Chapter 5

*Keera*

I avoided Lexi's eyes as I packed up the things I was going to need while working my ass off to help those people. Lexi and I had bonded after working together on a couple of assignments and it seemed our bond was about to become even tighter seeing as we were about to work on yet another assignment together. We'd gone out for drinks to celebrate the success of our mission a few months back and to explain my disdain for werewolves I'd given her a summarized version of my relationship with Ginny as well as a bunch of other things that had happened in my life.

Because of those people.

She knew enough to know that I wasn't happy about being sent there Especially with the fact that Ginny and I had never resolved our falling out and I completely despised her cold and arrogant twin brother. Even after six years I was finding it extremely hard to get over the fact that our entire friendship had been built on such a huge lie. She had watched me get bullied by her kind on several occasions, watched me talk down on them even. And not once had she let me know that she was also one of them.

Maybe even worse because I had no idea how she had been able to stomach lying to my face every single time.

Our phones beeped simultaneously and Lexi moved to take hers out of her pockets while I walked to the bed to grab mine. It was a reminder from Kathryn, our bioengineer slash tech chick, reminding us of the briefing I had fixed for the team later in the day. I'd almost forgotten about it. I threw my phone gently back on the bed and went back to taking clothes out of my wardrobe.

"So. . ." Lexi began slowly and I mentally facepalmed. I should have known she was going to bring it up. I took a black t-shirt out of my wardrobe and folded it neatly into my duffel bag. I heard crackling behind me as she ripped open the bag of chips she'd come with and began digging into them. "What's your plan to survive living in their territory?" She asked bluntly. "Especially when you're going to be in such close proximity with the dreaded duo."

I threw the clothes in my hands on the bed, pinching the bridge of my nose. I'd been asking myself the exact question. Things were going to be extremely awkward as it was and I sure as hell didn't need it to be even more awkward because what exactly had that been about yesterday? I'd seen Grayson and had been resentful for all of about a second before the resentment had melted to. . . something else.

I didn't remember him being so attractive and good looking. His dark hair had gotten even darker, his jawline had looked so sharp I could have sworn they could cut diamonds. Even his domineering and arrogant persona had somehow contributed in making him appear so. . . tempting. The only thing that hadn't changed had been the hard look in those dark as night eyes of his. If anything, the way he looked at me had gotten even colder than I remembered and it was that thought that had snapped me out of my trance.

Finding anything about him intriguing was completely out of the question.

He had humiliated me at our graduation party in front of a good number of people. Blaming me for Ginny's change in attitude like she was some two year old I could easily order around and not a full grown teenager. I shook my head, dispelling the memories of that night. I didn't want to think about it. Ever. I shrugged my shoulders, dragging my mind to the present. "I have no idea yet." I answered truthfully. "I guess I'll just have to stay clear of them as much as I can until our work is done and I can hull my ass back here."

Lexi scanned my face, chewing her chips a little too loudly. I held her gaze, knowing she was trying to get some kind of reaction out of me. "Stay clear, huh?" She repeated. "Might be kind of difficult with you living in Grayson's house and all." She said on a low whistle. "And I could already pick up that you both clearly hated each other."

I shot her a dry look and went back to folding. "We don't have to like each other for us to be able to work together." I informed her, walking into my bathroom and picking up my toiletries. We still had a day left before we had to move to Grayson's pack but I wanted to make sure that I left nothing that I was going to need. The last thing I needed was asking for help concerning something that wasn't about the task. "As long as we're civil with each other, I expect that things should go fine."

I wasn't interested in getting to know any of them.

"Huh." She said simply, and I could tell she was going to drop the topic for now. Only now, I didn't think I wanted her to. I wanted her to explain exactly what she meant by 'huh'. Except I wasn't sure I had it in me to ask so I just let it slide. "I'm going to pop open a bottle of wine." She rode to her feet, taking her half empty bag of chips with her. " I think we should make a toast to this mission."

"I'm not sure that there's anything to toast-"

She was already out the door before I could finish my sentence.

***

"So the only solid thing we know for sure is that there's a werewolf serial killer on the loose," Kathryn said from where she sat. She had a tablet in her hand, her hair tied neatly in a ponytail. It was just only a shade or two lighter than Josie's. I gave her a nod in affirmation, drumming my fingers lightly on the conference table. "That's not nearly enough information." She murmured and I couldn't agree more.

