Chapter 63

A few called my books predictable. I snapped :')

- Sian

"Shut the fuck up, right now." Krey couldn't have sounded sharper. "You mean to tell me that Jordan, my dad's beta wolf, was the mate of the southern Alpha? Tell me you're joking Viktor. Tell me right now."

"I'm not joking. After your father was killed, his allies were rightly distraught. Your father was a good man. He didn't deserve to die by the hands of humans, so we... started investigating."

"We?"

"I mean myself and the Shadow Pack."

"Investigate what? I fucked up, there were deaths. How could you know there was more to it?" Krey started pacing. Wolves jumped out of his way before he pushed them out of his way. "I wish Jordan was here so I could kill him all over again." Krey then paused. "How long had he been the Alpha's mate?"

"Years."

"How could he have lived in our Packhouse for years then? How could my father not know about that?"

"The Bedlam Pack keep their enemies very close, it would seem. And they used you Krey. They took advantage of your carelessness and painted themselves a victim. But they killed your father, and not out of revenge. You are not at fault for your father's death, Krey. You were the real victim in all of this." Viktor's eyes flicked to Krey's human mate, assuming Krey had told him about what happened.

"How did you find out about all of this?" Krey was fuming. His eyes started pulsing red. As he paced, his glare clashed with Pip, who watched him storm back and forth. What have I dragged him into?

"It started with Saphine," Viktor said, and sat feebly on a chair by the door. "She was so upset about her brother's death, she wanted to kill everyone involved. She wanted to kill you Krey. The blame was pinned on you after all. You were a wild wolf last year and I knew it was only a matter of time until something bad happened, your father thought that too. Nobody expected you to have killed the Alpha's mate, and you've never killed anyone before that, so I knew something wasn't right. The way you captured the Alpha's mate was too easy. Nobody accidentally strolls into the Crescent Pack territory unless they're looking for trouble. That was the first clue I noticed, and the first mistake they made."

Viktor once again looked at Pip and tilted his head like something interested him.

"What happened after you started to get suspicious?" Makena asked.

"Well, I spotted their second mistake." Viktor pointed to Krey and Pip. "This is just an example, but Krey, if your mate was killed by southern wolves, how would you avenge him?"

Krey froze at such a heart wrenching question. "I'd go over there and kill everyone, starting with the person who did it."

"Yes, as would any heart-broken wolf. But the Alpha of the Bedlam Pack sent humans to avenge their mate. Don't you think that's odd?" Viktor shifted on his chair and stared at Makena. "How did you feel when Roden died?"

"I was ready to wipe out the entire Bedlam pack. It was Jordan who talked me out of it and said it would cause more damage to our pack." Makena scoffed and shook her head with a face like her words tasted foul. "If only I had known who he really was." Makena's hands turned to fists. If she had a wolf, her eyes would be pulsing gold.

"Now onto their third mistake." Viktor rubbed his white stubble, following Krey back and forth with sunken eyes. "killing Roden Graymer, and not Krey."

Krey stopped pacing, but he was visibly enraged. His pack had crowded together at the back of the room, trying to stay out of his way.

"Killing Krey's father was the biggest mistake of all." Viktor spoke out to everyone as though they were his audience. "Especially when I heard that Krey was in the room with him. Krey and Makena were obviously too grief stricken to know what I had discovered, so I went to the Shadow Pack a few weeks after the funeral, to discuss the idea of Roden's death being the plan all along. At first, Saphine didn't want to hear it, but she started to see the Bedlam Pack's mistakes, and wanted more than anything to know what they were doing."

"When did you find out about Jordan?" Sid asked, looking a little pale.

"Jordan came to my attention when I spoke to Roden about what happened when Krey killed the alleged Alpha's Mate. He said that Krey never meant to kill her, and that Jordan had accidentally startled Krey. Now that was also odd to me. Krey Graymer doesn't simply get startled. I knew that boy Jordan would've had to sneak up on you, so I watched the Video that Sid had made of Krey holding the Alpha's Mate by the edge of the roof. Even I got a fright when Jordan yelled at you to get down, and I was watching it through a screen. I knew then to dig deeper. A Beta wolf would not want any form of conflict directed at the Alpha's son if he was a true and loyal Beta. Everyone else was so quick to point fingers to Krey, nobody even considered Jordan. But I have a habit of looking at both sides of the coin."

