Chapter 9 #2
“Two weeks ago.” The timeline shifts in my head, dates and alibis aligning into a version of events that can’t be disproven. “Thursday or Friday, I think. Lena would know better than me.”
“Friday,” Rowan interjects, smooth as polished stone. He uncrosses his legs and leans forward, elbows on his knees. “It was definitely Friday, because Ash and I had plans that evening when Lena called about the situation.”
Officer Ramirez turns toward him, pen poised above his notebook. “And you are?”
“Rowan Ward.” The name rolls off his tongue with practiced ease. “Ash’s partner.”
The words land between us, a claim I never agreed to, and can’t now dispute.
Officer Park’s eyebrow lifts a fraction. “And what were your plans that Friday night, Mr. Ward?”
“Dinner at Antonio’s in Rockhaven.” Rowan doesn’t hesitate, the details flowing with such natural confidence that I almost believe them. “We had reservations for eight, but Lena called around seven about this guy bothering her, so we canceled and came back here instead.”
My teeth grind together as he weaves a false narrative with such conviction. The worst part is how perfectly it aligns with what I need, an alibi for the exact hours when Danny was dying with my knife at his throat.
“We picked up food from the Thai place on the corner.” Rowan continues building the fiction, brick by careful brick. “We watched a movie with Lena to help her calm down. What was it again, precious? The sci-fi one you’d been wanting to watch?”
The familiarity of the endearment in front of these strangers makes me blush, as I’m sure he intended. “Event Horizon.”
Officer Ramirez scribbles in his notebook, his pen scratching across paper. “And neither of you saw Daniel Humphry that night? Or any night after?”
“No.” The single syllable drops from my lips with finality.
Officer Park studies me, her eyes narrowed. “Your sister mentioned he left his number with her. Did you ever call him?”
Finally, an easy truth. “Absolutely not.”
“Well, if you do hear from him, we’d appreciate a call.” Officer Ramirez takes a card from his notebook and places it on our coffee table. “It’s possible he just took off, but his landlord reported some concerning findings in his apartment.”
My heart stutters, then resumes its calm rhythm. “What kind of findings?”
“Nothing we can discuss at this time.” Officer Park’s radio crackles at her hip, static and coded numbers breaking the tension. “Thank you both for your cooperation.”
I walk them to the door, and my hand closes around the doorknob.
“One more thing.” Officer Ramirez pauses on the threshold. “We may need to speak with your sister again for a formal statement.”
“She’s a minor,” I say, spine stiffening. “I’ll need to be present for any questioning.”
Officer Ramirez responds without surprise. “Yep. Same arrangement as last time.”
A cold weight settles in my gut as his face clicks into place, dragging up a memory I’ve spent years keeping buried. The night the Lena called from the police station after our parents were found dead. He had been one of the officers on duty, and had given me a hard time.
There were two bodies, and they were looking to pin it on someone. As the disgruntled son, I made an easy target for their questioning.
My jaw tightens. “Yes.”
“Well, you might want to track down any receipts to back up your whereabouts, just to be safe,” Ramirez says, tucking his notebook away. “We’ll be in touch.”
The soft click of the door closing behind them echoes in the sudden silence of the apartment. I rest my forehead on the wood and count my breaths until the rushing in my ears subsides.
When I turn, Rowan still sits on my couch, watching me with an unreadable expression. The sound of Lena’s shallow breaths drifts from the hallway, but I ignore her for now to focus on the Alpha.
My hands ball into fists. “What the hell are you doing here?”
My body vibrates with the effort of restraint, muscles locked to keep me from crossing the room and throwing him out of my space.
Rowan opens his mouth to respond, but another voice cuts him off.
“I called him,” Lena says, stepping into the light. Her chin lifts, defiance in the set of her shoulders despite the tremble in her hands. “I had his number.”
My eyes snap from her to Rowan and back. “You gave her your number?”
We had only exchanged contact info a couple of days ago, and the betrayal stings.
Rowan rises from the couch, his height forcing me to tilt my head to maintain eye contact. “It was a safety precaution.”
“In case of what?” My fists tighten, nails cutting half-moons into my palms.
“In case something happened and you weren’t here.” He gestures toward the door where the police just left. “Like today.”
Lena steps forward, her sock feet silent on the worn carpet. “The police showed up asking for you, Ash. They wanted to know where you were, when you’d be back. I panicked.”
“So you called him instead of me?” The hurt beneath my anger bubbles to the surface, threatening to crack the stranglehold I have on my self-control.
