The car ride was boring. Mason wouldn’t let me drive and he wouldn’t let me change the station. I couldn’t take the baseball commentary anymore. I understand that men have this weird obsession when it comes to anything competitive, but I could only take it for so long.

“So I heard this rumor.” I started. I might as well ask him about the murders since I had nothing else to do. Plus, he couldn’t walk away from me when we were stuck in a car together.

“That’s never a good way to start a conversation.” He commented. He didn't take his eyes off the road. “What is it?”

“That the body I found wasn’t the first one.”

He chuckled. “And where did you hear that?”

“Frankie.”

Mason rolled his eyes. “He’s blowing smoke up your—.“ He stopped when I shot him an evil eye. “What I meant to say is that he’s a big fat liar.”

I rolled my eyes. “Something tells me that you’re not telling me the whole truth.”

He shrugged, “It’s not my job to tell you the whole truth.”

“So you admit that you were lying. There have been more murders.”

He groaned, “Look. Just keep that curious little nose out of it. If there were murders happening on pack lands, wouldn’t I be taking care of it?”

“I don’t know. Are you taking care of it?”

He pulled off the highway.

“I thought we were going home.”

“I’m hungry.” He mumbled unhappily.

“You just want me to stop talking about it.” I knew that’s what he was doing. It was classic avoidance. He’d take me to someplace where I couldn’t talk about it, and hope that I would forget and wouldn't ask him when we got back on the road.

Unfortunately, his plan worked. After my belly had been filled, I fell asleep as soon as we got back into the car. I barely remembered him getting us back onto the highway. I didn’t wake up until we were back at the house.

He smiled triumphantly at me before he got out of the car and then carried a couple bags with him into the house.

“Crap.” I muttered before I got out of the car and followed him in with the other two bags left behind.

It felt like I had to run to catch up to him. “So which room’s mine?” I asked when I got to the top of the stairs. I could see Mason at his room, down the hall.

“Right next to mine.”

Are you serious? I groaned. I definitely didn’t want to be in the room next to his.

Murders weren’t the only rumors I heard. There were also rumors about the women Mason would bring to the house. I didn’t want to know about it, but if my room was right next to his, I’d probably hear it.

“I left the door open.” Then he disappeared into his room.

When I walked in the room, I was pretty disappointed. The walls were white and there was one dresser. The only thing that I really liked about the room was the four-poster bed and the windows. There was a door on the wall that separated my room from Mason’s. I did not need a room that connected with Mason’s. I hesitated at the door for a minute, before opening it.

To my surprise, it was a walk in closet. I was relieved to know that I’d have more than one wall separating the rooms.

I would definitely have to unpack my bedroom stuff since I was probably going to be staying here for a while.

Mason’s POV

I stayed in my room until I knew she was asleep. I didn’t want her to investigate if she heard me leave my room.

Maybe putting her in the room right next to mine hadn’t been such a good idea. She could’ve gone all the way down the hall. I could still catch her quickly enough if she went psycho.

It was only 10:30, so I knew my brother would still be in his office. He rarely went to bed before 12.

“Your little office assistant has been giving out information that he shouldn’t have.” I sat down on one of the chairs in front of his desk. There was a sandwich sitting on his desk untouched.

“And what information is that?” He asked. He didn’t even bother to look up.

“About the Millender murders.”

Grayson slowly looked up. “What did he divulge?”

“That there have been five murders.”

Grayson frowned. “Did anyone believe him?”

I shrugged and sunk back into the chairs. “Probably not. But Lexi asked about it today.”

Grayson leaned back in his chair and swiveled side to side. “I don’t want her getting the details. Since she’s in the house, we need to keep this office locked up.”

“She’s still going to be busy with her training.”

Grayson huffed. “We both know she’s not cut out for that training. She’s not going to end up being a protector of any pack.”

“Yes, but it will keep her out of my hair while I’m looking for Millender.” I reached forward and grabbed the sandwich.

“Casey will have your hide.” He warned with a smile.

“She can try.” I bit into it. It was good and I was hungry.

“Are you any closer to finding him?”

“You know I'm not.” I took another bite and finished off the sandwich.

“Do you need help?”

I glared at him. “I’ll find him.”

“Before or after he kills a few more recruits?”

“The point is: I’ll get him. When I get close I will lock him downstairs, since I’m not allowed to kill him.” I said spitefully.

“He’ll die soon enough.”

