Chapter 136

Erin’s POV

My heart was pounding violently against my chest as I stared around at all the people clapping and cheering. I had no idea where that speech had come from, only that it felt right to say.

Talking about Gavin and me having children one day brought warmth to my body and pleased my wolf. I placed my hands on my stomach and frowned; what was this incredible feeling I was having?

Gavin was looking in the distance and I could see the worry on his face, even when nobody else could. I knew exactly who he was looking for it; his blackmailer was still there, and she was taunting him.

I felt furious that I couldn’t be more helpful to him at that moment; she was ruining a moment that was supposed to be incredible. This convention was a huge deal to Gavin, and it was being destroyed by this woman.

I turned away and grabbed my phone; there had been no messages or calls from Henry, but I saw that Theo tried to reach me a few times this morning.

I felt a little guilty for not answering, but I was definitely going to need to speak with him now. I dismissed myself to a more secluded area before calling him.

“Where the hell have you been?” Theo growled. “You were supposed to keep me updated. I almost sent a search crew for you.”

“I’m sorry, I’ve been a little preoccupied. I had to make sure everything went well today,” I told him with a sigh. “This event is very important to an Alpha.”

“You’re also on an incredibly dangerous mission, Erin. If this blackmailer really is the leader of the Slayers, she’s even more powerful than the last leader. You can’t do this alone. I’ve already sent backup to you.”

“I don’t want to make a scene in the middle of this convention.”

“We won’t make a scene unless they make one first,” Theo said. “But don’t do anything until backup gets there. Understood?”

“Yes,” I answered, leaning against the wall.

“I’m not going to lose my best agent.”

“I understand,” I said again. “Have you heard from Henry?” I found myself asking.

“He’s been quiet lately,” Theo said in return. “I tried to call him this morning, but he didn’t answer. I texted him and told him to join the backup and get to the convention. Hopefully, he saw that message and his heading there.”

I had a tight knot in my stomach at the sound of that; I wondered where Henry was and why he was suddenly avoiding us. I thought about telling Theo about how Henry was trying to convince me to go against his plan and not attend the convention, but I didn’t want to throw Henry under the bus like that.

He was still my partner even if he was acting strange.

“He’ll be here,” I assured Theo.

Despite our difference in opinions and whether he was upset with me, Henry would not make me go through this alone.

“For his sake, he better hope so,” Theo muttered. “Keep me updated,” he said as he hung up the phone.

I sighed and brought up my message thread with Henry. He hasn’t responded to any of my messages.

I didn’t like that.

“Henry, I really hope you show up. I could really use you tonight,” I text out before pressing send.

I waited a moment to see if he’d respond, but he didn’t.

That gross feeling reappeared in my stomach, and I thought I was going to throw up again. I had to swallow it down before I lost the contents of my stomach all over the place. This must have been stress related.

That was the only explanation.

I looked over at Gavin who I noticed was nearing his blackmailer.

My heart squeezed painfully in my chest as the two of them started talking and then they started walking toward the backrooms.

I felt a wave of fury going through me; there was no way I was going to let him out of my sight. At least not that easily.

I made my way through the crowd of people; a majority of them were trying to speak to me and congratulate me on such a wonderful speech.

I ignored most of them as I made my way toward the backroom; once I was there, I could hear the conversation between Gavin and his blackmailer clearly.

“You were supposed to break up with her, not flaunt your relationship,” she hissed.

She sounded a little familiar, but I couldn’t figure out where I had heard her voice before.

“I would lose everything if we caused a scene at this convention. It’s going to have to wait for another time,” Gavin said in return.

“That wasn’t our deal,” the blackmailer hissed between her teeth. “You break up with her, or I out you for your infidelity.”

“What exactly do you want from me? What are you after? This can’t just be about sex.”

It felt like a punch in the stomach; I assumed there were sexual relations going on between the two of them, but hearing about it was gut-wrenching.

“Oh, Gavin dear. You’ll know more when I want you to know more. Until then, unless you want your precious reputation and your family, to stay alive, you’ll do what I say. You already know that I have enough connections around this kingdom where none of you are safe. You saw how quickly I was able to find your sister, and do you really think moving your parents’ location would prevent me from finding them? We already found them, and we’ve been keeping an extra close eye on them. There’s nothing you can do that will stop me. So, you might as well give up while you are ahead. It’s quite pathetic that you think you can outsmart me.”

“My family did nothing to you. Your beef is with me and me alone—”

“My beef is with all of you,” she growled. “Don’t make me repeat myself. I will get angry, and you won’t like me when I’m angry.”

“I’m not very fond of you now.”

“Oh, but that’s not what you said the other night when we made love,” she said, stepping closer to him.

“I said what you wanted me to say,” he said through his teeth.

She ran her fingers down his arm, and it was taking everything inside of me to keep me from losing control of my wolf. She was growing more furious with every passing moment we watched them.

“Maybe we can have a little fun before you officially break up with that bitch,” she said in a husky whisper against his ear.

I could tell how uncomfortable he was, and I wanted to make myself known to them. But I waited because I wanted to hear what else she would say.

“Let’s get out of here; we can go to that hotel suite and really have the time of our lives,” she said, batting her eyes up at him.

He was quiet for a moment; there was no way he was going to go with her. Especially when he knew that I was here waiting for him. He didn’t even get the results from the shareholders.

He couldn’t leave just yet.

But I saw that she was whispering something in his ear and his entire body was tense.

I couldn’t hear what she was saying, but whatever it was, I knew it wasn’t good.

I felt my phone buzzing in my pocket, and I quickly grabbed it to see who it was.

A flood of relief washed through me when I saw Henry’s name appear.

“I’ll be there,” the text read.

I felt incredibly relieved as I put my phone back into my pocket.

I went to look back at Gavin but to my shock and complete disappointment, he was gone. As was his blackmailer.