Who knows why the Alpha does anything?
He’s a bad man. A monster. He’s a creep and he needs to die. Now, worst of all, he’s a murderer who killed the woman I love more than anyone else in the world.
Elise.
I hear footsteps coming down the hall and I lay her body back down. He might be coming back. I don’t know. I can guarantee he’ll try to pin this on me somehow, but I don’t know how. I was gone when it happened. Still, there’s no doubt in my mind that the Alpha will make me pay. He won’t take responsibility for this and he’ll need someone to blame. Who better than me?
A million questions race through my mind, jumbling my train of thought. I can’t focus as I’m bombarded with questions I need answers to.
Why would he hurt her now?
Why like this?
I want to sit here and cry over my cousin for awhile, but I know I can’t. Time is a luxury I just don’t have. Tired, dirty, worn out…I’m in no shape to fight, especially not multiple guys, and the Alpha always has his groupies with him.
I hear Kyle and Russell’s voices as their footsteps come down the hall. That was faster than I expected. I glance around the room, but hiding spots are few and far between. I settle with slipping into the closet, happy that our wolf caves are designed to look more like luxury apartments than your typical cave rooms. Turns out, I moved just in time. As I close the door over, leaving it just a crack, they enter the room.
“Whew,” Kyle says, looking around. “He did a number on her.”
“Yeah.” Russell sounds less enthused. “Where’d Nash go?”
“Markus and Marybe
th said he was coming to talk to Elise. He should have found her by now.”
I close my eyes as they talk, hoping the scent of her blood covers my anguish and fear. They’ll smell me if they tried, but something tells me they aren’t trying their best right now.
No, they’re much too focused on my cousin, much too centered on whatever mission the Alpha sent them on.
“We need to find him, get him in here,” Kyle says. “He’s supposed to have her blood on him before dinner so the Alpha can end him.”
“I know. Nothing like an easy scapegoat, right?” He laughs. The bastard actually laughs. “Let’s go check his room. Maybe he decided to shower before meeting her.”
They both leave, and I realize that I’m out of my element. Not only has the Alpha taken my cousin from me, but he wants to put the blame on me, too.
I know it’s because I fought them about this relationship. It was just a few days ago that I warned Elise about him. Did she tell him? Was that part of their pillow talk? Did she confide in her boyfriend that her cousin didn’t like him because he was dangerous?
The Alpha has never liked me, but this is extreme. This is over-the-top.
I also know that no one would dare question him. If he tells everyone I killed Elise, no matter how little sense it makes, everyone will believe him. Even if they don’t believe it, they won’t question it.
They’ll be too afraid to question it.
It’ll be the pack against me, and I just can’t deal with this right now. I have to get out. First, though, there’s someone I need to see.
I peek out the door. The hallway is clear, so I move quickly down to my aunt’s room. I don’t bother knocking before I slip inside.
“Nash,” she says, looking up. She’s obviously surprised to see me, but then she takes in my appearance. Then her eyes meet mine. “Oh, no,” she covers her mouth as she starts to cry. She can obviously smell Elise’s blood on me. I know she can.
Before she can cry loudly, though, before the sobs arrive, I cover her mouth with my hand and pull her close to me.
“I found her,” I whisper. “I just got back from the hunt, and I found her. It was the Alpha. He’s going to say I did it.”
My aunt just shakes her head, but I have to tell her.
“There’s not much time. I have to leave or he’ll kill me. They’re going to come after me. You should come with me.”
She shakes her head. Elise wasn’t her daughter, but my aunt loves her like one. When our parents were killed, Aunt Germaine took in Elise and me and raised us as her own children. We’re all she has in the world.