Helanie:
"Mr. Coombs, we thought you were too sick to co out of your room," I said, curiosity clear in my voice. He smiled, but I could tell it was fake, just to throw us off guard.
"Yeah, I’m tired and a little sick. Actually, after Salem died, I haven’t been too well," he mumbled, and the ntion of Salem soured my mood even more. Every ti I thought of Sydney, I wanted to slap her for what she’d done to Salem. And even now, when her father ntioned Salem, she rolled her eyes and grunted.
"I’m sorry, do you not feel bad for your sister?" I asked, calling her out. I could tell it shocked her. She hadn’t expected to directly point at her odd behavior.
"It saddens , but it also reminds how all the fingers were pointed at ," she hissed, stabbing a finger at her chest.
"And rightfully so," I added. She glared back at with a deep scowl.
"Anyway, now that you’re here, how about we offer you lunch? The servers have already prepared a great al, so co join us," Mr. Coombs said, gesturing with his hand before turning to lead us to the dining room.
But we hadn’t co to dine, and we weren’t about to waste ti before checking the garden, just like the warrior told us.
"Actually, we’ve already eaten. We’d like to continue the search, because we have sowhere else to be," I replied, making it sound like a routine check-up of all the big packs with unresolved issues.
"Right, we heard sothing happened in The Vicious Bane Pack," Mr. Coombs said quickly, trying to change the subject.
"Yeah, thankfully we dealt with it. Helanie was clever and patient in resolving that matter," Kaye said, complinting . Sydney rolled her eyes again, this ti looking even more exhausted.
"What brings you here then? Is this just a regular check-up? Usually the Alpha Kings don’t do that until the end of the year," Mr. Coombs asked once he realized he couldn’t distract us.
We were here for business, and there was no way they could turn our attention.
"We want to know what happened to the previous Alpha of the pack. It’s strange he just disappeared," I said, recalling the Alpha who left his pack and crown out of nowhere. "Usually, they don’t do that. The Alpha title is sacred. For soone to just walk away, they must have been through sothing really, really traumatic not to care about the crown."
"I used to call him Alpha Brother. I an, everybody knew him by that na, and he didn’t really care about pack matters. He never even wanted to be an Alpha, so when I suggested I could take over, he was just happy. I guess he wanted to leave with his family. He had one daughter and a son, and that was it. His wife died very early, so I think he missed her and didn’t want to be Alpha anymore," Mr. Coombs said in one breath, smiling like that was all.
"Well, that is sothing," I comnted, not knowing how else to respond. "But we’d like to go to the backyard."
As soon as I said it, I saw the fake smile slip from his face. He forced it back, smiling wider. "Sure, why not," he said, pointing toward the door.
We turned and headed to the backyard, which was just a garden. Before we knew it, he had joined us.
"Actually, I usually grow my own vegetables here," he explained, pointing to the neat rows. He was doing a great job. I nodded, walking through the garden.
"So if that’s all, I’d like to serve you lunch," Mr. Coombs insisted. But Kaye caught my hand, pulling aside with unusual care.
"So what kind of soil do you use?" Kaye asked, crouching to look at the cherry tomatoes.
"What kind of question is that?" Mr. Coombs shot back, sweat forming at his temples. Even Sydney looked like she didn’t want us there.
"Actually, can you stop walking over our vegetables? We’re very particular about them, especially when it cos to our garden," she argued hesitantly. But one gentle nudge from her father made her shut up and look away. The way she hugged herself and scratched her elbows didn’t escape my notice.
Kaye got up from the ground and started looking around. He spotted a shovel at the far end of the garden and walked over to grab it. I could already tell it wasn’t sitting well with the two standing next to .
"What is he trying to do?" Sydney asked.
When I didn’t answer, her father stepped forward.
"Listen, Helanie, you’re like a child to . You were friends with Salem, and imagine her standing here. Would you still be doing all this?" he asked, making narrow my eyes. He was using his dead daughter just to stop the investigation.
"I’m pretty sure your daughter would have wanted to find out what was going on too. As for the garden, any damages will be taken care of by us. Please, just let us do our investigation," I said, motioning for him to stop interfering.
"Well then, you’re free to look around as much as you want. We’ll just go have our lunch," Mr. Coombs replied, grabbing his daughter’s arm and forcing her to turn around.
"No, Dad, we shouldn’t let them do this. They’re ruining everything!" Sydney protested, but Mr. Coombs had already made it clear he was done. He dragged her away, leaving her no choice but to follow.
anwhile, Kaye returned with the shovel.
"What do you think is there?" I asked.
He shrugged and motioned for to step back. "I guess we’re going to find out," he said, starting to dig into the ground.
I watched him shovel for a while until he stopped at a certain spot. When the shovel hit the ground, the sound was different. He shot a quick glance before digging even harder, then tossed the shovel aside and used his hands to uncover what was there.
And then, once he uncovered a white blanket and what lay beneath, he covered his nose and stepped back. I started to walk toward it, but he pulled into his arms and dragged away.
"Co quickly. We found the dead bodies of the previous Alpha and his family."
That was all he said as he picked up the phone and told the warriors to co. And that was all it took for my breath to hitch.
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