CHAPTER 15

CHAPTER FIFTEEN
COLLIN’S POV
Nothing was familiar about the handwriting and that just made me growl in frustration. This was just not working in my favor. I needed to find the culprit before that stupid Alphas meeting tomorrow. Not that I looked down on them or anything but sitting around with them for God knows how long instead of me being on the hunt, just seemed like a waste of time for me. I did not care if they lost their members too, but I was not going to rest until I figured out who this killer was.

“You know the pack could use its Alpha right now,” Danny stood in the doorway, hands pocketed.

Dressed in blue jeans and a dark shirt, he looked much better than he had been a few hours ago. I wished I could say the same but as much as every bone in my body craved the rest, my brain was just not ready to give up on this. I didn’t want to face my pack members without having any update. The last thing I needed was them looking down on me the same way my father always did.

“I need to figure this out Danny and besides, I doubt they really need me there. We are already done with the funeral and I have a psycho killer to tract down before he kills anymore of my men,” There was an edge in my voice. Between tracking down someone who has a target on all the alphas in the area and sitting down for a bonfire, drinking till dawn, I knew what my brain’s obvious choice was.

“I’m your friend Collins. Sometimes what the members need is just you to be there with them like used to do back then. Your presence there especially as they mourn their friends, will be an assurance that they can always count on you despite the threat on your head. Besides. You need a break from this so you can think clearly. So come on, let’s go join the party and I’m not taking no for an answer,” Stubborn ass man. How again did we become friends?

“You are such an annoying jerk, you know that?” I questioned with a light, picking up my black leather jacket from the hook behind my desk, sliding it over my upper body.

“I know and that’s why we are best friends,” he placed his left arm on my shoulder but I shrugged it off, walking ahead of him.

“Personal space Danny,” I pointed out, adding a slight chuckle.

“Alright, Mr. I’m-allergic-to-touch. I wonder how you even screwed that girl,” he chuckled as I locked my door, pushing the bunch of keys inside the inner pocket of the jacket.

“Well, she is a woman and you are guy. Who do you really think I’m going to let touch me? “I questioned as we grew closer to the crowd of drinking members of the pack. The image of Nadia naked against me as I pounded into her, flashed before my eyes. Fuck! The last thing I’d want is to get a fucking boner at this moment. I shook the thoughts off my head as I resumed my walk. Suddenly, I stopped as my gaze landed on Laila, my mood instantly dropping. She was sitting by herself, gazing in the fire, her gaze distant. That look on her face reminded me why I fell in love with her in the first place. She looked so damn innocent and delicate that one would never think she could hurt a fly. But looks are clearly deceiving and she had made me learn that lesson the hard way.

“Don’t let her ruin your night for you,” Danny whispered, obviously aware of who I was looking at.

“Yu have no idea just how much her mere presence repulses me. Every time I see her, I’m just reminded of how stupid she made me feel and the heartbreak she caused me. I hate her presence enough to want to snap her body between my teeth!” I gritted through my teeth. I never thought it would be so easy to hold someone in such deep hatred; someone I would have at one time died for.

“Just ignore her,”

“You are right. Besides, I’m over her,” I said as I walked towards the group that was making bad jokes but the moment they saw me, they all fell quiet.

“Come on Walter, I want to hear that story too,” I said light-heartedly as I grabbed a glass, filling it with bourbon as I joined the group on the make-shift log seat, a few paces away from the fire.

“Um…It’s really nothing,” he answered almost too quickly, his gaze flirting around in fear. He was afraid of one. One part of me wanted to sing in pride at the thought that they feared me. If they feared me, that meant they would not even think about crossing me. But the other part of me felt a little bit of hurt; hurt by the fact that now I was cut off from them. Back then, I was the Alpha that loved spending time with his pack treasuring every second of it but after that betrayal, I knew I had to be careful. The carefree part of me had been suddenly become so cautious of the people around me.

“Hey, I want to hear the story too, “Danny luckily came to my rescue, as he joined me, taking a sip from his glass

Walter took a glance toward me and Danny just chuckled,” You are afraid of this guy? Come on, this Collins and there has never been a better Alpha than him. Just because he snapped once over someone who did him wrong, it doesn’t mean he is going to snap at y’all. Right Collins?”

Instead of answering, I stood up, eyeing each of them with a stern expression before opening my lips.

“We lost three of us. Tonight, it’s not about who is Alpha, who is beta or who is whatever. Tonight, it’s about who we lost. Forget that I’m your Alpha and let’s spend the night, grieving and remembering the part of the family we lost to a cold-bloodied killer,” I said and I saw most of them nod their heads in agreement. Great! That was where I wanted them to be.

“I’ll drink to that,” Walter raised his glass after gaining some courage and so did the rest of the pack.

The night turned out to be not so disastrous after all. It made me realize that I had been so caught pack in my own pain and fear of being betrayed that I forgot what it was like to hang out with the pack. Maybe I could be both casual around them and still be the fucking Alpha they would never dare to cross; unless of course, they wanted their heads hanging in the woods. Chatters about the dead sentinels swirled around me and before we knew it, the clock had struck three in the morning. As much as I hated admitting it, Danny had been right. I had needed this break even though I did not realize that early enough.

“Remember last year’s wolf games? Damn! I’m really going to miss Peter. He tackled that wolf from Creek Moon pack like he was nothing!” Robin, another delta said.

“He had this calculating look on his face and he only had to strike twice before the wolf went down. I’ve got to admit though, when I first heard that a sentinel was going to represent us in the wolf games that day, I was a bit scared that we were going to lose. Thankfully, he got a good teacher; an alpha who made him realize that to be a winner has nothing to do with station,” Walter said, stealing glance at me.

“No, he was a good student and I just happened to be a lucky teacher. We may have lost him but let’s make sure we keep his memory alive; all their memories alive. So now, this is probably the worst timing ever but we need to find their killer; together. We need to avenge their deaths. Who is with me?” I questioned, letting my authoritative tone slide on.

“Count me in. Peter was my best friend and whoever this rogue killer is, I’m going to do everything to find him,” Walter said.

Several ‘Me too’s’ shot through air and I could not help the smile of pride in my face.

“But promise that you will not go back to being that scary Alpha again. We know she hurt you so much and also betrayed our pack as a Luna but we are your men. We will never stop being your friends and I personally vow with my life that I will take anyone down who betrays you in any way,” Walter vowed and others said the same thing.

I glanced at Laila sitting on the other side of the fire, gazing into the fire. I thought I had lost the respect of my pack members because of her but clearly I hadn’t. A smirk consequently worked its way up my face.

“That’s a deal,”

“I came late to the party but this does sound like a great idea. Let’s hunt this motherfucker down together!” Ethan said as he joined us.