Chapter 142

Chris

The interrogation room was dimly lit, save for one hanging light over the cold metal table. I pursed my lips as I peered through the small window that was set into the door; there, seated at one of the chairs, was an all-too-familiar head of red hair.

Leonard cleared his throat beside me. “We found her hiding out beneath one of the docks at the southern beach,” he said with a grim tone in his voice. “Seemed like she was waiting for a boat to pick her up.”

The words made me wince. So Amelia likely hadn’t been working alone—I had suspected that there was more to this from the start, but I supposed that a part of me had hoped that it didn’t run as deep as this. I had hoped, somehow, that maybe this was a one-off situation with a crazy woman who just wanted to bang Moonstone’s Alpha.

But now…

I frowned and turned to face Leonard. “Any word from the scouts?” I asked, referring to those we had stationed where Ava and I had seen that hooded figure drop the baggie of Moonbite powder.

Leonard shook his head solemnly. “Nothing. They haven’t seen the person return yet.”

“Any sightings of unauthorized boats heading for our harbors?”

“No. None.”

A low growl rumbled in the back of my throat at that. So whoever Amelia had been working with had likely abandoned her, which would just make getting to the bottom of this whole mess that much harder.

“Well,” I said, reaching for the cold metal door handle, “let’s hope she caves after a bit of interrogation.”

Leonard nodded. With that, I swung the door open and strode inside.

Amelia didn’t look up from her lap, not even when the metal door slammed shut behind me—although I did see her muscles tense. Her hair, hanging in her face, obstructed my view of her expression. I hoped she was terrified.

“Good afternoon,” I growled as I strode up to the table and pulled out the chair opposite her. I made an effort to ensure that the legs scraped loudly against the stone floor; that caused her to jump again, although she still didn’t look up.

Sitting, I cleared my throat. “I said good afternoon, Amelia.”

“Afternoon, Alpha…”

“Look at me.”

The command in my voice brooked no argument. When she finally whipped her head up to look at me, her eyes widened at the expression of stony fury on my face. I made a show of curling my upper lip back ever so slightly and dropping my fangs just enough so she could see them.

She swallowed hard, her throat bobbing, and squirmed in her seat.

For several long moments, I allowed the room to remain silent. Good, I thought. Let her squirm. She had drugged me, drugged my girlfriend, drugged my friends. She had tried to take advantage of me.

And worst of all…

“You killed our Elder,” I growled, baring my teeth. “You killed him, you conniving little bitch.”

Amelia squirmed again. It was true; less than an hour ago, just minutes after I had sent her down here to stew in the interrogation room, I had received word of Degas’s passing. The entire pack was in mourning, myself included, for our dear Elder.

“He lived in peace in our pack for two centuries,” I continued. “Two centuries, most of which he spent not only serving Moonstone, but all five packs; he was a legend, one of the oldest of our kind to have ever existed. And you pushed him into a coffee table.”

“I—I didn’t mean to—”

“Bullshit!” I slammed my fist on the metal table, causing Amelia to jump and whimper in fear. She would have likely jumped up and scurried over to the corner, had the shackles around her wrists not been attached to a hook in the floor.

Another long silence. Then, Amelia whimpered, “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry doesn’t even begin to cut it,” I growled. “I could have you executed, you know. Right in the town square, in front of the entire pack.”

Amelia’s whimpers turned to sobs. I let her simper for a while before I cleared my throat, slamming my hand on the table again to silence her.

“But I won’t. Because if you die, I won’t be able to get the information I need.”

Amelia sniffled, her red-rimmed eyes darting up to me. “I’ll tell you anything,” she pleaded. “Just… Let me go home. Please.”

I narrowed my eyes at her, scanning her face intently, before I leaned forward in my chair. “Tell me what your angle was,” I began. “Why did you drug me last night? Did you drug my friends, too? My girlfriend?”

“I… I…” She gulped hard. “Look, I… I don’t—”

“Quit stammering and get out with it.”

Amelia nodded hastily and swallowed again. “I didn’t want to hurt anyone, I swear,” she began slowly, haltingly—I allowed her to speak, even though the sound of her voice made me want to punch a hole in the wall. “I just… I needed one night with you. I went to every effort to take fertility leaves, and I just needed to get pregnant with your child. That’s it.”

My eyes widened fractionally. “Pregnant?”

“Yes.” She looked away, gritting her teeth. “To make you marry me.”

There was another long silence after that as my mind reeled. Fertility leaves… A baby… Marriage.

“Did someone put you up to this?” I ground out. “Or was this little plan yours and yours alone?”

The redhead didn’t answer right away. She dropped her gaze back to her lap, wringing her hands together worriedly. The rattling of her chains was nearly enough to set me on fire.

“Answer me, dammit!” I bellowed, jumping to my feet and slamming both hands into the table.

“S-Someone put me up to it!” she screeched, trembling with terror and practically shrinking beneath my towering form. “I never wanted to come here, I… I love another, back in my home pack… But I was given no choice. I was told if I didn’t comply, then he would be killed.”

Despite myself, I felt my shoulders slacken at her words. It could have been a complete and utter farce, but something about her terror-stricken stature and trembling voice told me that she was too afraid to lie to me.

“Who told you that you had to come here?” I asked. “And why?”

She gulped again and shook her head. “I don’t know who it was, or why,” she replied quickly. “They cornered me on my way home from the pub one night, and I couldn’t see their face beneath their hood. They told me that I needed to come here and marry you, get pregnant with your heir… And that if I didn’t, they would kill my love.”

“And you believed them?” I bit out.

She nodded, every tendon in her neck standing out. “They showed me—they took me to the body of a girl they had already killed. One who didn’t follow their instructions. There were so many cuts…”

There was another long pause before she continued. “I couldn’t bear to see that happen to anyone I loved, so I agreed. I came here, and I took the candies they gave me, and I gave them to you. I don’t know about your friends or your Acting Luna; I only drugged you and no one else.”

“And this person,” I said, still not entirely sure if she was telling the truth but sensing no lie in her voice, “you said they were wearing a… hood?”

She nodded.

“And you didn’t see any other defining features?”

“No,” she replied, furrowing her brow. “Just a dark cloak, and… they were slightly hunched. They seemed to be disguising their voice, and… and…”

Amelia’s voice trailed off, her eyes widening slightly. I leaned forward and flashed my teeth, silently urging her to continue. Gulping again, she murmured, “And they were at your party. I spoke to them there.”

Suddenly, I felt as if all of the air had been sucked out of the room. The strange drug peddler, at the ball… How? Why?

Before I could formulate my response, Amelia was whimpering again. “Please, Alpha, that’s all I know… Please don’t kill me…”

I grit my teeth; my wolf bristled in the back of my mind, some feral part of me urging me to kill her right here and now, but I couldn’t.

Without a word, I strode out, leaving Amelia’s simpering form behind me. I found Leonard in the hallway, and he pushed himself away from where he was leaning on the wall as I strode up to him.

“Double our efforts to find the drug peddler and bring Ava’s neighbor in for questioning,” I ordered, my voice hoarse. “As for Amelia, let her stew in a cell for another day or two just in case she miraculously remembers any more details…”

I frowned, glancing over my shoulder at the interrogation room door.

“...And in the meantime, contact Moonshine pack. Tell them to come and collect their prisoner.”