24. Richie

Once we reach the pack and the packhouse, Liam, Annie, and Jun are already awaiting us. Liam has his brows furrowed as he watches us bring along a potential threat to his pack. Jun looks equally worried and makes sure that he can shield Annie just in case.

"I won't say anything," Richie exclaims once Dante drags him out of the car and towards one of the meeting rooms. We call it an interrogation room in front of him just for the pretense. There is no way we can drag him into the dungeons; he would probably have a heart attack.

Liam looks completely unimpressed at his words. "We will see," he says shortly.

Richie looks horrified once he eyes Liam. He looks him up and down, shifting around nervously. His reaction surprises me, and I decide to go with my first intuition. "Have you never seen an alpha before?" I ask shortly.

"What do you mean?" he mutters nervously. "What's an alpha?" He looks around. "What is this place? Where is your underground base?"

"You and Annalise are right," Liam says shortly, looking fed up already while turning towards me. "That's a job for David."

He gestures for Dante to take the young man along, waiting for them to disappear through the door before shaking his head. "How did he end up in this? We shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but he doesn't give off a lot of criminal energy."

"I agree," Annie says. "We should be cautious until we know who he is and what he did."

Dave doesn't take long to arrive, almost running towards us. Once he is there, we fill him in on everything. Then we all leave to sit in an adjacent room where Jun has set up a screen beforehand to stream what the surveillance cameras in our so-called interrogation room show us.

Richie is sitting at a desk there, clearly distraught, while Dante doesn't say anything at all. Sometimes the young guy tosses nervous glances at Dante, basically shrinking back into his seat whenever their eyes meet.

"Forgive me for sounding na?ve," Dave mutters. "But this guy doesn't give off any criminal vibes at all."

"Pretty much what I thought too," I agree.

"That doesn't mean he can't be a criminal, though," Liam says. "We need to tread carefully. What we know for sure is that someone took advantage of him. I want to know who that someone is. And how they got this kid to work with them."

The door to our room opens and Portia steps inside. "Portia," Liam acknowledges her. "Were you successful?"

"I made a brief background check on him, Alpha," she says. "I'm still running a deeper, more detailed one just to be sure, though."

"What did you find out?"

"His name is real," she says. "His profession too. He is a barista, but he also does photography as a hobby. His Instagram account is quite popular."

"What kind of photography?" I want to know.

"Nature," she says. "And fantasy. He joined an exhibition a few months ago."

"He is an artist," Liam muses. "And he is shy and awkward."

"You think someone approached him during that exhibition?" Annie asks.

"Could be," Liam says.

"He is only eighteen," Portia continues. "No criminal record. No father on the birth certificate. But CPS seems to have visited him and his mom regularly."

"So, he was either abused or neglected," Annie concludes. "He is very young and was probably easy to manipulate."

Dave clears his throat. "I think I can work with that," he says.

"Are you sure you can do this?" Liam asks. "This guy is the only shot we have at finding who is after Charlie."

"I got this, Alpha," Dave says, full of confidence.

"Alright." Liam nods. "Then go ahead."

Dave grabs a folder and something to write on before leaving the room. A minute later, we see him entering the room where Dante and Richie are waiting. "I got it," Dave says to Dante.

Dante nods, moving away to the furthest corner of the room. We agreed on him staying there just in case something happens.

"Richard, is it?" Dave asks as he sits down opposite Richie. He hands him a cup of coffee. I have no idea how he got that one so fast.

Richie eyes it skeptically.

"It's not poisoned." Dave grins. "But it might not appease your taste buds. It's drip coffee."

"Oh shoot," Richie says. "But better than instant coffee."

"We don't have that here," Dave says, amused.

"I'm not going to talk," Richie mutters.

"You don't trust us," Dave concludes. "But we were not the ones hiding away and sneaking around. If you take a closer look, you will see that we come and go to town. I'm working at the university. Others here have normal jobs too. Can you say the same for your friends?" Dave leans back a bit. "You do know, you are in quite some shit, don't you?"

