Chapter 18

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

W ren had taken a shower and gone straight to bed after Logan left. She'd lain awake for a long time, alternating between being angry and crying. She'd regretted starting a fight with him but she'd felt so raw and exposed after their mating. She'd given in to the heat without demanding the truth from him first and she'd taken her anger at her own weakness out on him. She wanted to call him, to ask him to come back and talk to her, to hold her and make her feel whole again, but she didn't even have his number.

Instead she'd pretended to be asleep when Raven came home, not wanting to face her sister or her judgment. She'd had another of those strange breathless moments that made her throat feel as though it was closing off and she knew they had something to do with the bond to Logan but no idea what they meant. She'd stared at the ceiling almost all night, trying to figure out what she should do next but when the sun had finally come back up she'd been no closer to an answer so she'd crawled out of bed, gotten dressed for work, and slipped out of the house while Raven was still sleeping.

She'd considered taking the day off but then she'd decided against it. The office would likely be empty. After all, the Queen of the pack had passed away the day before and the Alpha would undoubtedly be busy with preparations for her funeral ceremony. It was the chance she'd been waiting for, to be in the office alone again, so that she could continue her search for anything that might incriminate the Alpha in Lark's death.

Logan had distracted her from her mission over the past few days but this was the opportunity she'd been waiting for and she couldn't let it pass her by.

She had thought, however naively, that once she and Logan were bonded that he would have to tell her the truth of what happened that night. She'd believed he wouldn't be able to keep his secrets once they were part of one another. But she'd been wrong and it had broken her heart to know that even if he was now her mate, he wouldn't tell her the truth she needed to make a future with him.

He had admitted that he still thought about Lark. He'd said he still thought about what his life would have been like if she were alive, and as much as the words hurt she couldn't fault him for them. She thought about Lark too, about how different things would be if she were alive. He had loved her sister once and she couldn't fault him for that even if it made her feel like some sort of consolation prize.

That wasn't how fate worked. She knew that. She was a born shifter, just like he was, and they both knew that you didn't get a new fated mate just because someone died. There was only one person in the whole world who was the perfect other half to make your soul whole. If Wren was Logan's fate, then Lark never could have been, but that truth didn't soothe the sting that took up residence in the center of her chest.

The only thing that would, the only thing that could, was knowing for sure what had happened to Lark and why it had sent Logan running from the pack he was born to lead. She truly didn't believe he'd killed her sister. Not anymore. But she'd meant what she told him when she said maybe that was simply the bond making her weak, making her want to see the best in him, especially since he hadn't defended himself.

She had to know for sure and if he wasn't going to tell her then she'd just have to find the truth for herself like she'd been trying to do for the past six years.

Wren let herself into the office and just to be safe, she locked the door behind her before retreating to her desk. She turned the computer on and slipped out of her flats and into her heels just as she would any other day. She didn't want anything to seem out of place in case someone stopped in to ask about the Alpha's family. She sat down and got to work answering the emails that had come in overnight and only once she'd completed that task and the office remained empty did she work up the courage to go back into the Alpha's private chamber and begin digging through his desk again.

The last time she'd been in here had been the night that Raven interrupted her. It was the same night she'd discovered that Logan was back in town and that the magnetic pull of her mate's scent belonged to him. Her world had changed so much since then. It had been turned upside down and inside out and she was still reeling from the roller coaster twist of it all. She had to get her life back on the tracks and in order to do that, she needed the truth that she hoped was hidden in this office somewhere.

She remembered she'd been looking for a key that night and immediately began searching through the desk. The middle drawer was still only full of office supplies and she sighed as she came up empty once again. She dug around in the top drawer that was still full of stacked mail but didn't find a hidden key there either. She turned around in the big desk chair, trying to think of where the Alpha might hide a key, but as she did her knee knocked into the cabinet and she hissed in pain.

"Ow." she muttered as she twisted back to grab her leg.

Her finger came away with a spot of blood and she frowned, realizing she'd cut herself on something sharp. She leaned down to get a better look at what she'd jammed her knee against and gasped. The corner of the drawer was sticking out the smallest millimeter, which was what had cut into her skin.

"Stupid. Stupid. Stupid." she hissed to herself as she wiped away the blood with one hand and reached for the drawer handle.

