Yara pushed Hritika behind her, and took up a fighting chance.

"Yara...," Hritika trailed off, confused by her body language. She was nervous too, but Yara's panic seemed to be heightened.

"I don't know exactly how, but it is clear that he is more powerful than he was at the pack house," Yara whispered to Hritika, while still keeping an eye on Neer, who stood there like a statue.

Neer didn't know what to do. He had to escape, but he didn't find it in himself to hurt these ladies. Just like they were eyeing him, he too was looking at them nervously, not knowing how they were going to act further.

"Run when you get the chance," Yara ordered Hritika.

"And leave you alone, no thanks," Hritika scoffed, before coming forward to stand beside Yara, instead of behind her.

"Why can't you ever listen?" Yara growled.

A fight with an elemental was already going to be tough, but it was impossible to win if she had to keep looking over her shoulders for Hritika's safety.

"Hritika, please understand," Yara requested again.

"Relax, I don't think he is going to attack. See, he is standing still," Hritika said, pointing at Neer who looked powerful and nervous at the same time.

"Don't underestimate him, maybe he is plotting something," Yara whispered, before taking an impulse decision.

She had to attack before he could make out a plan. His powers were too strong for Yara to sustain. Attacking him when he was least expecting it was the only possible way for them to survive.

"Run towards the front door now," Yara ordered Hritika in a stern tone, leaving no room for discussion.

Hritika wanted to argue yet again, but she saw the look in Yara's eyes. It wasn't just Yara talking, this was an order from the Beta of the pack.

Hritika dashed out of the front door, making Neer turn his attention towards her abrupt action. Using his distraction as an advantage, Yara pounced on him with all her might.

Yara didn't turn into her wolf form, knowing Hritika all too well to know that she was going to come back. Her wolf form would have at least guaranteed a few strikes on the elemental. However, the communication with Hritika would come to a stand still if Yara turned into Sachi. And that situation was more likely to put Hritika in danger.

Although she hadn't turned into her wolf, Yara's human form was no less. Having trained for so many years, there was hardly any woman who was stronger than Yara, at least in the human form.

Yara was shaken up from inside with panic, but her punches weren't. They were deliberate, clean and struck right at the places to cause him a lot of pain yet not cause a fatal blow. She wanted him to be unable to hurt her. However, she didn't want him dead. Not now, not until their investigation was complete.

Hritika had gone out and tried to search for some weapon to help Yara out, before deciding to just take a long broken mirror lying on the side of the road to use it as a shield against Neer's water attacks.

Hritika took a huge breath to gather strength, before rushing back inside the house, only to come to a stand still when she witnessed the bizarre situation.

She blinked her eyes to confirm that it wasn't a dream. Hritika had expected that either Neer would be winning because of his power or it would be an even match. But here, Neer was on the floor, barely being able to defend himself while Yara was hitting him right and left.

Hritika cursed as she kept the mirror near the door, before rushing towards Yara.

"Yara stop, stop, he is badly hurt," Hritika yelled, trying to pull her away, only to be pushed away.

Hritika tried again, to pull Yara from force, but ended up getting hit by Yara accidentally. Not only Hritika got hit in the face, but the force also made her fall down on the floor mercilessly.

"Sorry, I would have loved to save you. But it's not my cup of tea," Hritika said to Neer in an apologetic tone, while caressing her bruised bum.

At that very moment, Nihal entered through the front door, frantically opening it with a loud thud, but fortunately not enough to break it unlike the back door. However, he did manage to ruin the already broken mirror.

One look at the fallen Hritika and a badly bruised Neer, was enough for Nihal to get the entire picture. Seeing the situation, he cursed himself for being late. He had come running as soon as Yara informed him about smelling Hritika and that element in their house, but it took him some time with his human speed.

Nihal scratched his head, thinking what to do. What started as a fight for safety had turned into something ugly. If Yara didn't stop soon, she would end up killing the guy, which Nihal knew that she didn't want.

