Chapter 79
CARSON Hearing Josh and what the others went through made me long to leave and hunt the ones responsible down. The mere thought of killing them played heavily on Lynx and me. Lynx huffed in agreement. Shaking my head, I looked around the training fields. Everyone had gone, left me alone. The mind link about what happened had just come in after I had told everyone that training was down for now. I knew they needed to rest, or they couldn’t fight if anything happened. Letting out a sigh, I left the grounds when a mind link came from Zain. “Carson, head over to the gamma’s house. We found something.” Without letting me answer, he closed the link and took off running. Jenny’s idea about checking over the Gamma’s house again with fresh eyes worked. Lynx came closer. “Wonder what they found.” Curiosity coated his voice, which made me run faster. Once I got there, Jenny was waiting for me. “Josh told me what happened. We should—” “No,” I said, shaking my head and stopping. “We are not leaving the pack. They will come back when everything is dealt with.” Jenny looked unconvinced but moved aside to let me into the house. I stepped inside to find Zain standing with some paper in his hand. He looked up and handed it to me. “Have you heard of this guy?” I looked at him, confused, and then at the paper. There was a photo of a group of men, so it was hard to tell who he was talking about. I knew none of them. “I know none of them,” I said, looking back at him. “Do you?” Zain shook his head and sighed. “Maybe someone will. But that’s not what I mind-linked you to see.” I frowned and handed the paper to Jenny, while I moved toward Zain, who was now kneeling and looking over more paper displayed on the coffee table. “What then?” There were loads of photos and even plans for houses on the table. “Well, it seems the gamma has been looking into who hates you.” Well, that wasn’t surprising to hear since he believed I was the one who killed his son. I said nothing but looked at him, motioning for him to continue. “He found a few people, but no one would stand up to you until he found this person. His name is under John Smith, which could mean anyone. They reached out to the gamma and wanted to meet.” Zain handed me a pile of papers that looked like emails. “I looked through his computer and found these. I printed them off to read, but you may want to. Some details are about your routine and what you are like as an alpha.” All this sounded odd. “You should read them, not me. You may pick on who the person is.” I nodded but looked around the house till my eyes returned to Jenny, who hadn’t moved from where I left her. Her eyes were on the photograph I handed her. “Jenny, are you okay?” Jenny looked up, paler. “I think Larry knew one of these men.” Shaking her head, she moved closer just as Zain stood up. She pointed to the person in the middle out of the five men. “This one. He was around before I left. I thought nothing of it since he seemed human. He would always wear the most hideous aftershave, which played hell with my senses.” “What did your ex say he was to him?” Zain asked, his eyes meeting mine. I could see if there was a connection to Leah. “He mentioned he worked with him.” That was something, but why have a photo of someone who worked with Leah’s dad? “Maybe it’s a way to get close to him,” Lynx muttered, which sounded more logical than anything. There was silence between us. My eyes filtered around the room. Something felt off with it. When we were kids, we would be here all the time and hanging around, laughing and joking about what went on within school or even what girls fancied. This house was once vibrant. Now, it seemed dull, full of pain and suffering. Looking around until my eyes landed on the stairs. “Has anyone been upstairs?” I muttered, walking away. “We only went to the kitchen, basement, and lounge.” Zain moved toward me, looking toward the stairs. “What are you thinking?” I stared for a moment before I looked back at him and then at Jenny. “What about checking his bedroom and his son’s room? It would be in one of those rooms if he wanted to hide anything.” Neither of them said a word. I could tell by Zain’s face that he felt the same way I did. The last time we were in our friend’s room was the day of his funeral. We wanted to reminisce about the old days until his father kicked us out. Tensions ran high that day, and we didn’t blame him. We knew he blamed us for what happened, but a man grieving the loss of his son’s death was a hard one to swallow. I moved and headed upstairs, with Jenny and Zain following behind me. I stepped onto the landing and motioned to the door to the side. “Jenny, look in his room. He may have left an address book or something.” Jenny said nothing but walked away. I looked toward the room. I knew we would have to enter. Maybe he had nothing to hide, but his son’s room was where no one could enter. Part of me thought I was becoming crazy. All this was unreal to us. People we have grown up with, believing in the old ways and even willing to lose their family members, is shocking. Something else must be at play here, and I was willing to find out what that was, even if it meant going through my old friend’s room. While stepping toward the door, I exerted pressure on the door handle but discovered it was locked. Strange. We were looking at Zain, who seemed to be stunned like me. We tried a few times until Zain’s wolf let a claw out and moved into the door’s lock. A click came, and the door opened. Taking a breath, I opened the door and walked inside, stopping only to take in what was going on, which was a lot. There were papers everywhere but a big photograph on the wall, which took my breath away. It couldn’t be. Why would he have this here?