Chapter 16 - Declan
The knocking on the door was so insistent that it practically broke the door from its hinges. Before I could even tell whoever was knocking to come in before they destroyed the door, the door pushed open, and Will and Jackson strolled in. Jackson looked as though he was close to punching the first person who looked at him sideways. I straightened.
“We’ve got big news, Boss,” Will said.
I glanced over at Jackson, who nodded. “You’re going to want to see this,” he confirmed. The anger was mixed with something else—hope? Excitement? I wasn’t entirely sure. Regardless, they definitely had my attention now.
“What is it?”
Will stepped forward, a file clutched in his hands. “I got into the coroner’s computer system at Mira’s old pack and managed to find the medical records of the death,” Will explained. “As well as the police records. And I found something interesting.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Do I want to know how you managed to get into those systems?”
“This is probably one of those situations where it’s better if you have plausible deniability,” Will admitted. “So just assume I found these through completely legit and reliable means, and not by using all the spec-ops skills I gained over the years.”
I nodded. “I’m sure you’re more than capable of getting all this information through legitimate methods,” I said. “So if you did get something via questionable means, it was only to expedite the inevitable.”
“And that’s the kind of mindset I like to hear,” Will said. Smirking, he placed two pieces of paper on my desk.
“This is the coroner’s report.” He pointed to one. “And this is the police report. See any differences?”
I leaned over, reading first one and then the other. At first glance, they seemed to line up just fine. It wasn’t until I did the second read-through that I realized what Will was trying to show me. My eyebrows shot up, and I glanced up at Will.
“You’re sure this is correct?” I asked.
He nodded. “The time of death is later on the police report than it is on the coroner’s.”
I tried to remember what Mira had told me about the night of the murder. She said she had seen the victim at the restaurant, but he left several hours before her closing shift. According to her, she had been at the restaurant until midnight. The medical report put the time of death around ten. There was no way she could have done it if that was correct.
“Someone doctored the police report?” I asked.
“Somewhere between the autopsy and the investigation, someone fiddled with the TOD,” Will said.
“Are you sure there might not have been a mistake? Something that could be explained away?” I raised an eyebrow. “Maybe your methods weren’t accurate?”
Will shook his head. “You know how good I am. Trust me, these are the real thing. So either someone made a huge mistake in their paperwork…”
“Or someone deliberately messed with it,” I finished for him.
“If you ask me, I think she was framed,” Jackson said. “That’s the only reason I can think that someone would do this.”
I understood the logic. It was a plausible explanation, except for one thing.
“Why would someone want to frame Mira?” I asked.
Jackson shrugged. “It was probably because she was an outsider,” he said. “You saw how Harrison talked about her. Some packs are just bigoted and backward when it comes to that sort of thing. Why point the finger at a pack member you trust and grew up with when you could just throw Mira under the bus with a couple of tweaks to the facts?”
I drummed my fingers on the desk as I considered. “You might be right,” I said, handing the file back. “Keep looking. See if you can find out who, if anyone, might have framed her.”
~~~
The movie credits rolled. I glanced over to the other side of the couch, where Dani rested in Mira’s lap, her breathing slow and regular. Mire glanced over and smiled knowingly at me.
“I told you she would fall asleep halfway through,” I said, stroking Dani’s hair.
“She gave it a valiant effort,” Mira whispered. “She only missed the last thirty minutes.”
I gave a silent chuckle as I pushed myself to my feet and reached over to pick up Dani. “Come on,” I whispered as I bundled her up in my arms and lifted her. “Let’s take her to bed.”
I carried Dani up to her room, putting her under the covers and closing the door behind me as I exited.
“She’s out like a light,” I said as Mira and I walked down the hall.
“I’m glad,” she replied.
“It seems like she’s really getting to trust you,” I said.
She gave a small, hopeful smile. “I hope so. She’s a great kid.”
We came to my bedroom and stopped in front of it.
“Well, good night,” Mira said, starting to walk away.
“Wait.”
She paused, turning around to look at me. I hesitated. I knew I needed to tell her. I had been meaning to talk to her ever since my meeting with Harrison, but I had never been able to find the right chance. But I knew that if I kept stalling, I would never say any of it, and she deserved to hear it all.
