Alpha's Fire

Finding Clues

Prue banged her head on the underside of the bed, as an unknown male's voice said, "And, what may I ask, is going on here?" 

Keira stumbled over her words, "Dean, what are you doing here? When did you get home? We thought you wouldn't be back for another week."

Prue quickly stuffed the button in a pocket and pushed her way from under the bed, jumping up and brushing dust from her clothes. 

Her jaw dropped and she wasn't sure if a little drool may have appeared.

The man in front of her looked like a god. His was tall and handsome and stood casually crossing his large arms over his chest. His chocolate brown hair was wavy and came down to just above his shoulder. A sort of half smile played on his lips. 

"You know snooping around in a dead man's room could be considered, well, insensitive."

"Oh really?" Prue gave her best doe eyes and smiled at the stranger. Their eyes saying a lot more than their lips.

Keira jumped in, "Dean I can explain, Prue was just. Erm. She was just..."

"I thought I saw a rat earlier and heard noises so I was just checking," Prue finished, "Trying be helpful," She finished slowly, raking her gaze across Dean. He didn't seem to mind.

"I see. So very helpful of you." Prue could tell he didn't believe her but he didn't seem to care why she was in there either. He added, "So you are the lovely Prue everyone has been talking about?" 

"I am, I'd like to say people have been talking about you but they haven't." A flirtatiously joke. 

"So are you staying here?" He gestured to the house. 

"I am."

"Great," He tone slightly sultry, "I am the last door on the left. If you need anything, please don't hesitate." He winked at Prue and nodded at Keira before swaggering off down the hall. 

Keira was looking a little pale.

"Keira what's wrong?"  

"Nothing. Well... It is just...No never mind."

Keira," She said seriously, "Tell me."

It burst out like word vomit, "Please don't do that in front of my brother. He won't like you being around Dean," She whispered his name.

Prue was stunned, "What, why? Do what?"

"Don't give me that," She gave her a knowing look, "Dean is a shameless flirt."

Prue shrugged. "Yeah seriously good looking though."

The corners of Keira's mouth tugged up, "Yeah, well my brother and Dean don't really get along and I don't really think he would like you two getting too close, knowing what you know and all."

Prue stashed that little nugget of information away for later. 

"Have you finished here?" She questioned.

"I have." 

They both left Bernard's room and began towards the living area. 

"Did you find anything useful?"

"I am not sure actually." 

Keira didn't push at her vagueness. 

They walked down the hall quietly for a moment before Pure asked, "So this Dean, What's he like? And what does he mean everyone is talking about me?" Prue was smiling ear-to-ear and couldn't help it.

Keira shook her head. Her petite features crinkling. 

"Oh come on Keira, you can't say you haven't notice. He literally lives down the hall from you?"

"I don't make a point of looking," she whispered.

"Dean is nice though," She added, "But he is a ladies' man." 

"Interesting," she drummed her fingers together mischievously and they laughed like teenage girls.

It was so nice to laugh with a friend after all this time. Prue had spent so long alone. Although, she knew it would come to an end, she could feel herself wanting to break her one cardinal rule - to never get too close to someone. Being alone was better than being a slave. Packs always seemed great at first. But after a while red flags always appeared and people's true colours came shining through. 

As they rounded the corner Prue smacked into a hard chest. 

"Ouch." The smell of sea air, oranges and musk overwhelmed her senses. Just seeing Henry made her feel clammy.

"Oh Henry you surprised us. We didn't hear you coming."

He grunted, "What's so funny?" He asked, his tone neutral. 

"Nothing, just girl stuff," Keira shifted uncomfortably, it wasn't a lie but it wasn't truthful either. Prue could see her delicate features starting to turn red under his gaze and jumped in. 

"I may have found something. When you are ready later we can have another debrief." 

He looked at Keira again, as if he was trying to read her mind but nodded, "Let's meet before dinner, I have a meeting with our dear stepbrother," his tone sounded venomous. 

"We just passed Dean, he has retired to his room I believe."

Henry looked suspicious but didn't say anything, "Be careful with yourself today. If anything is amiss just run."

Keira took his hand. "We will be fine. Don't worry too much."

As if like magic, he smiled. Prue felt like she should look away, it looked about as natural as a horse barking. It was a lovely smile, she noticed. It made his face seem less intimating. Like he was just a normal man and wolf. But he wasn't and she could not forget that.

"I'll see you later," Henry kissed his sister's cheek and carried on down the hall, not sparing a look at Prue. 

"Wow, he is so different with you. Actually a different person."

