"Wh-what?" I squeaked as my eyes swayed to and fro between the twins, in disbelief.

Ved shoved at Veer.

"What?" Veer shifted his attention to his brother.

"Get out!"

"Yo brother, don't be bossy." Veer scoffed.

"I'm not being bossy. You need to shut the fuck up and go, check on the security. Besides, she needs rest right now. We'll have this discussion tomorrow," Ved chided.

Veer scoffed again, "If you say so." Then he turned to me and flashed another smile, "Good night. We'll see each other in the morning then."

However, I was completely flabbergasted by what Veer just said. Blood Demon! What. Is. That? I sat there dumbfounded for a while, watching the twins talking. After Veer left, I averted my questioning gaze at Ved, "He was joking, right?"

In response to that, Ved only shook his head and went to the open window which overlooked the forest. Then he placed his hands on the window and gazed out.

I didn't understand many things to be honest, but right now his silence was the topmost one that was hindering my brainwork. I couldn't deal with vague and confusing situations and that exactly was what I have been dealing with the past three-four days. It was enough and gave me all sorts of unwanted jitters. "Sir, please tell me, what's going on? I- I don't understand..."

But before I could finish, Ved interrupted me. "Not now, Urvi. You need sleep."

"Yeah, so that he can reappear in my nightmare," I muttered sarcastically.

I was sure he had heard that, but when he didn't respond even after a whole minute, I understood that was my cue to shut my little mouth. I laid back on my side and watched him. He was still overlooking the forest. What possibly could be the extraordinary out there that he was so engrossed in it?

