JAKE
One week later
DCI Clarissa Thornton stood at the front of the room. As the investigation into Lee Faris’s death involved an alpha, she’d personally overseen it. Max and I had done a lot of the work, but we’d reported everything to her.
“As you know, Alpha Xen Kelson admitted killing Lee Faris on the grounds it was self-defence.”
The information gathered from Axel’s mind-reading had been enough for Thornton to authorise requesting the security footage from the businesses surrounding Stella’s. The cameras captured Xen and Faris arriving at the back room just before midnight and the bartender we’d spoken to leaving roughly forty minutes later. It also showed my dad arriving at exactly 1:15am. Combined with the call times that Myla sent Max, it proved that Xen had called Frost before my dad even arrived at Stella’s. He’d lied about everything.
It was only a theory at this point, but we believed Xen had called my dad to get him to come to the bar then erased the call history from his phone.
Thornton stopped pacing and stared directly at me and Max. “Xen’s denying using banned magic to erase the memories of John Allen and Oscar Lynth.”
“Couldn’t we ask Axel to read Xen’s mind again?” I asked.
“It’s not that easy,” Dathal offered. He sat between Gabriel and Chylath, with Wyn on Chylath’s other side. “We were fortunate that Axel got as much information as he did. With Xen now aware of what Axel can do he’s unlikely to cooperate, and Axel would need assistance to force Xen to think about the night in question. And he can only do that in the Fae Realm.”
Max huffed. “And the chances of that happening are zero, right?”
“Yes,” Thornton cut in. “No matter what Xen Kelson has done, we can’t use magic to forcibly read his mind. Using the information Axel provided was pushing the limits, we won’t get authorisation for anything beyond that.”
“So we can’t prove it?” I asked, curling my hands into fists. Xen put my dad through three months of hell, making him believe he’d murdered Faris with no provocation. Made me almost believe it, but I was trying not to dwell on that. “Even with the information we got from Zane?”
“Wyn?” Thornton turned to face him. “Where are we on that?”
Wyn startled, tearing his gaze away from Chylath and sitting up straighter like he’d been caught doing something wrong.
I caught Max’s eye and smirked.
“I’ve been working with Ella Roach and the witches’ council to identify those Zane says he saw Xen talking to at Midnight. It’s difficult because this was months ago, and the only footage available from that night is of the magic-dampening arch at the entrance. It shows the arch glowing green as they pass through it, so they’re definitely witches, and they meet up with Xen at the lower bar. But we can’t get a clear view of their faces.”
“So we have no proof that he used illegal magic.” We all fucking knew he had; it was beyond frustrating that we couldn’t prove it. “And there are no witnesses to refute his story that Faris attacked him first.” I slammed a hand on the table. “He’s going to walk away from this, isn’t he?”
“No.” DCI Thornton walked over to stand in front of me. “He falsely entered into an alpha pact by misleading the other parties involved. That is an offence if either of the wronged parties wish to press charges. Which I’m assuming you do?”
“Fuck yes.” I wanted to kill him for what he’d put us all through. “But it won’t keep him locked up for long, will it?” I grumbled.
“Hopefully long enough for us to find proof that he bought and used illegal magic.” Thornton tapped the edge of the table. “We’re still searching the pack house and the grounds.”
It had taken us almost a week to get a warrant to search Xen’s private quarters. Elliot could’ve easily gone in and looked around, but we needed to keep this official if we stood a chance of prosecuting Xen for all of it.
The meeting wrapped up, everyone returning to their offices, but Thornton caught me and Max at the door. “The witches’ council want to take the lead on the illegal potions investigation, and I happen to agree that it’s the best course of action. I’m going to assign Wyn and Cara to work with them on it. I also think it’d be an interesting case for Chylath to be a part of, so I’m going to take him off your hands for a while.”
I frowned. “Already?” I’d barely had time to get used to having a partner again.
She smirked. “Only temporarily. It’s been a tough few months for you both and I’d like for you to take the next couple of weeks off.” She smiled, setting a hand on both our shoulders. “I understand you still have decisions to make?”
We did.
Both Max and I were still without a pack.
Xen had been stripped of his alpha status, and by a unanimous pack vote, Elliot had taken over. He’d offered us a place in his new pack if we wanted to come back.
Rys had also invited us to join his Dark Forest Pack.
With the investigation taking up all of our time this week, we’d barely had any time alone together. And when we did, we were too exhausted to do anything. Turned out even with shifter healing, almost dying took it out of you. A few stolen kisses were all we’d managed since everything went down at Rys’s place, both of us avoiding the subject of whose pack we wanted to join.
“We do,” Max answered. “Some time off would be much appreciated.”
