Chapter 101

Erin’s POV

I stood in front of Susanna with a gaping mouth as I watched her fall to the ground. The snapping of her neck could be heard for miles.

I couldn’t comprehend what had just happened. One moment, she was burning the restaurant with her abilities, and the next, she was falling to the ground dead.

She snapped her own neck.

She did this to herself… but why?

My heart was heavy as I stared around her quickly paling face. Her eyes were opened slightly like she was still looking at me.

I stumbled backward, nearly tripping over my own feet as I did so.

The fire was finally gone thanks to the rain that I summoned. Everything around me was wet though and I heard the light tapping of shoes in the puddles as more people left the restaurant to see what the commotion was about.

Once they got a glimpse of Susanna in front of me, I heard the gasps and cries of horror.

Kelsey was by my side quickly; her hair was completely drenched from the downpour and tears were visible in her eyes. She was obviously confused, and I could see the panic rising on her face.

“Is that Miss Susanna?! What the hell happened?” She gasped.

I wasn’t sure what to say to her to calm her, so I said nothing. I couldn’t take my eyes off Susanna’s body. I felt incredibly weak; all I wanted to do at that moment was to ground myself.

“Oh, my goddess…” one of my coworkers breathed once they got a good look at the scene in front of us. “Did you do this to her? Did you snap her neck out of jealousy??”

“What?” I managed to ask, looking over at my coworkers who were staring at me like I was some kind of monster. “You think I did this to her??”

“You were the only one out here with her!” One of them shouted. “We know you’ve been jealous because she had Gavin and you didn’t!”

“I didn’t kill her,” I said firmly, staring at all the shocked and frightened faces.

I looked over at Kelsey who also appeared to be unsure. She took an unsteady step away from me and that broke my heart above anything.

I could hear the sirens from the police department in the distance; somebody must have called 911. I turned my back from the others, keeping my head low so they couldn’t see the sorrow that was appearing on my face.

I stared back down at Susanna; she remained unmoved, unbreathing… dead.

I couldn’t believe this was happening. I swallowed the lump in my throat just as reporters began occupying the scene.

The flashing of the cameras nearly blinded me and the questions they started to ask were mind-boggling.

They couldn’t possibly think I did this… could they?

…

Gavin’s POV

The news was playing in every room around the packhouse. Jill and Judy stood together with some of the staff, in the living room, both with sorrowful expressions on their faces when Gavin entered.

He could hear the whispers around the packhouse, but he didn’t think something like that could be true. Not until he saw the look on his sister’s face as she watched the news. She had tears in her eyes and her mouth was covered by her newly manicured hands.

“I can’t believe this…” she whispered. “It can’t be true…”

Gavin stepped beside her and saw Erin’s restaurant on the big screen. It was burned with fire, but not too badly. Erin stood with reporters surrounding her. She was shielding her face from the camera, but they were asking her ridiculous questions.

“Do you really think she did this, Gavin?” Jill asked, peering up at her older brother. “You know her better than anyone… would she do something like this?”

Gavin knew the answer already, but he was too stunned to speak. He was also furious that Erin was being harassed before anyone even knew the entire story.

Without saying anything, Gavin turned away and was about to leave the packhouse to see Erin when he was stopped by his Beta, Seth.

Seth had a concerned look on his face; it was something Gavin recognized very well.

“I think going there right now is a bad idea. There’s no telling what more she’s capable of,” Seth said, shaking his head.

“You’ve gotten to know her since she’s been here… do you really think she would do something like that?” Gavin asked in return. “She couldn’t harm a fly.”

“We don’t know that for sure. We’ve been deceived by a lot of people lately, who knows if Erin is one of them,” Seth said, folding his arms across his chest. “She could be another vessel.”

This was making Gavin’s blood boil.

“Don’t be an idiot, Seth,” Gavin sneered. “She’s not a vessel. She got caught up in something bad. I refuse to believe she did this on purpose. If anything, it was probably self-defense.”

“We don’t know that for sure, Alpha,” Seth said even more firmly.

The look on Seth’s face was telling Gavin that he knew more than he was saying.

“What aren’t you telling me?” Gavin asked, narrowing his eyes to his Beta. “Are you keeping a secret from me?”

“I did some research,” Seth began. “After Erin left here, I did a little research on her because I was curious.”

“What did you find?”

“Did you know that Erin’s parents died in a wolf attack?” Seth asked, keeping his eyes locked on Gavin’s. “Apparently the main suspect is Susanna’s father.”

“So, her father could have been the reason behind Erin’s parent’s death? She never mentioned that…”

“There’s a chance that she might not know,” Seth admitted. “However, there’s a chance that she does know and that would give her a motive to kill Susanna. It would be her way of avenging her parents.”

“Erin would never do something like that,” Gavin said after a beat of silence.

He shook his head at the thought and went toward the door.

“Is that really a chance you want to take, Alpha?” Seth called from behind him, making him pause at the doorway.

Seth was right; if Erin did do this, he could be walking into dangerous territory. Erin’s powers were strong; of course, she would be no match against him, but who knows how deep into planning this all was if this was something she did.

“I’ll take Gamma’s with me,” Gavin assured his Beta. “For safety.”

He mindlinked a bunch of his gamma warriors to bring them up to date and to have them accompany him to the restaurant.

As soon as Gavin arrived at the restaurant, he picked up the scent of Erin. He got a glimpse of her talking to the press. She looked worried and for a moment, he thought she might try to run. Henry was by her side quickly and he was trying to get rid of the reporters.

The emergency services were also there as well, and Susanna’s body seemed to have been taken away already.

Erin was trying her best to answer questions, but she looked exhausted and eventually, Henry took over for her.

Then her eyes shifted to Gavin, and they widened.

They held onto one another’s gazes for a long while; it felt like they were the only two in the area. It felt like he had forgotten how to breathe.

A small smile twitched at the corner of her mouth, but that smile soon dropped once he ordered his gammas to arrest her.