"How do you want me to proceed?"

Kellen's eyes flickered up to Marlow, sat across his office desk wearing a red shirt haphazardly over a grey wife-beater, and a half-bored expression.

Or maybe that was just his sleepy face. It was late at night and they've all had an exhausting day for sure.

Kellen hummed, deep in his thoughts. On the table before him was everything the system has on his mate—her full name, Billie's full name, their relationship, their last known address.

"Her last name is Gypsy?" He asked, bemusedly.

Marlow shrugged, "You'll be surprised what people call themselves these days."

Kellen scoffed, returning his gaze to the photocopied pictures of a very much younger 'Gypsy' staring solemnly back at him. She looked like she was staring the camera down, he could imagine her taking the device and smashing the hell out of it right after the picture was taken.

"And you're sure this is everything?"

"Yes, Alpha." Replied Marlow. "We got nothing at first until I ran a facial recognition through the missing people database, and we had to do some tweaking before we even got a hit."

He pointed a finger at the file before Kellen, "That was filed four years ago and is basically redundant but I checked to see if the correspondence to the relative who filed it is still valid and it is."

"This Niecy Brown?" Kellen asked, eying the information on file.

"Yes, sir. According to that, she is the mother."

"What about this...Gypsy's full name, did you run that?"

"I did, she came back clean." Marlow stroked his furrowed brow, "Were you hoping for something in particular?"

Rap sheet, about six feet long!

Or at least something tangible to confirm what he already knew—that she was a murderer hiding in plain sight.

Kellen shook his head in reply to Marlow's question.

"So how do you want to proceed now? Should I contact Niecy?"

Kellen sat back in his chair and pressed two fingers to his lips, this was supposed to bring him answers but all it's done was turn up a new world of questions. He cussed lowly when his eyes strayed to the clock and saw that it was almost 4:30 am, no wonder Marlow had been stiffening yawns.

"Now you get some sleep if you still can, Marlow." Kellen pushed out a breath through his lips, "You will find this Niecy but you won't be making any contact. I want to know firsthand everything there is to know about that woman, if she had a favorite show growing up I wanna know about it."

"Roger that," Marlow pulled his shirt together. "But if I may be so bold sir, I think our rogue situation is far paramount than digging into Ms. Gypsy's past, no?"

When Kellen merely raised his brow, Marlow quickly continued.

"I know you're keeping the real reason Mess Hall is on lockdown hush-hush but there've been whispers about Dr. Ernie's theory and if she's right, we have a rogue among us and we've got to flush 'em out before they do any more damage."

It had been a week since Rachel almost choked to death in the Mess, a week since Ernie came to that chilling conclusion and Kellen had known no moment of rest since then.

He couldn't recall the last time he had a decent sleep in his own bed in the past week. He'd shut down the Mess. That has never happened before for as long as he'd been his father's son. The Mess was the center of life here at the Keeper's pack, shutting it down was like plunging everything into darkness but until he eliminates every possibility of this being a defect in something his pack consumes daily, he refused to start a witch hunt for a rogue among his people.

Everything was being examined; from the tiniest grain to the very source of their water and so far so good. Everything was coming back clear, even the jar from which Rachel's juice was poured.

Marlow cleared his throat and shuffled in his seat when Kellen maintained his brooding silence. "In my experience sir, people lie about who they are for a lot of other reason than them being guilty of something terrible. Ms. Gypsy saved my little girl, she saved Vera and though you were ready to drag her through the mud the other day, she turned around and did us a solid by saving Rachel, too. I mean, how bad can she be?"

Kellen worked his set jaw, "I get it, she saved your kid, you feel indebted to her. You're clearly not the man for this job."

"I am the best man for the job." Marlow straightened, "Yes I am indebted to her but you're my alpha, my loyalty is to you!"

"You do well to remember," Kellen snapped impatiently. "Now please get the hell out of my office."

It was frustrating that anyone thought he enjoyed this, that he wanted any of it. What he'd been about to do to her at the Mess made him sick to his fùcking stomach just thinking about it now.

He may have Marlow digging into her past but he was also petrified of what the man might uncover. Not because Kellen didn't already know but that his people would finally see her for what she was and then they may not be quite as accommodating.

Kellen picked the file to look at the pictures again, the more he stares the more he realized she didn't just look annoyed, her eyes were distant, uninterested and way too cold for a sixteen-year-old.

He forced himself to close the file with a snap and dumped the whole of it in the second drawer to his right. For a long time he felt like his hands committed that senseless murder, he lives with the guilt to this day. If only he could flip a switch and forget about it because she's his mate and there was nothing he wanted more than claiming what was his.

Another piece to the Gypsy puzzle, he thought darkly, dropping the file on her gun that was already in the drawer.

Kellen started unbuttoning his shirt as he got to his feet, deciding to give the reign to his wolf and go for a run since it was highly unlikely that he'd get any sleep at this time.

His fingers deftly worked the buttons on his shirt and soon he'd discarded it somewhere on the desk and got started on his trousers until he sensed a presence and watched a midnight colored wolf slowly made it way into his office.

"Vera?" He voiced, stopping short of undressing himself. The wolf stalked closer in a low crouch, whining and wagging its tail energetically. "What are you doing here, Vee?"

Vera shifted into her human form and stood in the center of his office in all her naked glory.

"I was coming back from patrol duty when I saw the lights on and smelled you." She smirked, "You must have been up all night. Thought I'd bring you something to start your day." She sucked a finger in her mouth and traced the wetness around her voluptuous cleavage.

Kellen undid the fly of his trouser and sat back in the seat he just vacated. He eyed the woman before him appreciatively, she was a goddamn gorgeous woman and she knew it.

