Page 54 of Alpha's Revenge Luna

It feels good to be away from the packhouse.

Finally, I feel like I can breathe. For the most part, I remain quiet, watching out the window at the passing scenery.

It rains the entire drive, and only when we pull into the gated community do I sit and pay attention to what is going on.

Dion and Kyrio unclip their seatbelts, and I am about to do the same when Dion looks over his shoulder at me.

“Stay here. We won’t be long,” he tells me, and I sigh but sit back in my seat.

I watch from the car, anxiety twisting my insides as Dion and Kyrio venture into Alpha Farren’s packhouse.

The area is unsettling quiet, the kind of silence that feels like a weight pressing down on your chest. Trees sway gently in the breeze, but there’s no other movement, no life stirring in this place that should be buzzing with activity.

Glancing at the packhouse, I notice the door slightly ajar.

My heart races when Dion and Kyrio disappear inside, and I’m left alone with my thoughts.

Something feels off. Where are the investigators, the pack members?

Surely, a suburb as packed as this. You’d see someone, but it’s like a ghost town.

I can’t shake the feeling that something is amiss.

I understand we aren’t just here for tea and coffee, but where is the pack?

No one even met us at the borders. Where is the Beta, his warriors?

I find it odd not one person is here to protect the packhouse despite it being empty.

I strain my ears, hoping to catch any sound of life, but there’s only the distant chirping of birds.

Minutes tick by slowly, each second stretching out endlessly. Finally, I open the car door. Dion and Kyrio have been gone for at least twenty minutes, and waiting is torture.

Heading toward the door, the wooden porch surrounding the packhouse creaks under my feet, and with the door still open, I step inside.

“Dion?” I call out but get no answer. I wander around the foyer area and stare at the pictures on the wall.

Mostly, they are of previous Alpha’s and Luna’s.

But the more I wander through the house, the stranger it gets when I hear Dion and Kyrio down the hall.

I follow the sounds of their voices, stopping in the doorway of what appears to be an office.

“I told you to wait in the car,” Dion growls, turning around to look at me.

I bite my lip and nod once, about to turn around when his arms slip around my waist, making me jump at how fast he can move and silently.

He was across the other side of the room when I walked in, and I hadn’t even turned around before his hands were on me.

“I’m not mad,” he purrs against my neck, and I peer over my shoulder at him.

“We were expecting it to look like a bloodbath in here; I didn’t want you to see that,” he tells me. My brows furrow because, coming in here, nothing looks out of place at all.

“A bloodbath?” I ask him.

“Yes, all reports said the two Alphas fought, but it doesn’t even look like there was a struggle,” Kyrio tells me.

“Maybe somewhere else?” I suggest. Dion lets me go but shakes his head as he searches through the desk drawers. “Are you allowed to do that?” I ask him.

“No, we shouldn’t even be here, but Elder Eric is aware of me coming here. He believes it has something to do with some of the council members, but being part of the council, if he came here, it would have him questioned.”

“You think the council is behind it?” I ask, and he nods, setting some papers on the desk.

“Yes, I know they are. Too much doesn’t add up.

Also, there were reports that Alpha Callum never returned after retrieving his daughter.

That there was a fight at the entrance of the pack territory when Alpha Callum’s pack invaded, but once he retrieved his daughter, he left,” Dion states.

Stepping closer to the desk, I pick up the wad of paper he placed down when a few fall at my feet.

Picking them up, I find they are photographs.

Dion tries to snatch them from me, but I pull away.

“Why…?” confusion washes over me.

“How did he get these?” I ask Dion, looking at him. They are pictures of my father at the warehouse by the harbor—more of him in the packhouse. One of them has my mother in them as she and my father speak with a man who has his back to us.

“This is my house,” I tell Dion, and his eyes dart to Kyrio behind me.

Dion sighs and nods. “I told you I am not a liar, Emery. Trinity took those when she was gathering evidence. Alpha Farren was helping me investigate your father,” he tells me.

“But Trinity never left the house,” I state, yet the moment I do, I remember the countless times she was punished for sneaking out.

“I look at the warehouse picture, and despite my father and mother smiling in it and what appears to be them laughing while they talk to their warriors, I notice something else. I scan the image to the background to see women. Their faces are blurry, but you can’t hide the chains around their ankles, the bruises on their bodies, or their state of undress.

