Chapter 87
I quickly grabbed my notepad and started writing. It was a list of names of everyone I could remember in my past life that had an impact on the events leading to my death. It wasn’t a particularly long list from what I was able to recall but it was enough.
And, in the end, it became a list of five names…
‘Jonathan,’ the warrior who cursed and bullied me in the prison. I barely knew anything about him in this life and rarely saw him around. He seemed like a good possibility all things considered for being a former rogue or having connections to them due to the mystery surrounding him. But I had to admit, it seemed unfair to accuse someone of something so serious based purely on my lack of information.
‘Zoey,’ my old attendant who I already knew threw me under the bus during the trial to save herself. Or so I thought. Wasn’t there the possibility she was working with Isabella the entire time? She had better access to me than most and would have
had information about me that no one else would know. The problem was that I hadn’t seen Zoey even once since coming back. And though she could just be off living in a different. pack currently, this didn’t discount her as being a rogue either. Regardless, it did, unfortunately, mean she most likely wasn’t the inside spy given she was yet to show herself once in the pack yet.
‘Jacob,’ the current Gamma heir who had also testified against me in the trial and recalled how cruel I’d acted towards Isabella. I didn’t particularly like adding a ranked
member to the list but I had to admit it was weird how he always defended Isabella and not his Luna. His father Oliver was also a prime example of the old traditional type wolf who hated to let me speak. I didn’t have a clear motive as to why he would betray me in my past life but Jacob could potentially be a suspect in the current one after I humiliated his father a few years ago.
But seeing Jacob’s name forced me to consider something further that I hated to admit; that being a ranked member also gave them easy access to information that most wouldn’t. This was especially true in regards to intel surrounding the whereabouts of the Alpha and Beta heirs.
And with that reasoning, I regrettably added two more
names;
‘Alexander,’ my own cousin, and ‘William,’ my uncle.
Alexander didn’t testify against me in the trial but there was a motive; both in this life and the previous. In the past, he would have benefitted from me being dethroned as it would have impacted my father severely. If William really did want Alexander to succeed as Beta, then doing anything to remove or discredit my father as soon as possible would have worked in their favour. And then there was the present day. In this life, I was a direct threat to Alexander acquiring that title all by myself. How far would they be willing to go for it?
I stared at the list in front of me, knowing that it was a long shot that any of these would pay off. There was always the possibility that none of these people were involved and I was just wasting my time. But could I take that chance?
…And so I came up with a plan.
Everyone, except for Zoey, I had access to. All I needed to do was trick them into revealing themselves. If I tried to force them out of hiding then I could only assume that they would dig themselves down deeper, unwilling to confess. This left limited options.
Looks like I was clocking in to work after all.
Within the hour I had caught up with Benjamin and Alexander who were at the packhouse checking in with the advisors. Both of them looked bored and I could sympathise with the less than thrilling workload. I felt a little guilty knowing I’d skipped out on doing it myself.
wwww
“Benjamin!” I called out, a small sense of urgency in my voice.
He turned to me and I could see the confusion register on his face immediately. “…Winona?”
Alexander was also surprised to see me but he came across as more curious than anything.
“Thank Goddess I found you,” I said animatedly. “I’ve had a breakthrough. We need to talk as soon as possible.”
“What? Now? What about?”
“No, not here,” I replied, scanning my eyes around the room.
There were a few people around but it was only the three of us in earshot. I wouldn’t need to worry about anyone else overhearing us.
“…It’s about Isabella,” I whispered. “I think I’ve figured out how she… did that “thing” and I can prove it too.”
Benjamin’s eyes widened. “What? How?”
“Shhh,” I hushed, his voice being a tad too loud. “Not here, I said. We’ll meet tonight at that clearing in the woods… you know that one that is sort of near the school?”
He nodded. “Of course.”
“Perfect,” I said, smiling. “This is going to be huge, I promise. We’re going to take her down.”
“What’s all this about?” Alexander asked, his curiosity now completely peaked.
“Oh, don’t worry about it. Just a lead from that old case we were working on,” I replied casually. “Anyway, I’ve got to go… but I’ll see you tonight, Benjamin?”
“Yeah, that’s fine, just let me know what time—.”
His words were cut off abruptly as I suddenly pulled him into my arms to hug him.
I could feel as his body had turned entirely rigid against me, too shocked to move. His uncertainty as to how to respond was evident.
“Amazing!” I said pulling away quickly as if nothing was off. “I’ll see you there at around nine then!”
I turned around without waiting for a reply, an excited pep in my step, and headed back to my car without delay.
ww
“Bye Benjamin! Bye Alexander!” I called out over my shoulder.
Now I just needed to wait for tonight.
The time waiting around until nine went by fast.
I’d spent the rest of the day around town in public… but I’d been on edge, watching my back the entire time. Somehow though, even with all that nervousness, I couldn’t help but be excited over the outcome of the meeting that night. If
everything went to plan, then we might come one step closer to freeing Bash and possibly exposing the spy.
