5. Murders and mysteries

[Carys]

The impending All Alpha meeting was a week away. 

I prepared what I could from the confinement of four walls for my defense during that period. Everyone who attended the party or was present during the attack in the Spring palace stayed in the Spring pack.

The only person who would hear me and could help me in that critical situation was Alpha Dominic. During this time, my respect for Dominic grew even more. He was enraged because his sister was hurt, but he handled the situation in the most rational manner.

He heard my side of the story. I told him someone was trying to frame me, but I didn’t tell him it was Edith.

“If you can show me the proof, I will have no option but to trust you,” Dominic said. “But as of now, every proof is against you.”

“I understand. Did you find the one who was spying on me in the woods?” I asked.

Dominic’s composed expressions turned pensive. “Actually…”

“You couldn’t find him? You just found his phone?” I asked.

Dominic looked outside the window of his office, “that’s the only blind spot in your case. It’s like he vanished into thin air. He is the most important witness in your case. You could have taken care of him, but then why would you leave behind his phone? Something seems off here. It’s as if…”

“Someone is trying to frame me?” I completed his sentence. “Is that the reason you are hearing my side as well?” I asked.

His silence was my answer.

“Do you think the spy is dead?”

“No,” Dominic turned, binding me under his scrutiny. “He is too important to die in such a pathetic attack.”

“Then can I have a look at his phone?”

Dominic looked at me with critical eyes.

“I can look at them in front of you in case you fear I will manipulate or destroy them. You can even give me a copy,” I said. “Please, alpha Dominic.”

Dominic sighed, sat on his chair behind his working desk. We were in his office. It was a traditionally designed office with intricately designed wooden interiors, marble statues and vintage paintings drawn on the ceiling.

“Please take a seat,” Dominic said, ushering me to sit on the chair across the desk. I sat down. I was handcuffed and two guards were always with me, like my shadows, whenever I left my room.

He pulled out the drawer from his desk, took out the phone that was sealed in a transparent evidence bag, and gave it to me.

Dominic was thirty-four. From his charismatic sharp looks to his humble and respectful nature. Everything about him was perfect. I rarely saw him lose his temper or raise his voice, no matter the situation. He was a morally upright man. A perfect ruler. No wonder the Spring pack had reached its height of prosperity under his rule.

He was always well-groomed, adding an irresistible allure to his sun-kissed skin and his well-built body. His golden brown hair complimented his hazel eyes in the most ethereal way. But his personality was the primary reason people wanted him to lead them.

I analyzed the photos carefully. All of them were either my normal photos from the moment I entered the Spring palace or of the moment where it seemed like I was commanding the lycan rogues. There were no photos of the time I pointed my gun at the rogue lycans.

“Are these the only photos?” I asked.

There was nothing else on that phone. No videos, no other photos.

“The time durations between the consecutive photos are considerable. The events that happened in those few minutes are my proof of innocence and they have been deleted.”

Dominic nodded. “Not possible. These phones run on a specially designed software made for my spy network. Any photos or videos taken by these phones are directly stored in our system. Even if they are deleted from the device, they are still there in our system. The only photos clicked by this phone are the ones already there. You are free to have your trusted people examine the phone.”

I swiped the photos. There was only one photo completely unrelated to me clicked before the party. It was blurry, but it seemed like a logo. I zoomed in on the photo. It was too blurry to make out what that logo was.

“No. It’s fine. Did you find any fingerprints on the phone?”

“No. It was all clean. We didn’t even find the spy’s fingerprint on it. Someone has indeed tried to erase evidence.”

I smiled, “no wonder you called an All Alpha meeting. This case has much more to it than we think, doesn’t it?” 

“I don’t know. It’s time to bring certain things to the limelight. This All Alpha meeting is very important for all of us.”

I licked my lips and nodded.

“What do you think happened to your spy? Do you think he died?” I asked him, looking into his eyes.

“He can’t die. I told you he is too important to lose his life. That is until you killed him. Did you?” Dominic titled his neck.

“That spy is my key to innocence. Trust me, right now, I want him to be alive more than you,” I said.

Dominic smiled for a second.

“Can I have a photo of the spy? I am going to find him.”

Dominic took out his photo and gave it to me. 

“Ash Hunter. Age: 21. He has worked as my spy ever since he turned eighteen. One of the top candidates of my spy academy.” Dominic said.

It was a black-and-white photo. This boy was my key. I had to find him, but I didn’t have time. The All Alpha meeting was tomorrow.

I need more time.

“If he is a student of your spy academy, it means… he is an orphan with lost family records?”

“As usual, you know more than you should.” He leaned towards the desk and smiled, holding my gaze.

“Thank you for your cooperation, Alpha Dominic.”

I was about to get up when Dominic dismissed my guards. We were alone in the room when he asked.

“Let’s put this attack aside,” Dominic said and freed me from the handcuffs. “Do you have any intel on the mysterious disappearances and deaths of werewolves from our three packs?” 

I shook my head.

“Are lycans behind all this? If so, then why are they after pure werewolves?”

“I don’t know.”

Dominic smiled faintly, but I could feel he was analyzing me. 

“I know why you think I might have answers to these questions, but trust me… I don’t know.”

“I want to show you something,” Dominic said, opening a secret door behind his bookshelf. “Follow me.”

He entered the door between the bookshelf. Looking around, I followed him cautiously. We walked through a maze of narrow hallways.

“I have been thinking what your motive could have been behind this attack, that is, if you planned this attack and I can come to only one conclusion — you love alpha Joshua. Is that true?” Dominic asked, walking beside me.

