Chapter 261
LEAH
By the time evening rolls around, I’m exhausted.
I’ve divided my time between accepting condolences from pack members who’ve come to see me–at the same time, needing their own comfort because their Alpha is dead and the uncertainty over who will be our new Alpha is terrifying- and looking after Ethan.
It occurs to me that we’re going to have to have a funeral, and that sends me into a mini breakdown, somehow making everything real all over again.
James comes to find me where I’m curled up in the middle of Aaron’s bed, hugging his pillow as if it can somehow bring him
back to me.
“You should eat something, Leah,” he says gently as he sits on the edge of the bed.
“I’m not hungry,” I reply automatically, even though I know he’s right.
“You don’t have to come down,” he tells me with a slight frown.
“I’ll have the chef send something up.”
I nod absently, even though I doubt I’m going to be able to
stomach much food.
“Are you okay?” James asks after a few silent moments, and
we both kind of smile sadly because we know that’s a dumb
question.
With Aaron gone, neither of us are okay.
“I was just thinking about the funeral. We’ll have to contact the
Council and organize for them to return‘ Aaron’s—”
I swallow, unable to say the rest of the words.
“I’ll take care of it, Leah,” James says in a rough voice. “You
shouldn’t have to do that.”
I nod, and a few more tears escape.
I wipe at them in annoyance.
All I seem to do these days is cry.
But can anyone blame me, considering everything I’ve lost?
“This isn’t right,” I say to James, some of my annoyance at myself giving way to anger toward the Council for the hand
they played in my tragedy. “The Council can’t get away with this. The only reason they went after Aaron was because they were scared of his Alpha powers. He didn’t even do anything
wrong.”
“I know,” James says softly with a sigh. “But what are we going to do? Fight the whole Council? That’ll land us right where Aaron ended up.”
“I don’t know,” I mutter bitterly. “I just know I can’t stand to watch them get away with it.”
James nods and I can tell he feels bad about not having an
answer for me.
Then, as my thoughts are spinning from one thing to the next, another thought occurs to me.
Aaron was helping me search for the missing Al tech that has the potential to kill thousands if not millions of people if it ended up in the wrong hands.
I’m on my own with this massive problem yet again, and I have
no idea how to solve it.
“James,” I say, looking up at him. “I’m going to need your help.”
James drops his hand on my knees, squeezing comfortingly.
“Anything you need.”
I send him a thin smile. “You might regret saying that.”
I then launch into the long story about the Al tech, my father, brother, and then how the tech went missing while I was in a coma and Aaron had been helping me try to find it, but with everything else going on around us, our efforts have been hampered.
By the time I’m done, his eyebrows are practically in his hairline.
“Leah, that is absolutely nuts,” he tells me in disbelief.
“I know. But it’s also my responsibility. I need you to pick up where Aaron left off and help me find it.”
James frowns, but nods anyway. “I don’t have as many connections as Aaron had, but I’ll do everything I can to help you. We definitely have to make sure it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.”
James’s words remind me that Karolina said something similar when I spoke to her.
I start thinking back and realize that unlike James, she didn’t seem that surprised at the time when I told her the story…as if maybe she already knew something about it.
I sit up as her words play back in my mind.
I’m personally invested in making sure that Al tech ends up in
the right hands…
There was something about the way she said that. Something
sly and underhanded.
My pulse picks up as an entirely new thought occurs to me.
What if Karolina knows something about where the Al tech ended up?
