Chapter 19

JASLYNN

I came to an abrupt halt.

Alrik either managed to piss Grandma Ester off during the brief time I was gone or Grandma Ester was out of her mind and was waiting for me to go before acting.

My stomach dropped to my chest once she uttered the spell, and a sour taste filled my lips.

The terrible burning in my chest that developed out of worry for what I would find when I got back to the living room caused me to start running down the hallway as quickly as possible. My breath would come out in sharp gasps.

"AL-"

The rug on the floor crumpled up around my feet as I slid to a stop.

Grandma Ester's body was shaking violently as she stood facing Alrik and a few inches away from him.

Alrik, however, was standing over her, towering over her with an eyebrow raised and a broken wand in his hand. This was a huge comfort to me.

"You shattered my wand," Grandma Ester cried out in shock.

My chest began to burn with rage, like lava erupting in a volcano. I charged forwards and grabbed a poker off the freplace, saying, "And you tried to hurt him, you dumb bitch."

  I struck the heavy metal rod on the back of her skull without giving her a time to respond. After briefly swaying back and forth, she abruptly collapsed on the ground.

I regarded her physique in anticipation of feeling content, but I didn't. She was knocked out, but for some reason I wasn't over it. She made me want to stomp on her skull.

Alrik's hand darted out and grabbed the end of the poker as I tightened my hold on it with the aim of hitting her again.

At least I know you have some form of feelings for me, I stared incredulously when I saw the tiny smile on his face.

He was worried about my feelings for him at the time, of all things to consider.

"She potentially could have killed you!" "And all you can think about is the fact that I have feelings for you?" I blurted, attempting to loosen his hold on the poker.

She's harmless, Jaslynn, he rolled his eyes. Her wand was cut in half by me. What other options did she have? "Will a cookie kill me?"

My rage was put to rest by his words, and as I let go of the poker and encircled his torso, I let out a heavy sigh. He choked back his shock before letting go and curling the hand holding the shattered wand around my waist.

I shouldn't have been growing connected since I lacked some of the puzzle pieces that made up this complex Alpha wolf.

But the way I responded to what had just happened made one thing abundantly plain to both of us—I was beginning to like the pieces I had put together. Even if I tried to disguise it, I couldn't.

"What was the spell used for?" Alrik inquired as he withdrew to get a better look at my face.

  I let grip of him and removed a section of the wand to examine it. "It's a freezing spell," I said. Your blood would cease flowing to your heart, causing you to experience cardiac arrest, which would render you immobile and likely cause your death shortly after.

The fact that I avoided it is fortunate.

I asked him with a sharp look, "Yeah, about that. How did you dodge it? A spell that strong is practically impossible to avoid.

Refexes, he shrugged. Training. If the spell did affect me, it would be a disgrace to everything my grandfather taught me.

I mumbled, "Yes, I'm sure," feeling a twinge of physical envy for him. "Now use that training to help me turn this place inside out." Ester isn't likely to awaken anytime soon, so we'll have to look for hints on our own.

I crossed the elderly woman's unconscious body and continued down the hallway in search of a workplace or library.

ALRIK

I couldn't help but see the sadness in her eyes as she turned away.

Whether she was conscious of them or not, I could tell that she was angry since this meeting did not go at all how she had anticipated.

She believed she could trust this woman because she was her mentor's mother. And given what she had said to me about her family, it's possible that she was looking for a motherly connection with her. She received the exact opposite as a result because the elderly woman was mentally unsound.

The reason Amos ceased writing her was understandable.

The question "Alrik, are you coming?"

I put the poker on the floor and went to the room at the end of the hallway where Jaslynn was speaking. She was in the middle of a very disorganised office, with heaps of documents covering the floor and used coffee cups lining the desk's edge.

As I stepped over the overflowing garbage can, I said, "This is going to be easy."

You start on that side, Jaslynn said with a sigh. I'm going to start afresh. Just scan any notes and letters for information, taking what you think will be useful.

As Jaslynn rummaged through the desk drawers, I pulled a notepad from one of the improvised shelves and flipped through it.

I could hear Jaslynn mumbling behind me, "She has so much random shit in these drawers, I don't know how she keeps track-"

She screamed loudly, and when I turned to look, she was clutching a startlingly enormous black dildo by the tip and had a horrifying look on her face.

At least we know she has a good sexual appetite, I snorted.

Jaslynn shook her head in disdain as she threw the dildo on the desk and asked, "Who knows if she even washed it?" She couldn't have appeared more horrified.

"Based on her office's condition, I have serious doubts. You ought to" Before I could finish, Jaslynn was hurrying out of the office and she managed to tip the trash can over in the process. Along with a few wrinkled pieces of paper and envelopes, an ocean of crumpled, coffee-stained napkins and used Kleenex fell out.

I put down the notebook I was reading and bent down to pick up a few of the envelopes. They only had Grandma Ester's name neatly printed in the centre and no addresses.

I took a small slip of paper out of the fap after opening it.