I drop the picture with a gasp and take a step back when I notice the girl’s reflection in one of the windows, who stood behind my father. Trinity, and she is glaring at my father’s back. Dion holds his hands out in a placating gesture like he is trying to wrangle a wounded animal.

“No!” I suddenly feel like the air is being pulled from my lungs.

“I’m not a liar, Emery. I did try to tell you,” he murmurs, and my hands shake.

“How?” I ask, and Dion presses his lips in a line like he doesn’t want to tell me.

“Trinity was wearing a button camera,” he tells me. He holds out his hand, and I hear Kyrio step toward us. He passes Dion his keys, and Dion fiddles with the bottle open on it for a second.

At first, I think he broke it, but then he shows me a hidden USB concealed inside it.

“This is the footage from the camera before your father found it and broke it. That is how I know it was your father who killed her.”

“Excuse me?” I ask him.

I reach for it, but he pulls it away. “You don’t want to see it, Emery. Remember Trinity, how she was.”

“But it was a rogue attack,” I tell him.

“Did you see any rogues?” he asks, and I pinch my brows as I remember that day.

“No, my mother sent me to my room. The alarms sounded, and the roller shutters went down. I couldn’t see outside. But I remember hearing the snarls, her scream. I remember my father wailing for her,” I murmur.

“I rather that be the memory you have of her.” Dion tells me, and I swallow, my eyes blurring with tears.

Dion steps around the desk, moving toward me, but I step back. He pauses watching me for a second and I suddenly feel colder. “I’m going to wait in the car,” I tell him.

I don’t wait for an answer, instead I quickly leave, wishing I never stepped foot in Alpha Farren’s pack house.

Stepping outside, the wind howls and I make my way to the car when something catches my attention out of the corner of my eye, and I stop, looking toward the trees that surround the packhouse.

Goosebumps raise on my arms, and the hair on the back of my neck stands on end.

My eyes scan the area looking for whatever caused my unease, but I find nothing.

Yet, I could have sworn, I saw a figure out of the corner of my eye standing by the tree edge.

Moving toward the car, I climb in the back and put my seatbelt on, yet that sense of unease doesn’t leave until I hear the door close to the packhouse.

Peering over at the huge house, Dion and Kyrio emerge, their expressions grim.

Dion’s frown deepens as he walks back toward the car, his eyes scanning the surroundings like he’s searching for answers in the wind.

He even stops briefly, and I don’t miss how he subtly sniffs the air, looking in the direction of the forest behind the house.

He shakes his head, climbing into the passenger seat.

“Did you find anything else?” I ask when I notice Dion’s gaze still at the forest.

“We found nothing,” Kyrio says as he closes the car door. “It’s as if everyone just vanished.”

I stare at Dion, searching his face for clues. His jaw is set, a muscle twitching in his cheek. “It’s too clean, and where is everyone,” he says, his voice low and troubled. “There’s no sign of a fight, no blood, nothing. It’s like they were never there.”

I shiver, despite the warmth of the car. “What does that mean?” I ask, my voice barely above a whisper.

Dion’s gaze meets mine, and I see a storm brewing in his eyes. “It means we’re dealing with something much bigger than we thought,” he says. “Something’s being covered up and quite extensively because where is everyone?” he mutters, yet his gaze goes back to the trees.

“I could have...” Dion stops and Kyrio glances at him.

“You hear something?” I ask him and Dion tenses in his seat. He twists to look at me. “I smelt something. Why did you hear something?”

I shake my head. “No, but when I came out, I thought I saw something move by the…”

“By the forest?” I hastily nod and he looks at Kyrio.

“What is it?” I ask Dion.

“Someone knows we are here and is watching. Not surprising we are at a pack, so someone has to have seen us drive in, but why not come to the house. Also, why were there no guards?” Dion asks, having the same thoughts I had earlier.

So it is strange. Then I am not being paranoid.

As we drive away from the packhouse, I can’t help but feel a sense of dread settling in my stomach. Whatever is happening, it’s clear we’re only just beginning to scratch the surface of.

Kyrio drives through the town, and we stop next to the massive library. A smaller building is beside it, nestled between the library and the courthouse.