Chapter 35

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*****

"I want to speak to the witness," the Detective declared.

"Well," Keri smoothed a few wrinkles on her shirt by pulling it down, "I'm in the middle of a questions session with my pack; you'll have to wait."

She turned around and faced the crowd again, speaking a bit louder so they could hear her.

"Anything else would you'd like to know? Yes?" She pointed to the woman who held Jizelle by the hand.

"What steps have you taken to assure our safety?"
"For now it's just the extra people we have in the field," the Alpha began, "but I'll be sending replacements out in an hour or so. After that, I'm summoning the Council so we could discuss a new defence strategy and come up with a new patrol schedule; the intruder might have had a lucky break, but it's more likely that they know about our current one. Anyone else?"

Her eyes ran over the crowd until they settled on perhaps the only person who wasn't clutching anyone else - a woman of around forty years of age and with brown hair.

"Aunt Olivia?"

"And you will be sending extra patrols out there on other days as well? Not only today?"

"Of course." The Alpha nodded. "Jared?"

"How long are we going to be absent from school?"

"Yeah, I have a date," Kennedy butted in and while a few of the shifters laughed, others shook their heads at how carefree he sounded; Keri was amongst those who'd smiled and Detective Callum's bushy eyebrows knitted as he frowned, crossing his arms over his chest.

"If we don't catch them, you'll stay on Silver Bullets ground for the rest of the week and after that, you'll have your parents and other members of the pack drive you to school."

A round of loud protest burst from the teenage part of their society. Keri gave them a couple of minutes to vent out with their protests then raised her hands to silence them.

"Your safety is our primary concern, not how many cool points you'll lose by having mommy or daddy drive you to school. Not negotiable." She made a pause to see if anyone would dare to protest; none did. "Any more questions?"

No hands were raised.

"Then you are dismissed. I'll contact the Council when I have a set time for the meeting."

The masses dawdled through the door. It took them over five minutes to empty the premises. The only ones left were Rhys who held me in place, Keri, the pub owner's family and the Detective.

"You had an intruder and yet you let that kid joke about a date?" Callum's gruff voice broke the silence. "Not very respect-inducing, is it?"

"His name is Kennedy and it was his way to lighten the mood," Keri replied calmly. "I assure you, he realizes this is a serious matter."

"I hope he does. So which one is my witness?" He pointed to me and then Ivan.

"Your witness?" Keri raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow.

"If that wolf was one of your kind, it could be the murderer in my investigation. My investigation, my witness." The man stressed. "Is it this one?" He nodded towards me. "He looks too weak to be one of you; no muscle mass at all."

"Riley is not weak," Rhys growled and stepped before me. I squeezed his hand and gently pulled him back before he jumped on the Detective.

"That's me, Sir." I had no idea why I felt the need for a formal address; perhaps it was because this man inspired a sense of awe in me.

Why?

I couldn't tell.

Sure, he was a large guy and yes, he'd stare-challenged Japer Owens and won, but he'd also criticized Keri and from what I'd hear, that wasn't a first for him.

"No need for the 'Sir', Riley," Keri noted.

"I'm used to it," Callum commented.

"Still - no need," the Alpha insisted through a tight-lipped smile... Or an attempt at one anyway. "And yes, Riley is our witness."

"I want to question him. Come on." He walked towards the stairs, beckoning me with his finger to follow.

"Do I need to remind you that you are on my territory, Callum?" The Alpha raised her voice, any attempts at tolerance discarded. "You don't get to boss my people around."

"Do I need to remind you, Miss Greer," the man returned and stood right before her; even though Keri was a tall woman, he towered about a head above her, "that I am a Detective with the Woodbury police and that this boy is human and not a part of your pack. I have roughly twenty years on the job, kid; don't tell me how to do it."

Keri went beet red with rage, her fists balling. I was close enough to see a twitch in her forehead, just above the right eye - no doubt a vain that popped in anger at being reduced to a child, even though, technically, the Detective was probably old enough to be her father.

"I am not a kid, Detective." Her tone was cool. "I am Keri Greer, Alpha of the Silver Bullets. I was chosen to be so after proving my worth and you will respect me for it."

Her voice - barely above a whisper - sent a shiver through me. I gulped and looked at Rhys; he seemed similarly affected, his head slightly bowed down. Callum stood up straighter and attempted to appear larger as he spread his legs apart, but he did not speak.

"Now we are going to go downstairs to the back room where Riley will share with you what he'd already told us." She was looking the Detective right in the eyes; neither was blinking. "And he'll do that on his own terms. No interrogations. Do I make myself clear, Detective?"

"Like a raindrop, Miss Greer," the man replied through clenched teeth with just a hint of a sneer which Keri chose to ignore.

