Chapter 78

Harper’s POV

“Have a nice day,” I tell the woman at the motel counter. She waves as I walk out to the parking lot and to the car Nora let me borrow.

If I’m going to prove myself innocent, I have to look for evidence. The only place I know to do that is at my clinic, since that’s where Lucas said the wolf souls were stored during transport. I can’t let him accuse me without at least trying to fight for myself.

Again, the ache in my chest grows. He of all people should have believed me, but that would imply I had a chance to defend myself. I didn’t.

Maybe he’ll listen if I give him enough evidence.

I hold onto the hope that Lucas isn’t as stupid as he appeared to be the day he chose to throw me in prison. I pull the car out onto the street and turn in the direction of my clinic. Starting at ground zero—and not thinking about the man I want to run back to—is my best bet at winning here.

I try not to think about how Lucas’s betrayal hurt, but it sticks with me.

The further I move away from the pack house, the more pain I feel. Like before I moved back, the pain radiates from the mate mark, proving that Lucas really is my mate. I silently curse my father for taking my wolf.

At least, with her, I could have had a better chance of finding him. I also silently curse Mason and Brandon. How could they not recognize their own Alpha in that picture they used to search the pack?

Irritated all over again, I park in the clinic’s parking lot and climb out of my car.

I know my assistant told me another doctor was taking over the clinic, but when I walk in, I don’t expect such a large change.

The room is bustling with patients. Nurses walk back and forth to help people, but the room is cold. The doctor is nowhere in sight, but I do spot the site manager.

“Becky!”

She spins around, gasps, then smiles.

“Harper! What are you doing here? I thought you moved back to…” she glances around as she comes close and whispers, “The pack.”

“What?” I’m confused for a moment at her words before realizing what it means.

“Are you…”

She nods, “I thought you knew. I was exiled for rejecting my Alpha mate. He didn’t really like that I didn’t want to be with him while he was married to another woman. You didn’t know?”

I shake my head, surprised. She never talked about pack life or werewolves—of course, neither did I, but that’s beside the point. I didn’t realize I had a connection to the werewolf world so close… which means, Logan could’ve been right.

Things could have been happening here that I had no clue about.

“Could I talk to you for a minute? Do you have some time?” I ask, looking around. The patients all seem to be attended to, so I don’t feel bad about pulling Becky aside when she says she has a few minutes to spare.

I pull her into a side room that’s not being used, and she asks, “What’s up? Did things not work out? I’m not sure Doctor Burns will be willing to sell the clinic back—”

“That’s not it,” I interrupt, grabbing her hand. Then, I drop it as a thought enters my mind. There was only one other person who had complete access to the clinic and the clinic’s storage, and that was Becky.

A sense of dread drops like a rock in my gut, and I find myself feeling that I need to know if she was in on Logan’s crimes. If she was, I could have a way to prove myself innocent.

“Were there ever any strange people poking around the clinic when I wasn’t here?” I ask, taking a step back.

Becky smiles and shakes her head, “Not that I know of. Could you give me more information? Did you find something missing from your paperwork or personal belongings that you took with you?”

“No, it’s not that,” I say, trying to find a way to ask without giving away my suspicions. “I just found some paperwork while preparing for taxes that detailed some items we stored here, but I didn’t recognize the sender or recipient. I was traveling, so I thought I’d stop by and ask if you remember them, but I forgot the papers at home.”

The lie sounds ridiculous even to me, but I hope she falls for it.

However, with the tight smile and the tense laugh as she says, “I’m not sure,” tells me she’s not going to reveal the truth. And in that, I know she must’ve been in on something illegal that’s been going on.

“If you can’t remember, it’s fine. I’ll just ask my consultant to find a category for it where it doesn’t look suspicious,” I tell her with a nonchalant wave of my hand.

She beams at this and throws an arm around my shoulders, “That sounds like a great idea. Now, I’ve got to get back to work. This place won’t run itself.”

She laughs, and I laugh with her as she leads me back toward the front doors. I let her, not wanting to get myself into any trouble, or to tip her off to the fact that I realize she’s lying through her teeth.

Though, even as I wave at her and walk back to my car, I don’t leave. Instead, I sneak around to the back and tuck myself between the wall and the dumpster. The rotten smell of trash makes me gag and has my eyes watering, but I plug my nose and wait.

Not even five minutes later, I hear the back door open, and Becky’s voice fills the air.

“I don’t know how she knew,” she hisses into her phone.

Quietly, I slip my phone from my pocket and open my camera app. I hit record and lean over, barely peeking out as I record her conversation.

“No, she didn’t show me the papers, but we both know these ‘unknown packages’ are the items we stored for Logan,” she bites out. “I took them to the Domain myself. Do you know what they’ll do if she takes that information to their Alpha? We moved illegal substances and wolf souls for him. We could be executed for that if they come for us!”

I lean a bit further, wanting to get her on the video, but my foot slips. A squeak rips through the air, and Becky freezes.

Jerking myself back into the small space, I hold my breath as she whispers, “I think there’s someone here.”

Fumbling with my phone, I end the recording and pull up Nora’s messages. I send her a quick SOS message, barely hitting send before a hand clamps down on my ankle.

“Now, you should’ve left when I told you,” Becky says, yanking on my leg.

Concrete slices into my arms and legs as she drags me out from behind the dumpster. I gasp in pain and try to kick myself free, but her eyes flare with anger. She reaches for me, and I try to dodge, but she’s faster.

She grabs me by the hair and before I can blink, her fist rams into the side of my head.

And everything goes dark.