Chapter 180

Aiden’s POV

She wasn’t in the penthouse. I called Oliver and told him such and he told me he hadn’t seen Carol at the packhouse either. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t panicking. I already alerted Luca, the head Gamma, about Carol’s disappearance and he, along with his men, are on the search for her and Allen. I had no doubt in my mind that Allen did something to her, but the question was why?

The doctor told me that Carol was eager to get home and tell me about the news of her pregnancy. However, she hasn’t been here or at the packhouse. My heart was racing, and it was taking everything I had to keep my wolf under control. He was out for blood; he wanted to find our mate more than anything.

Her scent was faded in the apartment, which meant she hadn’t been here in a while. I wondered if she had been here at all since this morning.

“Still no sign of her?” Katrina asked, her eyes filled with concern, and I wasn’t sure if it was fake or real.

“No,” I murmured.

I should have locked the front door, but I left it unlocked resulting in Katrina walking into the penthouse as if she owned the place.

“I’m sorry, Aiden. But I told you what I saw. She was in Allen’s car. She looked pretty happy to be there,” she told me, folding her arms across her chest.

I snarled at her; my wolf having heard enough from this she-wolf. There was no way we were going to believe such bullshit.

“That’s enough, Katrina,” I growled. “You have pushed your limits for the last time. I’m not going to believe that Carol ran off with another man.”

“Believe it if you want, or don’t. But Aiden, you should know that someone at the bar the other night saw the two of them together. They were dancing really close and then they kissed. It looked heated… they stopped when Oliver appeared but Aiden—”

“I said that’s enough!” I growled, fur starting to sprout from my arms and legs as my wolf surged to take control. I held him back with all my strength though; if I let him loose, he would kill Katrina in a heartbeat, and I wasn’t going to have the blood of a packmate on my paws. Not unless that blood belonged to Allen.

She stepped backward, looking startled by my reaction and then she sighed.

“You’re right. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said those things to you. I know you love her, and she is the Luna of this pack. I swore to myself and to her, and I shouldn’t be disrespectful,” she said, lowering her gaze.

I sighed; for a second, I could see the Katrina I once knew as a child. We were once good friends, maybe even best friends. She was someone I could rely on when things got tough. I never saw her as more than a friend, but she was an amazing person. Greed and jealousy clouded her from the person she used to be though. But right now, at this moment, it was like she had returned.

“I just need to find her,” I said. “Do you have any idea where Allen lives?”

“No, but you could probably find out from the coach of the hockey team. Doesn’t he keep records of that stuff?”

She was right; why hadn’t I thought about that sooner?

“Katrina, you’re a genius,” I said as I rushed towards the door. Then, I paused. “What if she comes back though? I can’t leave if she ends up returning.”

“How about I stay here?” She suggested. “It’s better than nothing, right?”

I nodded and relented. Carol wouldn’t like Katrina in our space, but she was right. It was better than nothing and this went beyond jealous feelings. We would have to get rid of Katrina’s scent another time; for right now, we just needed to find Carol and make sure she was safe.

“Thank you, Katrina,” I told her.

She smiled.

“I’m hoping we can at least be friends, Aiden. We were friends for a long time. It’d be a shame if that got ruined.”

“I agree,” I replied. “Maybe after this, we can talk more about it. But right now I’m heading to the stadium. If you hear from her—”

“I have your number,” she assured me.

I nodded and left without another word.

Carol, I’m going to find you if it’s the last thing I do.

….

Third Person POV

Katrina watched Aiden’s retreating back and a grin spread across her lips as the door shut. This was perfect; she finally had access to Aiden’s penthouse. She hadn’t been here in a long time and now that she was here, she wasn’t planning on leaving. This was her home now and she was going to make sure every last sign of Carol was gone.

She started with Aiden’s bedroom; there were signs of Carol everywhere and it was sickening. She pressed her lips together and went right into the closet. All of Carol’s gross clothing hung in there with some of Aiden’s.

Katrina couldn’t help but roll her eyes as she took garbage bags and threw all of the clothing away. She went around the room, took pictures off the shelves, and threw them away as well. She knew that Aiden was going to be upset, but she could just say she was doing him a favor. Once she realizes that Carol ran off with another man, he would be getting rid of all this stuff anyway. She might as well get the ball rolling.

She grinned at herself; she was such a good liar that it scared her sometimes.

Once she was sure every last bit of Carol was out of the bedroom, she took it upon herself to crawl into Aiden’s bed and roll around. She wanted to put her scent all over this room; it was her room now. She needed Carol’s scent gone and replaced with her own.

There was a knock on the door, interrupting her thoughts. She crawled out of bed, walked back into the living room, and peeked through the peephole on the front door.

She smiled when she saw who it was.

“Sabby!” She cooed when she pulled the door open.

Her best friend, Sabrina, stood on the other side with a ton of bags and suitcases in hand. Her camera was dangling off her chest.

“How’s my favorite photographer?”

“Exhausted,” she muttered. “You made me pack all your personal items from your apartment after I took that picture of you and Aiden. Why couldn’t you help me?”

She rolled her eyes and stepped aside for Sabrina to walk into the penthouse.

“Because I needed to be here for Aiden,” she replied simply.

“He’s going to be pissed that you pretty much moved into his penthouse,” Sabrina said, setting the bags on the ground.

Katrina shrugged.

“He’ll be so heartbroken; he probably won’t even notice. Besides, once he realizes I only want to be here to support him, he’ll be happy that I’m nearby.”

Sabby rolled her eyes and then her eyes found the trash bags.

“You really threw away all of Carol’s stuff?”

Katrina laughed as she too glanced at the bags.

“That bitch is never coming back,” Katrina said, glancing her nails nonchalantly. “She’s as good as dead.”

Sabby’s eyes widened at Katrina’s comment. Katrina had been so wrapped up in herself and her plans, that she didn’t tell her best friend what she had done and who she had manipulated to get what she wanted.

“I thought the plan was just to cause a misunderstanding between the two of them?” Sabby said, narrowing her eyes at her friend. “They were supposed to leave each other after assuming the worst.”

Katrina shrugged.

“That was the original plan, but it would never work. They communicate too much, and the misunderstanding would get resolved way too soon. I needed to be ensured that Carol wasn’t going to return so that the misunderstanding could live on. Now, Aiden thinks Carol simply ran off with another man.”

Sabby took a step back.

“What exactly did you do, Katrina?”

“You shouldn’t be so surprised, Sabby. You know I would do whatever it takes to get what I want. I want to be Luna, and I want Aiden. You’ve always known this about me. So, why do you seem so shocked?”

“I just thought you were trying to create a misunderstanding. But is it true that Carol is missing? Did you have something to do with that, Katrina?”

“And what if I did?” She asked, folding her arms across her chest. “Are you going to rat me out??”

“No, of course not. You are my friend, and I would never betray your trust. But Katrina, that isn’t right. You shouldn’t have—”

“That’s enough, Sabby,” Katrina said, holding up her hand. “If you aren’t going to help me, then I have no use for you.”

“What does that mean?”

Without warning, Katrina swung and hit Sabrina over the head with a metal paperweight. Sabrina was so wrapped up in her conversation, that she hadn’t noticed that Katrina grabbed it off the nearby desk. Sabby only felt a sharp pain in her head before her entire body went numb and she passed out. She fell to the ground with a thud. Blood spilled out of her head and Katrina groaned.

Now she was going to have to clean the floors and dispose of this body.

The price she pays for love and power.