Lexi’s POV

I woke up early the next morning. The sun was just starting to rise.

As I looked at the clock, I knew I had almost two hours before I had to meet the group out at the training grounds.

I threw on a sweatshirt and grabbed my lock picking set before I headed towards the alpha’s office. Everyone was still asleep, so no one would notice me sneaking into the office.

I knew Mason was lying, I just couldn’t prove it. There probably weren’t five murders, but there had probably been more than one.

It would definitely explain why Grayson could pick up the murder’s scent on the last victim. He knew what he was looking for. Maybe this body was the second or third. Which meant there was someone out there killing werewolves, someone who knew what they were doing.

I looked around before crouching in front of the door and picking at the lock. In the complete silence of the house, each little clank the picks made against the locking mechanisms felt like I was running down the halls ringing bells.

I knew I shouldn’t have been sneaking around, but I had to. Mason had made it clear that they didn’t follow the rules like cops had to. That could mean that I didn’t need a warrant to look at the files they had on those who had been killed.

Once I had everything in place, I turned the handle and the door opened without a squeak. I put my tools back in my pocket and strutted into the room proud that I had picked the lock. Usually it took me a few tries.

There were files on a coffee table, next to a leather loveseat. They hadn’t even bothered to hide them. There was one file spread open, with gruesome pictures. I put my hand over my mouth in shock. You could hardly tell this was a person. They had been filleted and broken down to the point where they wouldn’t be recognized.

I took out my phone and took pictures of every photo and every piece of paper in the files.

James’s rumor had been right. There had been 5 murders. All within the last 4 months. Brian even made death reports on each of the victims. They had been tortured. Being a werewolf meant they were able to heal quite a bit before the torture began all over again.

The file on the bottom was of the man I found. His name was Chase Rodgers. He had been the only one that hadn’t shown any signs of torture. My name was on the file because I was the one who had found him. Maybe the killer had heard the group running towards the area, so he panicked and killed Chase before he could torture him.

Jackson Ellis, Jorge Gomez, Trent Carter, and Charlie Porter had all been tortured before their death; Chase Rodgers had been the lucky one. There wasn’t anything in the files about the killer’s motive. Grayson had recognized the scent, which meant that these were all connected by the same killer.

I just needed to catch up and figure out who the killer is so I could bring them to justice for the lives they had killed. I went to the desk and looked at the files. There were too many files. I found a stack with my group’s names on them. There were three more stacks like that.

Maybe they thought one of the recruits was the killer. It didn’t make sense to wait since they had his scent, but I took a picture of all the names regardless. I’d send the names down to the LA department to have background checks ran. I’d have my own file on all of the recruits.

I tried my best to leave the room as I found it. I would upload everything to my laptop when I got back to my room. After I left the office, I went down to the kitchen. All that investigating left me starving.

I was finishing my breakfast as I was looking over the photos of the files I had taken when Mason came in. He caught my eyes for a second before he took a deep breath and smelled the food. His eyes were still glazed with sleep and he only had basketball shorts on. I don’t know what it was with these guys, but they all walked around shirtless. Usually I didn’t care, but with Mason, I needed him to put a shirt on. I watched him and checked him out while he wasn’t looking.

He turned his attention to the stove and put what was left on a plate before sitting down across from me. Once I tore my eyes away from him, I exited out of the pictures and loaded a game. If he asked me what I was doing, I couldn’t tell him. He’d know if I lied to him, so I needed a cover.

I felt his stare, so I looked up. “What?”

“You’re up early.” His hair was standing up on end and pointing in every direction. He hadn’t tamed his hair before he come down for breakfast.

“Yep.” I looked back down at my game.

“I heard you sneaking around earlier.” He said with a mouth full of food.

“What are you a cow? Don’t talk with your mouth full.” I commented while I got out my game.

He stuck his tongue out, full of food. I threw a grape at him and he caught it with his mouth.

“Good throw.” He complimented. Which was…weird.

“You’re oddly nice in the morning.”

He shrugged, “Make me food in the morning and I’ll be nice.”

“But I didn’t make it for you.” I pointed out.

“But you left enough for me.” Mason being nice was too weird. I’d carry snacks with me all the time if he’d act like this more.

“Whatever.” I finished off my plate.

I felt him watching me when I got up to put my plate in the sink. I turned around and looked at him. “Why are you looking at me?”

He smirked, he was probably thinking of something perverted to say to me. But the smirk shrunk back. “You never said why you were sneaking around this morning. I caught your scent by the office.”