Keira smiled but the expression on her face was sad, "He is the only blood relative I have now, and I for him. My late father remarried after my mother passed away and we have a step-family but it is not the same, you know."

"I'm sorry to hear that. What's your step-family like?"

Her face lit up, "They are lovely. We really get on with our step-mother and grandmother. They have both been so good to us over the years and have given us everything we have ever needed. They were so supportive after my father passed away and Henry was made Alpha."

Pure nodded, "Any step-siblings?"

"Yes actually, just the one and you just met him."

"Oh! So you're telling me that Dean is your step-bother, which is why he lives here," realisation struck her, "I see. Oh and that's why you wouldn't admit how good looking he was. It makes so much sense now," she playfully pinched her arm.

Keira furrowed her brows, "And because I am a lady." Keria playfully pinched her back.

"Right we better go over to the other sites before we loose light."

--------

The areas where the two sentries died were pretty close to each other, in the same half-mile radius. 

Prue had searched every inch of the ground and found nothing. No marks. No nothing. 

She sighed in frustration wanting to hit something. Sitting on a moss-covered log, she inspected the button she had found earlier in the day. 

It was made from a wood so dark it was almost black. It had two tiny little engraved initials on it. E.L. She assumed it was the maker's mark. It had a kind of acidic smell to it. This didn't really tell her anything though. 

She had one clue, this button. She would need to check with Henry to see if he recognised it, but no one really made a point to take note of buttons. She feared the only way she was going to find this killer was through process of elimination or... Or a trap - to flush the guilty out. The former would take a lot longer than the latter. 

She thought on that while making her way back to the pack house, the sun beginning to set. Her muscled ached and she felt a heavy exhaustion, but her mind was so awake.

Prue found Henry in his office, writing correspondence. She took a seat and said, "I searched your Beta's room. There are no signs of a break in and I don't think it would have been possible for someone to sneak into his room undetected. Were you all in the house at the time?"

He looked up from his desk and studied her. His gaze made her pulse race. Those grass-green eyes seemed to look straight through her, "We were."

"What were you doing before the attack? Where had the Beta been?"

"It was a normal evening. We had dinner, eating and drinking, with my step-mother and her family. The Beta had been on patrol and was acting as he always did."

"You don't get on with you step-brother." A statement rather than a question. 

"It wasn't him."

Prue nodded, but would keep an open mind.

"Could it have been possible that someone snuck into the house when no one was here and waited?"

"It is possible but highly unlikely. There would have been a new scent in the pack house."

"Not if it is someone you know," she countered. 

"Here is a button I found, in the Beta's room, do you recognise it?" She passed it over.

Henry studied the wooden button closely and even gave it a sniff. "It smells like sour milk," he grimaced, "No I don't." He gently set it down.

"Were there any indications of a struggle on the victims' bodies?"

"No," he growled.

"How did they die?" She pushed. 

"All three had their throats slit," There was a glint in his grass-green eyes, talking about the deaths of his comrades was clearly not easy.

Prue tried to make her tone more gentle, "Were any items of their clothing missing?"

"One of my sentries wasn't wearing a jacket. But I don't know if that means it was missing."

"So either the killer is a super ninja or the victims knew the killer which meant they would have been able to get close without raising alarm before they struck?"

"I came to the similar conclusion."

Prue's head was whirling, "Doesn't explain how they got so close to your Beta in a house of sleeping wolves though."

She paused thinking, "Could it have been possible that they disguised their scent with another's? Like say, if they had stolen a jacket?"

Henry's squinted, deep in thought, "It could be, yes." 

Prue continue, "I think whoever killed your Beta, lay in wait for him to fall asleep. That is the only way they would have got past everyone in the house. If the windows had been open that would have diminished any scent left in his room also. Was the window in his room open when he was found?"

"Almost every window in the house was open, there had been a heatwave," Henry scratched his dark beard.

"The only thing we don't have is a motive." Prue played with the tips of her long blonde hair, lost in thought. 

"I assume they want to bring the pack down. A power play by another pack."

"Could be. But why didn't they go for you then?"

"A question I have asked myself over and over again," he went silent.

Prue got up to leave, striding for the door when Henry spoke, "You have found out more in one day than we could in weeks. How?"

She thought for a moment. Now would be a perfect time to make a dig at the inadequacies of his pack, make him seethe, but like it or not she was stuck here for the foreseeable future. 

Her back still turned, she replied. "Experience dealing with the worst of worst."

Henry didn't respond before she walked out leaving him to his work.