10. DEVRIM

“You hit like a pussy.”

I laughed when Ezra growled and threw a punch at me that I easily dodged.

“Don’t call me that,” he snarled.

“What?” I dodged another punch. “Pussy?”

I watched as the colour in his cheeks darkened. Ezra hated being called names. It mostly had to do with the guards teasing him when we were locked up in the facility.

“You’re just like Vanya,” he grumbled.

I managed to get two hits in before he hit the ground. Ezra growled at me as he rubbed the reddening spot on his chest. I tilted my head to the side.

“What do you mean?”

He sat up, but continued to glare at me. “She was teasing me. Called me a kitty-cat.”

I laughed. How had she managed to call him that without him going ballistic? 

I was still laughing when Ezra tackled me. A grunt fell from my lips when my back hit the ground and he came down on top of me.

Ezra quickly grabbed my wrist and pinned my arms above my head. I could’ve easily changed our position—it was what I was trained for—but I held still and watched the different emotions flashing through his eyes.

“What’s it like?” Ezra suddenly asked.

I frowned at him. “What?”

His legs shifted to my sides and he sat up a little higher. Ezra’s gaze darted over my face, and to my surprise, lingered on my lips. My heartbeat escalated, and it had nothing to do with our playful fighting.

“What does what feel like?” I questioned when he just continued to stare at me.

“Kissing.” Ezra’s eyes shot up to mine. “Humans kiss, right? I saw it on TV.”

My frown cleared. When we first escaped, we had a lot of things we needed to learn in order to survive. Our experiences were limited to what the humans at the facility taught us, and the things we had seen on TV after being freed.

“Why do you want to know?” I asked softly.

“You were bred with females regularly.”

“Sometimes,” I muttered reluctantly. “We never kissed. Usually, the females prepared themselves before they were brought to my cage. All I did was mate with them.”

His face dropped and his shoulders sagged. “Oh.”

“You have never shown any interest in this. Has a female caught your attention?”

Ezra swallowed. “Vanya.”

“Why?” I asked him before I could stop myself. “I thought you’re interested in one—”

“I feel attraction for her,” he interrupted. “That day I went with her, I wanted to kiss her, but I was scared that I might do it wrong.”

I blew out a breath. “You’re attracted to her. You always talked about how you hated her when she came to visit us with her mother when she was little.”

His eyes shot up to mine. “Hate?”

Shifting slightly, I gave him a nod. “I want her, and I know that Obsidian wants her, too. I just thought that your feelings for her are still the same.”

Ezra’s frown deepened. His hold on my wrist loosened enough for me to know that he was distracted. I hooked one leg over the back of his and used my strength to roll us over. Ezra blinked at me with wide eyes.

I smirked at him. “You’ve gotten better, but you need a little more practice.”

I sat up and climbed off him. Getting to my feet, I held a hand out to help him up.

“Why don’t you ask one of the youths to help?” I suggested, as we made our way back to the house. “I’m sure they’ll be able to help you.”

“No, thanks.” He glared at me. “I’d rather learn how to do it myself. They’re almost as bad as those human youths.”

I laughed. He had a point there.

“Maybe she could teach us,” Ezra muttered.

“Who?” I questioned.

“Vanya.” He stopped and turned towards me.

“Ezra—”

He grabbed hold of my shoulders and gave me a little shake. “Think about it. All three of us want her and I’m sure that she wants us too.” He smiled. “It’s like humans say; it’ll be a win-win.”

I rolled my eyes at him. “It’s never going to happen.”

“Devrim!” someone called, interrupting our conversation. I tensed and spun around in the direction my name was being called. A second later, one of the youths shot through the trees and came to a stop next to us.

“Come quick! The police are here.”

***

I growled when I stepped out from the trees and spotted the police cars parked in front of the main house. Chief Curry along with his men stood at the bottom of the steps, glaring up at a few members of the pride who were at the top of the stairs, blocking them from entering.

“What are you doing here?” I growled as I stormed up to the Chief.

“We have a court order with permission to search your house,” he said, holding a folded piece of paper out towards me. “Tell your men to stand down.”

“That piece of paper means nothing on our land,” I sneered. “You have no permission to enter our homes. Now get lost.”

Chief Curry took a step towards me, but froze when I growled. My eyes darted over him and then over to the men who stood close behind him.

“Why are you here?”

He swallowed loudly. “W-we found a body. T-the Mayor believes that one of—”

I sneered at him. “We have talked about this already.”

“L-look. I’m j-just doing my job.”

I took a step closer and reached out to grab hold of his shirt. The sound of weapons being drawn filled the tense silence. “Tell your men to stand down or we will attack you.”

The Chief waved a shaky hand that hung limply at his side. After a few seconds, they lowered their guns.

“Now tell me why you assume we did it?”

“T-the girl was s-slaughtered. Similar to the f-first body.”

“Where was the body found?”

He swallowed. “I-in V-Vanya’s apartment.”

Icy shivers raced down my spine. Had we already lost her before we even had her? Was—

No. He said that the body was found inside her apartment. Vanya was staying with her father, and Obsidian was still keeping a close eye on her. He would have informed me if something had happened to her.

“Is the body still in the apartment?”

