Chapter 34: Chapter 34

Chapter Thirty — Four

James POV

The news had hit me hard. More than I'm letting myself feel. I could not forget the way he looked. So lifeless.

I did not remember the last time I felt this way. Not even when my Mom died. I don't remember that at all. We were mere kids back then. I had no memory of her. But the current scene before my eyes was crystal clear.

The pain I was feeling at the moment was out of the window. Never had I ever felt this down before. It was like my insides were turning into liquid little by little. Torturing me. It was too agonizing for me to handle. Yet I knew my face was telling another story. My face was not only blank and calm, but also it looked reassuring. Assuring the pack members that someone, like me, would handle and take care of everything around me.

My newfound responsibilities pushed me to be the person I always wanted to be.

An Alpha.

The way I behaved right now, would leave an impression on everyone to see me more as the next leader than Michael.

However, even with the 'calm and collected' mask on, I knew that Michael saw right through me and gauged my real emotion. Maybe my eyes gave me away. Maybe the twin bond or something else.

I knew that Michael knew that even when everything about me appeared calm, deep down I was vulnerable and weak. I was dealing with the same pain that he was.

When we had entered this room and saw in the state that our Dad was, Michael had fallen to his knees kneeling on the ground. Not because his feet could not handle his weight or his feet wobbled or anything, instead because he did not want to look at our father's dead face. He had no motivation to step ahead and touch father's blue skin.

The one and only person who had been there for us, in good and in bad times now laid lifeless. He was our teacher who taught us to become a leader. He was our savior when we were kids and a protector.

These were the reasons that his sudden departure hurt as badly as it did. However, the worst reason why this feeling was so intensified and felt like a knife digging into my gut, was because of our last interaction was Fight.

His disappointment and his angry face.

The way he had scolded us for trying to use a power that only he resides and could practice, made this feeling even worse. We had tried to use something that was solely his powers when we did not even deserve it.

And now we will have it all to ourselves.

Except this time, now that all of his powers were mine, or until we finalize who will become the next Alpha, to use without any restrictions, it felt as if someone was poking into an old bruise. Now whenever we do use the powers, that would come with an immense painful reminder.

Of our fight and his disappointment in us. The use of his powers will be hollow, knowing what had that cost us.

We both walked together into our father's room. Never stopping in his track, Michael forced a smirk on his face before speaking.

“Now, we are in a real fight for becoming the Alpha. Because we don't have anyone else to decide that for us.” He said. By the way he said that, it was pretty obvious that he was trying to lighten up our mood. Yet, his attempt was gone in vain because by the way his voice hitched, I knew he was trying to hide his bitterness. I knew that he was thinking about taking the responsibilities of the Alpha and so was I. That fact was not lost in between us at all, however the indirect mention of Linda had soured the mood. Everything was a mess at the moment.

Especially with Linda gone.

Linda was an avoided topic for all of us at the moment. Especially Michael and I. Mainly because we did not know in what category we should put her in. As a suspect or as a victim. What if she was kidnapped and therefore missing as Cary? Or what if she was the main wicked one all along? As a matter of fact, she was a suspect in the murder for Oliver, but that still sounded so unbelievable to me. She was a human, so how could she have done it? Though exactly contrary to the last statement, we found no records of her whatsoever when we did the background search on her.

“You have a tough competition against you.” I replied in his vain attempt to lighten the mood with a smirk of my own. Even though we both knew that we were just forcing each of ourselves to make a useless conversation, it still was enough to ease the tension a bit around us.

Our footsteps echoed around the corridor. Any servant or bodyguard that came in our way greeted with a bowing of their heads.

Many bodyguards were placed inside and outside the house. For obvious reasons. All the security had been doubled among this chaos. Every move and every action from anyone was under sharp scrutinization. Any stupid move or any suspicious activity could trigger a serious response from the security. Thus, everyone was on their best behavior. Trying not create a hurdle or be a nuisance.

Finally, we entered inside our father's office and saw, what I could only describe as a disaster. It was like his office was hit by a tornado. A tornado that destroyed everything that was misfortune enough to cross in its way.

All the furniture was broken into bits and pieces. A big rack that was always covered with books was thrown on the floor. All of its books were shredded into pieces as well. Some of them were opened and torn in half, some had its covers ripped off. All the files that were usually placed on his table were now scattered across the floor. And the new chair, because the last one was used on Michael and also broken into pieces, now were loosing its two legs of the behind.

All in all it was a clear disastrous scene to witness. I could not bring myself to even begin to look for something. It was all just a mess. Plus, I highly doubted that I would even found something here. Nah. Not a chance.

“Do you think we would find something here?” Michael asked. He used his feet to push some papers apart from under his feet.

My eyes shimmered over the surrounding mess. Seeing all the books, furniture and mess all around, I shrugged my shoulders at my brother.

“Maybe. If we know where to look. Or look at all.” I replied to him in a nonchalant tone. Bending on my knees, I moved some books around. Not really intending to find anything. Finally, I realized that it would be morning if we wasted all of valuable time here and continued our search. To try and find 'Something' that might be useful for us.

Standing back up, I looked around one more time before giving up. I rolled my shoulders and cracked my neck.

“Maybe some other time. We should head back to where we are needed the most right now. A member or two, or maybe Elijah himself from the Alpha Council, may visit us tomorrow. We need to hurry and do this work urgently. I do not want that the day of Dad's death became the day of political discussion itself. If they visit him today than even his death would become a hot topic.” I told Michael.

He gave a shake of his head while his eyes still searched for some sort of clue.

A stubborn one was he.

“The topic of his death Will become a hot topic. We can not avoid that.” He retorted. I looked at the door. We were losing time.

“Yeah I know. It does not mean that we can not even delay it for some time and say goodbye in peace. Without having some ugly idiots to debate over his dead body.” I reminded him. With that being said, I walked over to the door and stopped for him.

“Are you coming?” I asked him. He spun around and sighed. Turning to me, he replied.

“Yeah. There is nothing here.” He answered and without further ado we headed straight to the open field.