Ahana, Neer and Sameera looked at each other, not sure if they should take the offer. Avan was already vouching for them, and Gyaan was ready to even take the prisoner's position. And they were offering to take them as guests.

"What is your hearing range?" Ahana asked bluntly.

"Umm...what?" The werewolves questioned in unison, bewildered by her abrupt and weird question.

"From how far can you hear the whispers? We want to discuss your offer without you hearing us," Ahana explained honestly.

"Seriously!" Vivaan huffed. He was about to ask them to forget about their offer if they were this suspicious, but Hritika spoke before he could.

"Go to the waterfall you were desperately eyeing from before. They won't be able to hear you over the sound of falls and you can possibly fulfill the reason behind you all coming over here."

"Thanks," Neer muttered and urged others to move, before the werewolves changed their minds.

"I am supposedly the Alpha of the pack," Vivaan said with a sneer, looking at the backs of the strangers who all but ran towards the waterfall.

"Supposedly? You Are the Alpha of the pack," Hritika muttered, highlighting the word 'Are'.

"Doesn't seem like it when you go ordering around, being fully aware that I was going to say something the exact opposite of what you said," Vivaan grumbled under his breath.

"You have spoken first then. How was I supposed to know that you were thinking something else? I am not a mind reader," Hritika said with a shrug, hiding her cheeky smirk.

"You," Vivaan muttered, raising his fist in frustration, before putting it down with a sigh. "Let's just wait," he muttered, with a shake of his head.

They all waited for the strangers to discuss and come fast with an answer. while the elements waited for Neer to gulp down as much water he could to gain all the energy he had lost while being their only water source.

"Any day now," Ahana muttered, tapping her foot impatiently.

"Don't over do it, or you will puke it all out," Sameera advised in a concerned voice.

"I just...I just wanted to be able to gain back enough energy until we find another water source," Neer said, coming out of the water.

"So we aren't taking the offer," Ahana concluded from his sentence.

"Why not? Even Avan is vouching for them," Gyaan said, almost on the verge of stomping his foot.

"You just want don't a repeat of last night," Neer muttered, hitting right at the spot.

"Yeah so, wouldn't it be better for all of us if that...that incident does not repeat," Gyaan said defensively, darting his eyes away from Ahana.

"What incident?" Avan asked innocently.

"Nothing, they are just being idiots," Ahana replied to them while glaring at Neer and Gyaan for bringing up that topic again.

"I think it would be okay to stay here for a while," Sameera said, bringing everyone's attention to the main topic. "They are werewolves, living in the middle of the forest; why would they care about what happened in the human world? As long as we all maintain peace with each other, I think it should be okay."

"Sameera is right. Moreover, we can even remove our masks. They probably won't have TVs and mobile phones to know about our identities," Ahana said in a hopeful tone, not knowing how wrong she was.

"Alright, if you all are positive about this then," Neer said, giving up on his stubbornness, "but, but we are going to remain alert for the entire time. That's non-negotiable."

"Yes Sir!" They all yelled in unison, making the werewolves wince who all heard them from all the way there.

★★★★★

"So who is going to trail us," Gyaan asked the werewolves, as they all guided them towards the pack house.

"Why would we tell you that?" Vivaan scoffed. "Just so you can pretend to be nice around them," he said, answering his own question.

"Yeah, we are just waiting for the time he/she will lose their attention on us, so we could stop pretending and become the real villains we are," Ahana said, rolling her eyes.

"Don't joke around," Neer chided her in a low voice, "What if they think of your sarcasm as truth and turn against us? Don't forget they are a whole pack and we are just five."

"Don't worry, we have enough experience with sarcastic comments to figure out what is truth and what is exaggeration," Yara laughed, discreetly eyeing Hritika, who puffed out her mouth in fake anger.

"Anyways how many rooms would you all need?" Rehyaa asked, so that she could inform the pack members to prepare accordingly.

"Just one," Gyaan replied.