"Careful!" Hritika shouted, as she saw Nihal moving towards Yara, trying to grab Yara from her waist just like she had tried before.

Nihal nodded, taking Hritika's warning seriously.

"Sachi, Sachi it's me. Please take over," Nihal called out, standing close but still a little away from the fight.

Understanding that Yara was in a protective mode, Nihal directly contacted Sachi(her wolf), who was more likely to react faster to her mate's words.

Hearing her mate's pleas, Sachi forced her control over Yara and took over her mind. However, she wasn't too different from her human and wanted to protect her family. So even after the half-shift, the punches continued.

"Sachi, Sachi stop," Nihal shouted, "He isn't fighting back."

"It's a one-sided fight dammit! He isn't fighting back," Nihal yelled to make her understand that Neer wasn't really a threat right now.

When nothing worked, Nihal decided  to chuck the caution out of the window, and moved to pull her back from her waist.

Hritika sat there with her mouth hung open, when Nihal wasn't pushed away like her.

"Traitor," she grumbled.

Nihal chuckled, "It's the magic of mate bond," he said, before turning Yara so could take her into a hug.

Sachi sighed into the hug dreamily, before giving back the control to Yara. The couple kept hugging, until Neer's groans pulled them away.

They turned to see him clutching his sides as he cried out in pain. His battered and bruised body caused Yara to wince and feel guilty at her own doing.

While she had attacked him thinking he could hurt them, that man hadn't even raised a finger against her in response.

"Why didn't you fight back?" Yara asked, while Nihal helped Neer to sit up, while Hritika rushed to get the first-aid box, not even knowing if that was enough.

Neer, who had been clutching his sides until then, moved his hand to wipe away the blood from his lips, before chuckling,

"It was hard enough to defend. How was I supposed to fight back? My strength is nothing compared to yours," he complimented Yara at the end.

"Ah! So we are breaking the stereotypes here, aren't we?" Hritika commented, as she came back with medicine. "Not every guy is physically strong and not every girl is fragile. Good, good, that's really good," she said, nodding dramatically.

"Ouch!" Neer cried as Hritika applied medicine on his face.

"Your physical strength might be weak, but your powers definitely aren't. Why didn't you use them?" Nihal asked, looking at him inquisitively.

"I wanted to use them, I really did. But she was too close. My defense could have ended up hurting her badly," Neer replied with a small crooked smile.

"Stop smiling. Your lips are already busted. You will end up hurting them more," Hritika scolded, while at the same time Yara asked with shock, "Why did you hesitate to hurt me?"

Hearing her shocked voice, Neer smiled again, earning a groan from Hritika. Ignoring Hritika's glare, Neer answered her question as sincerely as he could.

"You all gave us a safe place when we didn't have anywhere else to go. And even after seeing our powers and believing we are villains, you all didn't backstab us by poisoning our food when you had a full chance to do so. Instead you all gave us a chance for a fair fight. When you all have given us so much, how can I hurt you for misunderstanding us?" Neer asked at last in a sombre tone.

He then turned to Yara, who was still looking at him with a guilty expression, "Anyone would be vary after seeing that video. When our closed ones didn't believe us, I can't really expect strangers to do so. You really don't need to feel guilty about hitting me. But please grant me one request."

"What? The wish to let you go away? You are seriously cunning," Hritika muttered.

Neer shook his head in response, before muttering, "You should grant people's last wishes."

"Last wish?" They all raised their eyebrows, hearing his words.

"I am a murderer in your eyes. So I am definitely not going to get out of here unscathed. So it's my last wish that please leave the other elements alone. They haven't done anything wrong. So please let them live," Neer requested.

"But have you?" Hritika asked.

"Huh?!"

"You said they haven't done anything wrong. But what about you?" Hritika rephrased her question.

"I have. It was the biggest mistake of my life," Neer answered.

His admission made Hritika move back a little in shock and a little in fear.

"I trusted a wrong person, who not only ruined mine but also every element's life," Neer whispered, more to himself than the other three present in the room.