“It’s too late to come clean,” said Jocelyn. “The consequences would pretty much be the same.”
“We were screwed the moment Sabine bit Avelyn. A human being turned into a wolf… All those who are waiting for the shifter factions to make a mistake will throw themselves at the chance to challenge the peace.”
“We have to stay low, that’s obvious,” said Kevin. “But how do we do that? Thirteen people have disappeared, Max. Vanished. Poof! Into thin air. How do we fuckin’ cover that?”
“We have to find them. We have to find Sabine and find them.” The determination in Max’s voice could almost convince everyone in the office that everything would be sorted out the moment they got a bit more organized.
Jocelyn jumped off the edge of the desk. “Okay, we find her. Then what?”
“I don’t know…”
“Have you thought beyond that point? What do we do with her if we don’t turn her in to the Council? We lock her back up in the dungeons? For how long? How many years? Do you think any of us can take any more of that? Any more of the guilt and insecurity? Do you think Avelyn can take it?”
Max kept his gaze fixed on a cloud that was slowly covering the face of the moon. He heard Jocelyn round the desk and step closer to him, but he didn’t turn to face her. He couldn’t.
“Or do we… take care of it… some other way? By ourselves. No trial, no chance of redemption.”
His vocal chords refused to form any words, but he knew that Jocelyn wasn’t waiting for an answer. She was merely reminding him that it wouldn’t all end with catching Sabine. It would start with it. The heavy silence lasted for long, endless minutes. No one wanted to think about
the future. Finally, Max cleared his throat and turned away from the window.
“Kevin, go find Caleb and Daniel. They will start an investigation in Dunkelstadt and try to follow the victims. They work well together, and if they take everything step by step, they will be on the right track in no time.”
Kevin nodded and stood up to leave. Ryan glanced up at Jocelyn. “What about us?”
Jocelyn looked at her brother.
“We need our Betas close,” he said. “I have a very bad feeling about this.”
She nodded in approval, although she wasn’t sure about her brother’s decision. She turned to Ryan and shrugged her shoulders, indicating they would go with it for now. Kevin went to find Caleb and Daniel, and Jocelyn told Max she was calling it a night. Ryan followed her to the Lunar Wing.
Alone in the office. Again. Max pressed his forehead against the cold window, enjoying the coolness of the glass on his heated skin. “I’ll find you,” he whispered to the night beyond the glass. “I’ll find you and I’ll… I’ll…” He couldn’t say it. He wouldn’t say it. He couldn’t believe he had actually thought it.
***
She had no idea why Max had been so absent during dinner, but Avelyn was hoping her little surprise would help him get his mind off things. She couldn’t wait for him to come upstairs. At first, she thought it was because she was dying to find out what Kevin and Ryan had told him. They had been so agitated and mysterious. There was a fair chance they had given him very bad news. All the more reason to wait for him in a black see-through négligée, the tiniest panties she could find, and a pair of black, shiny high-heeled sandals in which it was easier to lie in bed than walk around. She had used just a touch of gray eye-shadow to make her eyes stand out, and the bloody red lipstick he liked so much. She had every intention to leave it where it belonged: on his cock. Her blond reddish curls were covering her shoulders and framing her heart-shaped face just the right way. She threw one last look in the mirror, decided she’d definitely fuck that if she could, then carefully lay down atop the virgin white sheets. Yes, she was stressed and overwhelmed by Sabine’s disappearance. She still couldn’t wrap her mind around the fact that she was pregnant, and everything seemed bigger, louder, closer. The new way in which things she had known all her life looked, smelled, tasted, and felt now threw her off guard every single time, but she couldn’t simply give up and let things happen to her and her body. She needed to take control.
Avelyn heard Max approach the bedroom, and took the sexiest position she could muster. She was lying on her right side, supporting her upper body on her arm, her left hand resting lazily on her hip. He opened the door, stepped inside, and closed it behind him, all the while looking down at his shoes. He was obviously distressed and lost in his own thoughts. He took two steps, lifted his eyes and did a double-take. Avelyn smiled seductively. There it was. That face. His mouth slightly open, incapable of saying anything even remotely clever, green eyes wide with surprise.
“What took you so long? I almost started without you.”
Max took his time to take in the sight before him. His beautiful bride was in bed, waiting for him, her perfect curves filling the négligée, the dark areolas of her nipples evident through the thin lace. Oh, and she was wearing those high heels he loved. Those shiny sandals that made her long legs go on forever. He couldn’t wait to take those cute toes into his mouth and make her giggle. But, what was even better than the view was the way she smelled. That maddening combination of human innocence and animal lust. His cock twitched in his jeans, and he resisted the urge to adjust his swollen balls. He wouldn’t have to endure the torture too long, he was sure of it. Avelyn didn’t look like she was going to accept any clothes on his body. Not this time.
“Come here, baby. Come get it.”
He took a couple of steps towards her, his worries forgotten. “You look wonderful.”
She pouted. “Is that all you have to say? I’m trying so hard, you see… to please you.” When he was close enough, she stood up and reached for his crotch. She rubbed his erection through the rough material of his trousers and smiled up at him.
“Mmm… you’re beautiful, sexy, perfect… and you’re driving me insane.”
Avelyn took a hold of his belt and started undoing it. He looked at her tiny fingers, fascinated by her languid movements and the wicked curl of her red lips. How he wished to kiss them and smear all that lipstick down her jaw. He leaned in to make his dream happen, but she squeezed his balls hard enough to make him yelp.
“What’s the rush?” She cocked an eyebrow. “You do as I say, and you’ll get what you want. My way.”
He chuckled lightly. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Good. Now we’re talking.”