Chapter 9: An Article

“Did you find anything?” Thea huffed quietly as she shifted slightly in the chair, uncomfortable from sitting for far too long.

“Not really. Though get this, I found this in an article. The Elmwood pack was attacked years ago…” Lily, her second in command again, mumbled as she scrolled through an article. “Both the alpha and the luna were killed by rogues. But… People suspected it was a planned attack by someone within the pack. Tragic really, he would’ve been young then.”

Thea’s wolf howled with pity at the fact that their alpha had a rough start to life, she shook her head, growling at the beast to keep quiet as she tugged the laptop into her lap and began to read through the article. She paused every so often when she saw photos included, a grimace slowly spreading across her features. “Oh my god… What the f*ck… This is… Awful.” She murmured, guilt beginning to creep into her at how she had treated him.

“They found the corpses… torn apart… Witnesses say that it was the alpha that had gone in first, fearing for his luna and pups life before… His luna had gone in after hearing the howls of the alpha. Ash’s statement is in there too, they had gone away for the day, and had come back, and when they did, it was already too late for most of the pack members. His mom was the one to tell him to run away. He was chased.” Thea read outloud to Lily who was sitting beside her wearing the same kind of expression.

“He’s probably traumatized.” Lily giggled awkwardly, trying to make light of the situation. “What little pup wouldn’t be at that?”

“This is actually serious Lily, this is the kind of information we need but… I feel bad. It says his parent’s killer was never found, and there were no traces left behind either.” Thea huffed as she sent the article link to herself via email.

“But if it was a planned attack, wouldn’t it make all of the rogues that had attacked them the murderers?” Lily responded as she tilted her head to the side.

“No, if it was a planned attack they had someone else do it for them, or someone else paid them to carry out their wishes. Either way, it reeks of the killer being someone else behind the scenes.” She huffed quietly as she shut off the computer and glanced at Lily who groaned. “What?”

“You have that expression on your face, the same one that you have whenever those animal shelter commercials come on and you see a really sad looking cat. That’s how you ended up with the last pet you owned.” Lily huffed. “Who, by the way, hated me.”

“No I do not. I will never feel pity for the enemy.” Thea snarled lowly as she slammed the laptop shut and then huffed as she shoved it back into Lily’s hands before standing. “I’m going out for a walk.”

“Just don’t bring home any stray dogs! Or wolves for that matter!” Lily howled with laughter as Thea felt heat creep up into her neck as she rushed off, leaving the bedroom as she hopped on one foot and then the other to get her shoes on.

***

THREE HOURS LATER

Thea sighed as she watched the familiar alpha from across the bar, gathering up her remaining courage, she stood and made her way over to him. Taking a seat right beside him, similar to how she had done the first night she had met him face to face. She had been planning out meeting him for months now, she knew all about him before he had even known about her.

“Get away from me. I’m not in the mood for your sh*t Ms. Veryne.” Ash warned as he downed another drink, the smell of alcohol making her wrinkle her nose in disgust.

“I’m sorry.” Thea murmured, causing the alpha beside her to freeze and then tense as she began to talk again. “I know what happened and…-” She was cut off by a loud snarl before she could even finish what she was going to say next. Her wolf whimpered in response to the intense reaction to her words.

“Don’t you dare play that game with me.” He growled as his mismatched gaze found her own. “You’re not going to sit here and pretend you care after how you had acted towards me. You threatened to take me down, don’t you dare back out now.” He finished off the rest of his drink. “No, we’re not doing this tonight.” He went to stand, and in a last ditch effort, she had begun to talk again.

“I did some more research. It was tragic, what happened to your parents, and you at such a young age. That should have never happened… And then… To not find out who the killer really was…” She spoke quietly but she could feel the eyes of a few customers on them now as Ash had paused and turned back to her. Furious. That’s what he was and she saw it clear as day in his eyes with the pain at the memories.

“You…” He laughed bitterly. “You are just now finding this out, and now you feel sorry for me Thea?” He questioned, her heart sinking at the use of her first name in a situation like this. “Is that all it takes? Some sort of sob story for you to be rethinking just who you’re going after? That’s low. Even for someone like you Thea. You’re no better to me than what the rest were.” He murmured as he then made his way out the exit.

Thea was quick to follow him as tears had pricked at the corner of her eyes. “You don’t get to say that to me!” She snarled, an exasperated sigh leaving Ash as he opened the car door to get into the back.

“No. But thanks for coming and wishing me a happy birthday. You got what you wanted, a reaction. Now if we could please just keep this type of stuff to a minimum out in public that would be great.” He grumbled as he got in and slammed the door shut before rolling down the window.

“And Thea? Don’t ever f*cking snoop through my personal life again. What’s done is done… And he will be caught soon. Take the time to really search your enemies before you go after them, otherwise you’ll end up with another sob story like me.” He warned as the car had taken off, leaving Thea standing in the mostly empty parking lot with her heart racing.

There was more to the story than what he was willing to tell her, and she would have to do some more digging to find out.