Chapter 77

Erin’s POV

“Gavin, you can’t be serious,” I said, approaching him.

He glared down at me and I saw the resentment in his eyes; it turned my stomach.

“She committed a lot of crimes, Erin. I can’t let that go unpunished,” he explained; he turned away to walk in the opposite direction, but I grabbed his arm, stopping him quickly.

“That isn’t fair though. She wasn’t herself. She was being controlled,” I argued.

“The world isn’t going to see it like that. Until we can prove she was under the control of the Slayers, we need to keep her locked away,” Gavin said with finality in his tone. “Besides, if they got her the first time, they could get her again.”

“What about Bane?”

“Bane didn’t kill anybody.”

“No, but he could if they decide to use him again,” I said, folding my arms across my chest. “If you are worried, they are going to take control of Susannah again, then you should be worried that they will take control of Bane as well. There could be more vessels as well—”

“For right now, until I know it is safe, Susanna will stay locked away. I’m not arguing about this. I told you countless of times that I want you to stay out this and—”

“Erin!” Henry shouted as he rushed toward me.

I was relieved to see Henry at that moment; I couldn’t deal with Gavin and his stubbornness.

I turned away from Gavin and allowed Henry to embrace me tightly.

“I was so worried; are you okay?” He asked; he scanned my body with his eyes to act the part of a worried and adoring husband. But of course, he knew I was completely fine.

“I’m okay,” I assured him. “But I don’t think Susanna should be getting arrested.”

“She attacked you,” Henry said, raising his brows.

“She was under the influence of the Slayers,” I said in protest. “She didn’t know what she was doing.”

“She still killed a lot of people,” Gavin said, shaking his head with that final look in his eyes. “I’m sorry if you are disappointed by my decision, but until we know for sure if it’s safe to have her walking around with the rest of us, she needs to be locked up.”

I knew he was right; there was no arguing with him.

“When will you know if it’s safe?” I asked, peering up at him.

“When the Slayers are defeated once and for all,” Gavin answered, looking between the two of us. “I already have a plan in motion. I have their location pinned; I’m going to find the leader and kill her myself.”

Telling from the look on his face, I knew he was being truthful. But it was a suicide mission, and I couldn’t let him go through with something like that.

“You will get yourself killed,” I told him. “You have to be smart about this, Gavin.”

“She’s right. It’s a suicide mission,” Henry said, reading my thoughts. “I wouldn’t charge headfirst into a Slayer hideout.”

“I have men that will back me up,” Gavin told us. “I’m not worried about. I’m incredibly powerful. You both know this already.”

I caught Henry’s eyes, and I knew we were both thinking the same thing. Gavin might have been strong and powerful, but the Slayers were even more powerful.

I had a nasty feeling in the pit of my stomach.

“I don’t want you to worry too much,” Gavin said, lowering his tone. He was talking to just me now. I met his eyes, and I knew the worry was reflecting back at me. “I’m a lot tougher than you think.”

“I know you are tough,” I said to him, matching his tone. “I just worry that you aren’t tough enough.”

For a moment, he looked insulted. But he didn’t argue. He straightened his stance and turned toward his waiting Gammas. He said nothing more as he left the scene.

I turned to Henry, who was watching me with a serious look in his eyes.

“We should go,” I told him. “We can’t waste any more time. We have to find the Slayers before he does.”

“Then, we should get to the headquarters and speak to Theo about it. He’s supposed to be getting a team together so hopefully, he has already done that.”

I nodded in agreement.

…

Gavin’s POV

Not tough enough.

The fact that it was Erin who had said that to him hurt Gavin more than anything. But he wasn’t going to let that ruin his day; he finally figured out who the woman in the red cloak was and she was in custody.

whether she was being controlled by the Slayers or not, it didn’t matter. She needed to be in custody and locked away until he knew it was safe.

He saw the crazed look in her eyes and the fury that she felt. The Slayers had their claws in her deep and it took him a while to unhook those claws, but there wasn’t a doubt in his mind that they will be back.

They released their hold to appease him, but it was only a temporary fix. For some reason, they hung on harder to Susanna than they did to Bane.

They must have liked her more.

He wondered how long she had been a vessel.

It was the next morning and Seth had arranged for a press conference that would be worldly broadcasted. Gavin needed to tell everybody that the criminal had been captured, without giving away her full identity.

As he stood at the podium, staring around his pack and glancing at the camera, his confidence only grew more. Gavin has always been good at public speaking, and he rather enjoyed being in front of a crowd.

He felt powerful and in charge; everybody looked up to him, even when they didn’t trust him. He still had their respect and their support. They all stared up at him with wide and curious eyes, wondering what it was he wanted to say.

“The person in charge of all those murders and the burning of the hospital has been caught and captured,” Gavin began.

He paused when he heard all the gasping; they all looked at one another as the murmurs began.

“She was under the control of the Slayers. For the privacy of herself and her family, her identity will not be revealed at this time. However, we do have her in custody until we know for sure that it is safe to release her. She was being controlled by the Slayers, which is a vampire organization that set out to drain the blood of those who are gifted like me. It is with a heavy heart that I say we are not safe and that the Slayers have returned with a vengeance. I ask that everybody stays wary. It is best to remain in your homes unless necessary. I will be putting a lockdown on my pack and as for other Alphas around the werewolf territory, I advise that you do the same. It’s a dangerous world and we all need to be safe.”

There was a moment of silence as everyone processed his words; he had nothing more to say so he stepped back from the podium.

He saw the worried looks on everyone’s faces, but they didn’t linger around and argue with him. They allowed the gammas to escort them away and toward their homes.

Just as Gavin was about to leave, his phone rang. As soon as he saw who was calling, his heart sunk deep into his stomach.

“Hey Gavin, “she said on the other end. “It’s been a while… do you know what time of the month it is?”