Chapter 83 INTRUDER
VANCE'S POV
After helping Sianna get Valen from the car seat, we got into the house. The sad thing was that, once we entered the residence, the realization hit that an intruder had broken in. My wolf jumped on guard and growled viciously at knowing that someone had invaded our sanctuary. The unfamiliar coconut scent revolted my wolf since our lair and sanctuary was disturbed.
Valen stirred on my chest and half-opened his eyes. Sianna softly pats him on the back and looks at me questioningly.
"Someone was here," I told her through the mind-link.
Immediately she took Valen from me, and my senses heightened to trail the uninvited scent. But first, I took my mate and son to our safe room and checked the camera footage there. Sianna laid on the small pull-out couch as I got busy scoping through each room and then checking the history recordings.
Bringing up all of the screens for every single area on my property, I scanned through them with my wolf's vision. Coming from the ash trees on the right side of my property, the intruder was clad in all-black apparel, looking like the typical burglar. He went to the back of the house and loitered before the clusia hedges. Reaching out of his back pocket, he pulls out a black device with a red light on top.
The light eventually turned green after he tapped and maneuvered his fingers on the screen of the device. I figured that was to tamper or disable my alarm system. Keenly, I observed everything about him, his walk, skills, and body language as he moved about.
Zooming in on this person, he stealthily broke into my house from the white sliding French doors of the kitchen. Sneaking over to the counters, he opened a few draws until he located the utensils and shuffled through.
With his back to the camera, I geared the screen for a side view. It appeared that he had left something there, a shiny object. He closed the drawer and approached the living room.
My eyes averted to the next screen to see his next actions. He inspected the area but stopped in front of the fireplace, and took up the photo of me and Sianna exchanging vows on the night of the Luna ceremony. The frame slipped from his fingers and fell to the ground and the glass cracked. This angered me. I stifled the growl to not wake my sleeping pup.
Next, he walked around the living room as though he was searching for something in particular. He stopped where the couch was and pondered, staring into space. Then he tried to get to my study but the second layer of alarm met him which the device could not disable. He checked his watch and then he went out the same way that he entered and left my premises.
Only one person came to mind who would be so bold. Curtis! There was just one thing that baffled my mind. Why was his scent different from what I remembered?
"Blayne, Duke?" I reached out through the mind-link.
"Vance?" Duke answered first.
"Alpha?" Blayne responded three seconds later.
"There was a break-in at my house. Come quietly." I commanded.
I continued to check all areas and found that he was gone. No one else approached the house.
With the intruder gone, we left the safe room. We climbed the stairs together and placed my sleeping pup into the crib. I opened the window and spotted the eagle on a branch with a visual of the nursery.
"He's had an eventful day," Sianna said, settling Valen down and covering him.
"Of course, that's because he is a man that commands attention like his dad," I braced my chest proudly to show my arrogance.
Sianna chuckled, patted my chest, and gave me a smooch on my lips. Her arms went around my neck. "Do you think this person came from one of the other packs? Could it be that one of the Alphas wants to hurt us?"
Removing her arms and taking her hands in mine, I kissed her fingers and led her downstairs. I sat on the couch with her on my lap. She leaned backward until her head rested on the cushion.
"Sweetheart," I frowned as I decided not to withhold information from her, "I think that it was Curtis."
"Curtis?" Bewildered, she tries to sit upright but I don't let her.
"Hmm," I replied, "Miriam believes that he is here."
"Wouldn't we know if he came here?" Her concern was genuine.
"Not necessarily. He is under disguise." I told her, "He could have snuck in with the teams for the hunting by posing as one of the hunters from another pack."
Sianna went quiet.
"Why don't you go and rest while I talk with Blayne and Duke?" I suggested, wanting to show her that I've got this covered, or at least will do that tonight.
"No, I want to know everything." She refused.
Sensing the presence of others, my door opened and both men strolled in. Duke took a seat while Blayne stood behind where he sat.
"Is anything missing?" Duke inquired, "Did you catch the bastard?"
"No, I checked the security footage. He rummaged in my kitchen and the living room and left." I told them.
"Was that all?" Blayne asked, "That doesn't sound like someone who came to steal. Maybe he planted something."
"Alright, let us get to work," Duke patted Blayne on the shoulders and nodded to both of us and Sianna. We all stood and walked to the kitchen.
Sianna remained at the open arch entrance of the kitchen and leaned against the wall as we scanned the area. The other men checked other areas for bugs or anything amiss. I went into each drawer and opened it.
Everything was the usual except for a regular knife that I had never seen before. When they realized that I had frozen while looking into the drawer, the others came over to me, by the
cupboard.
"What is it?" Duke asked. He was not able to find anything strange about the cutlery.
Blayne peered over Sianna's shoulder. He, too, arched his brow in curiosity. "Vance, did you find something?"
"All knives in my home are either German or Japanese classic knives that are ordered in sets," I informed them, "Surely you can see that there's one that does not match the rest of the
knives."
"Oh," Sianna reached in to remove the knife but I quickly snatched her hand. Looking at her and shaking my head. Blayne and Duke suddenly realized the one that stood out.
"My love, do not touch it." The unusual chef's knife had a rosewood curved handle and was a little bit thinner than the other ones I had, which have rounded black pakkawood handles.
Perhaps there was poisoning on the blades where it would infect the toucher. Who knows what that bastard was aiming for?
