the door and I knew it was Dandeline. I opened the door and found her dressed in layers. "Did you register yourself in the village registry?"

Dandeline was removing the layers of clothing she must have worn to come here in disguise. She took a deep breath before answering, "Ya, but I won't be able to join the pack for the next four days. It seems the Alpha of Winterwells is not in the village"

Channing had gone somewhere? No wonder there was no one at his house today. But where did he go amid the competition for Beta that was going on?

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Note: I have been going through the side effects of the vaccine, so writing and editing haven't been easy. If there are errors you find in the previous or this chapter, please put in the paragraph comments so I could rectify them.