Erika’s POV
I frowned. James was so emotional that I didn’t know how to talk sense into him. But soon I realized why he insisted that I killed Orsen. Because the dagger that killed Orsen was mine. The fact was that the weapons I summoned were different from ordinary weapons. There was an “E” on every weapon that I summoned.
Tell him. Orsen was killed by my dagger, but not by me. I don’t have the motive. It’s Richard who killed him. Ask him not to connect his pack. We want to know something from him. In exchange, we’ll tell him the truth of Orsen’s death. I mind-linked Kent.
Kent told him what I mind-linked him. James finally calmed down. He thought for a while and then nodded.
Good. I knew that James couldn’t resist it.
I mind-linked Derek and told him that everything went smoothly. He would come over immediately and we would meet later. He would interrogate James himself in the car.
We ran back to our car first. I asked Gerald to keep an eye on James in case he might escape. To my surprise, he didn’t make a single attempt to escape. He wanted to know the truth about Orsen’s death so much that he didn’t care if his life would be in danger.
We got in the car and James seemed very nervous as he kept fidgeting.
He looked at me as if he had summoned all his nerve to do so and asked with trembling voice, “Erika, can you tell me how Orsen died?”
Derek hadn’t arrived and we were waiting for him to come. But I still nodded.
This time, I took out my phone and edited a message.
“Richard didn’t tell you the whole truth. Orsen contacted me before I escaped and I asked him for wolfsbane. But he didn’t betray your pack. That night, I escaped from the pack and I met Orsen in the forest. Then Richard appeared. He knew Orsen and I were contacting and he asked Orsen to kill me. Orsen refused. I threw Richard a dagger. He didn’t dodge although he could’ve dodged. Instead, he grasped Orsen and pulled Orsen in front of him. That’s how Orsen died. He was killed by my dagger but not by me.”
I showed him the message.
After reading the message, the hatred in his eyes disappeared. He raised his head and looked at me in confusion.
“Is that true? Why did Richard kill Orsen?” James asked.
“I’m not sure. After all, Richard killed his father although he could be the alpha after one year and a half. Maybe he just can’t tolerate the fact that Orsen contacted me and helped me behind his back. After all, Richard hated me and wanted to kidnap me to threaten Derek.” I texted and showed him the message.
He gradually calmed down and then he took on a painful expression.
“Yes. You are right. You didn’t have the motive to kill Orsen. Richard killed Orsen and I have been protecting Richard these days. I’m such an idiot.” He covered his face with his hands and tugged at his hair in agony.
I edited a message to comfort him, however, it seemed that he was drowned in sorrows and regrets. Maybe it would be better if I could say something to make him feel better, which I was unable to do. I had never felt sorry for myself. But at this moment, I hoped that I could speak just as everybody else could.
Suddenly, a knock on the window sounded.
I looked up at the window. It was Derek. He had arrived.
The interrogation began.
Derek got in the car and spotted James at first sight.
Is he James? Derek mind-linked me.
Yes. I mind-linked him.
James also noticed Derek. James became the pack leader quite late, so he hadn’t seen Derek in person. I thought that I needed to make an introduction.
To our surprise, James raised his head and spoke first, “Are you Alpha Derek? What do you want to know? I’ll tell you everything I know.”
Derek and I exchanged confused looks. I didn’t know that my words had such a great influence on him. It seemed that interrogation was not needed anymore. James would tell us everything we wanted to know.
“Yes, I’m Derek. You can tell me something about Richard,” Derek said.
James thought for a while and answered, “Alpha Richard… He is busy these days and I don’t see him much.”
“Do you know what he is busy with?” Derek asked.
“I’m not sure. I know that sometimes when I go rogue-hunting, Richard also goes out alone. I don’t know where he goes and Richard doesn’t talk about it. One night, I went rogue-hunting. I came back earlier than usual because I didn’t feel well. I saw that Richard sneaked out of the pack without any guard. I didn’t think twice and I just came back to the pack. But after I came back and thought about it, the whole thing seemed very weird to me. He asked me to give him the best warriors because he needed more protection. However, he didn’t bring any warriors with him and went out by himself at night. That’s just weird,” James said.
What he said gave us pause for thought. That was indeed weird. I thought that Richard stayed in the pack because he was a pussy. It turned out that while he stayed in the pack during the day, he went out without any guard at night.
“Do you know where he went at night?” Derek asked.
“No. I saw him heading west. But I didn’t know where he went and I didn’t dare to follow him.” He paused and then looked at me. “You don’t know what happened after you left. Richard killed his father and became the new Alpha. After then, he seemed to become a completely different person. He is cruel, savage, and irritable. He doubts everyone. He requires absolute submission and even subservience from us. He will give severe punishment simply because of a tiny mistake. So no one dares to disobey him while everyone hates him,” James gritted his teeth.
I looked at him agape and didn’t know what to say to make him feel better. I knew that Richard had changed a lot after he became Alpha, but I didn’t expect that he would go this far.
James paused for a second and then continued, “Days ago, another weird thing happened. I’m not sure if that’s what you want.”
Derek raised his eyebrows and asked, “What’s it?”