Chapter 3

“So, let me get this straight.”

I pause, flipping through the gruesome pictures on the tablet Maverick handed over to me during this limo drive back to hell. I hesitate, stopping on the picture of Loraeli Donahue nicknamed the black widow. Dark waves of hair cascades over her shoulders. Stunning violet eyes pierces into hers, but there is a sadness there… a loneliness that I know all too well.

She’s misunderstood. Seen as deadly. Seen as a threat. She isn’t like the rest — stands out like a sore thumb.

“She is your brother’s fated mate,” I say, pointing at her. Maverick nods his head in confirmation. “But your brother,” I continue as I swipe to the side to eye the picture of Catherine Divine. “Is going to claim her as his mate and Luna?”

Maverick tenses and growls, evidently doesn’t like that idea. He shakes his head in frustration. “He’s being forced to. Idris promised to claim Catherine in exchange for not having Loralei exiled.”

“And now Catherine has been poisoned and attacked,” I point out as I swipe to the side to look over the medical charts. I glance up and see him nod again. Well, that’s a shit show. “And everyone believes it was Loralei doing it except you.”

Even if she was the one doing it, I totally get it. Kettle calling kettle black. Can’t judge a gal if I’m in the same boat, right? I feel for her too. If she did happen to try to murder the girl, it wouldn’t be disappointed. She has every reason to poison that bitch in my eyes and attack her for trying to sink her claws into her man.

I raise an eyebrow. “Alpha Idris believes it was her too?”

He sighs, obviously frustrated and stressed out about this entire shindig. I mean I would be too. It’s obvious that Loralei is seen a major threat. People obviously don’t want her to be Alpha Idris’ Luna even though she is actually the rightful Luna according to their laws and traditions. The best way to undermine a Luna’s right is to taint her reputation and paint her as unfit and undeserving.

Except the problem is that all of Loralei’s previous lovers have met unfortunate ends. No desire to see those photos at the moment, but I can say that she has a dicey past. All of them are unsolved cases, but people suspect it was her and now that Catherine is being attacked, it is too easy to point fingers at Loralei.

Conveniently easy. I mean it really was easy. You’d be pretty stupid to not connect the dots. She has a dark past and they could easily use it to their advantage. If it’s the same people that got on me back in the day then yes, they are truly capable of some petty shit.

But maybe I am biased because I can relate to Loralei. I totally get her on many levels. Nobody was a fan of me either when Maverick brought me to visit those few times. They had all been snobbish, turned up their noses like the little bitches that they are. They were all so terrible to me, because I wasn’t one of them and I didn’t fit in their cookie cutter mold of who they thought Maverick should be with.

“No, he doesn’t believe it was her,” Maverick finally tells me. I can finally breathe, letting the air release from lungs.

Good man. Good Alpha. Smart wolf. I never got to meet Alpha Idris when Maverick took me to visit his pack. I saw him in passing once or twice, but it was brief. He had been dealing with things at the time and I couldn’t be properly introduced.

“He’s actually the one that requested you.”

I frown at that. So Maverick isn’t even the one that asked for me to come back? Pain impales me through my chest like a sword blazing with fire. Nah, it’s just a scratch, just a scratch. Isn’t that what Mercutio said before fucking cursing both houses of Capulet and Montague too?

Tempting. Very tempting.

“It seems your reputation precedes you. You made an empire for yourself, didn’t you? A top notch private investigator.”

The way he says it is strange like nostalgia almost. His tone’s soft and light. His mind is elsewhere. I can always tell when he’s walking in his thoughts and imagination. Once upon a time, I would ask him what was running through that brain of his and he’d tell me like he actually wanted me to know. I don’t dare say a word now, but I can’t help my curiosity.

It tickles me like laughter that I can’t hear. It frustrates like all the fucking times he withheld my orgasm making me wait… but it was always so worth the wait. Always. I wish I could still be the one that could ask him, but I know it isn’t the same anymore. So I don’t because I can’t and it hurts. It still fucking hurts.

Why is it impossible not to think of sex when he’s around me?

“You really did do what you said you were going to do,” he chuckles to himself.

His eyes slide to me and they soften. I want to speak, but my words get lost in my throat. I feel like I’m drowning in things I can’t say. I want to say, but shouldn’t say. I choke on them, trying to swallow the lump down. Not everyone gets their happy ending.

“We built it from the ground up,” I tell him proudly.

“We?”

I nod. “Yes. Darius, myself, and Maggie.”

“Darius, hm?” he asks. “The guy you said you would suck his dick to drop this case?”

Oh, yes, I did tell him that, didn’t I? “Darius and I are co founders of our private investigation company,” I explain with a shrug of my shoulders. “He was supposed to come with me, but he has a case to finish up before he joins us with Maggie.”

Maverick has gone quiet and I glance over him. There is a dark expression on his face. I don’t understand it, because it doesn’t make any sense. I swallow when he glances over me, meeting my eyes with his.

“I see,” he growls. His eyes flash like a warning.

I don’t! I don’t get it. I fucking don’t. I don’t see. I actually don’t see why you have your panties are in a twist, buddy! I’m the one that got fucked over. Not you.

“Anyway, Idris asked me to contact you. He wanted to himself, but he knows people are tracking his movements.”

My face feels hot. I blocked him the most I left, but after awhile, I unblocked him like the sadistic little lovesick puppy that I am. Such a stupid lovesick puppy. It was a stupid hope that he remember how awesome I awesome I am.

You see, he would reach out and tell me I was his one and only. He would beg for forgiveness and he’d pay me back with orgasms by going down on me and eating me out. I would forgive him, because life without him was worse than living without him. I totally didn’t have everything figured out if he reached out and apologized. Not at all. Absolutely not.

It didn’t matter anyway. He never texted. I never got my happy ending. I never got my downstairs eaten out and never received multiple orgasms. My neglected pussy weeps sad crocodile tears, but nobody needs to know that. Only the stupid lovesick puppy dog desperate for their owner to remember they care… that they love them.

When he finally had reached out, it wasn’t even for him. It was for his brother. Funny how life works. Funny how even after getting your heart run over by a Mack truck that it could reverse and run back over your heart like roadkill. Am I dead yet? No? Let’s just make sure.

“Well, I’m here so…”

He smirks at that. “Yes, you are.”

I frown at the look he gives me. The predatory look he gets when he wants something bad and isn’t willing to give it up for anything. It does stupid things to me. Why is he looking at me like that?