Chapter 261

It was nearing 10 o’clock at night, and Noah and I were relaxing on our bed, scrolling through social media on our phones. I nearly choked on the popcorn I had just stuffed into my mouth when I saw a headline regarding Bob:

COUNCILMAN BOB BARBIER DISGRACED IN VAMPIRIC CONSPIRACY

“Noah!” I exclaimed, elbowing Noah in the ribs. “Noah, look!”

“Ow! What?” he asked, glancing up briefly from his phone.

“It’s Bob! He’s been outed.”

Noah threw his phone onto the mattress and turned excitedly toward me.

“Really? For what?”

“For the vampire attack. Just look.”

I turned the screen toward him and held it there long enough for him to read the beginning of the article:

Bob Barbier, the newest member of the Werewolf Council, has been thrown out as the result of the unveiling of a vampiric conspiracy. It was discovered that Bob was responsible for the vampires attacking not only Alpha King Andrew Dubois’s wedding to Princess Aurora but the Lunar Festival at Crescent City in Crescent Moon Pack territory a couple days later. It is speculated that these moves were both politically and personally motivated…

“Woah,” Noah muttered. “So, people are actually believing this? No more pushing it off to him being falsely accused?”

I took back my phone and scrolled through the comments.

“No, it seems that people actually believe that he did it,” I said with a chuckle. “They’re turning on him, hard. Listen to these:

“How dare he put so many people in danger? Over what, politics? What an ass!

“To think I thought that he was cute! This is a total dealbreaker! Now I know for sure who has my vote next Alpha King election.

“May the wrath of the Moon Goddess rain down upon him! There’s a special place in the afterlife for vermin like him. I hope that he enjoys the ride down.”

I chuckled again and shook my head.

“They aren’t being any kinder over in the human world:

“Screw him for screw with our princess! String him up! Give him a silver dagger to the heart!

“Alpha King Andrew better not let him get away with this. I don’t care if he is the man’s son-in-law. He’s a criminal!

“Death to any werewolf who will make a deal with a vampire!”

I cringed at a couple of the remarks from the human world. Even though they were targeting Bob and the kind of person he was in particular, they were also defaming werewolves in general, and I knew that that would not do any good for the werewolf/human alliance. I could only hope that this would not fuel the anti-integrators’ fire.

“Wow,” Noah said. “Those are some strong sentiments.”

I nodded.

“Hopefully the public outrage will be enough,” he continued.

I arched a brow at him.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that, so far, every time that we think that we have Bob cornered, something happens, and he squirms away. I’m just hoping that that won’t happen this time.”

I wanted to argue with Noah, to tell him that there would be no way that Bob could get away with anything this time, but I knew that he was right. Bob might have been disgraced out of the Werewolf Council, but that still didn’t tell us how powerful he might be without their influence. He got out of murder charges without them, after all.

A knock on the door brought me out of my thoughts.

I looked to Noah, suspicious. It was far too late for us to be getting visitors. He shrugged at me but did not seem nearly as concerned as I was.

“I guess I’ll get it,” I said cautiously.

I reached beneath my pillow and pulled out a silver knife. Ever since Bob had hired one of our new pack members to attack us in our own apartment, I had stashed them wherever I could. It had unnerved Noah a bit, but he saw the prudency in it.

“I’ll come with you,” he said, slipping off the bed as well.

As we neared the door, another knock startled us. Whoever it was, was persistent.

I hid the blade behind my back as I reached for the door. As I opened it, I was shocked to find Andrew Dubois standing on the other side.

“Andrew?” I said, my voice barely above a whisper. “What are you doing here?”

Andrew smiled, but it did not quite reach his eyes.

“It’s great to see you, too, Crystal.”

He opened his arms to me, and I hugged him without hesitation, forgetting both the blade in my hand and Noah watching behind me. As I pulled away, Andrew eyed the knife quizzically.

“A silver knife?” he asked.

“It’s been…a hard adjustment period,” I said, as though he didn’t already know everything that Noah and I had been through.

Andrew nodded.

“Can I come in?”

I looked back at Noah. His brow scrunched, but eventually, he nodded his consent.

“Sure, come on in.” I closed the door behind Andrew as he walked into our living room. “Really, Andrew, what brings you here?”

“I’m afraid this isn’t a personal visit,” he replied.

Noah seemed to relax a little at that.

“Oh? Then what is it?” Noah asked.

Andrew stiffened at the sound of Noah’s voice but continued as though he weren’t there.

“I need all of your evidence against Bob, everything that you have,” he said.

I crossed my arms over my chest and arched a brow.

“Why is that?”

“You remember Mr. Smith?”

“Your private investigator? Yes.”

“And I assume that you’ve seen all the scandal regarding Bob over the past few days?”

I smirked.

“Yes, we have.”

“Mr. Smith believes that now is the time for us to strike, for us to file a case against Bob with the police, but we need as much evidence as possible against him, including what you have,” Andrew said. “The money laundering, the murder-for-hire, everything that you have, I need it. Did it survive your car crash, by any chance?”

I cringed.

“Our laptops didn’t—”

Andrew cursed.

“—but Noah had the foresight to upload everything to a secure server before we left, so it’s all safe and sound.”

I glanced over at Noah admiringly, knowing that he needed the ego boost with Andrew around. Noah puffed out his chest a little.

“That’s right,” Noah said proudly. “I don’t have a thumb drive on me, but—”

“Here,” Andrew said, holding a black thumb drive out to Noah as though it repulsed him. “Use this.”

Noah took the thumb drive and nodded.

“This will just take a few minutes.”

Noah rushed back into the bedroom to retrieve the new laptop that I had bought him.

An awkward silence fell between Andrew and me. This was nothing like the silences that we used to enjoy. The tension was palpable, and the heat between us made me fidget.

We exchanged looks, even small smiles, but we said nothing. What was there to say? There was still no hope for us, so it was best for us to not even be friendly.

Noah soon returned and handed Andrew the thumb drive.

“Here. All the files that you could possibly need,” he said.

“Thank you.”

Andrew fidgeted with the thumb drive for a moment, then slipped it into his pocket.

“Well, I better get going.”

“So late?” I asked. “Shouldn’t you at least stay in town for the night?”

Noah stiffened at my suggestion.

“No, I have a long drive ahead of me and duties to return to.” Andrew patted me on the shoulder, letting his thumb run over my collarbone when Noah wasn’t looking. “Thank you for your help.”

I sighed and briefly touched his hand.

“Thank you for escalating this situation for me.”

Andrew removed his hand from me. The moment that he did, Noah wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me close to him.

“Anything for you, Crystal.”

Andrew paused, taking in the sight of Noah and me so close together.

“Goodbye, Noah. Goodbye, Crystal.”

With that, Andrew turned around and walked out our front door.

“Goodbye, Andrew,” I whispered.