*Keera*
I blinked slowly, trying to make sense of where I was. I felt so dizzy, I could have sworn everywhere was spinning. I struggled to get a hold of myself, my vision slowly clearing. Memories began rushing back in waves. My visit to Dahlia’s place, Grayson’s conversation with Ryan and his statement about me being his fated mate, and then… someone had hit the back of my head, and brought me out here into the woods, where they’d tied me to a huge tree.
Gusto and Elena came into view, their conversation pausing when they noticed I was awake. They turned to stare at me, their faces twisting into cruel smiles. Elena’s eyes sparkled with malice. I struggled against the ropes, but my limbs wouldn’t respond. The rope was rough, and moving against it was hurting me. In the end I gave up, simply watching them closely.
I should have known Elena and Gusto were the murderers.
How had I missed that?
Elena took a step closer, her voice dripping with venom. “Welcome back, Keera. We’ve been waiting.” Gusto chuckled from behind her, his eyes glinting with amusement. “You’re just in time for the main event.” My mind fogged, but I knew I had to stay alert. My head felt extremely light and my limbs felt extremely heavy. I hadn’t been like that before they’d hit me. They must have injected me with something.
Like they’d injected the victims with the virus.
“You were so blind, Keera,” Elena sneered. “You thought you were getting close to the truth, but in reality you were just playing into our hands.” She stalked closer to me, her face inches from mine. “I have to admit I got scared at some point,” She shot me a mocking smile. “It had seemed like you were getting closer to the truth.” She stalked back to Gusto, accepting his one sided hug. He placed a kiss on her head. “But Gusto assured me you were still in the dark, or you would have said something.”
I shook my head slowly, still struggling to make sense of it all. “All those innocent people you killed,” I recalled, shooting her a dirty look. “You took out a lot of your own,” I accused, resuming my struggle against the ropes. They bruised my flesh but the sores were the last thing on my mind as I continued staring at someone I had never imagined would be capable of such heights of evil. “They all trust you with their lives, and this is how you repay them?”
From a corner of my eyes, I detected movement. I looked behind Gusto and Elena, air filling my lungs when I noticed Grayson, Lexi, Joe and Conall stealthily moving towards us. I met their gazes subtly, an understanding silently flowing between us. I had to keep Elena and Gusto distracted. I met Elena’s gaze, thankful she hadn’t caught me looking behind her. “I want to know why you’re doing this.” I said. “I want to know how you managed to stay under the radar for so long.”
Her eyes brightened at my question.
She gave me a smug smile, feeling pleased with herself for being so smart.
She set her leg against a tree stump, shooting Gusto a smug look. “Why? Well, that’s easy. I grew tired of being the pack help. I didn’t have a life because of those people. All day, every day, they would come to me with one problem or the other and I had no choice but to attend to them.” Her voice was coated with anger. “I saw a chance to be Luna and took it. Gusto and I were going to erase all werewolves around the world and start a new reign after I turned him. But then Grayson sent for a human team.” She said the last two words with disgust.
Gusto chuckled deviously, shortening the distance between us. “Not like it mattered because human team or not, we had always been one step ahead.” He smiled at Elena. “Elena had mixed the virus with a masking potion. Of course, she’d torn the page about it from the book she’d given you so you wouldn’t put the pieces together.” He tilted his head. “It didn’t matter that you guys had a lot of resources on your hands, you never would have found the virus in their bodies.” His gaze turned a little angry. “Until Elena had been thirsty for another kill and had taken a victim in haste. She hadn’t mixed the virus with enough potion…”
And that’s why we’d been able to find it.
Grayson and Lexi kept approaching silently, but they still weren’t close enough. I tried to focus on Elena and Gusto. I took Gusto in, and saw the way he was watching me closely. It was almost like he was waiting for me to actually react. Like he knew I had something up my sleeve. My attention moved to Elena. “You wanted to start a new reign as Gusto’s Luna,” I repeated, peering closely at her. “I don’t see why Dahlia had to be dragged in all of this. How did both of you even meet him?”
Elena sighed like I was dumb.
“Dahlia was simply one of my many volunteers. Gusto had obviously been to the pack a few times when the security team were on a business deal with Grayson.” She pointed out. “It had always been Gusto and me,” She said dreamily. “We would talk and text on the phone and the pack warriors watched the pack all right, but they weren’t always at the pack borders. Gusto and I would meet during those times when he had something to give me. But then we noticed Dahlia was developing a little crush on Gusto and decided to exploit it.” She raised her shoulder. “I figured we might need her along the line.” Her eyes met Gusto’s. “And we did.”
I felt the gears in my head turning. “You wanted us to chase the wrong trail…”
She laughed, shooting me a saccharine smile. “It wasn’t hard, really.” She sing-sang. “All I had to do was make a few suspicious statements and movements around Dahlia and the poor girl was frightened.” She looked thoughtful for a second. “The plan had been to get her antsy enough to start making suspicious moves herself, you know,” She laughed again. “Like being so interested in the case and wanting to catch me red handed.” She raised her shoulder. “But she was more scared because she thought I would come after her but meh, a win is a win.”