"But…" He looks nervous again. "She is… you know… she is my girlfriend."

"A girlfriend who blocked you and deleted your number the moment you did what she asked of you?" Dave inquires.

Richie stares at him wide-eyed. "No… I'm sure it's a coincidence."

"Did you meet her during the exhibition?" Dave asks.

"How do you know about that?" He frowns.

"I saw the photos on your Insta. There was a link to the exhibit. You are good."

Richie blinks. "You think so? It's just a hobby, but it gives me peace to do art."

"I get what you mean," Dave says. "I like to journal to relax and calm down. And I have a whole silly collection of washi tapes and pens and stickers."

"I don't find that silly at all," Richie says. "I do fantasy photography. I take pictures of nature and animals, and then work on them, edit them and twist them to a fantasy setting."

"Because real life sometimes sucks," Dave says.

Richie looks down at his fingers. "Yeah, sometimes."

"I get it. I was disowned when I was just a teen," Dave says and shrugs.

Richie looks at him for a long while without saying anything before changing the subject. "What is this place?"

"This here?" Dave asks. "That's the packhouse. You are on pack lands."

"A pack?" Richie asks. "Like a wolf pack?"

"Pretty much," Dave answers. "Haven't you seen one yet?"

"No, Imogen always invited me to a storage unit," he says. "They lived there."

Liam turns away from the screen. "Imogen," he says to Portia. "This has to be his girlfriend's name. It's not a name that is too common nowadays."

"I will see what I can find," she says before leaving the room.

We turn our attention back to Dave and Richie. "Richard," Dave says seriously. "Did you know that Imogen is part of a group of hitmen?"

"What!?" he screeches.

"Did you know that they are out to either abduct or kill an innocent fifteen-year-old girl?" he continues.

"No way!" Richie blurts out. "That's a lie! They would never… I mean, Imogen would never. She said she loved me."

"Oh, honey." Dave sighs. "You slept with a werewolf, and now you think they are devoted to you. I have experience with fucking wolves, and I reassure you it's not working like that. As long as they don't pop out the magical four letters—MATE—then it's just what it is: popping." He pauses. "Are you Imogen's mate?"

"I… she never called me that," he admits. "Does it work like in the movies?"

Dave turns his neck for Richie to see it. "That's my mark," he says. "This is where my mate marked me and made me his. They are all about their fated mates. And while some may choose their own mates, we as humans will never make the cut for them just like that. A lot of packs don't even allow humans on their grounds."

Dave opens the folder and turns it for Richie to look through it. There are pictures and information we gathered with the council's help. It's not much, but there is a picture of Clyde Gracia, the man who followed us in England. He is the one the Council was able to identify. And he does have a huge criminal record, ranging from theft to sexual assault to murder.

"I know him," Richie says, staring at the picture. "He is Imogen's brother. He—" He scans the whole criminal record, halting at the point where it says that the douche has no known sibling. He is silent for a long time. "She has no brother," he says, his voice devoid of any emotions.

"Well, we don't know that for certain," Dave answers honestly. "But this guy certainly isn't her brother." He hands him a photo of Charlie. "That's the girl they want to kill. And the man there," he gestures at Dante. "Is her uncle."

Richie turns around to stare at Dante before going back to looking at the picture of Charlie.

"Her parents were killed," Dave continues. "She grew up in foster care until we found her." When Richie stays quiet, Dave pushes further. "I'm not sure you understand," Dave says. "But you could have been the reason for her to get killed. You are a human; that's why they chose you. You aren't going to attract any attention, and you don't have a criminal record yet." He grabs the photo of Clyde again and shows it to Richie. "He does, and I assume everyone in their group does too." He points at a particular part of the file. "Do you see what it says here?"

"Homicide," Richie says before jumping up all of a sudden. "Fuck, fuck," he blurts out, pacing around the room. "I feel sick, I feel sick."

