Chapter 124

Chapter 124: Ayla My wrists and shoulders stung. My head was pounding as I tried to open my eyes. Someone had stripped me down to my undergarments. I could feel my thighs touching cold stone and something hard against my back. The smell of wolfsbane burned my nostrils, but it was almost better than the fowl smell filling the rest of the room.

I finally pried my eyes open, lifting my head as my vision focused.

I was in a dimly lit large room with a high ceiling. It was too dark to see how high it went, but there was enough light to see the body that hung from it. I gasped at the gruesome scene. Bile rose in my throat as I recognized the tattoo on the forearm.

It was Conner Elkins. What was left of him.

“Ayla,” a terrified voice called.

I turned to see Kylee and Ma. They were locked up in a cage on the other side of the room.

“Kylee. Ma,” I croaked, wincing as I moved.

I managed to look up. My arms were tied over my head by thick, tight ropes. From the smell and the sting, they must have been soaked in wolfsbane. It was seeping into my bloodstream through the raw open sores on my wrists.

“Kylee,” I said hoarsely, “how long have I been out?”

“Over two days,” she said, tears running down her face.

“Are you hurt? Ma doesn’t look too good,” I said, hearing her writhe in the cage next to Kylee.

“I’m okay,” Kylee replied. “Ma’s struggling. We’ve been here for four or five days now.”

Shit.

“She’s going through withdrawal, Kylee,” I told her.

“I know,” she said softly. She had finally accepted Ma’s addiction.

“Do you have water?” I asked.

“Some,” she said. “I’ve been giving her as much I can.

”

I nodded, trying to stay conscious. “Good,” I replied. “If she starts seizing, make sure to hold her head.”

I tried tugging at my bonds, testing for any weakness in the ropes. I was tied against a wooden post with a metal ring fixed on it. I tried to wrap my fingers around the ring. If I could work it out, I could get to Kylee and Ma “I’m so glad you’re awake, my love,” a familiar voice echoed through the room, making me sick.

I could hear footsteps coming toward me through the dark. A wave of shock ran through me when he came into the light.

***

Theo Kieran took over the shift.

There was no holding him back. We were both volatile as it was. For this asshole to show up in my territory after what he’s done.

Kingston responded, shifting into this wolf before me.

Kieran snarled, baring his teeth as he advanced on Lennix. He was smaller and leaner than us. Kieran almost relished how easy it would be to tear into his throat.

But he wouldn’t get the chance.

Harden’s brown wolf appeared between us, stopping our confrontation.

‘Stop this,‘ his voice echoed in my head. ‘We’re wasting time.‘

His words hit me, bringing me back to reality. However much I hated Kingston, he didn’t have Ayla. Kieran growled one more time before relinquishing control, allowing me to shift back. Kingston followed suit.

“What the fuck is he doing here?” I demanded through gritted teeth.

“He wants to help,” Pierce said firmly. “You need all the help you can get.”

Briggs came over and handed me a pair of shorts.

“Come on, bro,” he said. “Now’s not the time.”

I put the shorts on and went back to the table.

“No prints,” Mina told me. “On the card or the syringe. But I think I know what he’s using to mask his scent.” She pulled a labeled spray bottle out. “We use this when we enter certain crime scenes.”

“Where would he get it?” I asked.

Mina shrugged. “I don’t know of it being commercially available, but it may not be too hard. He’s not using this specifically. This stuff doesn’t eliminate our scent entirely. Just makes it faded enough to not contaminate the area. It could eliminate a scent in large enough concentrations, but the user would risk major damage to their sense of smell.”

“How does this help us?” Kingston inquired.

“It may help tell us why,” Mina replied. She had brought the rest of the stalker’s messages with her and she pulled a couple out of their evidence bag. “Something about these bothered me. I studied handwriting analysis in school. Whoever wrote these was trying to disguise their handwriting in these last few messages. If you consider that, plus them eliminating their scent completely, this is someone Ayla knows. But I think it’s someone you know as well.”

She directed the last statement at me.

“Someone who’s close enough they believe you would recognize their handwriting.”

I thought desperately about who it could be. As far as I knew, everyone in my inner circle only knew Ayla as Kylee’s older sister up until recently. I didn’t know anyone who had met her personally before two weeks ago.

“We need to get back to the packhouse then,” I said, pulling my phone out. “I don’t know who it could be, but I’ll have Dad start questioning.”

I called my father.

“Have you found her?” he answered.

I explained our current theory and that I needed him to start questioning any ranking member there.

“You should ask Harry,” he instructed. “If the stalker was masking his scent from the start, then it was someone Ayla knew well enough that their scent would be out of place. Harry would have a better idea of any overlap.”

Something in my gut didn’t sit right. I put him on speaker for the others to hear.

“Why would Beta Harry know that?” I asked.

“He’s the one I’ve had looking out for Ayla and the family since her father’s death,” Dad said. “He’s gotten to know them. That’s why I had asked him to take you to meet Ayla after her eighteenth birthday.

I felt the blood drain from my face. Briggs and Mina were frozen.

“Dad,” I said gently, “Harry never took me to meet Ayla.”

“What are you talking about? Of course he did,” Dad insisted. “He told me nothing happened between...”

My dad’s voice trailed off as pieces started to fall into place.

“Theo,” Briggs said, “didn’t Beta Harry introduce you to Kylee last year?”

“Dad, where would he take Ayla?”