Uri Valken frowned as he stared at the youngster from the branch family who had been disrespectful toward his child.
While it was common for children to argue among themselves, it was unacceptable for them to ignore hierarchy.
Earlier, Nita had been mean to Jodie by questioning his skills as a tracker and Jodie had, in return, given her attitude.
Uri was willing to turn a blind eye toward their interaction as this was simply playful banter between cousins who had met after a long time.
However, Jodie ignoring an order from Nita, who was a direct descendant of the Valken family's main branch, was not something he had expected to witness.
In the past few years, Uri was always used to seeing Jodie being obedient and submissive toward Detrim, the heir of the Valken family.
This was another reason why this scene, which had just taken place, surprised Uri, as that same Jodie was being hostile toward Detrim's younger sister.
'Her absence all these years will make things difficult for her...' The father had already deciphered the reason behind Jodie's disrespect.
While it was true that Nita's absence for years had made people think she was discarded from the family, he was not about to stand still while she was being bullied right before his eyes.
Therefore, the worried father was prepared to make his move but froze in the next instant.
Before Uri could utter even a single word to stop Jodie from acting out any further, he realized that someone else had already made their move.
Nita, who had been standing at the door of the office ever since she had arrived, had, in a fraction of a second, appeared right in front of Jodie.
This sudden movement startled not just Jodie, whose entire view was occupied by Nita as she was now just a step away from him, but it also shocked the other two men in the room.
One moment she was at the door and in the next, she was right before Jodie, just a step away from him.
Her movement was swift enough to the point that the rest were unable to keep up with her and hence had missed witnessing her in action.
All they saw was that she was now standing close to Jodie, leaning forward in his direction.
The young man was taller than Nita, but thanks to her heels, which added inches to her height, she was able to look right into his eyes with ease.
As Uri watched, Nita raised her palm covered in that black glove and placed it on his shoulder.
It was evident that she was applying pressure on it as he noticed how Jodie instantly flinched his shoulders and clenched his jaw, seeming to be in pain.
Before the old man could grasp what his daughter was planning to achieve here, he felt an exceedingly familiar buzzing in his ears.
Not caring too much about it, he focused his attention on the scene taking place before him.
He watched as the scene before his eyes slowly turned dull and monochromatic.
Colors began fading from his surroundings and everything around him turned gray in no time.
Soon, it appeared as though time had slowed down and Uri was now sensitive to everything around him, enhancing his senses exponentially.
He could hear the hearts of the three youngsters beating unevenly.
The birds chirping outside had also turned into a distorted, slow-motion chatter.
His wife humming in the back garden also slowed down.
He could now see, hear, smell, and feel everything happening around him with the utmost clarity.
Uri did not find any of this odd, as he was used to having episodes like this quite often in the past.
Though they weren't too frequent at his current age as they had been in the past, he welcomed this episode with open arms.
Therefore, without focusing on why his surroundings had shifted in this distorted manner, he fixed his attention on what was taking place before him.
As he watched in silence, he saw how Nita's palm resting on Jodie's shoulder applied more pressure than before.
Her eyes weren't as deep a shade of crimson as his, and she also had pink flecks around her irises.
However, right now, those pink flecks had turned a deep red, and her eyes had become the darkest shade he had ever seen on her since she had been born.
This sight made him frown, which only grew deeper when his gaze fell on Jodie next.
Jodie now had a grave expression of anguish on his face as he stared into Nita's darkened eyes.
In the next second, he let out a low groan, which startled his elder brother who had rushed to his side.
However, Nita's gaze did not shift from Jodie and her grasp on his shoulder did not loosen even as that man's knees buckled and he dropped to the floor with a loud thud.
Down on his knees, Jodie was now looking up at her, not breaking eye contact with her, as though he was mesmerized by her gaze.
"You will learn to be polite, won't you, Cousin Jodie?" Nita's voice, now low and enchanting, echoed in their ears.
Her attention was focused only on Jodie as she disregarded the rest present in the room.
The two appeared to be lost in their own world and no one could come between them at that very moment.
Rowan, Jodie's elder brother, was trying to help him get up off the floor, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not lift him.
It was almost as if Jodie did not wish to get up from his position on that cold, hard floor.
From that same kneeling posture, Jodie continued gazing up at Nita and gave her a slow nod in acceptance of the question she had asked him.
Only after he had responded did a smile return to Nita's face, which had been shrouded in gloom ever since Jodie had been disrespectful to her.
Having received the answer she was looking for, Nita slowly raised her palm off his shoulder and dusted her hands as though she disliked the very thought of having touched someone else.
Watching this action seemed to have brought Jodie back to his senses as he looked around the room with an expression of confusion evident on his face.
This time, Rowan was successful in lifting him off the floor, and Jodie thanked his brother for his assistance.
Back on his feet, both Rowan and Jodie turned to face Nita, who had already begun walking out of the room without a care for the ones she was leaving behind.
Rowan had an expression of disbelief at what had just taken place, whereas Jodie simply stared at the back of the person who was walking away from him.
Amidst the chaos she had caused, Uri was trying to decipher what this could mean, but he wasn't given time to do so as the scene before him returned to its original state.
The color returned to his surroundings and things went back to moving at their normal pace.
While he could still hear the heartbeats of the youngsters, the birds chirping outside and his wife humming in the back garden, they no longer were in slo-mo, nor were they distorted like they had been previously.
This snapped Uri back to the present as he fixed his eyes on the scene unfolding before him.
Nita now stood before Jodie as her hand rose, slowly resting on his shoulders.
Jodie had been stunned to see his cousin moving at such a high speed toward him but before he could even react, she was before him and her palm rested on his shoulder.
The moment that palm, covered in a black glove, came into contact with his body, he felt a strange sensation enveloping him.
This unknown sensation made him flinch then freeze in the same spot as his body forgot to react.
His eyes made contact with Nita's dark red eyes and all thoughts from his head began to fade.
Soon, a shooting pain arose in his shoulder, but for some reason that he could not comprehend at this moment, he was unable to free himself from her grasp.
Though the intensity of this pain began rising exponentially, his body refused to move away.
"That's enough, Child!" A low voice filled with authority echoed in the room, snapping Jodie out of his daze.
Not just Jodie, even Rowan, who was also watching the scene before him in a trance, came back to his senses as he turned to look at the source of this voice.