We all sat in silence for a few beats, studying the images of the killer's victims displayed on the screen. Exactly sixteen deaths within two weeks. I shifted my attention to Josie, knowing if anyone could get us started it would be her. I'd known for all about a day and I already knew that she was intuitive and watchful.

"It's very strange, don't you guys think?" She said, causing the rest of the team to drag their attention away from the screen. She was trailing her forefinger down her chin, her eyebrows drawn together in thought. "The deaths are so. . .random." She finally completed. "It's like this guy has no MO. Their age differences are extremely wide. Same as their height differences, their ranks in the pack, their gender and even down to their build." She said listing things off. " It's almost like. . .the killer was trying to test if. . .he could take down anybody he wanted to."

Take down anybody he wanted to.

I fixed my attention back on the screen, this time with Josie's theory in mind. I could already see how that could be possible. The killer was probably trying to make sure whatever it was he was doing to finish them off could work for anyone. There was no time or cause of death stated on any of the victim's files but that was because they couldn't let just anyone run an autopsy on the victims. It was going to be one of the first things we'd have to see if we were ever going to stand a chance at finding the killer.

"Think it's a werewolf?" Kathryn asked her, wanting to know.

Josie lifted her shoulders in a shrug, twisting her lips to the side as she considered the question. "Maybe, maybe not." She responded vaguely. "I think we'd have to at least figure out the times and causes or cause of death first before knowing if the killer was werewolf or not." I nodded in agreement. Right now nothing was certain.

And no one could be trusted.

"Think it could be more than one person involved?" Joe asked, scratching his bald head. I pondered on the question for a little bit. I mean, it was possible that it was just one person behind the killings. But I also couldn't rule out the fact there could be more than one person involved. It would explain why they hadn't found a clue yet.

"I don't see why not." I replied. "Anyway," I started wanting to conclude the meeting since we'd been on it for quite a few hours. "Our first line of action would be to get autopsies done on all eighteen of the victims." I informed them. "Lexi and I should be able to handle that since we also identify as forensic pathologists. We both got a second degree in forensic pathology."

I clapped my hands together. "So while Lexi and I are working on getting the autopsies done, Josie and Kathryn, I'll need you guys to talk to the victims' families. Everything we need to know about them is in this file." I stated, distributing a second blue file to all of them. Just in case. "See if there's anything you can find. Their whereabouts especially, because the killer had to be picking them off from somewhere."

"Copy that boss," Josie replied, already flipping through the files. "It's going to be a whole lot of work but we'll give it our best. We'll get as much information as we can, check if maybe there's a common enemy, follow leads." She gave me a little salute. "Whatever we'd be doing we'd definitely be letting you know." She said.

I gave her a warm smile. I already knew I wasn't going to have any problems working with her. Or any of them for that matter. They were all nice people. Pushing my hair behind my ear, I split my attention between Kathryn and her. "That's wonderful." I told her. "But I also think we should all be involved with that at some point. It might help if we're all able to get a feel of the victims' families and friends. It would be easier to detect who's lying and who's not." I explained.

When I realized neither of them had any problem with it, I continued. "Josie, I'll need you to come up with some kind of timetable. You and Kathryn do most of the visits but see if you can also try to get the rest of us to go with you every now and then."

"I'll see to it." She responded.

I nodded at her and then turned my attention to Joe. "I think I'll need you to just lay low for a while, maybe get in touch with the pack warriors and see how tight their security is." I informed the bald man. Trevor had informed me that he'd finally retired from work only weeks ago to spend some time with his grandkids after his line of work had kept him away from family for so long. "I hate that you're supposed to be enjoying your retirement right now but maybe you can also see what the werewolves are up to in general. See if you can get the scoop on what's going on in the pack and if there are any people we could trust among them."

Joe smiled, waving his hands to indicate that his being here was no issue. "I have no problem with that," He said with a laugh. "I'd only be making use of my toys when necessary. Other than that, I'll help them tighten the pack's security and be your eyes and ears." I smiled at him, grateful that he'd agreed to it and even seemed to be looking forward to getting in touch with those people. It was definitely nice that they weren't as irritated by them as I was. We went over a few more details and a few minutes later, the meeting had come to an end and the team decided to go out for drinks.

I decided it was time to finally pay a long overdue visit to the SPA.