Liam

Damien waited until this morning to tell his parents. As expected, his mother met the news with overwhelming grief. Declan answered the news with rage. I didn’t let myself sleep long, knowing that as soon as they found out, the Hales would be in my office demanding answers even if their son claimed there weren’t any for now. When I woke up, Azalea was in my arms, but it didn’t look as if she slept a minute. She was quiet and pensive.

“Why are you up, Little Luna,” I asked her softly. I woke up wrapped around her middle, cuddling the pup in her stomach. I sat up so I could see her properly. She shook her head and just laid against me. “Go to sleep, baby,” I chided. “I will handle things this morning.” She didn’t respond to me at all. I kissed the top of her head and eased her onto the pillows. I climbed out of bed and went to the bathroom. When I came out, she wasn’t in bed any longer.

I went to the closet to find her changing. “Azalea, what are you doing?”

“Coming with you,” she said in a quiet voice.

I sighed. “You don’t need to do that,” I said.

She turned to me, sad determination in her emerald eyes. “I am coming with you, Liam,” she said and went back to dressing.

She came with me to my office. The visitor logs for the prison had been delivered to my desk already as well as a preliminary report on the search around the prison. Azalea took the report and sat on the couch, slipping her shoes off, and curling her legs under her. I knew she was tired but what worried me the most was not being able to feel any acute emotions coming from her through our bond. Everything was so amplified when she was pregnant; this wasn’t normal. Azalea seemed to be reading the report while we waited. We both knew it was just a matter of time.

My office door was thrown open with a loud bang. My attention moved from the log I was looking through up to the doorway. To her credit, Azalea hadn’t flinched at all. She closed the report in her hands and stood slowly as Declan stomped inside, followed by Damien then Lily holding his mother.

“I want to know how this happened and I want to know now!” Declan shouted.

I stood but before I could speak, Azalea did. “Beta Declan, we all want the same thing. Please calm down so we can discuss this rationally,” she said in a firm voice.

“Calm down? Rationally? You let my daughter be executed while imprisoned!” he screamed.

“Need I remind you why she was imprisoned in the first place,” I growled. His tone was borderline threatening, and I would not tolerate it no matter how much I understood his anger.

Declan blanched slightly at that. Azalea reached out, resting her hand on my arm. “You have every right to be angry, Beta Declan. This should not have happened,” she said calmly. “But I am sure Damien has told you everything we know.” Damien nodded behind his father. Lily walked Mrs. Hale over to the couch and sat her down. She was a crying mess and clearly not in the same mind frame as her husband currently.

Declan was still seething. “How does someone break into a prison, execute someone in their cell, and leave all without detection? What kind of sham security do you have over there?” he gritted out.

“I assure you all the guards are well trained. We found no evidence-” I started.

“I don’t care about what you didn’t find! I want the bastard who killed my daughter found!” he yelled.

“Beta, please,” Azalea tried again. “We are all upset by what happened last night. Don’t think that we are not. All we have at the moment is some preliminary reports that show us nothing out of the ordinary around the prison.”

“Don’t pretend you are upset about this,” he shot at Azalea. “You’ve kept her locked up in there for six years!”

“She has not proven she isn’t a threat,” Azalea said more forcefully now. “And do not act as if you have shown your daughter any consideration. I am well aware that you have not visited her once since she was locked away. Declan you have not laid eyes on your daughter since she was dragged from this office on the night of your son’s wedding.”

I looked at Azalea in slight surprise. I didn’t know that. Gwen’s fate was up to Azalea and I had not interfered in the matter and she didn’t ever seem to want to discuss it. I knew it bothered her. Often after she met with Gwen’s therapist, I would come into her office to find her chewing her nail and staring out the window.

Declan growled lowly but didn’t continue. “For your family’s sake, we will hold a small, private funeral and have her laid to rest,” Azalea said. “I think it best if it is just the people in this room are in attendance and we do not inform any pack members.” Declan’s eyes were still angry, but he nodded.

“And what are you going to do about finding the person responsible for this?” he asked.

“We are sparing no effort,” I said. “Video footage of the entire prison is being scanned through. Last night, guards were interviewed and there will be follow up interviews done today.”

“You better figure this out quickly,” Declan threatened.

“Beta, I am giving you the benefit of the doubt for the moment because I understand your frustration at this matter. But I will remind you that I am Alpha of this pack and I will handle the issue how I see fit,” I warned him, my temper beginning to rise. “I will not be casting this aside like it means nothing. This is a threat to our entire pack, and it will not be tolerated but I also will not tolerate any more disrespect.”

Declan let out a heavy breath. Damien stepped forward and placed his hand on his father’s shoulder. He looked back at his son who shook his head. Declan’s eyes came back to me.

“I want to be a part of the investigations. I want to find the piece of s**t that did this,” he demanded. This, I could concede to.