She tugged and it slid open easily. She rolled her eyes at her own stupidity. She hadn't even tried the drawer again to see if it was still locked. She'd just assumed it was and she'd been wasting her time looking for the key. The locking mechanism was engaged, as though it had been turned to lock the drawer, but it hadn't shut all the way and the Alpha hadn't noticed.

Neither had she and if she hadn't slammed her leg into it, she probably wouldn't have.

Her hands shook as she urgently began to scan through the files located in the now unlocked drawer. She couldn't believe she was finally in. She tilted her head to read the scrawled print on the labeled files and her brows furrowed as she did.

They were names. Surnames of pack members to be exact. She flipped past a few fast enough to realize they weren't in any sort of alphabetical order and scowled. She went back to the first file and started over again. The first file said Coffman and she pulled it out just to see what was inside.

The papers inside were confusing. There appeared to be an informational sheet for each member of the family with important information about them. Birthdates, anniversaries, political affiliations, employment history, even a family tree. Wren supposed if the Alpha wanted to seem as if he knew everything about his pack members then maybe this was how he did it. Wren hadn't compiled the information for him but maybe her predecessor had. After all, the Coffmans had left Shadow Pines before Wren started working for the Alpha.

She paused when she noticed a hand-drawn star next to the name on one of the sheets. Chelsey Coffman. Wren remembered her. She'd been a year or two older than Lark. The photo of her on the sheet looked like the shot from maybe her driver's license. She was a pretty girl and Wren wondered what had become of her. She flipped through the rest of the sheets but didn't see anything of note so she returned it to the drawer and pulled out the next file.

This one said Stephens and held similar papers to the Coffman file. Biographies and histories of each family member were inside. She flipped through them quickly just to see if there was anything different about this set but she paused when she saw that hand-drawn star next to a name again. It was Shannon Stephens this time. Wren had been childhood friends with the girl but they'd grown apart as teens. She flipped to the next page, to Dana Stephens sheet of paper but there was no star next to the eldest sister's name.

Weird.

Wren put the file back and moved on to the next and then the next. She frowned as she began to see a pattern. The files at the front of the drawer weren't in alphabetical order but they did all have something in common. They were no longer Shadow Pines pack members. They were files for the families who had left town but stranger was that at least one sheet in each packet featured one of those hand-drawn stars next to a name… and all the names belonged to the daughters in the families.

Her hand was just reaching for the file labeled Rose when she heard the bell on the front door jingle. Shit. A cold chill swept through her and panic clogged her throat. She heard footsteps and hurriedly shoved the files back into the drawer and pushed it shut. She was on her feet and all but racing for the door back out into the main office when a large figure blocked her path.

"Oh!" She put her hand to her chest as she skidded to a stop just a foot in front of the Alpha. "You scared me."

"Did I?" His eyes narrowed on her and she forced what she hoped passed for a pleasant smile onto her face.

"I was just checking your calendar to see if there was anything I needed to cancel for you. I heard about your wife's passing and assumed you'd be taking the day off to make arrangements." She tucked her hair behind her ear, trying to look innocent. "I'm so sorry for your loss."

"Thank you Wren." His eyes stayed on her and she realized they were a strange gray color, dull and lifeless. He looked terrible but considering he was ill and he'd just lost his mate, she was sure he felt it. She looked away.

"Since you're here now, I'll just get back to my desk and…"

"Wait a second." He caught her arm as she attempted to step past him.

Her breath caught, "Sir?"

"There's something different about you this morning?" His head tilted, and his eyes raked over her in that way that always made her stomach churn.

Oh no. She felt the panic kick in and her heart began to thud too fast and too loud. Could he smell Logan on her? She'd showered twice but they'd done more than just have sex. They'd sealed the human half of the bond and that meant their scents were mixed now. She would smell different to any shifter now, a warning to other males that she was mated and belonged to another. She hadn't even considered that new reality until she saw something dangerous spark in those cold gray eyes.

"You're mated now." He bared his teeth in some semblance of a smile. "I'd know the mating scent anywhere."

Wren took a step back, forcing him to release his grip on her arm. It didn't help. He still blocked the doorway and she felt suddenly trapped. He was looking at her like a wild animal who had just found prey.

"Not a virgin anymore, not pure and untouched." He chuckled when her mouth fell open in outrage. "You're a mated woman now, a grown woman, and you know what that means?"

