The hallway was clear yet I stayed frozen on my spot. Minutes passed by and I took a couple of steps forward, hoping to see who had been feeding off an old man in this house. Those wounds were open, someone had just done it.

I drew my lower lip into my mouth while walking cautiously across the hallway. There were rooms on either side, at least for of them. He could have gotten out from anywhere and I didn't know who else lived in this house asides from the servants, Grayson, and his mate.

My heart jerked hard when one of the doors flung open behind me. A lump started in my throat and my limbs scarcely moved an inch.

"Clara?" A manly voice bellowed behind me.

I took in a quick breath before turning around to face Grayson who stood surprised. When I looked over his shoulder, I found an office behind him, inside one of the rooms in the hallway.

"Are you lost?" He asked, closing the door behind before I could get any peek of it.

As he approached me, I felt the walls closing up. He was the monster. He was the one who had bitten that old man. Who else it could be? I saw the darkness in his eyes when he stood up and walked away from breakfast earlier. It was the same darkness—a hunger that Wayne and I, both, had.

It had to be.

"Yes. I was looking for a washroom. My stomach's been a bit upset since last night." I looked around myself, hoping for one of the doors to be a washroom.

"Oh, it's not here. But come, I'll guide you." He offered.

As much as I wanted to reject him and run away from here, I couldn't. I needed to keep my cool. I needed to act as if I didn't know anything, as if I was a dumb omega obeying her mate.

"Thank you," I whispered while walking alongside him. "I saw this man running across the hallway so I assumed the washroom was down here..." I trailed off, forming an entire lie in seconds. If there was one thing I was good at, it was lying and doing it professionally.

"Really?" Grayson scratched the back of his neck in uncertainty. Tension created lines over his face as I continued peeking at him. "I don't know. Must be one of the servants." He shrugged.

"I hope I didn't disturb you."

"No, of course, not." He shook his head and chuckled lightly, "Where is Claudia?" He took a deep breath as we stepped back into the main hall of the house. "I told her to look after you while I'm busy and while your mate isn't here." His voice was different, gruesome in a way.

He wasn't telling me about the things he had told his mate but rather the order he had given her.

There was so much wrong happening here and I needed Wayne to return immediately.

"No," I stepped forward. "I was with her but I told her I needed to go to the washroom. We were outside in the garden but then I came inside and got lost."

I had faced abuse, verbal mostly, and somehow, I saw the signs of it in Grayson's words and the way he mentioned his mate in private.

In silence, Grayson guided me to the washroom downstairs and I went in. As soon as I locked the door behind me, I took a deep breath and wavered my hands in the air out of panic.

Fuck.

Fuck.

I pushed my fingers across my scalp while my elbows met with the handwash counter. My thoughts ran wild and questions started in my head. It was all daunting.

Was Grayson poisoned by my mother? Were we wrong? Or did Grayson poison himself to gain power?

There were too many thoughts and theories. I couldn't bear it. Not right now.

Stress wasn't good for me. I needed to keep myself safe until later, until I could use the test and confirm whether I was pregnant or not. If I was, I needed to leave from here—with Wayne, for our both sakes.

When Wayne returned, I couldn't be alone with him since we were crowded by Grayson, his mate, and a couple more people from the Goldridge Pack. The entire morning we spent in the garden, playing a hunting game in a werewolf form.

I didn't shift but Wayne definitely displayed his rock-hard chest before shifting and playing the game alongside other werewolves.

I stayed in the shade, waiting for the time to pass by so I could have Wayne alone and I could tell him what I had seen.

Meanwhile seated, I watched Grayson carefully, eyeing his every move, the way he walked, the way he shifted, and the way he disappeared after every game ended.

A single hunting game lasted for forty minutes and Grayson went into the house after every forty minutes. He returned and joined the game in moments and every time I assumed he went in to get blood, to drink blood from that poor old man.

I couldn't think about anything else.

"How long is this going to be?" I asked Claudia after being seated for more than an hour. My left leg trembled while the chipped the corner of my nails.

Looking ahead, I found the werewolves, in their wild form, spraying across the location in groups and hunting. My gaze was fixated on Wayne, hoping he wouldn't get hurt.

If Grayson was a monster—which he surely was, he had the same strength as Wayne and if there were any other monsters in this pack, we were going to be doomed.

"Just another hour. Have some drinks." Claudia offered as she eased back onto her seat without a worry in her mind.

I tossed my head around, staring at her in disbelief. Her mate was a monster, a literal one and she acted as if she didn't care at all. Only when searching for concern over her face, I realized her hair was pushed forward over to her shoulders and she wore a scarf around her neck.

Fuck no.

My stomach clenched. What were the possibilities? Wayne and I both tried to attack each other when wanting blood.

When the third game came to an end, Grayson shifted and while buttoning up his shirt, he hurried back into the house with a scornful look on his face. He had lost for the third time against the group Wayne had formed.

It made him furious and with anger came bloodlust.

"Excuse me. Stomach bug..." I whispered before standing up and running behind Grayson.

Wayne enjoyed his victory with the other teammates while I wandered back into the dark and silent house. Most of the servants were outside, watching the game and cheering for their Alpha, mostly.

I pushed my hair back, behind my ears while I walked slowly toward the hallway where his office was situated. The noises from outside were loud and they slipped into the house but I couldn't hear anything from inside.

It was dead silent.

My heart thudded hard against my chest and I placed a hand over it. A headache began behind my eyes. I took short and quick breaths till I reached the door to the office.

I stood against the brown wooden door, hearing nothing but silence. The clock ticked behind me. Seconds passed. I heard nothing. My senses remained open, eyes wide as they could be. I didn't smell blood nor heard any scream.

But then, I felt someone breathing down my neck.

The hair over my skin rose and I swallowed hard, realizing what was going to happen.

I didn't need to know who was behind me. I already knew. My lips pursued tightly before I turned, facing Grayson.

"Lost again?" His face was different, blank and emotionless, somewhat starving as well. His skin was pale as ice, lacking blood—blood he needed to stay alive just as I did, just as Wayne did.

Caught. I was caught, red-handed. He knew. I knew. We both knew what was happening here. "She didn't poison you, didn't she? You poisoned yourself." I stared straight into his dark eyes, searching for a soul but there was none. "And let me guess why. Power."

At the end of the day, everything was about power. My mother wanted power, I wanted power, Wayne wanted power and so did everyone else. We carved for that only one thing that made us different than others.

"That's right. I did," He took a step toward me and I backed up to the door. My hand wrapped around the circle handle, waiting to open it if I felt I was being threatened. "And you know what I learned today? Right now?" His face turned into a deep shade of red.

"What?" I wasn't afraid, not of him.

"That you killed your mother." He gritted his teeth in anger as if I had killed his mother instead of mine.

"Oh, that..." I pushed my shoulders up and sighed, "Well, she was a bad seed and she troubled me a lot. Of course, I killed her. But why are you concerned?" I titled my neck a little, trying to figure it all out by myself.

My eyes wandered across his face and then over his body. The expression on his face told me something I never wanted to believe.

'He's just like Wayne, cruel and vicious. The female, as bitchy as she can get.'

Those were my mother's words, her own words.

"You had an affair with her, didn't you? And she gave you the poison, all of it." The corner of my lip curled and I smiled in realization.

#

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