"So he breaks in, does not bug the place, but he leaves a knife for Sianna to chop him up a nice bowl of salad for when he returns?" Duke joked with a pondering expression.
"Really? You are going to turn this into a comical situation?" Blayne glared at him, annoyed.
They fussed like annoying children while my wolf brought a clue to my attention, 'I smell
magic.'
Instantly, I went into the cupboard below the sink and took out a blue glass dropper bottle. Losing his argument with Blayne, Duke rolled his eyes and moved to get some gloves and a transparent zipper plastic pouch from one of the top cupboards.
Miriam gave me a few magical items to keep in my possession for when the moment arises and this was such an occasion.
Cautiously, Duke proceeded to take the knife with the gloves on and laid it on top of the counter on paper towels. I opened the dropper bottle and squeezed the top so that it sucked up the liquid. Three droplets were applied to the knife and immediately green smoke fumed in the small space surrounding it. Lines of light ran along the blade and disappeared.
"Baby, what does that mean?" Sianna asked while covering her nose from the smoke, and
fanning the air.
"This knife was spelled." I put my hand around her waist, keeping her close to me for my own tranquility. "Another witch is at play. Blayne, bring Marlena here."
Blayne dashed out the door on his way to fulfill the order. Valen's soft cries came over the baby
monitor.
"I will be back." Getting out of my embrace, Sianna went upstairs to attend to our pup.
Duke arched his brows and frowned while looking at me, stating the obvious. "So, we have
another attacker who is targeting your family."
"Curtis is in my pack. If you go into the living room you will find a portrait picture of me and Sianna that he damaged while he left this souvenir for us." I sniggered.
"The slippery snake," Duke muttered. He went to investigate and entered the kitchen with the portrait. "The son of a bitch!" A sinister grin formed on his lips.
I nodded and rasped, "I want a trap set for him. No one else gets to toy with us." "Copy that Alpha, tell me what you want and I will get that snake," Seething, he slammed his
fist on the counter without incurring damage.
"His doomsday is drawing closer, and I want it before a week passes." I roared, but tried to
keep it at a level that would not alert Sianna of my brooding temper.
Evilly smirking, Duke added, "Let's bring that fucker down."
In the interim, the knife stayed in its place and I shared a drink with my Beta. Blayne arrived
with Marlena fifteen minutes later.
"Good evening Beta, Alpha." She bowed respectfully and came to the counter to join us.
"Someone left us a slicing gift," Duke ferociously snarled.
"I see," she levitated the knife in the air, chanting her spells as the three of us watched. "May I
have a bowl of clean water?"
Duke moved through my cupboards and located a crystal bowl, filled it with water from the
tap, and placed it on the counter. Marlena lowered the floating knife into the water, which reacted like a thermal spring.
Like a fortune-telling crystal ball, pictures of Sianna festered. The purpose of the weapon was displayed before our eyes. After leaving the knife in the cutlery drawer, she would supposedly retrieve the knife and use it for the preparation of our meal. Because Curtis knew that Sianna enjoyed cooking and baking, once we missed that this was not our owned item, we would have fallen prey to his trap.
In the next scene, Sianna being spelled from the physical contact of the knife, urges me to
come home. When I arrived home, I went up to kiss her. Unexpectedly, she stabs me in the heart with the blade, causing me fatal damage. My Luna would have killed me, and become an enemy of the pack, while Curtis swoops to her rescue to whisk her away with Valen.
At last, the wrath took over and I shifted into my large black wolf. The murderous aura that was unleashed by my wolf startled everyone as I growled thunderously. Duke and Blayne backed away, and Marlena remained motionless with her head bowed. My wolf wanted Curtis' head and wanted him found now. He looks at Marlena with his blazing red eyes and transcends his mental demands on her.
The witch fell to her knees, "Alpha, Grams, and I will catch Curtis. You have my word as your
Guardian."
Heavy feet on the stairs showed a panting Sianna arriving in the kitchen with Valen in her hands. Upon spotting my fuming wolf, she hands Duke my son, and throws her arms around
my furry neck. Sparks swamped me and the anger gradually fades as her love for me conquers the pulsation.
My wolf inhales deeply as my wet nose scrapes against her neck. She massages my fur while I let forth a gentle purr and a growl. Shifting back into my human form, I clung to my mate, sniffing her at the mark on her neck. My wolf still boomed with wrath that the rascal plotted to
take both Sianna and our son away from us.
Blayne went into the guest room and quickly brought a robe for me to put on. Sianna helped me into it and then returned her embrace. Marlena got back to her feet.
"Let us act it out," Duke suggested when the tension passed. "Catch the scoundrel at his own
game." Valen stared at him while he spoke, as though he was trying to understand the Beta. "What game is that?" Sianna inquired while stroking my chest.
The thought of allowing that scumbag near her was summoning my wolf to take control again.
So I plastered kisses all over Sianna because I needed to be touching her for the sparks to work their magic.
"We are going to make Curtis believe that his plan worked," Blayne explained as he helped himself to some Bacardi from the wall-mounted wine rack at the small bar area that linked the living room to the kitchen. "The idiot did not tap the place so he has no way of knowing if his plan worked unless we give him the evidence that it did."
"My love, it will be up to you to lure him in." Sianna's blue eyes looked up at me with her mouth wide open. I held her chin gently. "Our plan can only work if you are willing to bait him for us."