I sat on a rock within the clearing, appearing relaxed to any onlookers. What they wouldn’t see was that my leg was poised underneath me to kick-off and dodge any attacks at a seconds notice if anyone tried anything.
Everything was eerily quiet for a long time, almost too quiet, before my ears finally picked up on the distinct sound of paws against the dirt and dried leaves around me. I wasn’t alarmed though. Instead, I sighed out in mild annoyance and relaxed my body.
True to my initial thought, several minutes later I watched as Benjamin came out from a nearby tree, pulling on a shirt he must have stashed there before shifting.
“No one here,” he called out, walking up to me. “I’ve checked the surrounding area at least three times.”
“So you found my note,” I said, smiling slightly.
“…Yes, was a bit hard to miss when you suddenly touched my ass during a hug.”
I shrugged. “At least you found it. I had to get it to you
without Alexander realising. I didn’t think he would notice me
slip it into your back pocket that way.”
“Well, I doubted it would be him anyway.”
“True… but can’t be too careful, right?” I said with a small sigh. “One out of three though. We still have two more to go. How did everything with Jacob go?
He shook his head, frowning. “Nothing there either. He didn’t react at all but I’m not sure if that’s just because he was too dense to realise. I don’t even think he has a single original thought of his own if I’m being completely honest. Pretty sure he isn’t even aware of half the things happening in the pack right now.”
gave a small chuckle even though it was more bad news. Something about Jacob being a complete airhead didn’t surprise me though. However, this did, unfortunately, mean there was only one option left.
And it meant doing the last plan that I had been hoping to avoid.
“…Okay…,” I said reluctantly. “So… Jonathan?”
“Told him to follow up with Isabella,” he confirmed. “He’s going to see her tomorrow.”
I nodded. It was a last resort type of plan but I was hoping it would pay off.
“Okay good, I guess. Even if he doesn’t betray you, it will be forcing Isabella to lie in order to protect herself.”
“What if she genuinely does have a human family out there?”
Then it’s still more information than I have right now.
Chasing after Isabella was breaking the silent ceasefire we’d seemed to have formed, but I felt like the payout was worth the risk. My hope was that if the order came from Benjamin and not myself, then Isabella would have to act accordingly to not expose herself. This was why I’d spent all of today, and planned to spend all of tomorrow also, out in public. If she had people watching me then she’d have to know that I wasn’t directly involved in Benjamin’s decision to query her. The idea was that Benjamin would be following up on her family for when the investigation wrapped up. Only, if Isabella had no actual family out there, then it would mean catching
her in the lie.
Most importantly though, if Isabella ran off before she could be questioned or something seemed off, then we knew Jonathan was in on it and possibly the spy. Benjamin had set the order to give the pretence that it was coming from Alpha Leo, but in reality, it was just the three of us who knew the instructions. Given the higher up command, Jonathan would be under the false impression that someone else could be accused of leaking the information but he’d be wrong. As soon as Isabella or Jonathan acted off, we’d know it was him.
Benjamin and I were both in thought for a few moments before a cold breeze finally hit me and I shivered. It was supposed to be getting warmer but the nights remained cold even now. I didn’t mind too much but I certainly didn’t want to hang around here any longer than I needed to.
“Alright,” I said, pushing myself off the rock. “…Guess we’ll have to wait until tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow,” he agreed.
We both started walking back to where I’d parked my car, a silence between us as we both continued to mull over the plans ahead.
“Hey, Winona…,” he said, cutting through the quiet that had settled. “How did you come up with these names anyway? They seem sort of… random.”
“Oh, um, I mean… investigating the ranked members seems like a natural thing to do. Their access to information is better than most.”
“Okay… sure. But Jonathan? Like I barely know the guy and it seems pretty specific to target him.”
He was right there. It would seem like an odd choice.
“Well… yeah, I mean, I barely know him too,” I said awkwardly. “He gives me a weird vibe, you know? Like he keeps to himself a bit too much?”
Benjamin frowned, considering my answer, but he didn’t get the chance to say anything else…
…Because suddenly Alexander was running towards us.
Next to me, I felt as Benjamin shifted into a defensive position, ready to attack if need be. This was one of the outcomes we’d set up to expect… but it didn’t feel right.
Alexander looked more panicked than he did aggressive, his body showing no signs of danger.
“…It’s okay,” I said the Benjamin, reaching a hand out in front of him to stop any preemptive attack. “He’s not here because of Isabella.”
Benjamin relaxed slightly but I could still feel his uneasiness as we watched Alexander approach.
“Benjamin! Winona!” he called out, greeting us. I could feel the urgency in his voice.
“What are you doing here, Alexander?” I asked. “This was a private meeting.”
He was showing signs of being out of breath. Whatever this was, it was important enough to have run a fair distance to reach us.
“It’s about that case you’re working on for Bash,” he said, bent over to catch his breath. “I thought you’d want to know… something has happened.”
I felt myself freeze, trying to think through everything that could have possibly gone wrong. But there were too many things though. The list was longer than I had time to process.
“…What is it?” I asked, scared to hear the answer.
