"What did you just say?"

The voice didn't repeat itself, instead the line went dead and my blood went cold.

Hercules's eyebrows were scrunched, no doubt his wolf could hear the other end, and his grey eyes were focused on me.

"You have to go."

It wasn't a statement, or a question, it almost seemed like a command but also the tone of it was doubtful.

I did have to go, Nick was completely healthy when I saw him, sure he was much older than a Beta as his age and he had passed it on, so there shouldn't be a motive. 

"I - my parents?" I never normally struggled to make a decision but after the argument (or me arguing with Hercules for my own guilt) I felt like it was wrong to walk away now, it almost showed him again, rather than telling him that I was not ready.

"I'll take Noel down. You can go," He said, turning over his shoulder to look at Noel and then looked back at me, "Go!"

So I did, I turned around heading towards the pack house and Hercules turned to go get Noel.

I guess this was what our byes were now becoming. 

* * * 

The atmosphere was weird when I walked into the St Bernard's pack house. I was here only a few days ago and things just seemed more joyful with all the younger pack members always around, laughing, playing together.

Now it was silent as Zach lead me through the house to my normal designated room, waited for me to drop things off and then lead me to their Alpha.

Alpha Zloy was in his office, along with Akil and a few other members.

"Well, Gi-I mean, Hill, you're back already, I guess nothing can escape the Enforcers headquarters."

I didn't want to correct him to say that it wasn't the Enforcers that told me, but rather someone else. A mystery caller.

"I just want to pay my respects," I said, letting my eyes go along all the five people in the room, "And see what I can do to assist."

Alpha Zloy remained seated in his leather chair, Zach standing to his right, his eyes looking at the ground.

Then there was Brian, Akil and Mohammed standing on the other side, all of them matching my hard gaze as I looked at them. 

"Well, Nick was fond of you I guess....you're welcome to stay for the funeral and then we probably will have to move you on. I'm sure you're busy," Zloy rose from his chair.

"How did he die?" I asked.

"Not sure, peacefully I hope, in his sleep."

"Did he have any medical issues?"

"Are you...questioning the cause of death Enforcer Hill?" Zloy asked.

Yes, I was.

"I'm simply shocked as he seemed healthy," I responded. Zloy staring me down wasn't going to scare me, so I stared back at him till he looked away first, almost with a smirk on his face. 

"Well knock yourself out if you want to go to the infirmary, we have nothing to hide. Zach," he called looking at his third in command, "Why don't you take care of our guest. Akil and I have things to do."

I watched as they all walked out of the room, having me and Zach staring at each other. 

"We weren't expecting you, you know," Zach commented after the door closed. Zach's eyes were a little red, unlike the others, it almost looked like he had been crying. 

"What happened to 'you're always welcome here,'" I joked as I started walking toward the exit as well. At least that's what Zloy had said last time and I guess he didn't really mean it. Typical. 

"How did you guys find out already?" Zach asked, falling into step with me. 

"Oh um, we were trying to contact Nick and he wasn't picking up," I lied, I needed to come up with a story about how I knew. If I told them that it was a mysterious call, it might not end that well. And I needed to know who called me. Was it someone from this pack, or someone else?

"Ah yeah, he was being bit weird yesterday with calls."

Zach stopped and turned around with a confused expression on his face, his hands in his pockets. 

I paused, "What do you mean?"

I was just making up something but it sounded like there could have been some truth to it after all. 

"He told me not to answer any of the phone calls,  he didn't want to speak to people."

"Does he have an office here?" I asked.

Zach nodded and started walking in a direction beckoning me to follow him. 

"Did he say anything else?"

Zach didn't respond for another two minutes until we were inside the Beta's office and the door was shut. 

"He wanted to be left alone," Zach mentioned.

The office was very different to Zloy's one, it was more old school with everything in oak wood or brown coloured, whilst Zloy was more black and grey themed. There was also a comfy sofa in one end and a bookshelf stacked to the top, Zloy didn't have many bookshelves. 

It reminded me a little bit of Hercules's office, with the way things looked old but in pristine condition. I was almost scared to touch anything.

I walked over to the old style phone, that had 17 missed calls on it. 

"I assume he also had a mobile?" I asked, it was rare to still see one of these modern version of hand held phone but most offices still had one for emergencies. Just like you would have a fax machine although I couldn't remember the last time I used one. 

"I'm not sure where it is. Zloy might have it."

If Zloy had it, then it was definitely going to be hard to get. He did say I could go speak to the infirmary, so I might try that. 

"Was he acting strange about not getting the calls?"

"I'm not sure," Zach leaned agains the windowsill that had the blinds half opened, letting in bright sunlight flooding the northern exposure room. 

"Since the paperwork, and you left, Beta Nick has been genuinely busy and locked up in this room. He wasn't happy about Akil you know, but he got used to it telling me that with a bit of training maybe Akil will be up for it. And Akil was keen to learn from him, even though he's only twenty."

I nodded, letting Zach continue, hoping he would say something important. Judging by the reception I wouldn't be allowed to extend my stay here.

"When is the funeral?"

"Three days, Beta Nick did have one family member you know."

No, I didn't know.

"His mate had a child with someone else before they met, Beta Nick treated him like his own kid, I believe, they'll be coming for the funeral or else Zloy would have buried him yesterday."

"Have you ever met them?"

"Nope. Beta Nick would meet them a few times every year off property. I do believe they belong to another pack." 

"So they're a wolf."

"Oh yes,"

Well that makes one thing easier if they were a wolf, it was always tricky when a human was mated with and had a half child, there was always things you worried about when they entered a pack area. Also...the paperwork would make me cringe. 

Zach's hands were still in his pocket as he looked at his shoes, his feet kicking in and out as he stretched it. His brown shoes almost blended into the red and brown carpet. There was something else that he wasn't saying, but I didn't push him.

I had three days, four including today, to find out what the go was. I also had to call it in, so someone apart from Hercules knew that I was here. The quicker the headquarters got their paperwork done, the safer I was. 

For some reason, I had a bad feeling about this.

Zach continued to stare at his feet, with a solemn look on his face, one that he hadn't been able to wipe off since Zloy and the others had left the office. He was either genuinely sad that Nick had passed, or he was scared of something. 

Zach looked up suddenly, his green eyes meeting mine. They lingered there as he stared into me and a shiver passed through my body.

The sun was behind him, creating a bright halo effect around him and made his hair look two shades lighter. The way he sat, the green eyes, the young face, the fact that Zach always wore jumpers on top of a shirt like someone else, it haunted me of a memory.

I shook it off. I could shake the feeling off, but I could never shake the guilt.

"Did you want to go to the infirmary?" Zach offered.

"Yes."

At least one person was willing to help me. 

Next chapter coming soon - hopefully! Leave lots of comments pls! My favourite part is reading the comments!!

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