I remained silent, and he smiled. 

“So, you do love him. But what I don’t understand is why would you use lycans for it? Why would you draw so much attention to yourself? If you wanted to kill Edith, I am pretty sure you have hundreds of seemingly natural ways to kill her.” He asked with a slight smirk on his face.

I looked at him and smiled.

“If I really wanted to kill her… there wouldn’t be an attack, a case or an investigation…”

Our footsteps echoing in those narrow hallways came to a halt as we stopped. Dominic turned and faced me, lifting his brow.

“There’d be a funeral. One that I’d attend, present to you my condolences as I walked in your palace and leave just as unsuspected. While you’d wonder as you buried your sister — why was God so unfair?”

Dominic smiled with a soft chuckle. He started walking again.

“I knew I wasn’t wrong when I summoned an All Alpha meeting. I also know if you had planned this attack, it would have been much cleaner. Not this messy and of course, Edith wouldn’t be alive either.”

“When you know I didn’t plan this attack, then why did you call an All Alpha meeting?”

Dominic stopped before a door and smiled at me.

“I trust the evidence, Carys. As of now, they are against you, so…” he shrugged. “Moreover, an opportunity presented itself for me to call an All Alpha meeting after two decades, and I grabbed it with both hands. I wanted to draw the alphas’ attention towards this…”

He opened the door. It was a forensic room with four dead bodies covered with white sheets.

There were several doctors in white uniforms standing beside the bodies.

“What is this?” I asked, peering at the corpses.

Dominic glanced at me and then at the corpses.

“What do you think it is?”

“Am I allowed to…”

“Do as you wish. Just don’t touch the corpses. Someone can misuse the fingerprints you leave behind to frame you,” Dominic said in an impassive voice.

Dominic was definitely using me to gather the alphas. He knew I was innocent.

Gulping hard, I stepped closer to the bodies. 

I had only heard about the mysterious disappearances of pure werewolves and their death. But I had never encountered an actual case like this in the Autumn pack.

I looked at the doctor wearing the medical bodysuit. He looked at Dominic, bowed and removed the sheet from one of those corpses.

I gasped, taking a step closer, examining the boy’s corpse carefully.

“A teenager?” I looked at Dominic, perplexed.

His body had turned pale. The temperature of the room was low, probably to preserve the bodies from decomposing.

“What is the cause of their death?” I asked the doctor.

“It’s natural death,” Dominic said from behind me. He strode beside me. “Or at least it looks like natural death to unskilled eyes. I wanted to ask you the same question. What do you think could be the reason for their death?”

I frowned and faced Dominic, “what do you mean? Don’t play riddles with me.”

“Your mother was an expert in herbology and poisons, right? She was famous far and wide. She belonged to one of the top ethical assassin families. People call you her shadow. So, I thought maybe you could help us deduce the cause of their death.”

I clenched my fingers into fists and turned to leave.

“You can walk out if you want. But… by doing so, you will only create even more problems for yourself. Please cooperate.”

Ten years ago, I lost both my parents and ever since; I didn’t like talking about either of them. Every time a topic related to them was brought up before me, I felt a bitter clench in my chest.

“He isn’t poisoned. Poisoned body doesn’t look like that,” I said, blinking off my tears.

“I know as much. These doctors here are very qualified, you see. I asked you to deduce the reason for their death,” Dominic said.

I took a sharp breath and strutted towards him. Glaring into his eyes, I said, “how do you want me to do it when your highly qualified doctors couldn’t? I have no context, you show me some dead teenagers out of blue and—”

“Beta Carys!” Dominic raised his voice. “I want you to calm down. I am not accusing you. I merely want your help.”

“But you suspect me, don’t you?”

“I suspect you for a lot of things, but without evidence, does it matter?”

“Can I ask… why me?”

Dominic sighed, “ten years ago, the same situation plagued the Autumn pack. Mysterious deaths and disappearances. We still don’t know what caused that epidemic. All we know is those deaths stopped after the clash between the Nyx Winter pack and the Nightfall Autumn pack. The fight between the two packs might have started because of you and Kian, but there was much more to it. Maybe that is the reason. There has not been a single case of such deaths from the Autumn pack this time.”

“I am not sure what you are talking about. But whatever it is, I am not interested.”

“Teenagers are dying, Carys! I don’t care if you are interested or not, but I need answers. These kids died while doing their daily chores. Nothing seemed unusual. Reason of their death is completely unknown. All their organs were in good condition. It seems as if they died naturally, but I have never seen someone die so naturally. Not even the ones who actually die naturally. There is no reason for their death. How is that possible?”

“Maybe the grim reaper plucked their souls right out of their bodies?”

Dominic glared into my eyes, stepping closer to me. “Are you joking with me right now?” He snarled at me.

“There is always a reason for death and if you can’t find it on their bodies, find it in their daily chores. There has to be something common in their deaths, that is, if they died of the same cause.”

“Or maybe they were killed by someone too natural at killing?”

“Then find the killer.”

“I think I already have found the one. Have I?”

I walked out of the forensic room. Frustration and anger clouded my mind.

First, his sister framed me, and now he was trying to do the same. I wonder if the two of them are working together. The Spring pack had always been hostile towards me. They posed strong resistance even when Joshua made me his beta. 

One event, my one stupid decision, and my entire life had turned into a living nightmare.

I am sure Dominic will bring up this matter in the All Alpha meeting.

If Dominic as much as presents me as a suspect before All Alpha Court, my position as the beta of the Autumn pack will be at stake. 

I need to prove my innocence, but how?

Odds keep stacking against me, and I am running out of time.