Chapter 35

I pulled Leon to the side, and he gave me a knowing look that he was thinking the same thing, but neither of us wanted to say anything in front of everyone. There was no reason to incite panic. At least not yet.

“This could be the true form of the Red Blood pack.” Leon said over the mindlink. Werewolf hearing was impeccable, so even though we moved away, we didn’t want to chance speaking out loud.

“It could. Which could also mean that Grace is this... this beast.” I answered.

“Don’t go there.” Leon warned. “Don’t get caught up in that thought. Just because you see this as a monster, doesn’t mean it is one. Humans would consider us monsters and we aren’t. So just stop that that.”

I glared at him, but I knew he was right. At least partially.

“So now to the important stuff,” Leon continued when he realized he had won. “What do you want to do with it?”

“We need to interrogate it. Maybe he’ll talk. He looked young, and he was dumb enough to get caught, he might be dumb enough to talk.” I answered.

Leon nodded in agreement, and we stepped back toward my men who were still fighting to maintain control of the beast.

“Take him to the dungeons!” I commanded my men. “I want him alive, and relatively unharmed.”

“Do you want to try and get information now?” Leon asked.

“No. I want him to sit with this for a while. Some silence will do him some good. Maybe he’ll want to talk more if we just leave him there. Just make sure he is secure.”

“You got it.” Leon saluted.

“And last thing, nobody is to talk about what we saw here today, until we figure this out, nobody says anything, not about his appearance, not about the Red Blood Pack. Not their theories. Nothing. If I hear that this has gotten out, there will be hell to pay, especially if it's even breathed in the direction of Grace. Understood?” I growled.

This seemed to surprise my men, but they all agreed. I had never had an issue with loyalty before. The creature shifted back into a man and my men were able to seize he more easily than they had earlier. It was clear that the man could shift at will, so I didn’t want my men to get too comfortable.

“Don’t call me unless it’s an emergency." I told Leon seriously.

He nodded, his face solemn as he jumped in to help drag the man to the dungeons.

I turned back to the house, and made my way slowly back to where I knew Gracie was sleeping... hopefully peacefully. I ran my hand tiredly through my hair. I hated how much I was beginning to need Grace. I could hardly believe that I had walked away from that Monster’s interrogation because I needed to be closer to Grace. Okay, I mean, there were a lot of reasons I walked away, but Grace seemed to reign my mind. I couldn’t make sense of anything.

I was outside Grace’s room when a voice called my name, and I turned to see Sawyer sitting on the ground across from Grace’s door.

“What are you doing?” I asked with a frown.

“You told me to look over Grace. She was sleeping, so I didn’t want to disturb her, but I didn’t want to go far so alas here we are.” He answered, his eyes trained on his rubix cube.

“Who says alas?”

“I heard a lot of commotion out there, is everything okay?” Sawyer asked, ignoring my question.

“Yea, get your update from Leon though. No one bother me unless it’s an emergency, I’m beat.” I answered honestly.

Sawyer gave me a long look and nodded as he stood up.

I opened the door to Grace’s room and just breathed for a moment, resting up against the doorway. I already felt more at peace just being near her. I moved slowly into her room, closing the door silently behind me. I plopped into the chair next to her bed and stared at her.

Everything became so complicated when she entered my life. Would any of this be happening if I had never met her? She seemed so innocent... But was she a monster just like that thing we saw earlier? Was that really her true form?

My eyes began to feel heavy, and my mind still raced but it became more and more discombobulated until I finally fell asleep, drifting off to a sleep where everything finally made sense again.

I don’t know how long I slept but I woke up to the sound of the shower, and my eyes immediately fell to the empty bed. I didn’t want to disturb her, but my wolf kept nagging me to go check on her. I knocked once, but she didn’t answer with a knock back like she usually did. I knocked a few more times, before caving, knowing that my wolf wouldn’t settle till we laid eyes on her.

“Grace?” I called out to her as I cracked the door open. I thought I’d feel better once I checked on her, but as soon as the door was cracked, I could hear her sobs, the ones she was trying to hide with the shower.

“Grace?” I tried again as I entered the bathroom slowly.

She was sitting on the shower floor, fully clothed. Her breathing was ragged as she tried to hide her tears from me. I immediately stripped off my jacket and opened the shower door. She barely acknowledged my presence, and my heartrate spiked with anxiety. I climbed in the shower with her and lowered myself to the ground before grabbing her and pulling her to me. Her sobbing only grew louder as I stroked her hair, unsure of how to comfort her any differently.

Slowly, she started to calm down. Her breaths became more even and her clutch on my wet shirt wasn’t quite so tight.

I stood up with her still in my arms and turned off the water before climbing out of the shower. I set her on the counter and stared at the way her wet clothes clung tightly to her body. I couldn’t help the overwhelming desire to undress her and take her right there. Her eyes were red and swollen, but her trembling lips were still totally kissable, and maybe she’d feel better if I could only...

I shook myself out of it as shivers began to rake her body. I quickly ran into the room to grab her clothes and returned before she had even attempted to move. I grabbed the sleeves of her fancy dress she had fallen asleep in and now probably ruined, not that I really cared, and began to shimmy them down her body. She wasn’t crying anymore, but she still looked so far away.

The more I revealed her body, the more I had to remind myself to keep it cool right now. She wasn’t mine... yet.

She hopped off the counter and finished taking off the dress and reached for the new towel I had for her. Then she really surprised me by suddenly reaching for her chalkboard and frantically began writing/drawing.

There was a picture of two groups of people and the word deal with an x over it, followed by a question mark.

“Yes. The deal is void.” I answered, looking into her big blue eyes, trying to find her point.

She grabbed the board back and wrote one of the longest sentences I had ever seen her make.

“Am I free now?”

And my heart raced with anxiety.