Chapter 34

Keith

As soon as he heard the front door close, confirming that Shirley had left, Keith sat back down in his chair. Swiftly, he ran a hand over his face, wiping away a lingering layer of irritation before he tore his hand away again. However, even despite his actions, he couldn’t rid himself of the thought that there’s something not quite right.

Something was off with Shirley and even Chaos seemed to agree. The wolf kept making his own opinions clear - insisting that he found the woman strange, though familiar somehow. Which was only fueling the suspicions that kept swirling around Keith’s head.

Shirley kept claiming that Anya was her sister and seemed to have the perfect answer to every one of his questions. But Keith couldn’t help but think that was because Shirley was Anya. They were too strikingly similar for him to easily shake the feeling.

Then again, they also had their differences. It was in their speech patterns, clothes, and the way they carried themselves. Anya had been so easily youthful and impulsive while Shirley was more mature and thoughtful. And of course, their scents were different, which was the main argument against his suspicions.

He’d asked Shriley to stay behind not only because he’d wanted to question her, but also so he could take in her scent again. He’d hoped to find that she’d merely covered herself with a disturbing amount of perfume to mask her real scent, but he quickly discovered that wasn’t the case. If anything, she didn’t wear any sort of perfume - the scent she exuded was her own.

And yet, he didn’t feel fully convinced. Something was wrong and he knew he needed to figure it out. He’d have to keep a watchful eye on Shirley - just like he’d done with her sister.

~

The following day, Keith was up to his head in paperwork after spending the entire morning taking call after call. He’d been devoting nearly all of his time to the missing she-wolf case and had been trying to collect as much information as he could. However, despite more cases popping up and all of the strict tracking he’d ordered - there were no leads. It was as if someone was anticipating his every move and knew just how to escape his notice.

It was maddening. How was it possible that whoever was behind this was executing their plan so cleverly? He knew wolves could be cunning when they wanted to be, but apparently they were dealing with some kind of mastermind. But that couldn’t be true, or at some point he knew the person would slip up. No matter what it took, he would get the bottom of it all.

Finished with one file, Keith harshly tossed it to the side before he began to reach for another. Only, his hand never managed to grab it as he was suddenly interrupted by his phone loudly ringing beside him.

“Hello?” he clipped out upon answering it.

“Hey, boss,” Ron said with a sigh, sounding a little frazzled. “I got some news and you’re not going to like it.”

“What is it?” Keith asked without hesitation. At that point he’d been drowning in bad news all morning, he figured he could handle a little more.

“There’s a protest down at the square,” Ron informed him. “A large group of locals are unhappy with the upcoming launch of the company and are voicing their concerns.”

“What?” Keith bit out, sweeping a hand through his hair. “How many are there?”

“Dozens,” the man admitted. “And it’s getting a little rowdy. You might want to get down here.”

Shit, Keith thought as he hung up the phone, already standing from his chair. This was the last thing he needed. The company seemed like it was going to be smooth sailing, leaving him to use his spare time to focus on the missing cases. However, now he’d have to juggle both issues while also worrying about the progression of the company’s IPO.

A slew of curses left Keith’s mouth as he headed out the door, immediately tearing out of his driveway in his car. He sped like a mad man to get to town, easily discovering the crowd that Ron had brought to his attention. Just as the man had mentioned - the amount of protestors was noteworthy and they looked anything but happy.

Parking, Keith got out of his car, slamming the door shut before he began to walk toward the crowd. He expected them to turn or falter at his presence, but he was surprised to find they paid him no attention as they were too busy voicing their cause. Apparently, they were displeased with the potential changes the company would cause in their town and insisted they wouldn’t be pushed around.

Keith ground his teeth as he took it all in, attempting to investigate the scene further as he tried to locate some sort of ring leader. Only, he came up short as people began to grow more restless, threatening to begin to smash the windows of a nearby shop. Keith’s gaze darted toward the storefront, trying to make sure the crowd’s claims were all for show.

However, he was hardly able to focus on the angry faces as he caught a glimpse of headful of what he swore was chestnut brown hair bobbing down the sidewalk. However, the woman was turned away from him and he could only see the top of her head due to the amount of people. Still, that didn’t stop him from craning his neck to get a better view, drawn toward the woman as she continued to move away from her.

He thought to slip through the other gathered people to follow her, uncertain why the urge came over him. Only, his desires went unfulfilled as someone began to scream from the other direction, turning his head away momentarily. Immediately, he found a young boy wailing, searching for his mom who had gotten away from him. Springing into action, Keith went to the child, picking him up before storming through the crowd to help the boy find her. And after he reunited the pair and the mother thanked him, he finally found himself looking back in the direction where he’d seen the woman walking.

But she was gone by then, and Keith nearly growled as he had no way of knowing where she went in the midst of the commotion. It was then that he also felt Chaos huff inside of him, evidently sulking.

What’s wrong with you? Keith grunted out.

At first, Chaos was unwilling to answer his call, leaving the man to beckon his attention again. That time, Chaos answered him with a whine, his moping features clear in Keith’s mind.

I can feel my mate nearby, Chaos admitted, making Keith go stiff as a board as other bodies bumped against him. But she won’t reveal herself to me.

Wildly, Keith began to whip his head in every direction, looking out at the people around him to try and find who the hell Chaos could be referring to. However, as there were too many faces - even some he didn’t recognize - he was unable to find anyone of interest.

Chaos gave him another sigh, lowering his head as he laid down in defeat.

She’s hiding. WHO？！