He nodded. I stepped back and turned slightly. My eyes locked with Ezra’s. Pure panic shone in his eyes.

“Tell your men to get out of there and make sure nobody else enters. Everyone who was inside needs to be lined up so that we don’t confuse them with other scents we find in the apartment. Do it now!”

I turned and walked up the steps.

“Orion”—I looked at the man in question—“fetch your brother. I need you to track.”

“On it!”

When I turned back around, the Chief had just finished his call. His eyes locked with mine for a second before darting away.

“Set?” He nodded. “Good. Let’s go.”

***

The first thing I noticed when I got out of the car was Obsidian leaning against one of the police vehicles. He was scowling like usual, but his body language was different.

I ignored the Chief and made my way through the crowd towards him. He turned his head and looked right at me, as if he could sense me approaching.

A wave of panic hit me again when our eyes locked, but I quickly pushed it aside.

“Is she okay?”

Obsidian straightened and turned slightly sideways. I followed his gaze to the car where Vanya sat in the backseat.

She had a blanket thrown over her shoulders, with the ends clutched tightly together in a white-knuckled grip under her chin. Vanya was trembling and as white as a sheet.

“She found the body,” Obsidian told me. “The bastard left a message.”

I frowned at him, but all he did was to nod towards the building. After one last glance at Vanya, I spun and headed towards the building.

The Chief, Orion, and his brother were already waiting for me near the entrance.

“T-these are the men who w-were inside.”

I nodded before turning my attention to the brothers. “Sniff them. Don’t confuse their scent with the others inside the apartment.”

“Damn, humans need to take better care of their hygiene,” Orion muttered minutes later as we entered the building.

Dorian chuckled. “I heard some humans take regular baths, and some don’t. Besides, humans can’t control their body temperature like we can.”

I growled to silence them as I led the way towards Vanya’s apartment. My steps faltered when I entered. The smell of cleaning chemicals was so strong that it made my nose burn and my eyes water.

“See what smells you can pick up. Don’t touch anything unless it can be used to hunt the killer.”

I left them sniffing around the living room and made my way towards Vanya’s bedroom. The smell of chemicals grew fainter the further I moved down the hall. I paused outside her bedroom before I entered. My eyes landed on the bed and then slowly darted up to the message on the wall above it.

“Shit,” Orion cursed from behind me. “Who’s Vannie? Is she the woman who lives here?”

“Did you find anything?” I asked instead of answering him.

“No.” He stepped around me and walked closer to the bed.

“He knew that we were going to be called,” Dorian said, making me turn to frown at him.

“Why?”

“The stuff you’re smelling wasn’t used to clean. It was used to mask any scents.”

“She wasn’t killed here?”

He shook his head.

I glanced around the room and froze when my eyes locked on the wardrobe underneath the window. The bottom drawers were closed, but the top one was open.

My hands clenched at my sides as I stepped closer and stared down at the contents inside. Whatever had been in the drawer before wasn’t there anymore, but in its place were different sized photos, all of them of Vanya in different places and with different people.

“He’s been following her,” I muttered.

Orion stepped up next to me and stared down at the pictures. He suddenly reached out and picked one up which revealed the one underneath. I snarled and quickly slammed the drawer shut.

“What—”

“Don’t look at it.”

I glared at him. Orion placed the photo down and held up his hands in a human gesture. Hissing at him, I turned to his brother who was busy inspecting the body.

“Well?”

“She was definitely not killed here, but she was brought here and then cut open on the bed,” Dorian explained. “No scents to track or any other relevant evidence left behind.”

It’s just our fucking luck.

***

“You can’t go in there!”

With the envelope clutched tightly in my hand, I stormed past the screaming woman behind the desk and threw the doors open. They banged against the walls, making everybody inside the room jump.

My eyes instantly located Mayor Reeves at the head of the table.

He stood and glared at me, but before he could utter a word, I ripped the envelope open and threw it onto the table in front of him.

Some of the photos fell out onto the desk, giving everyone close enough a view of them.

I watched his face as he stared down at it.

“Were you aware that a body had been planted in your daughter’s apartment?”

He swallowed. “N-no. I told Darla to hold my calls.”

“Vanya found the body.” I leaned forward and searched through the photos until I found the one taken by the police. “There was a message for her.”

I pointed to the photo. “There is no doubt that he wants to kill her, Reeves.”

“It’s—”

“It’s not someone trying to get your attention!” I sneered.

Reeves glanced down at the photos and then at the men around the table. “Please, excuse us.”

I silently watched the men as they stood and shuffled out of the room while muttering under their breath. When the door closed behind the last human, I turned back to him. Reeves was studying the photos intensely. He reached out and touched one—a photo that had been taken at his house a few days ago.

“You know who it is?”

“Not yet.” I moved away from him. “I have been informed that two more bodies were found late last night by some youths at the coves.”

“Why wasn’t I informed?”

I shrugged. The first reason was because I had just been informed on my way to see him, and the second was the fact that the bodies were different.

Both girls had been reported missing weeks ago, but they weren’t killed the same way the others had been.

I took a deep breath. We didn’t have time for him to come to his senses. I had to take control of things, for Vanya’s sake.

“We can keep your island safe and capture the killer,” I said softly.

 “In return for what?” he questioned.

“Your daughter.”