Kellen could use the distraction for a little bit. He may have gotten nowhere with his investigation but he knew Gypsy wasn't innocent, not by a long shot. And it was about time he accepts the fact that a maniac was running loose in his pack slipping Monkshood in their foods and drinks!

A storm was coming to upturn everything he was fighting to keep together, he could almost smell the impending disaster in the air.

"Come here." He told Vera and she readily sauntered to him. Kellen leaned back in the chair allowing her to straddle him, her hands went around his neck as she grinds on his stiff cock in a slow sensual dance.

"I've missed you, Alpha." She purred in his ear.

"Have you now?"

Gypsy's face flashed through his mind and he stilled Vera's movement. He'd only caught glimpses of her here and there in the past week, the last time they'd spent together being the few minutes in the bathroom before Ernie shattered the illusion Kellen had of a peaceful pack.

He hadn't gone to his room that night, there was no way to know if she came to him like she said she would. The urge to see her face was there every day like an aggravating itch but, securing his pack was far more important and he knew he shouldn't get any closer than he already did. Their bond shouldn't get any stronger for both their sakes and when he has to break it.

Kellen peeled Vera off of him and set her on her feet. Wolves were highly sexual creatures but somehow, having her on him felt wrong.

Vera, misreading the situation quickly got on her knees and began reaching for his crotch.

"Stop," Kellen grabbed both her hands, more so because he could smell his cousin, the scent getting stronger by the second.

"Shift."

Vera's eyes flew wide and shone with excitement, "You want to take me in wolf form?"

"Absolutely not," Kellen pulled back and gave her a withering look, "Trevor is about to walk through that door any second now. Shift, Vee."

He was suddenly irritated, not at Vera, but Trevor's scent was cloaked with Gypsy's. Kellen had no doubt they'd been together until not long ago and Trevor had at the very least hugged her longer than necessary for her scent to linger on him like that.

His command had barely registered in Vera's clouded brain when his office's door creaked further open and a head poked inside, softly calling out his name.

Kellen felt the very earth shifted underneath him when he found Gypsy at his door instead of Trevor. He resisted his first instinct to jump to his feet and put as much space between him and Vera.

Much good that would have done considering he was shirtless and his company was as naked as the day she was born.

"Gypsy, What brings you by?" Kellen asked tersely, sitting straight in his chair and trying for the air of nonchalance.

Vera chooses that particular second to rise to her feet and he watched with increasing horror as Gypsy's eyes found her before slowly traveling back to him. The lighting in his office was clear as daylight, so he couldn't have imagined the jaw-dropping shock that contorted her face for one second and ebbed away the second, her lips forming a small 'oh'.

"Gypsy?" Vera quirked, maintaining her position besides Kellen's chair, she stood tall and regal with her hands on her naked hips. She was a werewolf, they weren't fazed by nudity but frankly, Vera was overconfident in hers.

"So this is Gypsy, girl I've heard so much about you!"

Kellen had gotten it wrong, Trevor's scent was rather cloaking hers because she stood there at his door, dwarfed in Trevor's 'MJ' hoodie. They share clothes now, he thought, fisting his hands on his laps.

"You're the woman who stoned the Alpha with her shoe in front of everyone." Vera continued. "I thought that was tasteless but real funny."

Kellen's body tightened all over at Vera's tone, but he felt so undone he couldn't have torn his eyes away from Gypsy if he tried and she surprised him by striding further into the room, her tiger eyes enlarging with equal artifice at Vera's blatant jibe.

"Tasteless, that's me— my reputation precedes me!" She laughed without an ounce of humor. "You must be Vera, we haven't officially met aside from that one time I saved your life."

"You did, didn't you?" Vera circled around Kellen's desk towards Gypsy, eying her as a competition but already feeling superior. "So what? I owe you my life now?"

"You owe me nothing."

"Good, cause Alpha Kellen and I have been together long before you showed up and rumor has it he wants nothing to do with you. After seeing you, I now know why." Vera looked back at Kellen and gave a witty chuckle as if they both shared an inner joke. "The Moon messed up this time, Alpha, she's not your usual type."

Gypsy tilted her head slightly, she wasn't short by the human standard but standing toe to toe with a werewolf and wearing that ridiculous hoodie, she looked like a small child. And she's lost some weight since the last time he had a proper look at her, Kellen observed with concern.

Was she not eating well, was she not sleeping all right? Why was she in his office at 4:30 in the morning?

"Well then, did your Alpha tell you how many times he's tried to screw me since I showed up?" She tried to keep the hurt from her voice but Kellen heard the tremor—it squeezed his chest like a vice.

"Leave," He mindlinked Vera before she could reply. "Now!"

She flashed a devastated look at him over her shoulder before facing Gypsy again with a big smile, "It's a shame I gotta run, I feel like we were starting to connect." Vera said and began to shift into her wolf form. "Oh, by the way, since you saved my live–here's a free advice, don't mistake the mate pull for attraction. Those two aren't the same thing."

Gypsy's eyes slammed into Kellen's with the power of a thousand sun as Vera completed her transformation and slink out of the office. There was that flashing expression in her eyes that always stole his breath away. Aside for the shocking familiarity, Kellen was beginning to recognize that look for what it was and he didn't like it in the slightest bit.

"What are you doing here, Gypsy?" He asked again, tightly, getting to his feet and throwing his shirt back on. What a rubbish start to his day.

Clenching his jaw he looked away from her and focused on fastening the buttons of his shirt. He couldn't look at her another second without reaching for her, without reducing himself to a mess at her feet begging for her forgiveness.

"Pardon?" Kellen paused when she murmured something he wasn't sure he heard correctly.

Gypsy's eyes were unflinching, daring, even, as she repeated herself. "My gun, Kellen, I want it back."