Dave leans forward to look at Dante. "I think he is serious."

"No way," Dante mutters, standing up and grabbing Richie by his arm to pull him out of the room. A few minutes later they return. Richie looks as white as a sheet. "Please don't kill me," he begs. "I didn't know any of that."

"You need to tell us what you know, everything you know," Dave tells him. "Werewolves are pack animals; their packs are like family, and you are a threat to them now. You were almost responsible for getting one of their pack members hurt. You need to give them something."

"I will tell you everything," Richie says. "Fuck, I don't want a kid to get killed. Shit." He looks at the folder again, reading through Clyde's criminal record once more.

Next to me I feel Liam stretching slightly. "Now it's my turn," he says, nodding at us. "Good work by the way, Ella. Your intuition proved you right more than once."

I'm not ashamed to admit how happy I feel at his praise. Friend or not—for the alpha to acknowledge how well I did, it means something. Even more so, however, I'm happy that I finally am one step closer to helping Charlie.

Liam leaves the room and enters the one with Dave, Dante, and Richie in it. Richie looks nervous instantly. "He is the… alpha?" he whispers towards Dave.

"Yes, and now you hopefully know what that means."

"He is your leader," Richie mutters.

"Alright," Liam sits down next to Dave. He looks even more imposing that way. It's probably clear as day to Richie that he could easily rip him apart if he wanted to. "Tell me what you know and how you joined the cause to threaten my pack."

Richie swallows nervously. "It's… during the exhibition," he stutters. "I'm not good with socializing and all, but Imogen talked to me. She… I knew her from before. Well, knew is an exaggeration. I've seen her before."

"Where?" Liam asks.

"At the hospital," Richie stutters. "I went there quite a lot. I think she was one of the nurses."

Liam and Dave exchange a gaze. Dave looks outright shocked, while Liam just shakes his head. "She had set her eyes on you, Richard," he says shortly. "She knew you grew up in an abusive home. She knew how she could manipulate you, and that's what she did."

"She never liked me," Richie says sadly.

"You started to date?"

"Yes," he says. "And eventually she showed me what she was. I was shocked at first, but… well… I know how it feels to be shunned for who you are. I accepted what she was without a second thought. And then they told me they are a group of werewolves, living like roommates."

"They are a little rogue pack," Dave explains to him. "Rogues mean they aren't part of a pack, for whatever reason. They probably had a criminal background and were banished for it or ran before they could get killed."

"They said that they were investigating a group of traffickers," he says. "That they work for someone in a high position, who funds them to do this work."

"A group of traffickers? That's supposed to be us, I assume," Liam says.

"I don't know. They never showed me pictures, but then they asked me to help. To spy on the woman with the short hair and the girl with the purple hair. To protect them from being abused and trafficked. That's why I was in the bar today too."

Dante looks instantly pissed at the mention of Charlie and me. This is really insane. Next to me Annie shakes her head. "He is gullible, way too gullible, but Liam is right. Imogen knew how to push his buttons. An abused kid who already knew her as someone with a protective job, a nurse. She actually groomed him. This is sickening."

Richie looks down at his hands sadly. "I thought… she loved me," he says.

Neither Dave nor Liam have the heart to answer his question.

"The man in the high position, the one they are working for, did you ever see him?" Liam asks.

"He visited once," Richie says. "When I was with Imogen. She pulled me aside and said it was a private conversation. I didn't hear anything."

"Do you know what he looks like?"

"He has long hair, but other than that…" He pauses. "Wait, no, I took a picture."

"What?" Liam asks.

"Yes, I took photos outside when they left. I wanted to take photos of Imogen, but she never let me." He chuckles bitterly. "Now I know why. But she let me take pictures of other storage rooms. I didn't pay attention to the guy anymore, but he is in one of the backgrounds. It's probably not a good pic, but—"

"That doesn't matter. Show us!" Liam demands.

