Are we having fun yet
I repeated over and over in my head, my fingers tapping over the armrest of Keri's couch.
"I still don't see how this connects with us," I told Callum and the Council again; all eight members were present.
"Who else could the message be for?" Anthony asked.
"Us." Callum grunted.
"No offense, boss, but I doubt the Woodville police department is someone they'd consider a playmate, let alone a challenge," Kelly piped up. "I mean, the Sentinels have trouble finding the perp and they are the ones who are actually trained to do so."
"I second that," Sasha joined the conversation. "It's either aimed at us, Sentinels, or at the Silver Bullets and more likely, it's the latter."
"Why else would they hunt on the Bullets' grounds?" Adrian's question was obviously rhetorical.
I leaned back and covered my face with my hands, letting go of a troubled sigh. When I gazed back at the rest of the people in the living room, they looked the same way I felt: tired of this meeting and hopeless about us ever catching the criminal.
"I think we should call it a night," Keri suggested, getting up from her sofa. "We are all exhausted and..." She shook her head, her face twisting in an ugly grimace. "None of us has come up with any new strategy to catch the killer."
"Yes, you should rest." Callum also rose from his seat. "Kelly and I will head back to the station, see if the lab has anything for us but... It's probably too soon to get any results from them, even though this case is obviously a priority."
Keri snorted without mirth.
"Some job we are doing with this priority."
Her cousin, still in her police uniform, reached out to squeeze her hand.
"We are trying, Ker. All of us are."
"But people are still dying, Kelly." Our Alpha shook her head again. "Pointless, brutal deaths. And no matter what we do..."
She didn't need to finish her sentence: no matter what we did, we were nowhere closer to catching the murderer or at least figuring out who they were and what they wanted from us.
"Go home to your families," Keri ordered her Council. "Try to distract yourselves from the investigation until we learn something new."
All of us nodded and got up to leave.
"You sure you'll be alright?" Anthony asked his sister and she tried to smile.
"No, but I'll deal with it. Thanks." She patted him on the shoulder and nodded for those of us who were still in the room - her brother, Everett and me - to leave.
"Don't keep Riley and the Lisas waiting," she encouraged us.
With a nod of my own, I hurried towards the door, longing to hold my mate in my arms, to bury myself under the covers with him, breathing in his comforting scent. I was sure my two companions - both married to a Lisa - couldn't wait to go home and do the same with their wives.
Once outside Keri's home, my brother stopped abruptly and I almost bumped into his back.
"Where is he?" He asked, looking around. "Where's Alec?"
I groaned when I realized the boy had once again disappeared.
"Do you want me to help you search for him?" Anthony proposed, his inflection giving away how much he hoped we'd decline.
"No need to sound so enthusiastic to see me again, Tony." Alec popped up - a lit cigarette in his mouth - from around the house and my brother heaved a relieved sigh.
"Were you eavesdropping on our meeting?" My childhood friend asked with narrowed eyes. The boy did come from the direction of where the living room window was.
"What for? A couple of humans murdered is none of my concern."
"You bastard!" Anthony bellowed at him and Everett and I hurried to grab him by his t-shirt before the other man had a chance to reach for the boy.
"Those are real people! Have you no value for human life?" Anthony asked, his voice still raised.
"Please." My brother moved between him and Alec. "I'll talk to him. Just go home, Anthony. To your Lisa."
The other man hesitated, but gave a curt nod and headed for his house, glaring for as long as he had his gaze on the half-Dayer.
"Did you have to act like that, son?"
"Like what?" Alec took a drag and blew the smoke towards us. "All I said was that I didn't care that some random humans are dying."
Everett shook his head, his brown eyes never leaving his son's pale ones.
"You really sound like a horrible person sometimes, Alec," my brother whispered. "Just like your mother."
"If you knew she was so horrible, why did you leave me there for her and her kin to raise me?"
Everett took a step back, his eyes wide at the direction in which the conversation had suddenly swirled and the accusation that had been thrown his way. His jaw trembled as if he wanted to speak, but couldn't find the right words. He turned his face to me, eyes pleading for assistance.
"We tried to get you." I stepped in. "But the Maksimoff family is powerful. You know that. They have money, connections, an army of lawyers..."
Acting as if I haven't spoken at all, my nephew aimed his words at his father.
"If you and Lisa ever have a child and someone with money comes and takes it from you, wouldn't you go after them and get your offspring back?"
"Alec, I..."
But the boy ignored even his father.
"Of course you would. But that would be the pureblooded shifter child you had with your mate... Someone important. You might keep saying that you want us to be closer, for me to be a part of your family, but I wasn't important enough for you to fight for me."
Alec's even tone was like a shower of needles, each piercing my brother's heart. Everett's shoulders slumped and his eyes watered as he silently listened to his son, his head moving left and forth as if to refute what the boy was saying.
"And for the better." Alec took one last drag from his cigarette and threw it on the ground, his lips turned up in a cold smirk. "I would've gotten bored growing up around the pathetic members of your pack, what with all of your 'one for all and all for one' attitude."
The smirk turned into a sneer.
"In this world one must put themselves first, before anyone else. Taking care of others only hinders taking care of yourself."
"And yet you care for Vika," I noted, hoping to shift his focus away from my shivering brother.
"Hmp." The boy put the flame from the discarded cig out with the toe of his shoe. "Even I'm not perfect. It must be all the filthy blood I inherited from your side of the family."
"That's enough!" I raised my voice and stepped to him, shaking with anger, but a hand - trembling from a very different sensation - caught my wrist in a tight grip.
"I tried." My brother's voice was strained. "I really tried to get you to live with us. And when that didn't happen, I tried to see you as often as I could, but..."
"Don't bother with excuses." Alec turned away from us. "I don't care."
"Alec..." Everett let go of me and moved after him. "Son, wait!"
"For what?" Alec faced us again. "For another 'I love you, but...'? I told you, I don't care about that. There's only one person I care for and that isn't you."
He paused to gloat as the tears finally streamed down Everett's cheeks.
"See you around, daddy." He gave us an exaggerated wave and swirled on his heel before walking away.
*****
A/N: A short one, but I was afraid I wouldn't be able to post anything at all before I left for my vacation. Now I can leave happy, knowing that I've given you an update!
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So, what do you think of the chapter?
Any comments on the murderer's message?
Or maybe you have something to say about Alec's conversation with his dad and uncle?
I'll see you on the 24th. Have a great time wattpadding while I'm gone!
PS: I said I'll see you on the 24th, but WiFi permitting, I'll be reading your comments before then. Thanks for leaving them!