Chapter 13

DAY 1: ROYAL PACK
LOGAN’S POINT OF VIEW
“Logan! Logan!” Melody yelled, dashing into the dining room. I was in the middle of having breakfast, but with the urgency in her tone, I lost my appetite. Melody was never one to be so serious unless something was wrong. Very wrong.
“What’s wrong?”
“Vampires.”
I ran as fast as I could, heading for the pack training grounds. The smell of blood filled the air, and I scrunched up my nose in disgust. I halted in my tracks when I saw bodies lay on the ground—lifeless. I didn’t understand. We were allies, so why would they attack us? What would they gain from it?
“Kieran can’t betray us in such a manner.” I shook my head in disbelief, “It can’t be him.”
“As much as I would like to believe the same thing, I cannot.” She walked ahead of me and I followed. She kneeled in front of a body and trailed her finger down the woman’s neck. There was a mark on it. A vampire’s mark. “It is Kieran.”
“I’ll kill that piece of shit.”
“I’ll bury his body in the river.” Melody stood up. “This is too much for me to see first thing in the morning.” She looked away from the bodies. “I’m going to ask Carter to send him a message.”
“You do that.” I responded, turning on my heels. “I cannot wait to bury my hands in his chest.”
<<<>>>
I didn’t have to wait long because in about an hour, Kieran was at the pack’s border, looking as happy as ever. One would think he had won an award. Psychopath.
“Logan, my man.” He greeted, casually leaning against a tree. I gave him a once over. He still looked the same—younger, even. With black hair and black eyes that complemented his pale skin, he was a good-looking devil. “Been a while.”
“It has, Kieran.” I responded. “I am aware this isn’t how we treat you when you come here, but times have changed.”
He looked confused, but still nodded. “Okay… What’s this about?”
“We found pack members dead this morning.” I stated, studying him closely for anything that would expose him.
His brows drew together. “That’s sad. How are their families faring?”
The genuine look of concern on his face would have swayed me if I didn’t already know better. He was a lying snake. “What do you think?” I crossed my arms over my chest. “Do you think they’d be happy?”
“Who’d be happy if they lose someone?” He responded, pushing himself off the tree. “So, why did you ask to see me?”
“They were vampire markings on them.”
At this, Kieran laughed hysterically for over twenty seconds. He even had tears in his eyes at one point. Was this a joke to him?
“You think we killed them? I killed them?” His face turned hard as he averted his gaze from me and to Melody.
“Of course you did.” Melody said, glaring daggers at him. If only looks could kill.
Kieran turned to me. “Prove it to me.” He said lowly, making him seem really dangerous. “Prove to me I killed them.”
Melody looked at him incredulously. “What do you mean, prove it to you? We found your fang mark on their bodies.”
Kieran laughed. “Oh, really? Why didn’t I think of that? Hmm?” He tilted his head to his side. “If I killed them, I’m not that dumb to leave marks on their bodies.”
“I don’t care if you would leave marks on their bodies or not.” I said, pointing a finger at him. “Why did you kill them? What was your aim?”
Kieran stepped into the pack grounds, totally ignoring my glares. He stopped in front of me and poked my chest once.
“If you can prove that I killed them, I’ll tell you.”
“What other prove do you want? I’ve told you we found fang marks on their bodies.” Melody said, sounding pissed at him.
He pulled Melody close, away from her mate, Carter. Ignoring Carter’s growls, he kissed her on her cheek. “Killing someone takes a lot.” He tightened his hold around Melody’s waist when she tried to move away from him. “The marks you speak of,” He looked up from Melody’s mark, “Ever wondered if they could be forged?”
Why hadn’t I thought of that? We had griffins around and it was very obvious they disliked werewolves, but why would randomly kill pack members?
“Stop moving.” Kieran told Melody, wrapping his hands around her waist. “The fang of a vampire determines the mark. However, one thing doesn’t change.”
I knew Carter wasn’t listening to what Kieran was saying because all he wanted to rip Kieran’s hand off his mate’s waist.
“What is the same?” I asked.
“That’s for me to know and for you to find out. It’s your assignment, Beta.” He kissed Melody’s cheek again.
“Kiss her again and you will regret it.” Carter threatened, taking a step forward.
“Oh, dear.” There was a smile on Kieran’s face. He knew he was provoking Carter, and he still did it. “Keep her close because you never know when I’ll come and take her away from you. I’ll come like a thief in the night.”
He let go of Melody and smiled as she went to stand beside her mate. “Beta Logan, beautiful Melody,” He winked at her. “And Carter. We really should hang out sometime because I enjoy making you mad. It makes me forget about all my problems.”
“Just keep your hands away from my mate or you’ll lose them.” Carter warned.
Kieran laughed before nodding his head. “Whatever you say.”
He turned to me with a small smile playing on his lips. “I have to be on my way. Thank you for not trying to kill me before hearing what I had to say.”
“Leave already.” Carter muttered.
“I’m going, monkey face.”
Before Carter could reply to Kieran’s comment on his face, he ran off.
“I guess we have got to look deeper. We may be missing something.”
<<<>>>
Why did this have to happen when the twins were away from the pack? I didn’t want Valeria to return and be disappointed she left me in charge, but I knew she would be. It hadn’t been up to seventy-two hours that she left and we lost more than a hundred pack members. She would definitely demote me, I swear.
“Stop pacing, Logan. You’re confusing me.” Carter complained, leaning back in his chair.
We were in Valeria’s study, a place where we often had meetings. Melody was quiet as she seemed to be in deep thought.
“Mel, what are you thinking about?” I asked.
She looked up at me and ran a hand through her hair. “What Kieran said. It’s possible the vampire marks were forged and we know there’s only one being that could do that. What’s confusing is why griffins would want to kill werewolves, especially ones from the royal pack. He could have attacked smaller packs, but he chose the Royal pack. It’s as if he was trying to pass a message to us.”
She was right.
“That doesn’t mean Kieran isn’t also a suspect.” Carter spoke up, his eyes darkening a little. He was still pissed about what the vampire had done. I couldn’t blame him.
“That’s true, but all this griffin talk is bringing me to King Lucas’ death.”
“I’m listening.” I sat down across from her, wanting to know where this conversation was going.
“We all think it was Valeria’s mate who killed the king, but what if it was a griffin?”
“That’s not possible.” Carter said the exact words in my mind and Melody shook her head.
“It is very possible. Mavros’ battle is with Valeria and not the king. I’m not a god expert, but I think Mavros would have wanted the king to watch him cause his daughter pain.”
As much as I hated to admit it, Melody was making a very valid point here. Mavros would find so much pleasure in killing Valeria in front of the king, so killing him would not make sense. But if it was a griffin, it could only mean they wanted war with the wolves. A war we couldn’t take part in because there was a bigger one coming for us.
“So, what you’re trying to say is that King Vladimir or some other griffin took Layton Hunter’s form and killed the king?” Carter scratched his head, his expression showing his confusion.
“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. If I’m right, King Vladimir and his kind are going to hear from me real soon. I just don’t understand why he would kill the king? Was there some kind of bad blood between them?”
“None that I know of.” I answered, getting up from my seat.
“It doesn’t really matter, does it? Point is, he killed the king and he must pay.” Carter said, hatred dripping off his voice like poison.
“We can’t attack without Valeria.” I reminded him, “She makes the rules now. Let’s pray she returns in one piece first before planning a war.”
“She had better return soon.”
I hope so.