I did my best to keep my cool. “Do I need permission to explore the house?”

“There are some places you’re not allowed to go.” He said uncharacteristically calm.

“Maybe you should make me a list.” I suggested. I didn’t care about his list. I’d do where I pleased.

He huffed, “Like that would work.” He shoveled more food into his mouth. “Did you try to get into the office?” Food particles spit out of his mouth.

“You’re gross.” He just shrugged before he shoveled more food and waited for my answer. “Yes. I tried to get in. The door was locked.”

He nodded, “It should’ve been. I locked it last night before I went to bed.”

We both heard someone coming, so I didn’t answer him. I wanted to know who it was before we continued our conversation.

Grayson came down, looking as sleep deprived as his brother. “The office was unlocked.”

My gut clenched. Good job. I thought to myself. Way to get caught with your hand in the cookie jar. I mentally slapped myself, but I did my best not to show any signs of panic. I didn’t know how much of an offence it was to get caught being in the office when I wasn’t supposed to.

“I must’ve forgot.” Mason suggested, casually eating his food.

The alpha looked his brother over and was obviously annoyed, “You can’t leave it unlocked.”

Mason nodded, “Yeah. I know.”

“But you did.”

“So I did.” Mason held out the empty plate to me. I only took it because Mason was covering for me.

“Don’t forget again.” Grayson ordered as he went back into the hallway.

I looked back at Mason when I heard the door close. He sat crooked on the chair, facing me. He had probably been watching me while I waited for the door to close behind Grayson.

“So what were you trying to get in the office?” He looked me right in the eye; he was daring me to lie to him. We both knew I couldn’t, so I went with the truth.

“I wanted to confirm if what James had said was true.”

He stood. “Don’t worry about the murderer. That’s not what you should be focusing on.”

“I’m naturally curious. I just want to help.”

He shook his head, “Well you can’t help. You don’t have enough experience to help out here.”

“Only because you won’t let me! I could solve this.”

“It’s solved.” He muttered. His good mood slowly vanishing.

“Then you have the killer in custody.”

He rolled his eyes, “I told you not to worry about it.”

This was go nowhere. So I walked right past him and went to my room.

---

I needed to get away. I'd worked myself into a bad mood by the time I was done training. It was around 5 I decided that I wanted to go explore the town. The only time I’d seen it, was when I went on my one trip to Walmart.

I borrowed a car with Casey’s permission. She even gave me the names of a few places I should go look at. I offered to take her with me, but she had promised to cook the kids burgers after they were done swimming in the pool. If she backed out, they’d be relentless.

I went into town by myself. I didn’t need anyone to have a good time. I’ve done everything by myself for so long, it felt good to go out alone again.

I went to all of the places Casey told me to check out. She even gave me a cute little restaurant to go to.

I took a seat by myself and waited for the server.

 “Do you mind if I sit here?” A guy asked.

I looked up to see light brown eyes. There wasn’t anything that really stuck out as attractive. He was well groomed and in a suit. He looked like he could be a lawyer.

“Um, no, go ahead.” I said unsure. I didn’t want to be rude and tell him to take a hike.

Most of the lawyers I had met were trying to get criminals out of jail. I only knew two lawyers that I actually liked. Even if it was a small town, small towns still need lawyers.

“I haven’t seen you around here before. Are you new?” He had a nice smile. He was definitely charismatic. He could definitely be a lawyer.

“I’ve been around for a few months, but I haven’t been here before.”

He nodded, looking down at his food. “It’s a nice little town. Great for settling down.”

“Is that why you’re here?” After the words flew out of my mouth I knew I shouldn’t have asked that. It was a bit early in the conversation for something like that.

He smiled before he shook his head. “No. I have work here.” He shot me a sexy smile, “I’m single if you’re wondering.”

I was stunned into silence. That was very forward for a stranger to come up to a woman who was eating alone and announce that he was single. But I knew it was only because I asked him first.

When the server came and asked us for our orders, it popped me out of my stun.

He was nice and kept the conversation going. It was a little awkward at first, but he made me feel comfortable. It was like he knew all the moves he was supposed to make to ensure that I’d remember him. I definitely would.

My cell phone buzzed on the table. I glanced down at the screen and saw Mason’s scowl displayed. I realized then that we had been sitting here, talking for over an hour.

I sighed knowing I was in trouble. Of course Mason would be the one to check up on me.  I was just surprised that it took him an hour. He was all over anything I was doing. It ventured on annoying.