She didn't and she shook her head wildly. She'd never felt safe when she was alone with this man. She had never trusted him. But she'd never truly feared him either, not until now. Not until he moved closer to her despite her backing away and her wolf shrank from him, unsure of how to react to the advancing man who seemed to be a threat but was also their Alpha.

"I… Alpha, I should…" She tried to sidestep him but he let out a growl that dried up the words in her mouth.

"That's right. I'm your Alpha and that means it's my right to take what's mine from the women of this pack, including you."

She felt dizzy, as if she'd forgotten to breathe and she shook her head, "Yours? No. I'm mated to…"

"I don't give a fuck who you're mated to." he hissed. "The women of this pack lie with me before their wedding ceremony."

"No." A gasp of horror escaped her.

He couldn't be serious. Wren's body revolted at the very idea and she gagged as bile rose in her throat. That was an ancient tradition that had been left behind a century ago according to their histories. Alphas didn't abuse their power and take advantage of their female pack members anymore. They didn't attempt to spread their seed far and wide by taking every female to bed before her mating ceremony. It was barbaric but she could see from the cruel gleam in his eyes that he fully intended to do just that.

There had been rumors in the pack, whispers, but they'd never been confirmed. She'd never given them much thought either. They always died off as soon as they began and nobody she knew had ever said a word against the Alpha. But she realized now that the whispers had been true and he must have forced anyone who dared speak against him into silence.

A puzzle she hadn't realized was missing a piece came together and her heart ached as the truth hit her in the chest like a wrecking ball. Forced silence. The Alpha had the ability to use his voice to force members to do as he said. If he was willing to abuse his power to rape the females of the pack, he wouldn't be above using his power to silence any who could hurt him with the truth.

The truth. The answers she'd demanded from Logan. He'd said he couldn't tell her more. He'd said he couldn't talk about it. He had said he wished he could give her what she wanted but he couldn't. She'd thought he was being secretive and deceptive on purpose, to protect himself or his family, but what if he literally couldn't speak about Lark because he had been ordered by his father, using his Alpha voice, to keep quiet?

This man had willfully abused his power. He had hurt his pack. He had raped the females. Not only that, but he had demanded loyalty and silence from them after. And he had even silenced his own son to keep him quiet about Lark…

And poor Lark… Oh God, she felt like she might throw up. This monster was the one who had hurt her. She was absolutely certain of it now and her hatred for this man filled her with a fury that threatened to consume her from the inside out.

She shook her head as she continued to back away from him until she ran into the large desk. She bit off a whimper when he continued to prowl towards her. She was trapped with nowhere to go and despite the gray skin and sunken eyes, Byron Kemp was still the Pack Alpha and he could overpower her with ease if he wanted to.

It was clear he did and she put her hands behind her on the desk, searching for any sort of weapon to use against him.

"I'll have you or you won't be mated. I won't give permission for the ceremony and how will your mate feel about that? I'll tell him that you're not worthy of him, that you're a little slut who didn't wait for her mate and I can't in good conscience give my blessing."

"He won't believe you."

"Are you willing to bet your future on it?" he taunted with a raised eyebrow.

"Are you willing to rape your own son's mate?" she hissed back at him and was pleased to see the smallest flicker of surprise ghost over his face because it gave her the time to wrap her hand around the sharp letter opener on the desk behind her.

"Logan?" he snorted and then gave a mean chuckle, "Logan is your mate?"

She tilted her chin up defiantly, "I'm going to be your daughter-in-law and the next Queen of this pack. I won't let you touch me."

"You might be the Queen someday, but right now I'm still the Alpha so you go ahead and fight me. Sometimes I like that." His lips twisted into a sneer. "Your sister was a fighter too."

He stepped closer and she instantly swung the letter opener from behind her. She aimed for his throat, hoping to do the most damage but he moved faster than she'd imagined he could. His hand came up and he howled as the sharp blade pierced through his palm. He took a step back and grabbed for it which was all the opportunity Wren needed.

She ran for the door as fast as she could. Tears clouded her vision. She wasn't sure how far she could get, couldn't make her mind stop racing with the ripples of what she'd learned in that office. She pushed out the glass door onto the street and turned right into a warm body.

Strong hands caught her and she gasped as what felt like safety overwhelmed her, "Logan! You're here."