The Alpha's Daydream ✔️

Chapter 22

3437 words

"That is a very serious accusation, Hila," Luna Seneca stepped forward and leveled her darkest gaze on the shewolf, who then shrank back and relinquished some of her anger. It seeped from her heaving shoulders, and Ariella could almost taste the tension and bitterness in the air.

The newly widowed shewolf was shocked, grieving. Pointing a finger of blame would either help her deal with the tragedy, or stir up a deeper resentment towards the young Alpha.

"How else do you explain it?" Hila tentatively raised her eyes to her Luna. "This is the fourth death in the last few months. No one has found the killer. Which means, he is among us still."

Malachi tensed beside Ariella and his eyes flashed, "We are doing everything we can to solve this."

"Are you? Are you really?" Another shewolf spoke, the one that Ariella assumed was Stacey. "When? When will you solve it? After more people die? After I lose my mate too?" her lips quivered in the fading light, her arm wrapping around Hila to give her support.

"Maybe if you all trusted me more, we wouldn't have so many problems," Malachi stepped forward and shook his fist in the air. "If you must know, Robert and Leo were out past the danger zone when they were killed. If they hadn't disregarded my rules--"

"Your rules are pathetic, young pup--"

"My rules are meant to keep you safe!"

"Then why is my mate dead?!"

"Enough!" Seneca spoke softly but her voice carried enough power to make Ariella cringe. "I will not allow you to disrespect my son like this, Stacey, Hila," she turned her sharp eyes on them both, her shoulders held back with firm authority. "Go home and bury your dead. Grieve for your broken soul. But leave my son out of your self-pity and cruel blame."

The shewolves shrank back, fading into the night as their quiet whimpers trailed behind them. Only when the courtyard was silent once more did Ariella dare take a breath.

"What are we going to do?" she looked up at Malachi who ran a shaky hand through his hair.

"I'm going to figure this out," he murmured, sharing a dark frown with his mother before she went back inside.

The Beta stood stoically to the side for a moment before he came to an understanding with Malachi. "I'll run the perimetre, check for any clues." Then he left, padding down the path with Harlow in his shadow.

As Ariella processed the reality that someone had just been killed on this territory, not far from the Alpha's own home, a shiver of fear snaked down her spine and curled in her stomach. "Mal, we have to find who did this." Her voice was a tiny whisper.

"I've got it under control," he muttered and headed inside, his head down in thought, his fringe casting his face into dark shadows.

"But shouldn't we all be out there searching? Whoever did it can't have gone far--"

"I said I've got it under control! Just forget about it. I want you upstairs and safely away," his words came out low and rough, full of authority that would make any wolf cower in fear.

But Ariella was his mate, and she refused to feel subject to his steely tone. "Malachi, I'll be safe by your side. Just tell me what's going on, and I can help—"

"No! Just no, okay!" He whirled on her, his eyes flashing and his jaw ticking with held back emotions.

The force of his words pushed her back a step, and Ariella bumped into the wall of the hallway. Blinking, she stared at him in the dim light of the corridor, watching the angst and confusion play across his face. He was a contrast, with his tall intimidating posture, but turmoil clouding his dark blue eyes that flickered with a crimson flame. She could almost see the angst fighting inside him, and she just wanted to claw it out into the open, finally see some truth.