*Grayson*
The pack had been more than a little busy the last two days. I’d asked Keera and her team to pause whatever plan they had set in motion until we were done with the bonfire ritual. I didn’t need them upsetting anyone or poking any wounds since the ritual was already emotional and a bit upsetting as it was. More than that, it was also a way of having them show some respect for our dead.
I haven’t even been in the house for more than an hour in the past two days. A lot of preparations were being made. Fifteen people had died in total. The council had to pay a collective visit to each of the affected families, bearing a lot of consolation gifts. It was the first step to kick the ritual in motion. We’d covered fourteen of the victims when I’d decided to come back home to freshen up and get a few things.
The last victim was Sam.
And since he had no family, we’d all decided that we were going to pay our respects to Ginny instead. He had always said she was like the daughter he’d never had. I pushed the door open, giving Josie and Lexi a curt nod before continuing up the stairs. Unlike the other days when they were actively working to crack the case, today they were dressed casually.
Despite the casual clothes, I could still detect a hint of restless energy. For one, they had both been standing and watching the news when I arrived. Lexi had been leaning against the wall and Josie had been crouched over a high stool lying around in the room. Turning my attention away from them, I got to my room and climbed in the shower.
I stood unmoving for more than a few minutes, simply letting the water pour over my body as I sorted out the thoughts in my head. Why didn’t the killer strike often any longer? I wondered silently. As much as I was happy that we’d only had one death in about two and half weeks, I also. couldn’t help but feel like the killer was up to something even bigger. He obviously knew that we had a human team on pack grounds trying to catch him.
Has Sam been his test subject?
A way to see if he could still get away with murder despite the investigations going on in the pack?
More importantly, was he going to strike again during the ritual?
The thought that he might have already captured his next victim had me hurrying to get back out there. It wasn’t much but I hoped that somehow my presence as we went around to organize the ritual was going to make him feel low for a few days. A knock sounded on my bedroom door as I picked up the framed picture of Sam I personally planned to give Ginny.
Seeing Keera on the other side when I opened the door had my eyebrows lifting in surprise. Like all the other recent times when she was close, I felt my wolf stirring. She didn’t ever seek me out unless it was for something important so I’d half expected it to be my sister. “I’ve been trying to talk to you in private for some days now,” She stated bluntly, pinning me with her steady gaze. I glanced down at my screen, checking to see if I had a few minutes to spare.
l didn’t.
I shook my head, indicating that it was not the time. “I have to head out now,” I said as calmly and as politely as possible. We’d formed some kind of unspoken dynamic since the other morning in my kitchen and it felt nice for a change. To feel like I was on some kind of level ground with her, one where we had civil conversations and weren’t arguing like we always did.
She exhaled a low irritated breath, taking the strand of hair flying all over her face behind her ear. “Fine,” She finally conceded, twisting her lips to the side. “Let me know when you’re free.” She said calmly, meeting my eyes for a moment . “There’s something I want us to talk about.” I gave her a short nod, kicking the door shut with my feet and pinching the bridge of my nose.
Focus, Grayson.
Though it suddenly became difficult, I forced myself to move away from the door and pack up the gifts I intended to give Ginny before I did something stupid. Because I definitely couldn’t afford to do something stupid. Like marching out of the room to pull Keera to myself so I could finally do the one thing I’ve been wanting to do for days.
The one thing I had no business thinking about doing.
***
Ginny was an almost mess. Seeing us pay respects to her in honor of Sam had reopened her wounds like we’d known it definitely would. And then the gifts had seemed to make her all the more emotional. I stepped out with Ryan while Jax and the rest of the guys in the council treated themselves to a drink inside. Ria and the other woman comforted her as they made an early lunch for all of us.
“It’s going to be a whole lot,” Ryan stated, leaning against the rail by the porch. I snorted, shooting him a side look. We both knew it was the understatement of the year. We were barely able to smoothly conduct the rituals when we had just one dead not to talk of now that there were fourteen.
“Will they be arriving tomorrow?” I asked Ryan, referring to the squad we always had on pack grounds for extra safety. It would be extremely easy for other packs to launch an attack on us while the ritual was going on since our pack warriors also got involved with the ritual.
As a way to keep the pack safe, we always called a security squad and had them patrol the pack and keep an eye on the borders throughout the day. And since we couldn’t completely be sure that we weren’t accidentally letting in wolves with the intention to take us out, we’d reached out to humans from the very beginning. It had been easier especially since they only just spent two nights on pack grounds.
