Chapter 95

Erin’s POV

I couldn’t believe what I was looking at. My heart was crushed, and I stumbled backward into Henry who stood behind me, also shocked.

Moments later, Bane arrived, and he took charge right away.

“We need to get the body out of here and put the pack on lockdown. Nobody is to leave until I can figure out who did this to my Beta.”

I could hear the women of the pack crying their eyes out, but their voices grew distorted. Everything around me was growing distorted.

I looked at Bane who had dark eyes; though he was taking charge, there were no emotions on his face.

I wondered if it was him that had done this.

Thinking that this was our fault, that Jeremy died because we were snooping around, made my heart squeeze painfully in my chest.

“We need to get out of here...” Henry whispered from behind me.

At that moment, Bane looked over at us and his eyes darkened even more. His eyes locked onto mine and then he did something that completely turned my stomach.

He smirked.

Henry grabbed my arm and pulled me away from the crowd that continued to grow as word traveled around the pack.

I went with him reluctantly and we ran from the pack and into the forest. As soon as we were a far enough distance away, I let out a sob of desperation.

We were responsible for the death of Beta Jeremy. This was completely our fault… it was my fault.

“Breathe, Erin… we need to stay focused,” Henry said, trying to get me to calm down.

I realized I was crying pretty hard; I could hardly contain my thoughts. I couldn’t believe Jeremy was alive one moment, and dead not even an hour later.

“This is our fault…” I gasped.

He wrapped his arms around my body and allowed me to cry on his shoulders.

“It’s not our fault. It was Bane. Well… it was the Slayers. They are trouble; not us.”

“But if we didn’t come here…”

“We’d have no answers. We were only doing our jobs. What happened to Jeremy was unfortunate, but we didn’t kill him,” Henry assured him. “Just breathe. We will try to get more information tomorrow. Maybe find out who that ring is for. But I think we’ve had enough for one night.”

I agreed with him, but my heart was so broken.

I don’t think Jeremy was a bad guy and he certainly didn’t deserve to die like that. Jeremy thought of himself as Bane’s friend… he trusted Bane even if Bane was acting strangely these last few weeks.

He never suspected that Bane could do something so cruel.

Even knowing that he was a vessel and being controlled by the vampires, I didn’t think they would kill Jeremy either.

I lowered my gaze and allowed some more tears to fall from my eyes. I was ashamed that all I wanted at that moment was to speak to Gavin, but I knew that was probably not the best.

I went with Henry back home; I curled up on the couch with Henry beside me. He took my hands into his and held onto them for a long while, allowing me to process what had happened.

“This wasn’t our fault...” he kept repeating to me.

“I know…” I said in return. “But we put him in danger by speaking with him.”

“We went there to do what we had to do to get the information. We couldn’t have foreseen this.”

I knew he was right, but it didn’t make it any less painful. The image of Jeremy lying in the middle of the road covered in his own blood with a dagger sticking out of his chest will forever be haunting my mind.

I shuddered at the memory and closed my eyes, allowing some more tears to fall from them. That’s when Henry wrapped his arms around me and held me close. He allowed me to cry into his shoulder and it was comfortable and familiar.

I found myself relaxing as he continued the embrace.

It’s been so long since I felt comfortable like this; especially considering what happened today. It’s also been a long time since I saw someone dying before my eyes while on a mission. It wasn’t something I ever wanted to see again when I came out of retirement.

Just as started to pull away from Henry, he did something I couldn’t even fathom.

He kissed me.

For a moment, my heart stopped in my chest.

He had obviously gotten the wrong idea from our short embrace and thought it would be an appropriate time to make a move on me. I instantly thought of Gavin and how much I missed his kisses.

Henry was always a gentle kisser, which wasn’t bad, but it didn’t make my heart beat quickly either.

I sat frozen; I couldn’t even move my lips along his.

I finally managed to pull away from him, staring at his lovestruck face. He was gazing down at my lips with this hunger in his eyes. My heart squeezed painfully in my chest; I didn’t want to break his heart, not again. But I knew I couldn’t allow him to think there would ever be anything between us again.

“Henry… I—”

Knock knock!

There was a knock on the door that stopped my words. I quickly stood up; my wolf grew excited, and my heart fell into my stomach as Gavin’s familiar aroma filled the room.

I wondered if Henry could sense who it was too, or if it was just me.

Without saying anything, I went to answer the door and sure enough, Gavin stood before me.

He was distraught and breathless; like he had just run miles to come see me. I frowned and stared around his face, wondering what was going on.

“It’s Susanna…” he breathed. “She escaped from the jail.”

“What?” I gasped.

I knew that Susanna was still under the influence of the Slayers. But were they really capable of breaking her out of Gavin’s jail cell? I was finding that difficult to believe, but it wasn’t impossible.

“There are no signs of her anywhere,” Gavin continued. “We are still looking, but she’s most likely going to come after you.”

He was right; I needed to be wary of this. The Slayers have it out for me for killing their last leader. This current leader wants to take me out as revenge.

Not that Gavin knows that information, but he’s aware they are after me.

“I’ll make sure she’s safe,” Henry said, walking beside me and wrapping an arm around my shoulders.

I instantly tensed; Gavin stared at Henry’s hand that remained on my shoulder and I could see the pure fury that was burning in his eyes. He wanted to rip Henry’s hands off and possibly rip his throat out.

I could practically hear the growl in Gavin’s throat.

I didn’t move away from Henry though, despite Emily pleading for me to do so. Instead, I stood in my place and kept my eyes locked on Gavin’s.

“She’s in good hands, Alpha,” Henry continued with a smug look. “You don’t need to worry.”

Gavin was at a loss for words, or so it seemed.

He recovered quickly though; he straightened his stance and met my eyes.

“I just came to warn you,” he said, keeping his tone even. “I’ll be leaving now.”

I wanted to say something to him; anything to get him to stay. But I knew it was probably better if he left.

“Thank you,” I called after him.

He paused for a moment like he was going to say something in return, but he chose not to. He continued to walk toward his waiting car.

…

The next morning.

“With Susanna still out there, are you sure you want to work today? You could call out,” Henry suggested before I left the house this morning.

“I can’t miss any more days of work,” I told him. “I’ll be safe.

He gave me a quick hug before releasing me.

“If you need anything, just call me. I’m meeting with a client today, but I don’t mind leaving to come get you.”

“I’ll be fine,” I assured him once more before I left the house.

Upon arriving at work the whispers around me had me stunned to my core.

“Apparently she’s living with Gavin Pierce,” a coworker whispered to the other. “I think she might be his girlfriend.”