Disguise

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Flora's POV

I staggered forward with April's help. Her face was an emotionless mask. Everyone I met seemed to have hardened themselves against the loss we had just faced. I hadn't even begun to fathom what Hank was going through. He had been played with, toyed by Brianna who was also being toyed with, all this while. I had no doubt that he was going to blame himself in one way or another and there was very little we could do for him right now – except catch the psycho who did all this.

Which was where I was headed – to Xena. April was walking one step ahead of me, her eyes alert and everywhere. I tried to conjure something to say to her but there was nothing I could say. If I got stuck with April, what was I going to do when I met Reece? Sienna? Hank? I was at a loss. I had to be the strong one here, let everyone reel back from the loss and allow them the space, but everywhere I saw, everyone was working twice as hard, with dark expressions plastered all over. I passed Noori and her team in the hallway, they were going over some information about the poison from what I could hear. She passed by me and they all stopped to give me a bow but I just shook my head. Nobody needed to do this, ever.

I still had to ask her about me, but I knew that that could wait. We had far larger problems and I was not going to come in the middle and direct all the attention towards me.

We entered the elevator and April was still tense. I guess being a bodyguard did that to people – never let them relax. I was greeted by both Nate and Xena who were going over some files. Everyone was doing something or the other to help. April introduced herself.

"We're going over Deta's travels in the last five three years." Xena informed me, as I walked to the large dining table in the center of the room. There was a laptop open in front of Nate and another huge pile of files next to Nate.

"Some of the paperwork hasn't been digitized yet." Nate informed me and I nodded. Nate looked exhausted, and so did Xena. It was late anyway, I had finished swimming around dinner time and it had been nearly two hours after which all this had unfolded.

"I'm surprised you're awake." I told her, gesturing to the angry red mark on her shoulder. Despite the situation, both of them blushed and things like this gave me hope. "Actually, it's generally an Alpha's marking that is more exhaustive, which is why you slept for so long." Nate informed me and I nodded, absorbing that information.

"You both still look plenty tired though." I spoke and Nate nodded. "This situation...it has taken a toll on everyone." He and April moved to the drawing room to look at some more documents.

"So, Nate told you everything? You know what's going on and you're just...okay with it all?" I asked Xena and she nodded after a quiet moment. I knew that Nate was evaluating her every word, making sure that she felt safe with him and none of the earlier hysterics made a return.

"Yeah, he did. Werewolves Flo! Fucking werewolves! It still seems impossible..." Xena told me and I could tell that she was doing her best to remain calm. "To be honest, you're handling it a lot better than I did." I told her and she rolled her eyes.

"But, I believe it. You can't mimic that kind of attraction. And the wolf oh my God! I nearly fainted when he turned!" I could see that she was about to launch into one of her monologues and there were more urgent things at the moment that needed to be addressed.

"Speaking of which, Xen, I think I know who it is." I told her, but then hesitated. She was about to get really offended.

"Hear me out, okay?" I told her, continuing. I pulled up another chair sitting opposite them and she narrowed her eyes. April stood right where she was. "What is it? What are you thinking?" Her tone had already grown a little defensive. I sighed. I didn't know how to get this through to her without ruffling some feathers.