“I called you first.” She wrings her hands. “You didn’t answer until my third try. I was alone with two cops asking questions about Danny.”
Rowan stands between us now, not quite taking sides but creating a triangle of tension. “I told her to call me if she ever felt unsafe. Today qualified.”
The thought of them conspiring behind my back, exchanging phone numbers and contingency plans as if I’ve failed her, eats at my insides like acid. A dull roar fills my ears, the sound of everything I’ve built threatening to collapse.
“Go to your room, Lena.”
Red creeps up her neck and into her cheeks. “I’m not a child, Ash. I’m sixteen. I was trying to protect us.”
“Now,” I order in a tone I rarely have to use with her.
She takes a step back, hurt flashing. “This is why I called Rowan. You try to shoulder everything on your own when you should be asking for help.”
“Lena—”
“No.” She cuts me off, tears welling. “You weren’t here. The police were. I was scared. Rowan came when I called. That’s all there is to it.”
She turns on her heel to stalk out of the living room, and the slam of her door reverberates through the apartment, rattling the cheap frames on the walls.
Rowan studies me with caution. “She was scared, Ash. She needed someone.”
“She has someone.” My fist thumps my chest. “She has me.”
“You weren’t here.”
The three simple words cut deeper than any knife. My hands shake as I drag them through my hair, pulling until my scalp stings. “That doesn’t give you the right to step in. To give her your number. To come into my home when I’m not here.”
“Would it have been better if Lena had been here alone when the police showed up?” Rowan asks with maddening reason. “If she’d had no one to call? If she’d had to answer their questions without anyone to protect her?”
The truth guts me, a wound that bleeds where no one can see. I know the answer. I work nights. I miss things. I provide by absence. The gaps in our safety net yawn wider every year as Lena grows up, and I stretch myself thinner to cover the costs.
“That’s not the point.” But the argument rings hollow even to my own ears.
Rowan advances forward, the heat of him invading my space. “It is the point. You can’t be everywhere at once, precious. You can’t work two jobs and still be home every time she needs you.”
My back hits the wall, though I don’t remember stepping backward.
“There are better neighborhoods.” An Alpha rumble rises from his chest that attempts to soothe and sway me. “Safer buildings. Places where the police don’t show up unannounced, asking about missing Alphas.”
“We can’t afford better.” The admission scrapes me raw from the inside.
“You could.” He closes the distance between us, his pheromones filling my nostrils and turning my brain to mush. “With help.”
“Your help.”
“Yes.” His fingers reach for my cheek, but I jerk away before he can touch me, my skull banging into the wall. “My help. My resources. My protection. For both of you.”
And there it is. The line. The boundary. The offer of salvation, wrapped in chains I can’t accept.
“Get out of my home.” The words come out flat with finality. “Now.”
Surprise flickers, there and gone in an instant. “Ash—”
“No.” I push off the wall, forcing myself upright despite the tremor in my muscles. “You don’t walk in here and rearrange our lives. You don’t hand my sister your number behind my back. You don’t play hero to her while fucking me on the side like some kind of package deal.”
His jaw tightens with the first sign my words have penetrated his calm exterior. “That’s not what this is.”
“Isn’t it?” My laugh holds no humor. “What do you want from us, Rowan? Because I’m having trouble seeing how this ends without you owning both of us in some way.”
He steps back, his expression closing off. “Is that what you think of me?”
“I think you’re used to getting what you want.” I move to the door and yank it open. “And right now, what I want is for you to leave.”
For a moment, I think he might refuse. Then he growls with frustration and strides forward.
“This isn’t over.” He passes close enough for our shoulders to brush, the contact sending an unwanted current through my body. “Sooner or later, you’ll realize you can’t do this alone.”
The door closes behind him with a soft click, and I turn the deadbolts, slide the chain into place, and shove the door stop under the handle.
From Lena’s room, music starts playing, the bass turned up only after Rowan is gone, leaving me to wonder how much she heard.
From below, our neighbor pounds on their ceiling for quiet, creating further discordance.
I slide down the door until I sit on the floor, knees pulled to my chest. The position reminds me of when I hid in closets as a child, making myself smaller to avoid attention.
I doubt Rowan understands what it’s like to sit in the dark, counting footsteps pacing on the other side and praying they never stop on the other side of your door, never break through the hollow-wood barrier.
And for the first time, I’m not sure whether I’m protecting my sister, or still hiding from our monsters.