"Are you sure? Won't you all be uncomfortable?" Rehyaa asked in an unsure tone, "Especially you three," she said, eyeing Neer, Gyaan and Ahana who seemed to be of the same age.

"They must be related," Nihal guessed.

"We two are," Neer said, pointing towards him and Ahana, "but he isn't," he said, putting his hand on Gyaan's shoulder with an extra force.

"Then I suggest you all take at least two rooms," Rehyaa said, before a thought crossed her, "If you are thinking that you might trouble us by taking more rooms then please don't. We have too many empty rooms in the pack house."

"No that's not the case," Gyaan answered, while moving his shoulder harshly, making Neer's hand fall with a jerk. "This is an unknown place with an unknown species. We all will just be worried about each other for the entire time if we are in different rooms."

"I understand," Hritika said, having gone through the same feelings when she first came to the pack.

"Yeah," Nihal agreed, remembering his constant fear for Hritika's safety when he had to leave her alone. "How about we assign the larger one of the rooms with some extra couches?" He suggested.

"Sounds good," Vivaan said, while the others nodded in appreciation.

"Let's go and buy you all some clothes until they finish preparing your rooms," Hritika said.

"Clothes?" Ahana asked both with confusion and hope.

"We don't have money," Gyaan said, before Hritika could answer, breaking Ahana's hopes cruelly.

"I am sure we won't get poor by getting you some necessities and you all can pay back later by helping us around or something," Hritika said, waving him off.

"Let's go," Ahana said in a hurry, pulling Hritika's hand towards some random direction, before she changed her mind.

"The other way," Hritika informed her  with a laugh, before pulling the girl in right direction.

"There are just some small shops and simple outfits. You won't be able to get branded clothes from here," Vivaan informed them, not wanting them to get shocked and insult the pack members unintentionally.

"Branded? Who cares about brands?" Ahana muttered, adjusting her dupatta once again unconsciously.

"Come with me," Hritika said, dragging her towards another shop.

"Hey!!" The other elements called out in fright.

"Don't worry, I am the weakling here. No harm will come to here," Hritika yelled over her shoulder, before taking Ahana to the lingerie store.

"How did you know?" Ahana asked with shock and gratitude mixed in her voice.

"Superpowers I guess," Hritika said with a laugh, hoping to earn a laugh from Ahana as well. But when she saw Ahana looking at her cautiously and suspiciously, Hritika rolled her eyes yet again, before deadpanning, "It was a joke."

"Of course," Ahana fake laughed, hoping Hritika didn't find the reason behind her actions.

"Anyways, let's go in," Hritika said, pulling Ahana inside.

"By the way," Ahana spoke after a while as they waited for their bill.

"Hmm?" Hritika hummed, while her attention was on taking out the wallet from her jeans.

"You and Nihal are humans right? Then how come you are staying here freely and that too in such a high position," Ahana asked the question which was roaming in her mind since she found out about that fact.

"That's a long story," Hritika answered, her attention still on her wallet.

"How long could that be?" Ahana mused.

Hritika finally turned to face her, before answering, "101 chapters long."

"Whoa! That's...," Ahana trailed off, looking at her with a dumbfounded expression, not expecting such an answer.

"It's interesting too," Hritika said, winking at her.

"Really? And what might be the title of such an interesting story?" Ahana asked with a laugh.

"Umm...let me think...well there are a lot of factors and a lot of interesting characters...like me," Hritika joked.

"Of course," Ahana chuckled.

"However, the entire story wouldn't have happened, neither we all would have united if those two had not met or might I say weren't related. So I think the name of the story should be dedicated to them," Hritika thought out loud.

"Those two?"

"Vivaan and Nihal, who else?" Hritika said, like it was a no-brainer that she was talking about them.

"Ah! The brothers?" Ahana remembered having heard that they were related in one of the passing conversations.

"Half Brothers," Hritika corrected with a smile on her face.