Born Mine
Chapter 33

You could have heard a pin drop with how quiet the house went. I put the untouched plate of food back on the table and turned to face Grandma. There was worry etched on her face and she was fidgeting with her hands. She took a seat on the empty couch and I cast a wary glance towards Chris to see if he had heard the news but he looked just as confused as I felt.

"What do you mean someone died?" he asked Grandma. "Do you know who it was?"

"No, we don't know much because the authorities are being very tight-lipped about it but they think it was a wild animal or something. It was a young girl, that's why I was so worried last night."

I couldn't help but feel like by wild animal, they meant wolf. If that were true then why didn't anyone say anything about it? Did Darius know when I left his house that someone had died? Did he know who killed the person? A brief moment of panic hit me as I realized that it could have been me. it could have been Serena.

The thought of her had me surging from my seat. I had placed my phone to charge when I went into the bathroom. I quickly shot her a text to be sure she was alive and she wasn't the one who died. I let out a sigh of relief when I saw the three air bubbles that signified she was typing. I didn't wait to see her response, I just wanted proof of life. If anything had happened to her, I would have never forgiven myself.

I made my way back to the living room where Grandma and Chris were watching me with identical worried expressions. I couldn't tell them that I was texting Serena because they were under the impression that I spent the night at her house. Instead of explaining, I just sat down and offered them an apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry for the interruption," I mumbled then turned back to Grandma. "Is there going to be an investigation or a curfew?"

"People think it was just an accident so not yet but they ask that we all be vigilant and they will increase patrols. Chris, I need you to be careful if you are signed up for patrols."

"I will," he assured her.

She stood to her feet as if nothing had happened and walked away. Her words still hung in the air and as I stared at my plate, I realized I had lost my appetite. A few weeks ago, I could have been that girl if Darius did not rescue me. Was it the same wolf that attacked me that killed that girl? Had the wolf been caught? Was another girl going to die?

I wanted to replace answers and I knew Darius would have answers but the more I thought about texting him, the more I was against the idea. I was not going to text first like a desperate one-night stand looking for another lay. If he didn't text me then I would wait until work and ask him during my shift. It seemed like a better option than coming off as desperate or clingy.

"Where did you really go?" Chris asked snapping me out of my thoughts. “Grandma may have bought your lie but I didn't."

"I was with Serena," I kept a blank expression as I spoke and he laughed and stood to his feet.

"Serena has a little sister. I was with her all night and I saw Serena when she was leaving but you weren't with her. You're a good liar, sis, but you're not that great." I opened my mouth to speak but he cut me off. "I don't need to know where you went. I just need to know that you were okay."

"I'm okay," I assured him.

He gave me a curt nod and walked out of the living room effectively leaving me in silence.

When I got to work, the first thing I did was pull Serena into a hug. Seeing her text was one thing but seeing her in person was another. She embraced me with equal fervor and I inhaled the scent of her strawberry hair cream. She pulled away after a second and ran her eyes over me presumably to be sure that I was okay.

"I heard the news about the girl," she told me. "I feel so sad for her and her family. I don't know who she is but I cannot imagine what they are going through."

"I was worried that you were the girl."

She laughed so hard that she had to wipe a stray tear from the side of her eyes. "It is going to take more than a lone animal to kill me, don't worry."

"Was it really an animal?" I asked and she fell silent. I dropped my voice to a whisper as I added the next part. "Was it a werewolf?"

She looked around to make sure no one was listening and pulled me over to the far end of the bar. "I don't know. Darius hasn't told us anything yet and until he does, I refuse to make any speculations."

"He's your leader then," I deduced and she nodded. "They're called Alphas if I'm right."

"Look, if I replace out anything I will let you know but until then I need to ensure that you are completely tight-lipped about the entire thing. The last thing we need is to instill fear into the hearts of the humans who live in this town."

"Shouldn't they be worried? There might be a wolf killing people."

"No one in our pack would do that and even if they did, Darius will replace out, I can guarantee that. He is a fair and just ruler and everyone respects him. No one would jeopardize that."

She spoke about him as if she knew him personally. I could tell that she respected him a lot but it ran deeper than that, it was almost like reverence and idolization. I could not form words for it and the more I looked at her, the more obvious it became.

"Do you like him?" I dropped my voice to a whisper because I wasn't sure I wanted to hear the answer to that. "You speak as if you are close to him."

She crinkled her nose as if I had said something offensive. "No offense, but he's not my type. I respect him as a leader and nothing more. I am close to Darius but not for the reasons you think. I understand that you're jealous-"

"I'm not jealous."

"Of course you're not." She winked. Someone arrived at the bar effectively cutting out conversation short. "We will talk about this later. For now, we have work and all I can do is assure you that I have no feelings for Darius whatsoever, you can relax." She gave me a patronizing squeeze on my shoulder and walked over to the bar to attend to the customer. It was still at the tip of my tongue to demand that I was not jealous of her and Darius but I kept my tongue and focused on my job.

The shift was boring by normal standards. All most people could talk about was the death of the young girl and their varying theories as to what happened to her. I enjoyed listening to them despite how crazy and farfetched most of them were. I heard someone say that she went out for a smoke and rolled off a cliff, I heard another one say that she was mauled by a bear because she stumbled on its cubs by accident. There were no cliffs in the forest and there were no bears either.

Darius and his crew had not yet arrived either and I assumed it was because they were trying to do damage control over what had happened. We were two hours away from the end of our shift when Liam walked into the bar. Serena bristled instantly and she shot him daggers through her eyes. I had more customers than she did at the moment but for some reason. He made his way over to my end of the bar and waited.

I flashed him a smile and took his order once I had gotten to him. I served him faster than I did anyone else mainly because I didn't want to start giving explanations as to why I ditched him last night. I handed his beer to him and he thanked me. I made to walk away but his hand wrapped around my wrist.

"Is it safe to assume that you were called home early as the reason why I didn't see you at all last night?" he didn't sound annoyed, merely curious as he asked.

"I'm working right now, Liam. Is it okay if we have this discussion later?"

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"So you were avoiding me." He clicked his tongue in disbelief. "I didn't want to believe it but I guess it was true. Is there someone else?"

"There is no one, Liam. Look, I think you're a nice guy but I'm not looking for anything serious. I just want to work and go home. You're supposed to leave soon anyway. You have a fancy job as a lawyer and you're married. I'm sure your wife is waiting for you."

He twirled the ring on his middle finger and hesitated before pulling it off and slipping it into his pocket. I didn't know what point he was trying to make by doing that but I decided to see what game he was playing at.

"My wife is dead," he said after a moment of hesitation. "She died a year ago. She was young and she was beautiful"

"I'm sorry for your loss. How did she die?"

"It was a wild animal attack, a wolf to be specific."

It felt almost too coincidental that his wife died the same way the girl died last night. I didn't think werewolf attacks were that common but since Liam was not aware that I knew of his status as a werewolf, I decided to play innocent.

"I hope the animal was caught."

A dark look crossed his face. "It was."

I placed my hand over his in an attempt to offer him some form of sympathy. I tried to move but he stopped me by grabbing my hand and keeping it in place.

"Just one second, it has been a while since anyone offered me any sympathy."

I felt bad for him so I stayed. The bar was practically empty so I didn't see a need to hurry. I could feel Serena shooting daggers my way but I didn't turn to her. Just as I was about to pull away, the door to the bar opened and Darius walked in. His eyes found mine immediately and he did not look happy.