“There’s something else I need to tell you,” I said.
She looked up at me expectantly. “What?”
“I’m sorry.”
Her brow furrowed. “Sorry for what?”
“For when we were kids. For bullying you and picking on you the way I did. And for…” I took a deep breath as I ran my fingers through my hair. “And for rejecting you the way I did.”
Her mouth had parted. She stared at me as though she had never seen me before. Her green eyes, almost emerald in this light, darted across my face, scrutinizing every feature as though searching for signs of deception.
“You’re… sorry,” she said. It wasn’t a question, nor was it spoken with skepticism. It was more as though I had just spoken in an entirely different language and she was struggling to decipher the words’ meaning.
“I am,” I said. “I wish I had handled the whole thing differently. I was an asshole, trying to seem bigger at your expense. That wasn’t fair to you in the slightest, and I wish more than anything that I could take it back.”
“Why?” she asked. “Why did you do it that way?”
“For stupid reasons.” I ran my fingers through my hair as I stared off to the side. “I was going to be alpha in a few years. I wanted to prove that I was strong, that I was capable of the job. Back then, when I was a dumb kid, that meant I had to put other people down to prop myself up. I couldn’t show any emotion as weak as affection or even gentleness.”
Mira listened with rapt attention, her lips slightly parted as if she couldn’t believe her ears. There was something radiant about her, the way she was staring at me, as if she was looking straight through me. I had never met someone who could do that to me before, and I didn’t want to let it go.
“And now?” she asked a little breathlessly.
“Now?” I exhaled, glancing away as I tried to figure out the right words. “I’ve learned it isn’t quite so black and white. You still need to have strength, still need to show it—being a Gold Wolf taught me that, if nothing else. But I’ve started realizing strength isn’t just showing how big of a shifter you can take on. There are… other aspects to it.”
“Like what?”
Compassion, mercy, the ability to listen and understand what people are telling you, taking care of the weaker pack members instead of putting them down . All those thoughts ran through my head in the span of a handful of seconds. But when I tried to articulate them, I hesitated. The old habits were still so engrained in me that trying to explain even that felt impossible, no matter how badly I wanted to. Why was it so hard to actually voice this? Just the thought made me feel weak, inferior.
Mira was waiting for an answer, looking up at me with such hope and expectation that even if I wanted to end the conversation and walk away, I couldn’t, not without feeling like the world’s biggest asshole. I had to tell her something, even if it wasn’t the whole truth.
“Like learning to defend everyone, especially those who can’t defend themselves,” I finally said. “Which is what I should have done all those years ago instead of bullying you. It was one the biggest mistakes of my life,” I said. I took a step closer, my hand going to her arm.
“Why’s that?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
“I…” I hesitated. I wanted to tell her how much I cared about her, how I wanted her by me so I could protect her always. But the words refused to come out, as though all my old habits and everything I had been taught growing up had clogged my throat, refusing to let anything through.
“It just is,” I said. I took that final step, so almost no distance remained between us. I reached up and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. She shuddered at the touch, leaning into my fingers. “And because it meant I would have been able to do this years ago instead of having to wait.”
Tired of waiting, I threw caution to the wind and brought her mouth to mine.
She melted against me. As if a switch had been pulled, she grabbed my shirt, pulling me against her.
I was tired of holding myself back. All I wanted in that moment was her. I pushed her against the wall, pinning her in place as I continued kissing her. My tongue slipped into her mouth, exploring as I relished the taste. My wolf growled in need. This wasn’t enough for him. He needed more. He wanted every inch of her.
The first time we’d had sex, everything had been slow. This time, it was nothing but fervent passion and lust. I jerked her shirt off, practically tearing it as I did, only moving my lips from hers long enough to pull it over her head as she removed mine with the same level of hungry need. The pants and underwear were next. I pulled her against me, letting my stiff cock press against her stomach as my mouth explored hers. Her fingers dug into my shoulders, holding me as tightly as I was her.
And I had no intention of ever letting her go.