*Grayson *
Her mouth opened and closed as she struggled to find words. She must have seen the determined expression on my face because she gave up trying to get me to leave. She looked wary, her shoulders tensed and her hands clenched together. I couldn’t blame her. We’d been avoiding this conversation for too long and the tension between us had grown thick enough to slice through. It felt like there was so much catching up we had to do since the last time we had spoken no more than five words to each other.
I walked further into the room. She folded her arms across her chest, unconsciously pushing her breasts forward. I gritted my teeth, forcing myself to focus on what was important. I didn’t think I could leave the room without touching her, but if I tried to do that first she would definitely send me back in my way. I leaned against the foot of her bedframe, mirroring her posture and crossing my legs at my ankles. “How are you? Your wounds?” I asked, moving my gaze over her body.
She tensed. “I’m fine.” She managed tentatively. I sighed, wiping my hands down my face. I hated that we were back to square one, acting like we were ignorant of the attraction that existed between us. Her expression softened, probably at how weary I looked. “Why are you here, Grayson?” She asked, meeting my eyes. “What do you want to talk about?” This was the opening I needed, but at the same time I knew I couldn’t just dive right into talking about us.
“I discovered a couple of things since…” I trailed off, unsure what I was supposed to say. Since we broke off our relationship? Since we’ve been avoiding each other? Since she had made it clear she didn’t want to hear a word that came out of my mouth. “Since you got back on the case.” I finished. “This conversation might be a long one cuz there’s a lot we have to talk about.” My gaze collided with hers. “Dahlia’s secret relationship, the oil gallon I found in the trash, the broken camera… and us.”
Her breath hitched at the last thing I’d named off.
She blinked hard. “Wait,” She interjected, standing more uprightly and hanging one hand in the air. “You’ve found out about Dahlia’s relationship with Gusto?” I teared back in surprise. Her too?
“You knew?” I asked.
Her expression shifted from curiosity to one of caution. “I’m investigating the case, remember?” She reminded, choosing her words carefully. “It’s my job to find out these things. I hadn’t said anything to you about it because… well, aside from the obvious reason, I wasn’t sure how relevant her relationship was to the case. And seeing how this had played out,” She gestured between us. “I could understand how they might not have been able to turn off their attraction to each other.”
“Still. You should have told me about it, Keera. I was honestly surprised to find out Elena and Gabe had known and kept it from me.” She nodded slowly, indicating that she also knew they’d been aware. “Well, I’ve asked Ryan to look into Gusto. I might be reaching for straws but one thing I’m not going to do is take any chances.” The first file Ryan has brought back about Gusto Pierre had looked suspiciously good to be true.
I couldn’t shake off the feeling that there was more, so I’d asked him to dig deeper.
I scratched my chin, a bit hesitant to bring up the next topic. I already knew how Keera had struggled to overcome her trust issues about werewolves. What I was about to inform her was destined to bring it all back. “I found an empty gallon of oil in the trash can outside the house.” I blurted. She blinked at my words. Hard. Her shoulders sagged as she leaned her weight on the dresser, putting her hands into the pockets of her gray sweatpants. I noticed she didn’t look surprised. “You already knew?”
She moved her head from side to side, attempting a casual shrug. “I had guessed the oil on the stairs had been deliberate, but I wasn’t able to find any proof.” She licked her lips, wetting them. “If you’ve found an empty oil gallon, then someone had purposefully wanted me to slip down the stairs.” I could already hear the gears in her head turning. Why would anyone try to attack Keera? Aside from the obvious, why did they wanted to distract her from working on the case for a while?
What had they hoped to achieve?
“Lexi told me Dahlia had gotten a little too interested in the case while I’d been away,” She said carefully, watching me closely for a reaction. “And though we weren’t able to figure out who had destroyed the camera or why, the footage we had gotten was a little unclear. We could only see someone in sweatpants and hoodie,” She quickly added as an explanation. “We were able to establish that Dahlia has a connection with all the victims, some stronger than the rest.”
Whoa.
This was news to me. Was Keera implying what I thought she was? I thought about Dahlia, Elena’s young raven black haired intern slash assistant, and how she’d been almost insignificant a few weeks ago.
“Well she certainly just became interesting.” I said, taking a step closer. Keera eyed the shortened distance between us, but didn’t comment about it. “I’m going to have to have a conversation with Elena and her. And then one with Gabe.” She started to protest, but I quickly continued. “I’m not going to disclose your suspicions about her. I just want to let them know I’m no longer in the dark.” I raised my shoulders. “I might be able to guess whether or not Dahlia is hiding something if I get into a conversation with her.”
