"The effects are already fading." Shana murmured after inspecting him.
"No shit." Leon grumbled, irked that Darian insisted on carrying him when he could just sit or something.
Shana quickly put some distance in between them before she was tempted to smack him. "It was injected right?" She asked him.
"I think so." Leon muttered, his memory hazy.
"Ketamine is high on my list, you might still feel groggy for a day or two but it'll wear off eventually."
"That's a relief." Virgil spoke up, he was seated where Alpha Noah should be, manspreading like he owned the Pack.
"When do we get to the good stuff?" Dale whined, a dangerous glint in his eyes belying his carefree attitude.
It almost made Alpha Noah worry about Ethan which was saying a lot considering he ruined his marriage and nearly ruined his Pack.
"I'll be outside." Shana got to her feet. "Or my phone is bound to explode from all the calls that keep coming in.
Alpha Noah got a call while Shana was making her way out to try and calm everyone back in Pine Creek down.
"They're here." He said weightily, getting up to lead the way.
A spare room was to be used for the interrogation of sorts, honestly, Leon didn't see the point of it but he didn't want to be the one to have to say it.
"He woke up on the ride here." Theo explained.
It was an empty room, literally, with a chair placed at the centre so that they could cuff Ethan to it.
Ethan kept his head down, his shirt gone because apparently it had been stained with blood, a bandage wrapped around his head.
"Fancy tat you got there." Virgil walked behind him to say.
Ethan still didn't flinch, his head down.
"He's been that way since we picked him up from the crime scene, not saying a word even when he was questioned." Theo spoke up, the Sheriff had been dismissed because this was basically Pack matter.
When they were all done and had gotten all that they needed to know, he and Brie would be sent down to police custody.
Virgil wasn't surprised by this, he had expected it even.
Ian and Dale hung back, leaning against the wall, there was no need for them to get involved anyway.
Dale studied the cuffed man, he had gotten a quick watered down version of his backstory and from what he had gotten from Ian, Virgil and Shana, no one really knew him. How fitting.
"We brought a little surprise for you though, won't you look up?" Virgil prodded, cold blue eyes boring holes through the back of his head.
Ethan still didn't still give a reaction, the room going strangely quiet.
"Having fun, Ethan?" Leon spoke up, hating how weak his voice sounded from the aftereffectsof the drug.
Ethan's head whipped up so fast Virgil was scared that he would snap his neck, his grey eyes going wide momentarily before cooling as he studied everyone like he was planning out an escape.
That was impossible though, there was no getting out of here, especially not with Leon.
Jaxon walked forward in the tense silence that followed, everyone watching him closely.
The next moment had Ethan's head whipping back from the force of the right hook that Jaxon had given him.
He wanted to curse at him too but that would do very little to alleviate his rage, he would rather punch him again.
He had been the one to clean up Leon and although he didn't mention anything to Darian and most of the bruises would start to fade soon, he had seen everything that the sick bastard had done to Leon.
Fuck it, he was taking out his teeth... Another punch made Ethan's head ricochet and Virgil had to hold Jaxon back before he knocked Ethan out.
Ethan laughed, his bloody teeth flashing. "I might let this go if you cut the crap out and come over here." He said to Leon, spitting out a mouthful of blood.
And just like that Leon had had enough, it felt like his spine would break from the pressure.
It took him nearly a decade and nearly losing it all for him to realise that the reason his past kept catching up to him was that he kept running from it.
He had to face it to break the cycle.
"I'm sorry for killing your mom." He said in a shaky voice.
Darian's eyes went wide and it wasn't just from Leon's words but how hard he was shaking, he feared that Leon would fall apart right in his arms and so he instinctively held him tighter.
Every eyes in the room turned to him, disbelief evident in Ethan's eyes.
His disbelief turned into mania as he realised that the only hold he ever had over Leon was crashing down all around him.
"Don't you fucking dare." He whispered furiously, his voice ragged.
"I'm fucking tired, Ethan." He said, his voice breaking painfully. "And I realised I never said sorry, doubt you want to hear it though."
Ethan was hardly listening, shaking his chair so violently that Virgil worried he would tip himself over.
"You're fucking right I don't!" Ethan roared at him.
Leon was unfazed, he had gotten traction, he wasn't giving up till he got it all out. "Then shut the fuck up let me apologise to myself and all the people I love." He yelled back at him.
"I'm sorry we were ever friends, I'm sorry I finally gave in to your requests to come visit, I'm sorry I accepted to play pranks with you..." Leon started to apologise, his eyes filling up with tears.
Apologising was his way of accepting what had happened in the past and choosing to let go of the regret, self-disgust and hate.
Accepting it meant that he relived the memory one more time. "I'm sorry from tying the strings at the hallway that was too close to the hallway, I'm sorry your mom chose that moment to come back home..."
Everyone kept quiet and listened intently, the emotion swirling around the room far too heavy for words.
Ethan was shaking so hard like he would combust at the wrong words from Leon.