The following week, we hear nothing. Absolute nothing. There was the news of a stab victim, but that was in another county. It's as if whoever that menacing person was, looming around my borders, has left.
Jackson is called back to his pack by his grandfather for an important business. After much resistance, while also still pretending he doesn't care about me, Jackson and his friends finally leave with my promise that I'll visit Yarvey next week.
Once they are gone, I'm free to move. Jackson kept trailing me everywhere I went. The wolf must've never had a chance to approach me with Jackson here all the time.
But I'm hoping now it appears. I can't let this go unresolved. So I decide to visit Gerth Hills with Ivan. It was a long overdue trip.
At Gerth Hills, Alpha Boyd Keith welcomes us with a surprisingly warm smile. He and my dad used to be friends.
"You kids have grown so much," Boyd says, inviting us into his dining room where we are served coffee and apple pie.
"What brings you here?" He asks.
I came prepared with a story. "We updated our security cameras recently, and it pinched our budge a bit. I've a land ten miles to the north of Borge I want to sell. Since it's closer to your territory, I wanted to ask if you'd be interested in it."
"Is that the one behind Joseph's pine farm?" Boyd says.
"Yes."
Boyd seems to be thinking about my offer. Great, I might get some money for real. I look around. "Where's Hermann?" I say.
"He's probably somewhere inside. You know how he's like," Boyd says.
"Can I go see him?" I say.
Boyd shift uncomfortable. Ivan quickly pulls up the map of the land to distract Boyd and I take my leave from them.
As I walk through the house I realize much has not changed since the last time I was here. There are a few times my friends and I have been here to pick up Hermann. He used to play with us back when we were kids.
I stop at the backyard entrance, surprised. Hermann is at the patio table.
His beautiful face is the same as ever. I always thought he looked even prettier than all the girls around here.
And his body, although he has always been taller than me, he was about the same size as me. But now he looks muscular, and as big as Ivan.
Hermann sees me. "Leah," he says, smiling. "Come, take a seat."
I carefully walk over to the table and sit down.
"It's good to see you after so long," he says.
I swallow. "Good to see you too. Been working out?"
He laughs. "Yeah, thought I've to put some effort after all if I want to get the girls."
"With your face, that shouldn't be difficult," I say.
"You've always liked my face," he says, "You said I'd the most prettiest face you'd ever seen."
"You still do."
He stretches his arms. "Now I've the body too. So what do you say? Wanna go out with me?"
"Nah, I'm good," I say, "So besides looking to date, what have you been up to? I've hardly seen you around."
He laughs. "Come on, Leah, what I've always liked the most about you is you never beat around the bush. Ask what you really want to ask?"
I check if any other pack member is listening in on us before saying to Hermann, "Was that you?"
"Which one, the stabber or the wolf?" He says, smirking.
His eyes are enough for me to confirm it was him.
"What the fuck, Hermann!" I say, quietly, "You killed those innocent people!"
"Innocent?" He says, frowning, "Those mutts deserved to die. You should've seen them coming behind me, wagging their tails, at the prospect of a good fuck."
My blood turns cold. He lured them to him before killing them.
For a moment I'm unable to speak, but eventually find the strength to. "At the lake, what did you want? You wanted to kill me?" I say.
He shakes his head. "No, that'll be going easy on you. I just wanted to take you with me and deal with you leisurely, taking my sweet time. But my bad luck, you were armed."
I can't even get angry at him. That's how much my guilt is suffocating me. The more he talks, the more it seems like Chloe and I are the reason he's like this.
"Hermann, I'm sorry—"
Quickly he has stood up, and pulled me to the wall. Pressing me against it, Hermann starts to kiss me like a crazed animal.
I don't make a sound or thrash around so not to alarm Ivan or Boyd. If they come now, that'll be a whole lot of a bigger problem.
When Hermann pulls back he says, "Sorry? If you're sorry, why did you turn me down?"
"Because we are not mates. And you're a demented, sick psycho," I say.
He laughs, burying his face into the side of my nape. Then he bites my neck. I clench my jaws to stop myself from crying out in pain.
Eventually he lets go of me and looks at my face. "I'm going to destroy you," he says, as if it's the most happiest thing he could do. I fight the urge to grab his head and bash it against the wall.
We hear footsteps. Hermann backs away and I pull up my sweatshirt to cover my neck.
Boyd and Ivan arrive. Boyd says, "Looks like a good deal. I'll take the land."
"Great," I say heading back into the house, "I'll send the papers soon." I stop and turn to Hermann and say, "It was nice seeing you again."
"Pleasure was mine," he says smiling.
After Ivan and I leave the house and start to drive back home, Ivan asks, "What happened? Did you find anything?"
"It's him."
"I told you!" Ivan says, "I was surprised to see him buffed up. The wolf is also him right?"
"Yeah."
"So what are we gonna do? We have to arrest him!" Ivan says.
"We still don't have any proof. A confession without any witness won't hold. Who will believe he admitted everything to me in his own house? But don't worry, he'll come back to our land again. We'll catch that bastard redhanded then. But we'll have to wait for a while."
"What do you mean?"
"I emptied two magazines into him at the lake. He hasn't fully healed yet. He's weak. He's waiting to regain his strength," I say, remembering the faint bullet marks on his shoulders that I noticed when he came near me.
"What if he doesn't come back to our land, and escapes somewhere else?"
"He'll come back," I say. He has a score to settle with me and Claire. "He'll come back," I repeat and look at Ivan, "And once he sets foot in our land again, he either is shoved into our prison cell, or returns to his home as a dead body."
Ivan looks at me and nods.
Even though I still feel guilty, and heck am willing to even pay for my sin too, I won't let him go anywhere near Claire.
End of chapter
