Maya's POVThe folders Chase gave me contained standard information about each individual. For the staff, it had their résumé, passport photograph, extensive background reports and contact information. Theo's folder contained only the latter three. I had pored over all the files at least six times since I got them yesterday but nothing stood out.It was all clean and tidy but then again, it's not like anyone would include an evil past in the 'talk about yourself' section. Also, Chase had mentioned that they all moved away from Drakor after the incident. Considering they were interrogated with torture, that was no surprise.A loud clap startled me out of my reverie to the sight of a red-faced Genny frowning at me.“Maya, are you even listening?”“Of course I am.” I lied through my teeth. I hadn't heard a single word she had saidAs if knowing this, her eyes narrowed. “What did I say then?”“Well...you said it—” I broke off with a sheepish wince before I could dig myself into a bigger h
Maya's POV“Please don’t call me again. I have nothing to say to you. I left that pack two years ago and I don’t want anything to do with it anymore.” She stated coldly and matter-of-factly.“I understand. It's just that—” The polite tone I'd maintained through gritted teeth was instantly replaced by an enraged growl as Aubrey's former housekeeper hung up on me.I buried my face in a pillow and screamed until my voice grew hoarse then I returned to the files on the other side of the bed, and flipped through the pages with a force that threatened to rip them.I stumbled on the housekeeper's passport and poked it in the eye out of spite. I didn’t have any voodoo magic but it gave me satisfaction regardless.Chase had missed out on a lot of technicalities when he gave me these folders. He never said I couldn't contact them, though I now had a feeling he knew it would be of no use.I had called all four individuals currently under my scrutiny. One had continuously gone straight to voicema
Maya's POV“You called so many times, I had to. That's my old number and I hardly get calls on it anymore so I figured yours was important.” Theo said.My mind went into overdrive thinking of a way to mention Aubrey without spooking her. Genny said she remembered Theo being bubbly but the voice of the female I was speaking with sounded far from bubbly. It sounded sober and in no mood for beating around the bush.“What is this about?” She said, impatience creeping into her tone when I didn't speak right away.I cleared my throat nervously. Here goes nothing.“I’ll go straight to the point then. I’ve recently been to Drakor which I assume you are familiar with...” I trailed off to allow her time to concur but taunt silence was the only concurrence I got. I rushed through my remaining words. “I called to see if you would be up for answering a few of my questions regarding what happened two years ago.”“Is this about Aubrey?”I'd thought she sounded sober before but compared to now, that
Maya’s POVI joined Chase in the other part of the garage.“Come on, you promised.” If I sounded a bit whiny, it couldn't be helped.“Sorry, sweetheart, this one's past my ability.” He said as rolled out a worktable and began wiping down his tools. There was the nasty loophole he'd left. “It was torture, okay? I don't want you hearing any of the details.”“Leave out the details then.” I said, leaning against the worktable as I watched him.Chase sighed and gave in. “Then what do you want to know?”“If you used a lie detector what was the point of torture? Surely you would know the truth after using the machine.” I shot out before he could retract his capitulation.“That would have been the case but skilled liars find a way around the machine’s algorithm.”I frowned. “Is that possible?”“Unfortunately, yes.” He ran a hand through his hair, exhaustion written on his face. “It’s a psychological manoeuvre. A lie is only a lie if one believes it to be, so they trick their minds into believi
Maya's POV“Theodora hi! You called back.” My voice betrayed my utter disbelief. From the room, I heard a low thump and winced. Lowering my voice even more, I spoke with caution so I wouldn't wake Chase. He wasn't supposed to know about this call. “Have you changed your mind?”“I wasn't lying when I said I had no answers for you. Any questions you have would be better off being addressed to Alpha Chase. Anything I knew then, I had told him. But–“ I strained to hear her as her voice became a whisper. Due to fear, caution or timidity, I had no clue. “–there's something you should know if you are looking into Aubrey's death like I suspect you are. I— It isn't something I can explain over the phone. Can we meet up?”Now there are a couple of things you could be wondering and I’ll kindly address them.Did I know Theo? No.Could she be an axe murderer? Yes.Could this be a trap to harvest my organs? Yes.Was I still going to meet with her after pointing out the aforementioned possibilities?
Maya’s POV I had been to N.Z. only once before and as I donned my clothes behind a cluster of trees, I was reminded of why I never liked the place.At every corner, surveillance cameras blinked red, and there was an irritating hum which never seemed to cease. I could already feel a headache forming.The General Mall was a hallmark of sorts and people usually had no problem finding it which I assumed was why Theo used it as a reference for finding our rendezvous café.Finding the café should have been a piece of cake then but it wasn’t because like I said I had been here only one time before now and I had been bartending for a function that had kept me occupied the whole night and the next day, I was dead on my feet with no desire to explore the novel territory.So it was no surprise when I got to Haven at a quarter past four several wrong turns later and with a stitch in my side.I had read through Theo’s file again in preparation for this meeting thus her details and picture were fi
Maya's POVHave you ever been stuck in time before?Or sucked into limbo?I have never experienced either of the two but in that moment, staring at Theodora Franchez, Aubrey's best friend, I thought for certain that time had stopped and that I was in that fictional place of oblivion.A strangled laugh escaped me as I leaned closer to Theo.“I’m sorry.” Another distraught laugh. “Could you say that again? It almost sounded like you just admitted to assisting in my mate's sister's murder. I know that’s impossible though, because you were Aubrey's best friend. So please, could you repeat yourself?”Theo didn’t repeat herself. She said nothing at all and only stared back at me with those dim eyes.We stared at each other in silence and soon my unacceptance and disbelief gave way to fierce shock.Of all the things I had expected to learn from this meeting, never in a thousand years had I seen this coming.“What do you mean?” I spoke very slowly more for my benefit than hers. Somewhere deep
Maya's POV“I never saw her face.” She said so quietly that I almost missed it.“Y— you what?!” I stuttered in disbelief.Silent tears— along with a healthy dose of mascara— streamed down her face“I didn’t see! It all happened so fast. The crate was in the back of the top shelf so when she entered and offered to help, I had already hoisted myself up on the lower shelf in my attempt to reach it. I had my back facing her the entire period we spoke.” She explained.I gaped at her.“Then you didn’t think it was odd that she was there behind you doing nothing?!” My voice rose with hysteria and the male working on his laptop nearby gave me a hard glare. I didn’t give a damn. The whole café could hear me for all I cared— considering they were all werewolves in here, they probably had already. It didn't matter, this was a neutral zone for a reason. Anything we said about Drakor held no importance here.Theo shook her head miserably.“I just assumed that she was there to get something too. I