Conall and Joe got closer.
“How did you get all those victims?”
“That was extremely easy.” She replied. Gusto leaned against a tree, silently watching the interlude. “They were all sick people. I just got them to believe they had angered the goddess because of some wrong thing they were doing, and she had cursed them with whatever illness they were facing, and so they made their stops to my house a secret.” She smiled. “No one would want to explain how or why they’d been cursed now, would they? Once they kept coming to my house without letting anyone know, it was easy to inject them with the virus and leave their bodies somewhere for someone to find.”
I pressed my lips together. “You must have been annoyed by the cameras.”
“I was.” She agreed. “I was even more annoyed when you still found your way around it,” I remembered moving a few of the other cameras around to cover that area. She’d probably been hoping to make another kill. “And your little conference room…” My anger returned. “See, when you guys had began having a lot of meetings without involving the council, I knew you were on to something.” Gusto smiled deviously. “I shared my concerns with Gusto and he got me… bugs.” Her gaze turned reflective. “It took me a while to figure out where to place them. You were so strict about the conference room.”
Thankfully.
“The only other place she could think of was the lab.” Gusto said, pushing off from the tree. He brought a pistol out from behind him. I felt my heart drop to the pit of my stomach. “Time to wrap this up.” He said, turning to me. “So here’s what happened… she overheard Kathleen exclaim she was done with the vaccine and we both knew we had to get our hands on it.” He shot me an irritated look.
“See, she had broken in with a copy of your key which I had somehow managed to get from all her descriptions. She searched the conference room, turned it upside down, and still she couldn’t get her hands on it.” Because it had been in my room. I was suddenly so thankful I had thought to take the vaccine upstairs. His smile turned smug. “After a pointless search, she figured she could take her anger out on a few… items.” The surveillance monitor being one of them.
It all made sense now.
I scoffed, shaking my head as I shot Elena a dirty look. I felt a surge of adrenaline course through me. “You’re pathetic, Elena. You really think Gusto cares about you?” Her smile faltered, her eyes flashing with anger. How could you even believe him?” I asked, making disbelief evident in my tone. “Can’t you see he’s using you? He’s using you, Elena. You’re nothing but a pawn in his game.” Gusto’s face darkened.
Elena took a step closer, her hand reaching out to strike me. “You know nothing, Keera,” she hissed. She tried to hide it, but I saw the doubt in her eyes, the glimmer of uncertainty. Grayson and the others were closing in, their movements silent and deadly. I held Elena’s gaze, my heart pounding in my chest. Just a little longer, I thought. Just keep her attention. I laughed, the sound loud and mocking. At first I’d only been taunting her, but from the expression on Gusto’s face, I knew I was right. He had been using her.
I watched his eyes flash with rage.
Knowing there was a possibility that I was speaking the truth, I pressed on. “You’re just a tool to him, Elena. A means to an end. Gusto would never start a new werewolf reign with you.” Her face twisted in rage, but I continued, my words cutting deep. “You’re nothing but a puppet in his game, Elena. And it all makes sense now.” I jerked my head in his direction, finally seeing the bigger picture. “His parents were killed by werewolves, weren’t they? That’s why he’s doing this. Revenge.” Finally, my words got to her.
Her gaze wavered, her eyes darting to Gusto. “Is that true?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
Gusto’s face contorted in a snarl. “Shut up, Keera!” Still,. Elena’s question hung in the air, and Gusto’s anger turned to amusement. He laughed mockingly, his eyes glinting with malice. “Of course. Keera’s right,” he responded, his voice dripping with sarcasm. He stared at her with disgust. “I’ll never feel anything but hate for your species.” Elena’s face immediately fell, her eyes filling with tears. Gusto’s words cut her deep, and I felt a pang of satisfaction.
“When I found out Gabe had a team that took trips to the pack,” Gusto continued, “I made sure I was selected. Being on the team helped me get closer to the werewolves, and I knew I’d find someone to use.” His gaze locked onto Elena, his eyes cold. “See… My first catch was Dahlia. Not you. It had been Dahlia first.” He shook his head sadly. “Poor girl had a crush on me, but when you started to feel the same, Elena, I knew you were the better choice.” Elena’s face crumpled, her body shaking with sobs. She had been blinded by love, and now she was paying the price.
Just as Gusto was about to continue, a twig snapped under Grayson’s foot. The sound echoed through the forest, and Gusto’s head whipped around, his eyes locking onto Grayson. Elena’s gaze followed, her eyes widening in alarm. Gusto sneered, his smile twisting as he cocked the gun in his hand and pointed it at Grayson.
“Ah, perfect timing,”