Chapter 43: Who are you?
Keith’s POV
At the office in the estate, the footage played on the large screen, a silent, damning record of my failure. There I was—or rather, the thing I become—tearing through the reinforced silver restraints as if they were paper. Normally, the beast’s rage is indiscriminate. It smashes, it destroys anything in its path.
But this time was different. This time, it had a destination. It was moving with a terrifying, single-minded purpose toward the Serpent’s Kiss.
Why?
The answer appeared on the screen a moment later. Eleanor Moore. She stepped into its path, a flicker of silver hair and defiance against a monster. She was... talking to it. And then she did the impossible. She subdued it. With our own silver chains.
The footage ended at the storage room door. There were no cameras inside. What happened in that darkness was a blank spot in the record, but a glaring question mark in my mind.
Alfred broke the silence. "Do we believe this Ms. Moore will report what she witnessed?"
Kieran let out a short, dismissive laugh. "Report what? That she calmly lassoed a werewolf with a silver chain? Even if she did, no one would believe her."
"The question isn’t whether she’ll talk," I said, my voice cutting through their speculation. "The questions are: Why wasn’t she afraid? How did she tame...me? And how she know how to handle silver restraints? How did she know that silver chains are werewolves weakness?" I leaned forward, steepling my fingers. "That woman is not ordinary. There is a variable there we have not accounted for."
Before anyone could respond, the intercom on the desk buzzed. A security guard’s voice came through the speaker. "Sir, there’s a woman at the main gate. Silver-white hair. Says she was instructed to come here. A Ms. Moore."
Alfred pressed the button. "Send her in." He released the button and looked at the three of us. "I hope you have a solution for how we proceed. The press and the government are inundating our lines. The track is enchanted. It’s a public hazard and a financial black hole."
Kieran and Kayden both looked at me. As always, the burden of a solution fell to me. And I had nothing. The track was a loss.
"We’ll solve one problem at a time," I stated. Alfred gave a curt nod and left to escort our guest.
The moment the door closed, Kieran pivoted. "And what about Scarlet? Alfred said she was in heat all night. She needed us. And we were... unavailable." He didn’t need to elaborate. We’d been too preoccupied containing the disaster of my curse.
I hadn’t spoken to her since. Dealing with emotional fallout isn’t my specialty.
"Figure something out," I said to Kieran, standing up. "You’re the charmer. Make her feel better. I don’t have the bandwidth for it."
We left the office and descended to the main living area. Eleanor Moore was perched on the couch, her posture radiating nervous energy. Seeing us, she shot to her feet and offered a stiff, formal bow. "Mr. Keith. Mr. Kieran. Mr. Kayden."
We took our seats opposite her. I didn’t waste time with pleasantries. "Do you know why you were called here?"
She shook her head. "No, sir."
She was lying. She had to be. She’d seen the monster. She’d been in that storage room with me after I’d shifted back. There was no way she hadn’t seen my face.
"Stop lying," I said, my voice flat. "State your terms. What do you want in exchange for your silence?"
Confusion washed over her features. It was a good act. "I... I don’t understand what you’re talking about."
"Do you deny restraining a creature last night?" I watched her closely.
Her eyes widened, and she quickly looked away, a clear tell. Got her.
"How?" I pressed, leaning forward. "How did a woman your size restrain something ten times her strength and lead it into a storage room? The physics of it don’t add up."
She swallowed, her gaze fixed on the floor. "It... it was causing destruction. It could have killed someone. I just wanted to prevent that. If someone had died, the Serpent’s Kiss would have been shut down permanently. It would have been a huge loss for the company."
"That’s a valid concern for the company’s assets," I conceded. "But it doesn’t answer my question. How did you do it?"
She twisted her hands in her lap. "I... I’ve studied supernatural creatures. The creature was howling, it sounded... wolf-like. I’d read that silver chains can subdue werewolves. So I assumed the chains would work. I just... acted."
I watched her face. Her pulse was elevated, but her story was consistent. She wasn’t lying about the research.
So, she was just a human with niche knowledge and a startling amount of luck. The most logical explanation was that the beast was already weakened from breaking the initial restraints, allowing her to succeed where she should have failed. She was ordinary. A fortunate anomaly.
"Then why," I asked, my tone deliberately casual, "did you stay in the storage room with it? Weren’t you afraid it would wake up and kill you?"
She avoided eye contact, a flicker of genuine fear crossing her features. "I was scared. Very scared. I just... I kept my distance. I feared they may be more outside. And "
Now she was lying. I could see it in the slight tension around her mouth, the way her gaze darted away. She was hiding something about what happened in that room.
This pretense was becoming tedious. "So what’s your deal, then?" I asked, letting my impatience show. "How come you haven’t started making your demands?"
She looked genuinely baffled. "My... demands?"
"Why are you acting like you don’t know?" I snapped, my patience evaporating. I despise people who play games. "Should I spell it out for you? You know a secret. People usually want something in return for their silence. Money?What is it?"
"If this is about the... the creature," Eleanor said, "I didn’t tell anyone. I have no intention of telling anyone. It’s not my secret to share."
Kieran, who had been uncharacteristically quiet, finally spoke up, his tone light but cutting through the tension. "We’re going in circles. Eleanor, do you know that the creature turned back into a human afterward?"
She nodded, her expression serious. "I did. When I woke up."
"Did you see his face?" Kieran pressed, leaning forward slightly. "Do you know who it was?"
She shook her head, a quick, decisive movement. "No. The room was dark. And honestly, knowing his identity... it wasn’t any of my business."
I watched her closely. In this, she was telling the truth. A wave of unexpected relief washed over me. She didn’t know it was me. The secret was still safe.
But seeing her here, up close, brought back a fragment of memory from the night—a haze of pain and rage, and through it, a soft, calming light.
A sense of peace. As the memory flickered, a low, contented purr rumbled deep in my chest. My wolf.
What the hell? I thought, mentally shoving the creature back. Why was it reacting now?
A voice interrupted us. "There you all are. I’ve been looking for you."
Scarlet glided into the room. She looked at each of us, her gaze lingering possessively.
Ah. That explained it. My wolf was finally acknowledging our mate.
The purr must have been for her. It was a good sign. Perhaps the bond was finally starting to take hold despite our resistance.