Those in the room were silent. Nobody could find the words to speak, so Viktor continued.

"I told Saphine about Jordan, and she confessed that she had never liked him, and was glad to be finding out more about him. We had members of her pack following Jordan. He didn't show any signs of being suspicious until Krey started disappearing to Crescent Town and following a little human around. We knew Krey was busy finding his mate, but what caught our attention was Jordan going off to Crescent Town on the mornings he was meant to train with the pack."

"I noticed that he skipped a lot of those. I thought he was just abusing his Beta position and sleeping in," Sid said mindlessly rubbing his injured arm.

"He was abusing his power, that's for sure," Viktor muttered.

"Was he following me?" Krey asked, glancing to Francis. Jordan had tried to pin his knowledge of Pip onto her, claiming she had told him Krey's secrets.

"He wasn't following you because that would be too risky, but he was doing something else. Someone was leaving little notes for him in trees. Every couple of days, Jordan visited a different tree to read the note. We never saw anyone leaving them because we never knew where to look, but if I had to guess what the letter said, I bet it was detailed accounts of where Krey was, what he was up to, and who he was with."

"It could've been the Southern Alpha. Did you ever notice Jordan meeting up with other wolves?" Makena asked.

"No. We never caught the scent of other wolves either. Then the night came when southern wolves entered your territory Krey. They stood there for hours and then simply went away. With all that was going on, me and Saphine feared that they knew we were watching Jordan. Maybe they thought that you knew about who Jordan was, and feared for their Alpha's mate. When you sent wolves to them to ask what the hell they were doing, they must have realised that you didn't know, and went home. Me and Saphine eased off from following Jordan to divert suspicion, but then you brought Pippor back to your Packhouse, and Jordan was dead the next day."

Krey returned to Pip's side and sat down, overwhelmed with all the information. "That doesn't explain how you knew Jordan was the Alpha's mate."

"Oh, yes. Well, the last letter Jordan received, he replied to it by putting his own letter in the tree, oblivious to the fact that Saphine's wolves were watching. We got the letter and it said something like 'I let it slip that I knew about Pippor. I put the blame on someone else, but I'm not closer to gaining his trust. When can I just kill his mate? Can I just kill Krey and come home? I miss Bedlam, I miss the south, I miss you, my Alpha.' Then he talked about feeling the strain on the bond. We knew then that Krey and his mate were in trouble. We were coming up with a plan to get rid of him, but it turned out that Krey was more than capable of doing that by himself."

"He tried to kill Pip."

"Yes." Viktor arched an overgrown brow. "And we don't know if he got orders to do so, or if he was just fed up of his position and wanted to pave his own way back home to make his mate proud."

Krey sat forward and rubbed his temples. "And then this leads us to the annual meeting. Jordan's death added fuel to the fire, and that's why they attacked?"

"We predicted an attack from Jordan's death."

Krey stared hard at Viktor. "If you predicted it, why didn't you fucking warn us?"

"Because Saphine had a plan of her own." Viktor's smirk returned. "I stayed away from the meeting because myself and my pack are old and tired, and I couldn't risk any of their lives."

"Coward." Krey crossed his arms over his chest, annoyed that Viktor's smirk only grew.

"The reason Saphine's pack didn't help you was because nobody was home. While you were all partying, then getting attacked, Saphine's pack were well on their way to the south."

"What?" Krey stood up, and his mother stood by his side with an equal frown.

"While the Bedlam Pack have been invading your home, the Shadow Pack have been invading theirs."

Shock was like a slap to Krey's face. He had to sit down again. When he did, he felt Pip shuffle close and rest a comforting hand on his back.

Viktor got to his feet, showing his old age when he struggled. His smirk turned into a proud grin. "My boy, when we win your Packhouse back, which we will, the Bedlam pack will have nowhere to run, and they will finally meet their ugly end. It's the least they deserve after killing your father. He was like a brother to me. His death hit us all. What kind of allies would we be if we simply sat around and watched everything your father worked for perish? I see great potential in you Krey. You just need the help of your friends right now."