Page 47 of Pack Kasen: Part 2

“Why would they want to know that?” I whisper, dread heavy in my belly.

“Something—or someone—tore apart Cris’s apartment. There was blood everywhere. That’s why the cops think it’s like a serial killer or a stalker or something. Where are you?”

I struggle to formulate a response. “Blood? How much blood?”

“Not sure. Someone said…” Her voice trails off.

“Someone said what?”

When she speaks, her voice is so hesitant that it’s clear she didn’t want to tell me this at all. “That the killer could have tortured Cris.”

I struggle to breathe. “Torture? Why would…”

And the answer hits me.

The killer doesn’t know where I am.

Aren swooped into town, and I left soon after.

Yet again, I didn’t tell anyone where I was going. Maybe the killer kept Cris alive, and they were torturing the answer out of him. An answer he doesn’t have.

I sway.

Someone plucks the phone from my nerveless fingers, and a firm grip steadies me before I can faint for the second time in twenty-four hours.

No. Not someone.Aren.

“Who are you and why are you upsetting my mate?” Aren demands, glowering into the distance.

“What are you—” I try to grab the phone from him, but he turns away, and because he’s taller, I can’t snatch it back.

“Uh… Kat’s old roommate. Who areyou?” Rachel demands, her voice rising, threaded with suspicion.

“Her mate.”

I try to grab the phone off him again. Normal people don’t have mates. She’s going to think I’ve been snatched up by a serial killer or a caveman. “Aren, give me that phone!” I hiss.

He grips my arm and keeps me at a distance.

I’m debating kneeing him in the balls when he says. “I want to know what you said to upset Kat so I can kill it.”

What?

Rachel is silent as she processes this declaration.

“Someone killed Cristofer,” I say before Rachel can ask Aren any embarrassing questions and vice versa.

Aren stares at me blankly. “Cristofer?”

“He worked in the library,” I explain. “He was a friend.”

His eyes narrow. “Justa friend?”

I glare at him. “Are you beingjealous? Seriously? After someonekilledhim?”

“Why would someone kill him?” Aren asks, looking away.

“Kat was talking with him at Doug’s wake, and he walked her to her car after. The killer is probably an obsessed stalker who doesn’t want Kat to speak to anyone. That’s what everyone thinks. The cop, too, when he stopped by to ask me if I’d seen any guy hanging around or watching you,” Rachel says.

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