"Ready?" She turned to me and I nodded. "Okay then."
She headed for the stairs, but just as she reached them, she swirled around to face the Detective.

"Oh, and Riley might be human, but he's Rhys' mate; he is one of us."

*****

The back room was a dimly lit place with no windows that resembled a small office and was probably used for that purpose. There was a lamp on the wooden desk and a chair in front of it; two others were placed on both sides of a sofa and the only other furniture were a few shelves with books and a couple of small cabinets. I had no time to inspect the bunch of family pictures which hung on the wall along with a large painting of a tree with several wolves underneath it; I'd barely stepped into the room and Callum was on with his questions as if Keri had not reprimanded him earlier.

Or should I say tried to intimidate?

"What exactly did you see... Riley, was it?"

"Yes, Sir. Riley Rivers." I resisted the sudden urge to salute him military style.

Why was he affecting me so?

"How about we first sit down?" Keri offered in a tone which said 'let Riley get comfortable, you impatient, irritating, headache-inducing son of a...'

Did Keri ever cuss?

"Maybe on the sofa?"

I took her suggestion. Rhys sat on the chair to my right and took my hand in his. I quickly narrated what I'd told the Bullets, expecting the Detective to interrupt me. To my surprise, he listened quietly, continuing with his inquiries only after I had finished.

"So it wasn't aggressive in any way?"

"No, Sir."

Callum leaned back against the desk. He placed his hand underneath his chin and his eyebrows knitted. He appeared even older as he thought over whatever he was pondering on, deep lines forming on his forehead.

"What happened to the clothes?" He finally asked.

"What?" I looked at Rhys, but he seemed just as clueless.

"What do you mean?" It was Keri who spoke.

"I mean," the Detective pushed himself off the desk, "that when you shift, your clothes don't change. Riley saw an unclothed wolf which means that they took off their clothes before the encounter and then put them back on when they escaped. I don't suppose you found any t-shirts or jeans or anything like that lying around?"

We all shook our heads.

"Too bad." He sighed. "If they left even one piece of clothing in their hurry to get away from you, then we might've been able to get some DNA and compare it to that from the crime scene. That way, we would've known if it's the same person."

"The scent I sniffed was unfamiliar, but it wasn't like that from the crime scene," Kelly, who had joined us right as I had finished my retelling, assured us.

She'd arrived with Callum, but they'd split up so she could investigate the training grounds in both of her capacities - as a police officer and as a member of the Bullets. She'd also shared that the patrols had found nothing since the last time they reported.

"I still have to sample the scents beyond the river in case I catch a whiff of them in human form, but the one from the crime scene was that of a shifter; if I were to recognize them, it will be in their wolf form," she continued.

"That will be a relief for the pack, that their wolf scent is different from that on the crime scene." Keri welcomed the news. "Whoever they are, they don't seem to pose a threat, at least not at the moment."
"But they knew our patrols' schedule." Rhys was frowning beside me. "They must have in order to get so close and then leave without getting caught. That is disturbing."

Both of the women nodded.

"Riley," my boyfriend turned to me, "were they a fast runner?"
"I don't know."

"Did they swirl around quickly, did they stumble?" He prompted. "How long was it before they ran out of sight?"

"They didn't run," I uttered slowly. I had not even realized that. If they'd felt threatened, shouldn't they had run?

"They heard you and calmly turned around and walked away," I went on.

"Walked? They walked?" Rhys repeated.

"Yeah."

His eyes fell on each of the people in the room in turn; they all were just as taken aback by the wolf's casual demeanor as I was.

"That's one more thing I'll have to tell the Council - that whoever they are, they obviously don't fear us." She looked at the watch on her wrist. "Speaking of which, I better summon them. We have a lot to talk about, we need to come up with a new schedule for the patrols, with a report for the Sentinels... Yes, the Sentinels might be able to help..." She spoke aloud to herself then focused her attention on her cousin.

"Kelly, can you arrange for new patrols to replace the current ones?"

The other woman nodded.

"I want you to be one of the replacements. Go beyond the river, see what you can sniff. I'll alert the Sentinels that we might need them and ask them to send someone over. Rhys, take Riley to your parents' house and then call the Council. The meeting will be at my house, not in the pub."

My boyfriend got up still holding my hand and led me to the door.

"I imagine there's no point in asking you to hold your tongue during the meeting and to leave the decision making to us?"

 I didn't need to turn around to know she was addressing the Detective; her irritated tone was indication enough.

"None."

*****

A/N: So what do you think of Detective Callum?

Is he too rough on Keri?

Do you think he's doing it to be mean or could he have another reason?

The white wolf's casual demeanor and lack of fear - good thing or bad thing?

Please support the chapter with a VOTE if you enjoyed it!

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