Dante hands Richie his phone back, and the young man starts going through his pics. "Here," he says, showing them a picture of some sad-looking storage rooms. In the background, a man is leaving one. Liam zooms into the picture, studying it. We can't see the details through the surveillance cameras. "I need this," Liam says. "You can't have your phone back until we have done our research. We can't allow you to leave the pack grounds, Richard."

"Are you going to kill me?" he asks, terrified again.

"No," Liam says shortly. "You were stupid but not evil. I don't kill innocent people just for their own stupidity. But you can't leave the pack grounds."

"This is for your own protection too," Dave says and soothes the blow. "They might be out to get rid of you now that you were caught," he adds.

"He is right," Liam says. "I'm pretty sure the storage rooms are deserted by now. I will send some warriors there to investigate, but I doubt they will find much. They are professionals." He pauses. "Do you have anything from Imogen or one of the other guys? Do you know their names?"

"No," he says. "They worked with codenames to protect the cause."

"Did Imogen never give you anything, no gifts, nothing? Don't you have her toothbrush or something alike?" Dave asks.

Richie looks flustered. "No," he says sadly. "She always got angry when I asked her for something. I have nothing from her." He pauses. "Wait, there is one thing. She once handed me a pen for me to take notes. I forgot to hand it back."

"You have a pen from her possession?" Liam asks.

"Yes." Richie goes through his bag, retrieving a simple blue pen. "That was hers."

"This…" Liam says, taking the item. "Could help."

I instantly feel a mind link come through. Inform Stella and say we have something to try to track the guys with. She said she'd need an item of their possession for that spell. Let's see if a pen is enough.

Consider it done, Alpha!

I do as promised, immediately linking Stella and telling her the news. Meanwhile, Liam asks Richie more questions, but the boy doesn't know anymore. He looks defeated, and despite everything, I start to feel sorry for him. He learned some hard truths today. Seeing how he grew up in an abusive home, this is the next trust in him that was broken.

Unfortunately, I know how it feels.

To my relief, Liam decides not to lock him into the dungeons. I think it would have completely broken the kid. Instead, Liam confines him to one of the rooms in the packhouse and assigns warriors to guard him. Richie even agrees to wear a tracker. He begs Liam to let him help, but Liam is still a bit skeptical, understandingly so. An hour later, everything is wrapped up, and Richie is in his room with the guards in position. Some warriors are already heading out to investigate the warehouses, and Stella has the pen to try her luck with it.

We meet with Dante, Liam, and Dave again, all of them looking exhausted. "What a mess," Dante mutters. "What are we going to do with the kid now?" he asks.

"I have no idea," Liam says. "I guess I could have his memories removed, but I doubt he will be safe as long as we don't find every person involved in this. I also don't like manipulating a kid's mind. He is just eighteen."

"You know what else I've been wondering about," Annie says into the silence. "Alpha Troi."

"The asshole who was hunting my mate?" Dave asks. "Isn't he locked in somewhere?"

"Yes, he is secured safely, but…" Her voice trails off.

"You are right," Liam says. "Now that you mention it, I see the connection too."

"What connection?" Dante asks.

"Troi was manipulated and hired for some dirty work too. When we interrogated him, he broke pretty fast and told us what he knew. However, it wasn't much. He claimed that there was a secret client, someone who paid. Makes you question if this Imogen and her group are working for the same client."

"Wouldn't that be a lot of coincidence?" I ask.

"Yes, but if two similar incidents happen in a short time span, it makes it less coincidental and more connected," Dave points out. "Statistically speaking."

"Okay, let's postpone these decisions and speculations until later," Annie says. "Meanwhile, I have something else to tell you. I just wanted all of you to focus on Richie first."

We all look at her; only Dave seems to know what she is talking about. That reminds me of when I called him, and he told me he and Annie was about to call me to tell me something important. "You remember!" I exclaim.

"Yes, I remember where I heard about the purple eyes and the blood."