I silenced it knowing full well that he was going to lay into me when I got back to the house.

“I’ve got to go.” I stood and put the phone in my pocket. “It was nice talking to you.”

He rhythmically tapped his fingers on the desk before he stood up. “You too.”

He grabbed the coffee that he hadn’t touched in the hour that we’d been sitting there talking. When he came in for a hug, I flinched knocking the cup loose from his hands and spilling it all over the two of us.

“I’m so sorry!”

He shook his head with a smile, “No, I’m sorry.” He threw the empty cup in the trash. “Let me make it up to you for destroying your blouse.”

I looked down at my shirt; it was saturated with the cold coffee. The smell of it overwhelmed my nose. It had to be black coffee because the smell was so strong.

“Let me take you to dinner.”

Instantly I started protesting. “It’s fine, I—“

“No, really. I know this great little restaurant. I can show you a few other places that are really good too.”

He looked so hopeful and sounded so sincere.

“Alright.” I agreed before I could give it another thought. “How about you give me your number and I’ll call you.”

He nodded, “Sure.”

I felt oddly giddy when I got to the house. It had been so long since I’ve been out on an actual date.

Mason didn’t even bother walking to the front door when I drove up. He jumped right out of his bedroom window, on the second floor. That’s not exactly the stunt someone should pull when trying to keep werewolves a secret. Luckily the only humans around were the kids.

I groaned as I took the keys out of the ignition. He opened the door before I could touch the handle.

“Where the hell were you?” He seethed.

“Don’t worry about it.” I said calmly. Even his bad attitude wouldn’t bother me right now. “I was a good girl, I promise.”

His golden eyes narrowed. “That’s not the point. You aren’t supposed to just leave. There is a killer out there. Or have you forgotten?”

“There are killers everywhere.” I reasoned. “I’ve been on murder cases before, that never stopped me from living my life before.”

“You were alone!” His rage hit me like a heat wave.

Now he was starting to get irritating. “You’re starting to foam at the mouth.” His mood didn’t lighten in the least. “Look, I’m fine, you’re fine, no one got hurt.”

“You’re an idiot!” He grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the car. I barely managed to move my head so I didn’t get a concussion from banging into the door. “He’s out there looking for openings and you just hand one to him on a silver platter.”

“But I’m back.”

He shoved me into the house. “You can’t handle what that bastard can dish out. He would snap you like a toothpick.”

“So you do know who the murderer is! You lied to me!”

He rolled his eyes, irritated. “Of course I know who it is! I’m too good at my job not to know who it is.”

When I resisted him at the stairs, he threw me over his shoulder and carried me up the stairs. When he threw me on my bed I kicked at him, but he was already out of range as he walked out the door.

“You can’t treat me like this! I’ve done nothing wrong!”

“I can do whatever I want.” He paused at the door and looked back at me. His eyes were still golden. “You’re to stay in your room until I tell you that you can leave.” His order sunk into me like chains.

“You asshole!” I yelled at him when he left my room and slammed the door.

The longer I stayed in the room, the more my mood darkened. I couldn’t stop pacing. I wanted to smack Mason until I was satisfied.

Anytime I tried to leave my room, I couldn’t open the door or climb through the window. His order was annoyingly effective.

After an hour or two I gave up and I flung myself on the bed and pouted. How dare he confine me to my own room!

When the door opened, I shot up, ready to scream and shout curses at Mason. But it wasn’t him.

It was Casey, and she looked concerned.

“What are you doing in here?”

“Mason ordered me to stay in here. I can’t leave.”

“He would do that.” She muttered. “So it’s a good thing I outrank him. You can go wherever your heart desires.”

And just like that I was free.

“Oh and you don’t have to listen to those absurd orders. You can never be ordered to stay somewhere that you don’t want to be.” She added happily. “I’m sure it will twist his panties that he can’t lock you in your room anymore.”

I gave her a hug. “Thank you so much!”

She laughed and hugged me back, “No problem.”

I followed her out of my room. “So where is that jerk at?”

“He’s eating dinner with everyone else. I excused myself when I noticed you were missing.”

“Just don’t make a scene in front of the kids. As long as you don’t fight with him when they’re present, they’ll take your side.”

“So wait until they go to bed to yell at him?”

 “Yeah, that’s the safest choice.” She nodded with a smile, “The kids are notorious pranksters.”