Gareth felt as though his ears were ringing.
He knew he had heard her correctly, yet his entire body refused to accept what Marigold had just said.
“Y-you…
what did you say?” Gareth asked calmly, though his eyes remained fixed on Marigold, who had yet to realize the danger she was in.
“Yeah, I killed that white fox.
Then a scary fox demon came to demand a replacement last night.
Obviously, I didn’t want to get hurt, so Lily had to do it for me,” Marigold replied lightly, as if she had not just sacrificed the girl who had practically raised her like an older sister.
“What?
Why are you glaring at me?
Geez, Gareth, you and Lily are just workers in this barn.
Of course, you two have to protect me, so…
urk!” Before Marigold could finish speaking, Gareth lunged toward her and wrapped his hand tightly around her neck.
His mind had gone completely blank because he knew damn well who that so-called fox demon was.
And he did not want to imagine what Ren might do to Lily now that she was in his hands.
“Let…
urk…
me…
go!
Ack!” Marigold thrashed around desperately, trying to break free from Gareth’s grip.
She kicked at him and tried to claw at his face, but she could not reach him as he pinned her to the ground.
Her struggles gradually weakened, while her face slowly changed from red to blue.
Seeing her life drifting away did not scare him at all.
Gareth was seeing red right now.
He had never been this angry before.
This was a betrayal worse than what he experienced in the West Wolf Pack.
He knew he would not be satisfied until this bitch, who had caused Lily to be taken away because of her carelessness and selfishness, paid the price.
He watched as she was about to take her last breath when his wolf instincts suddenly forced his body to move.
Gareth let go of Marigold’s neck before swiftly dodging a thrust from the pitchfork Jack was holding.
Jack stood in front of Gareth, protecting Marigold, who was still desperately trying to catch her breath.
The bald old man pointed the pitchfork at Gareth, his jaw clenched and his eyes bloodshot as he looked ready to kill.
“How dare you hurt my daughter, you ungrateful bastard!” Jack yelled.
“Your selfish daughter caused Lily to be taken by that devious fox!” Gareth yelled back.
“Lily will be in pain.
She…
that fox is…” Gareth could not even finish his sentence as dread filled his mind and heart.
Ren was not a kind man, and with the wolf scent all over Lily’s body, the risk of her being tortured was even worse.
Gareth’s entire body trembled as his chest tightened.
He had not felt this kind of rage in a long time, and it was like a spark that had suddenly lit the long-dormant fire within his heart.
“I don’t fucking care!
I bought that girl for two gold coins from her orphanage.
Even if she dies, I can always replace her!” Jack said.
“My daughter’s life is far more precious than some unknown orphan’s, so don’t try to make us feel guilty!” Jack thought he would continue arguing with this irrational bastard, but Gareth suddenly fell silent.
His body began to tremble, as if he were enduring a great deal of pain inside.
Then, he began making guttural grunts that sounded almost like an animal, like a mad wolf that was about to break free.
That assessment was not entirely wrong.
The fire that had been successfully lit inside his body felt like a furnace, melting his skin and bones from within.
Gareth endured devastating pain, yet what hurt the most was his heart.
He remembered Lily, who had looked at him with concern as she slowly tended to his wounds until he could stand on his own feet.
The same auburn-haired woman who had smiled at him while using all her savings just to treat him.
The same woman who had told him that she wanted some rouge because she did not want to feel lonely once he left.
Now, that woman was gone, taken by his merciless enemy who might have already tortured her by now.
“Grrhhh…
ARGGHHH!” Gareth felt as though his body were exploding from the inside, and right at that moment, a pair of black wolf ears emerged from his head, followed by a black wolf tail that swept across the ground.
He had lost his wolf for the past six months and had trained relentlessly in an attempt to make it return.
Yet no matter how hard he trained, it had always felt as though his wolf was permanently gone.
Now, it had returned.
And the price of its return was the safety of his woman.
Gareth opened his eyes, his deep blue gaze darkened as he stared at Jack like a predator looking at its prey.
Jack was stunned when he saw the wolf ears and tail.
They instantly reminded him of the fox demon from the night before.
“D-demon…” Jack murmured, staring at Gareth in disbelief.
It was his daughter’s voice that finally snapped him out of his daze.
“Daddy, he almost killed me!” Marigold yelled.
“Kill him!
Kill him now!” Jack gritted his teeth as he realized that this had become a matter of life and death.
Thus, he tightened his grip on the pitchfork and charged toward Gareth.
Gareth merely looked at him calmly, his claws slowly unsheathing before…
SLASH!
“Urk…
ah…” Gareth ended the bald old man’s meaningless struggle with a single slash across his neck.
He watched coldly as Jack tried to cover the wound before stumbling and collapsing into his own puddle of blood.
“DADDY!” Marigold screamed.
She wanted to rush to her father, but when she saw the wolf demon standing beside his corpse, she could only step backward in fear.
Being stared at by Gareth’s deep blue eyes made her entire body tremble, especially with blood dripping from his sharp claws.
“Y-you killed my father!
That’s enough to avenge Lily, right?” Marigold tried to reason with the wolf demon through her fear.
“My Daddy is twice as big as me, so that’s basically you killing me twice already!” She was already crying and pissing herself while Gareth continued to look at her impassively.
“Where did they go?” Gareth asked, his voice deeper and harsher than before.
Marigold pointed with a trembling hand toward the direction where she had last seen the fox demon before he vanished.
“I swear on my name, if I see her corpse by the time I reach her, you are going to pay.” With those words, Gareth shifted into his wolf form and rushed into the forest, ready to fight anything that stood in his way as long as it brought him closer to his mate.