It was way different from having Keera and her team here.
Ryan replied with a short nod. “Yes, Gabe assured me that they were going to be here.” Gabe, of course, was the squad leader. He was one of the few humans I trusted, which also meant that he was one of the few humans who owed me a favor I’d known I was going to collect eventually.
Elena called us back in then and I gave Ryan a pat on his shoulder as we both walked back into the house. The scent of French toast and scrambled eggs hitting my nose made me remember that I hadn’t had anything to eat since the previous day.
We gathered around the table, Nyx and Ria filling all our empty glasses with juice. We made small talk as we ate and as much as I hated to admit it, I found myself constantly thinking of Keera. It didn’t take long for Ria to pick up on it, but then again she strangely seemed to be so aware of me.
‘What’s on your mind?’ She asked through the mindlink, meeting my eyes from across the table.
‘A lot of things’ I replied vaguely.
Her eyebrows arched. ‘Care to explain?’
I let my gaze drop meaningfully to my food before I stared back at her. ‘Right now?’
She twitched the corner of her lip like she was holding back a smile. ‘You’ll tell me later then?’
I raised my shoulder in a shrug. ‘Sure’
Conall let out a forced cough, causing our heads to turn in his direction. “You guys might as well get a room,” He murmured beneath his breath, bringing a fist to his mouth and coughing to cover up his comment as everyone laughed loudly. It took me a while to realize he had been referring to my mindlink with Ria. I wasn’t sure if he had only been trying to lighten the room or if he had actually meant to imply that there was something going on between Ria and I.
I lifted an eyebrow darkly, silently warning him not to go there. I wasn’t ready to get myself into a complicated situation. Ryan met my gaze, his eyes twinkling with something mischievous. He rocked his chair on its back legs, lifting his hands behind his head and raising his shoulder casually. “I mean, you guys have been spending a lot of time together lately.”
I met Ria’s eyes.
Thankfully, she was shooting me a small smirk to diffuse the tension in the room. “We have, haven’t we?” She asked, batting her eyelashes at me. Her actions caused another uproar of laughter in the room. I put some toast in my mouth and swallowed. ‘Nice one’ I said to her through the mindlink. We needed a laugh if we were going to get through this rough phase.
“You might as well just take her as your mate,” Ralph, the pack lead warrior, advised lightly. I paused, my fork just seconds away from getting to my mouth. I caught myself just in time before I made the colossal mistake of informing him that I had in fact already found my mate.
And she was currently heaven knew where.
Suddenly I had the weird urge to see Keera. I hadn’t seen her since when she’d said she wanted to see me in the morning. What had she been doing since then? Who had she been spending time with? Had she thought about me at all? I’d made the decision to not be in close proximity with her all the time, well aware it was a sure way for the mate bond to get stronger.
But then, that was easier said than done.
Ginny nudged me with her shoulder, bringing my attention back to the table. She drew her eyebrows together, staring at me a little suspiciously before deciding against prodding me about it. “Ria said she doesn’t have a problem with it,” Ginny said on a breathy laugh. ‘Doesn’t have a problem with what?’ I asked her through the mindlink.
‘With you choosing her as your mate.’ She answered back, staring at me with concern. ‘Are you okay?’
I furrowed my eyebrows at her response to my question. ‘Yeah, I’m okay.’ I answered distractedly.
I cleared my throat awkwardly. “I couldn’t possibly deprive you of the chance to meet your fated mate,” I said to Ria. A strange look passed her face and suddenly the room got thick with tension. Great, I thought silently. I was wondering when they were finally going to bring it up. The topic of me choosing someone as my mate since I hadn’t found my fated mate yet.
Only that I had. But I couldn’t let them know that since things were complicated as hell.
Nyx was the one to speak. “We’re actually a little concerned about you, Grayson,” She said softly. She ignored the warning look some of the others were shooting her. Nyx, always the outspoken one. “We were thinking that since it’s been a few years. . . and some of the pack members are getting worried that-”
I raised my hand to stop her.
“Please,” I said flatly. “Not right now.” And maybe not ever, until I was ready, I silently added in my head. I wasn’t ready to have this conversation with them. We had more important things on ground right now. Maybe when the dust about the killings had settled I could come clean about who Keera was to me and what I intended to do about it. Until then, I was good. Luckily, a call came in to my cell. I excused myself.
“I have to take this.”