Lucy’s POV
The woman’s eyes narrowed. “And why in the bloody hell would I do that?”
Shaun stepped forward, arm brushing my shoulder. “Because we’re in charge here, and you have to obey what I say.”
The woman’s mouth twisted into an ugly frown, but something in her eyes held fear. ” You can’t take what belongs to me.”
“That child doesn’t belong to you. You only have her because my father was too much of a power-hungry ruler that he didn’t see the need to protect little children like her. Now, hand her over, unless you’d like to give up an arm instead.” A dark aura spilled out from him at his last sentence. It screamed danger . . . and I knew that he had just tapped into one of the inner powers that he possessed as an apex werewolf: the ability to bend lesser wolves to his will.
The woman tried to pretend like it wasn’t getting to her at first, but eventually she whimpered, shoved the girl forward and scurried away.
The only way to get rid of a predator was to bring an even bigger predator into the mic, which was what had happened.
I went to the girl and pulled her to my side. She held on to me with all her might, her joy at being freed palpable. Relief mixed with a little triumph washed through me, but I didn’t want to show too much of it.
“I guess now you owe me one,” said Shaun, interrupting the sweet moment.
I glared at him. “I owe you nothing.”
“Oh really? So you’re telling me that you had the whole situation handled?”
I faltered at that point.
“Thought so. If I hadn’t come here, you’d have watched that woman walk away with this child simply because you don’t have what it takes to take what you want.”
I swallowed, wanting to spit a response at him, but . . . I faltered.
He was right.
Even though we were operating with an oligarchy, Moongrowl still didn’t recognise me as one of the people in charge. Especially since I wasn’t even from their pack in the first place. If they had their way, I’d have been pulled out of Daven’s home and thrown to the highest bidder too.
Regardless, I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction he was looking for. “Don’t expect a thank you from me.”
“Oh, I don’t. Just be ready to pay back your debt when it’s time.” He stepped close and patted the girl on her head affectionately-something I wouldn’t have expected from someone as brash as he was. “You’re safe now, child.”
With one last smug grin directed at me, he walked back to the house. “And Ahmad says you have to be back soon or we’ll commence the interrogation without you,” he said without turning back to face me.
–
I took the girl, whose name I learned was Tessa, to my room first, and quickly gave her some fruits to eat so she could settle down, before leaving her to head back to the interrogation room.
When I got there, I froze.
The person seated on the chair was Rosa. Her eyes found me where I stood by the doorway, and she merely looked away from me-like it was a shame to even look at me.
In front of her was Ahmad, who had traded his usual dark outfits for something a little bright that day. The bright blue shirt he wore stood out so much against the drab background of the room that one couldn’t help but be drawn to the vibrance.
“Nice of you to finally join us, Lucy,” he said, gesturing at me to come forward. “Now, sources tell us that you seem to have some kind of relationship with this slave. So maybe you’ll be able ro extract some information from her tight lips.”
Cruel.
Rosa’s eyes went wide, and she shook her head. Silently, I gave her a sign to just remain calm. At least, I knew Rosa enough to know that she couldn’t have been responsible for any murder. When would she have even had the time to leave her job as a maid?
I swallowed, trying to ignore all the eyes on me. “If she says nothing, it’s because she knows nothing,” I said, looking directly at Ahmad.
“How do you know that she knows nothing? She was seen coming out of your room a about a week back. Which is why she’s even here in the first place.”
Rosa started to visibly fidget. Days ago . . . What could she have been doing in my room?
My mind went to the letter that I had found on my bed mysteriously. She couldn’t have been the one that dropped it, could she?
“I didn’t do anything!” she said, looking at each and every one of our faces.
Ahmad smirked. “But no one accused you of doing anything, young lady.”
Rosa shook her head, waving her red waves around her face. She turned to me finally. “Lucy, please tell them that I did nothing. I was only helping you clean out your room that day.”
“I know each and every one of the maids assigned to taking care of this wing of the pack house, especially the room that once belonged to the Alpha. I’ve never seen you before, and reassignment don’t happen without my approval,” said Ahmad.
Each and every word uttered made Rosa look more and more guilty, and if this went on, I wasn’t going to be able to help-if I even could in the first place.
Ahmad was right, Rosa might have been a maid, but she wasn’t assigned to this portion of the villa. It just made everything all the more suspicious.
I closed my eyes to think. Rosa was the closest person I had to family left in this place. We had been bound by our grief, and formed a sisterhood that kept us both alive. I needed her safe, regardless of what she had done. I couldn’t lose her.
“I told her to do something for me. Which was why she was in my room in the first place.”
Ahmad turned to me. “But you have a personal attendant. Why would you ask her to do anything for you.”
I clenched my jaw. “Because it was urgent and she was the closest person I could find at the time. I didn’t think was going to end up being a serious thing.”
“It’s unwise. There is structure and order for a reason. And you know that this is much more than just simply sending another maid on an errand.” He looked at me meaningfully.
Yes, because Rosa was also from Bloodbath, communicating with her was akin to plotting a couple or worse.
Even after Daven’s death, I was still being treated like nothing more than a figurehead-no real power or autonomy. “I understand, Ahmad. It won’t happen again.”
Something shifted in his eyes. As he watched me, but he eventually sighed and got out of his chair, ending the conversation. “Alright then. I guess you’re free to go, Miss, but learn your place. It’ll save you from a lot of problems.”
Rosa sighed with relief and stood up as well, still trembling slightly. She looked at me with gratitude in her eyes before quickly leaving the room.
After a moment of silence, Seth spoke. “Who’s next please? We have a long list to go through.”
And so we had to sit in that small stifling room for over six hours interrogating people from Bloodbath pack. In the end, we didn’t find any significant leads, which was a good thing for me. I didn’t want to see my people go through any more suffering.
After we were done, Ahmad left to attend to other Beta business. He was essentially acting as a proxy for Daven for most things now, even though he had every right to sit back and let us do the work, but I guessed it was his way of keeping whatever promises he had made to the man before he died.
The rest of us all left at the same time, and honestly, it was a little awkward having to walk with them. Our rooms were all in the same wing, so all I could do was hang back and let them move ahead of me or quicken my steps so that I could move faster than them.
Seth whispered something to Scott and Shaun, and then went down a different hallway. Scott followed, leaving just Shaun and I on that long, winding corridor.
I knew he could tell I was nearby, but chose to say nothing. Since his little unexpected act earlier in the day, I didn’t know what to expect from him anymore.
The hairs on my neck stood up, and I halted, looking back to confirm if there was anyone behind me.
It had been very fast, but for a second I’d seen a shadow slink into a corner. But was it someone who wished me harm or just someone else headed their own way?
When after a couple more seconds of waiting, I saw nothing, I shrugged to myself and turned around to continue on my way-
A gasp burst out of my throat when I saw a hooded figure aiming a bow and arrow at Shaun from a distant corridor to my left. The person was easier to see from my angle, as Shaun had already gone far ahead of me.
“Watch out!” I shouted to Shaun before even thinking.