“Fine. But for today, you will take your mate home and grieve. Allow me to handle this for now,” I said.

“I will make arrangements for her body,” Azalea said next to me in a softer tone. Her eyes wandered to Lily and Mrs. Hale. Lily was desperately trying to console her mother-in-law while the men raged at each other over the situation. Azalea moved over to the couch and crouched down in front of Mrs. Hale, grasping her hand.

“I am so sorry this happened,” she whispered.

“Oh, dear girl,” Mrs. Hale sobbed. “I had just hoped that maybe one day you would agree to release her, and I could have my daughter back…”

“I know,” Azalea told her. “Mrs. Hale I am so sorry I could not agree to her release and that this happened.” Azalea leaned forward and hugged the older woman crying on my couch.

Azalea

“Thank you so much Lyssa. Alright, we’ll see you in a bit,” I said, getting off the phone with my mother-in-law. Whether her and Robert were aware of what happened, I didn’t know. Usually, when Robert was frustrated with something Liam was or was not doing, he came storming into the pack house to badger him about it. It made Liam angry after being Alpha for so many years now, but his father didn’t seem to care. Lyssa agreed to come get the kids for the weekend. I would give Missy the choice of going with her grandparents or staying in the pack house this weekend, but my efforts needed to focus on Gwen’s murder.

My phone rang in my hand and I knew this was the next situation I would need to handle. “Hello,” I said.

“Lea. Great, I got you. There were a few things I needed to go over with you that I think will help boost our off-season bookings, but we need to start implementing the changes now. Are you coming up here this weekend?” Lemon’s voice said quickly.

I sighed and my free hand came to my baby bump. “Something has come up. I won’t be able to this weekend. Why don’t you email everything to me, and I will look over it this weekend?” I suggested.

“I can do that. When do you think you will be coming up? We need to make some decisions on the kitchen renovations soon,” she said. Lemon had grown up so much from the flaky teenager to the dependable manager she was now.

“I am not sure. Maybe next weekend? Or early the following week? I am not sure how long I will be wrapped up at home,” I told her. The pain in my side that had been present since last night was starting to really bug me as I sat there rubbing my stomach.

“Amy misses you,” Lemon said. I smiled.

“I miss her too. I promise I will come soon. I am just needed here at the moment,” I told her.

“Okay. Bring the kids with you when you come. I’ll take Missy shopping if you are here long enough,” she said brightly. It warmed my heart at how fond of each other Missy and Lemon were.

“I will. Talk to you soon,” I said before hanging up the phone. I set my cell phone down on my desk and rubbed my sides lightly. Liam and Damien were down at the prison, speaking with the guards once more. Gwen’s therapist was supposed to be coming to see us this evening as well. Liam spoke with him last night, but I knew we should revisit everything again today. There was a knock at my door.

“Come in,” I said. To my surprise, it was Abraham, Vlad’s father, who entered my office.

“Good afternoon, Luna,” he said with a bow.

“Abraham,” I said starting to stand. Pain radiated through my side, causing me to wince.Content rights belong to .

“Oh, no Luna, please don’t get up,” he said quickly with a worried look. I sat back down trying to forget the pain.

“I’m sorry about that. What can I help you with?” I asked.

“Well, it’s no secret the pack house was locked down late last night…” he began. I didn’t let my face betray me, but I was surprised any one knew. There were no alarms or indications of it that late at night. The only ones that would have known were the warriors tasked with patrolling inside and out.

“It isn’t?” I asked.

“No, Luna. Rumors spread quickly when something of this nature happens,” he said calmly.

Rumors were spreading and I really hoped they were not accurate. “They do have a nasty habit of being swift,” I commented.

“Luna, I would like to help with the investigation,” he finally said cutting to the chase. I raised an eyebrow at that. I eyed him carefully for a moment.

“And why is that?” I asked.

“I have extraordinary talents when it comes to solving crimes of this nature. I have found that I can uncover things overlooked by others,” he explained.

I sat quietly for a moment, contemplating his words. When Abraham and Vlad asked to join the pack, he had said he previously worked in investigation but was looking for a simpler life. I was not fully certain what he did now that he and Vlad had settled into the pack. I couldn’t possibly ever know what each one of my pack members did vocationally.

“You make an interesting argument,” I said. “But why now? Surely there have been other instances where we could have used your proposed talents.”

“Well, this is the first occasion I have come to find out about where I thought my talents may have been beneficial,” he said.

“Hmmm,” I thought. “I will need to speak with the Alpha about this. It will ultimately be his decision.”

“I understand, Luna. Please, if the Alpha would grant me permission, I will help at any time,” he said. Abraham bowed and turned to leave.

“Abraham,” I called stopping him. “Rumors cannot spread if we do not feed them.”

“Of course, Luna. I would never dream,” he said before leaving my office.