“I’m worried the only thing she might truly be hiding is her relationship with Gusto,” Keera said, voicing her concerns. “Think about it, she knows everyone is more alert now than ever. What if her antsy behavior is only because she was scared how the council would react if they found out?” She remind me what it felt like to be worried about the consequences of going against the pack laws. I’d worried about them myself since the day Keera had stepped into the pack.
Looking back, I had known, even then, that I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from getting involved with her. I ran my hand through my hair. “Well, the only way I can actually find that out is by talking to her.” I pressed my lips together. “If that’s the only thing she’s hiding she’s going to be visibly relieved after the conversation.”
Keera slowly nodded, agreeing.
She turned to her nightstand and pulled an old book out of the drawers. I immediately recognized it. “Elena had given this to me at the start of the case.” She informed, setting it on her dressing table and flipping it open. I closed the distance between us when she pointed at something. “I only just realized a few days ago that it was missing a page.” She opened the book further and traced the inside of the spine. “And I think it was ripped out.”
I took the book from her, staring at it closely. It was a little hard to focus, standing this close to her. We hadn’t been less than ten feet these passed few days. The soft scent of her lavender bath wash stirred my senses. Snap out of it, man. I inspected the book a little more carefully. She was right. The tiny part of the missing page left had frayed edges. “Yeah,” I breathed. “Someone had taken it out on purpose.”
She took a step back, putting distance between us. “I’m not sure if Elena had known before handing the book over, but she hadn’t said anything to me about it.” Her expression became concerned and she tried to smooth the crease between her eyebrows. “I don’t want to ask either, so the news about the missing page doesn’t get to the wrong ears.” I knew she was talking about Dahlia. I still couldn’t fathom how she could be capable of over twenty deaths.
“Ginny-”
She cut in before I could finish. “I thought as much that she would be able to help” She agreed. “She studied the pattern of the book and discovered the missing page is something about masking potions?” I knew exactly what she was talking about. We’d been handed down some potions which we kept extremely safe. According to myths, the potions had been gifts from the last group of witches to my pack for an act of kindness shown to them. “She’s still looking into it though.” Keera clarified.
The rest of the conversation concerning the case flowed easily. I told Keera she had to be more careful from now on. We both knew someone had attempted to hurt her, and they had succeeded, but barely. She asked me to keep her fall away from Trevor as she didn’t want him to worry about her. They had moved around the cameras to cover the eastern border of the pack where the body had been. Soon enough we had exhausted all topics about the case, and had to address the elephant in the room.
My heart pounded. I didn’t want to skirt the real issue any longer. “Keera,” I said, my voice softer. Her guard was immediately back up. I watched her expression shutter. She straightened, staring at me with an unreadable expression. “I told the council about my decision to mate with Ria but… I want to take it back.” Her expression shifted and the look in her eyes was immediately one of alarm. “We both knew I had never actually wanted to be with her.” She dropped her hands, staring at me in shock.
“Grayson, are you out of your mind?” Her tone was of pure disbelief. She saw the serious look in my eyes and swallowed, reducing her voice to a whisper. “Please don’t do this,” She begged, her eyes pleading. “You can’t just undo what you’ve already done. Think about the consequences, for goodness’s sake. They’re going to want to know what caused the sudden change of heart.” She slapped her hand on her forehead. “Please tell me you’re not actually serious about this.”
I took a step closer to her and she took one back. She shook her head slowly but she couldn’t bring herself to push me away. I caged her against her dressing table, my gaze never leaving hers. “I’ll handle it.” I breathed. “The council’s questions, the consequences, I’ll handle them all.” I vowed. “But I can’t spend a day away from you anymore, Keera.” She closed her eyes when I brushed my lips against hers. “And I know you can’t spend a day away from me too.”
Our kiss was slow and gentle, our bodies melting from the physical contact we’d starved ourselves of. Our lips moving in perfect sync, like two pieces of a puzzle fitting together. Her tongue danced with mine, every stroke sending waves of desire through me. Her arms wrapped around my neck and I cupped her ass gently sitting her on the dressing table. Dear goddess, I’d missed the taste of her. I bit down on her lip and gained entranced, deepening our kiss.
I couldn’t stop myself from grinding against her. The familiar sound of her moan had me rock hard in a second. My skin prickled, desire threatening to drive me mad. For so long I’d had to make do with the memories of the nights we’d spent together. My wolf purred when she pulled at my hair, her hips matching my rhythm. I slipped my hands beneath her shirt, feeling the smoothness of her skin against my palms. I snaked my hands behind her back, unsnapping her bra.
She tensed against me.
I dragged the tip of fingernail down the hollow of her back, feeling her shudder against me. Still, she pushed at my shoulders, her chest rising and falling.
“Grayson, we can’t.”