Chapter 7

• Keera
• I avoided Lexi's eyes as I packed up the things I was going to need while working my ass off to help those people. Lexi and I had bonded after working together on a couple of assignments and it seemed our bond was about to become even tighter seeing as we were about to work on yet another assignment together. We'd gone out for drinks to celebrate the success of our mission a few months back and to explain my disdain for werewolves I'd given her a summarized version of my relationship with Ginny as well as a bunch of other things that had happened in my life.
• Because of those people.
• She knew enough to know that I wasn't happy about being sent there Especially with the fact that Ginny and I had never resolved our falling out and I completely despised her cold and arrogant twin brother. Even after six years I was finding it extremely hard to get over the fact that our entire friendship had been built on such a huge lie. She had watched me get bullied by her kind on several occasions, watched me talk down on them even. And not once had she let me know that she was also one of them.
• Maybe even worse because I had no idea how she had been able to stomach lying to my face every single time.
• Our phones beeped simultaneously and Lexi moved to take hers out of her pockets while I walked to the bed to grab mine. It was a reminder from Kathryn, our bioengineer slash tech chick, reminding us of the briefing I had fixed for the team later in the day. I'd almost forgotten about it. I threw my phone gently back on the bed and went back to taking clothes out of my wardrobe.
• "So. . ." Lexi began slowly and I mentally facepalmed. I should have known she was going to bring it up. I took a black t-shirt out of my wardrobe and folded it neatly into my duffel bag. I heard crackling behind me as she ripped open the bag of chips she'd come with and began digging into them. "What's your plan to survive living in their territory?" She asked bluntly. "Especially when you're going to be in such close proximity with the dreaded duo."
• I threw the clothes in my hands on the bed, pinching the bridge of my nose. I'd been asking myself the exact question. Things were going to be extremely awkward as it was and I sure as hell didn't need it to be even more awkward because what exactly had that been about yesterday? I'd seen Grayson and had been resentful for all of about a second before the resentment had melted to. . . something else.
• I didn't remember him being so attractive and good looking. His dark hair had gotten even darker, his jawline had looked so sharp I could have sworn they could cut diamonds. Even his domineering and arrogant persona had somehow contributed in making him appear so. . . tempting. The only thing that hadn't changed had been the hard look in those dark as night eyes of his. If anything, the way he looked at me had gotten even colder than I remembered and it was that thought that had snapped me out of my trance.
• Finding anything about him intriguing was completely out of the question.
• He had humiliated me at our graduation party in front of a good number of people. Blaming me for Ginny's change in attitude like she was some two year old I could easily order around and not a full grown teenager. I shook my head, dispelling the memories of that night. I didn't want to think about it. Ever. I shrugged my shoulders, dragging my mind to the present. "I have no idea yet." I answered truthfully. "I guess I'll just have to stay clear of them as much as I can until our work is done and I can hull my ass back here."
• Lexi scanned my face, chewing her chips a little too loudly. I held her gaze, knowing she was trying to get some kind of reaction out of me. "Stay clear, huh?" She repeated. "Might be kind of difficult with you living in Grayson's house and all." She said on a low whistle. "And I could already pick up that you both clearly hated each other."
• I shot her a dry look and went back to folding. "We don't have to like each other for us to be able to work together." I informed her, walking into my bathroom and picking up my toiletries. We still had a day left before we had to move to Grayson's pack but I wanted to make sure that I left nothing that I was going to need. The last thing I needed was asking for help concerning something that wasn't about the task. "As long as we're civil with each other, I expect that things should go fine."
• I wasn't interested in getting to know any of them.
• "Huh." She said simply, and I could tell she was going to drop the topic for now. Only now, I didn't think I wanted her to. I wanted her to explain exactly what she meant by 'huh'. Except I wasn't sure I had it in me to ask so I just let it slide. "I'm going to pop open a bottle of wine." She rode to her feet, taking her half empty bag of chips with her. " I think we should make a toast to this mission."
• "I'm not sure that there's anything to toast-"
• She was already out the door before I could finish my sentence.
• ***
• "So the only solid thing we know for sure is that there's a werewolf serial killer on the loose," Kathryn said from where she sat. She had a tablet in her hand, her hair tied neatly in a ponytail. It was just only a shade or two lighter than Josie's. I gave her a nod in affirmation, drumming my fingers lightly on the conference table. "That's not nearly enough information." She murmured and I couldn't agree more.