I studied his stern demeanor closely. He was tall. Perhaps, over 6'3" and muscular. I definitely resembled lilliput in front of him with my 5'3". I should be feeling self-conscious with my boss in the same room as me, but I didn't. And this fact was making me giddy more than I should be. I decided for once that now I really should stop overthinking and close my eyes. I did so and astonishingly fell asleep shortly without me even knowing.

~~~

The following day when I woke up, to my relief, I did not see Ved in my room. To be honest that wouldn't have been the best start of the day. It wouldn't have been a delighted view for him to watch me with bed hair and for me to get embarrassed first thing in the morning. Thankfully, he spared me the embarrassment.

Last night, although I didn't have another nightmare, the memory of that spooky encounter was still fresh in my mind. I reminded myself of the promise that Ved did to me. He would tell me today whatever that was going on here, however, I was sure he wouldn't, unless I asked him.

After taking a quick shower and changing into a fresh set of clothes, I decided to go out and look for him. Last night I had seen his room on the first floor. So, I left my room and went downstairs, while critically recalling the way Jai had shown me last night.

The interior of the packhouse wasn't really confusing but definitely took me some time to figure out which way led to where. The packhouse was three storied and I discovered it was actually divided into three sections. My room and similar looking twenty-four other rooms were on the right-hand side of the second floor. To the left there was another corridor, along with which there were more doors. I considered paying a visit there but refrained myself from over-curiosity. I placed my hands on the wooden railing along the edge of the balcony that overlooked all the way down to the ground floor landing and walked towards the staircase.

The walls were covered with many oil paintings, and strangely most of them were related to wolves. Not that any of them were unappealing. There was this subtle beauty in those paintings that they all looked positively lively, as if they would jump out of the frame right now. I was literally taking my time to enjoy the intricate details of the paintings which was when I was called from behind.

"Urvi,"

I turned around immediately and saw Ashifa and Abhay coming my way.

"Good Morning." Abhay flashed me his signature smile and Ashifa followed him immediately the same way.

"Good Morning," I returned the smile to them.

"Are you going to the dining hall?" Abhay asked me.

"Actually, I was going to Ved Sir."

"Ved? Why?"

I glanced at Ashifa, "I was intending to ask him some questions about... last night."

Ashifa's eyebrows rose at the recognition of the matter. She softly nudged at Abhay on his ribcage who actually looked puzzled at her action, "She's talking about Noraak."

Abhay's eyes widened as she explained to him. He averted his focus on me with a knitted frown, as if wanting me to confirm the assumption.

I nodded at him before focusing back on Ashifa. She mentioned the same name as Ved did last night. That definitely meant they knew about this demon named Noraak.

"Who is this Noraak?" I asked Her. My eyes swayed between the two of them before deliberately focusing on Ashifa.

Abhay cleared his throat awkwardly and averted his gaze from me to Ashifa. Ashifa did the same. They stared at each other for a few seconds and it definitely looked like they were having a conversation with their eyes. As if that was even possible. I mean, metaphorically perhaps, it was possible. But we weren't living with metaphors, which nullified my strange contemplation.

I shifted my weight from one foot to another and folded my arms over my chest, "Guys! Are you going to continue with your staring competition or do you like to provide me with some information as well?"

Ashifa was the first one to look away. She gazed at me. There was a visible pink blush on her cheeks. "Urvi, perhaps, your... umm... decision of asking Ved is... appropriate in these circumstances. He should be the one to answer you, really. We aren't qualified enough to say something that... um... you're unfamiliar with."

My forehead creased at her obscured response. I did not know what she meant. "I can familiarize with things going on here only when I get your cooperation."

She stared at me for a moment then began, "Look, Urvi. You're a new recruit of Rudras. There are a lot of bizarre things Rudra S&I deals with. Things that might leave you baffled, considering you're not even from the North. I don't want to ward you off on the second day of your new job."

I stared at her and unfolded my arms while she continued, "If we reveal something that is unfathomable to you right now, it'd only make things worse."

Abhay decided to interrupt at that moment, "Girls! Can we just go to the dining hall and have this discussion along with our breakfast? I am starving... honestly!"

Ashifa shot him a glare then slipped her hands underneath my right arm and turned me towards the stairs, "Let's go Urvi. We don't talk with hungry and uncouth animals."

"Hey!" Abhay complained, "Why do you always use that inapt adjective on me? It doesn't go with my image in any way."

By then we had already started descending the steps. I glanced over my shoulder and watched Abhay rolling his eyes, while throwing his hands in the air in frustration.

"Ashifa! Are you leaving me now?" He ran towards them, clearly annoyed now, "Wait!"

I looked at Ashifa as she flashed a sly grin at me. She was definitely playing with him. I smiled at her as well just before Abhay jumped beside her startling both of us. I clutched my chest tightly at his sudden pounce and steadied my wildly pounding heart. It practically took him less than a couple of seconds to catch up with us, considering we were already midway descending the steps.

Ashifa too had shrieked for a second. She shoved on his arm, causing him to lose his balance slightly, but I definitely saw there was a smile playing on his lips. He steadied himself and reached over, slipping his hand behind Ashifa, rested on the small of her back and pulled her closer, "Okay, sorry."

Ashifa didn't respond, only sulked and continued descending the rest of the steps with Abhay. I followed them.

"What's in today's menu?" Abhay suddenly asked.

"Aloo Paratha (hand-made bread with potato stuffing in Indian cuisine) and curd," Ashifa answered.

"Damn! I thought there would be some kind of meat today."

He mumbled and Ashifa miraculously ignored answering him considering he was practically holding her so close to him.

I averted my eyes from them and looked ahead when we reached the first-floor landing. Here also I saw three sections dividing the floor. The balcony on the left-hand side which overlooked the ground floor was the one we took and soon I located Ved's room. The door was closed though. I considered going over there, but thought otherwise when my stomach growled shamelessly.

"Going for breakfast? Are we?"

I turned around and spotted Jai and two others. I didn't know their names.

Abhay acknowledged, glancing over to them, "Morning boys."

"Morning," they simultaneously nodded their heads as they closed the distance between the two groups.

Ashifa stepped away from Abhay and caught a hold of my hand instead. Her eyes however, were trained on the other three men. I followed her gaze and noticed she was particularly looking at one of them.

I observed him closely and was immediately impressed. He was handsome and trust me when I said handsome. He was tall with tanned skin tone and kohl black hair. His defined cheekbones and uniquely beautiful grey eyes were enough to intimidate anyone, yet they were enticing in some way. I couldn't tell how long I was checking him out until his eyes met mine directly.

He blinked once but held my gaze otherwise.

Jai introduced me to the other two.

"Boys, meet Urvi. Urvi he's Danish," he gestured towards the brown eyed and fair skinned one, "and he is Rohan," he placed a hand on Rohan's shoulder.

For all this while, I had been highly conscious that Rohan was watching me without taking his eyes off me for once. I wasn't sure if it was a good thing or bad, but I definitely felt my adrenaline rush through me heightening my senses. My cheeks suddenly felt warm. It possibly could be for getting attention from a really handsome man. I tried to divert my mind to somewhere else, but failed, of course.

Then ever so slowly Rohan's lips twitched, "We should get going and join the others now."

Damn my female hormones! His voice was throaty and manly in every way. I inhaled slowly.

Ashifa pulled on my arms, "Urvi!"

I broke my gaze from him and focused on her, "Yes."

The men walked past us and began talking among themselves.

I was about to follow them but Ashifa held me back.

I looked at her quizzically when she signaled me to wait for a second. I was confused at why she was stopping me, but I kept shut nonetheless. Soon after the men were out of our sight, she said with a serious face, "If I may give you an advice, I'd suggest you to stay away from Rohan."

My eyebrows rose slightly.

She continued however, "Rohan is our most skilled, fastest and... the most dangerous hunter in Rudra S&I."

I didn't understand what I had to do with any of that.

"And he's been looking for..." she hesitated, "a girlfriend."

I blinked. I was sure my cheeks had taken an ugly shade of red. They felt warm and I felt awkward.

"Not that he's ruthless or anything, but, we all fear that... he's emotionally unavailable."

Okay, that was enough. I couldn't anymore let her give me advice on my future relationships. "Wh-why are you t-telling me about all these?" I hated myself at that moment for stuttering stupidly. I blushed even more feeling the embarrassment creeping up my spine.

"I just wanted to warn you beforehand." She gazed at the way the men went and mumbled, "I pity his future-mate."

That made no sense and thankfully, she rushed me to the dining hall after that to prevent me from pondering on that.