Ashina and Luke exchanged glances with each other, then with a sigh, Luke made his way over to the door and pulled it open.
Drake's eyebrows only flickered when he saw Luke at the door, but he wasn't surprised at all. He knew that they were basically joined at the hip.
"What do you want?" Luke demanded but Drake pushed past him and walked into the house. He found Ashina back on the couch, her legs crossed at the knees as she stared at him.
"What do you want?" She repeated Luke's question.
He stood there, looking around the living room. Ashina watched him shrewdly, realizing how tall he was inside her house. The last time he was in there was when her father died and he came to pay her a condolence visit. However, that felt like an eternity ago, so many things had changed since then.
Like Luke, she had known Drake since childhood. They grew up together in the borough, however, they just never clicked. She had always found him too ambitious, even when they were children. He was driven and focused, and she knew just how dangerous that made him as a person. She also knew how badly he had been hoping to take over as alpha from Ulva when the time was right. Ashina knew that as long as Drake was after Ulva's killer, it was only a matter of time before he found out she was the one.
As she looked at him, she couldn't shake the feeling of betrayal that was clawing at her insides. She had stolen the mandate from him, making her feel dirty and corrupted. Despite his flaws, she knew that Drake would have been a great alpha, and now they might never get to discover his leadership due to one horrible act of hers.
"Can I at least have a seat?" He asked, snapping her back into the conversation. Before getting any replies, he lowered himself into the nearest couch. The couch sank underneath his weight, almost swallowing him. He sighed but didn't get back up. He glanced at Ashina and saw that she looked no better now than at the bar.
She was suffering, but for some reason, that wasn't enough for him. Back then, he could tell that she was going through a lot so he chose not to grill her with questions about what happened. Now, he hoped that she would have had the time to calm down so she could answer some of his more pertinent questions. Now, he was reconsidering it.
He began to wonder if she needed some more time to handle the grief. The last thing he wanted was for his investigation to put another person in more pain than she needed to be in.
Ashina remained quiet as she stared at the center table, it still carried Luke's drink and the bottle of vodka. Her eyes were focused on it as if she was trying hard not to look at anyone else in the room. He felt a tug in his chest as he saw her in such a frame, but he immediately quelled it. He couldn't believe what was going on with him. Tonight of all nights.
Realizing that neither Luke nor Ashina would say a word until he did, he cleared his throat, "Okay, Ulva's body has been taken to the basement."
"The basement?" Ashina's eyes snapped up. "Why?"
"Why not?" Drake retorted. "Ulva is right where he needs to be at the moment."
"And Lena just agreed to that?" Ashina asked.
"Shouldn't she? Her mate died, she would be the first in line to find out what exactly killed him."
"And that's why he's in the basement when preparations should begin for the funeral rituals." Ashina muttered, "That's what we should be doing instead, but that doesn't matter to the new alpha, does it?"
"I'm doing what is needed, okay?" Drake told her, "And the basement is needed right now. Unlike some people, I have to think of the entire pack. Not just one person."
"But that's Agnes's lair, why would he be taken there?" Luke muttered.
"He's there because Agnes needs to examine his body," Drake told them.
Luke scoffed, "Examine his body? What the fuck are you talking about? What's there to examine? Shine already told you what happened, he died from the bite of a hybrid."
"So she says…" Drake kept his eyes on her as he responded, looking for a reaction. Any reaction. But he got nothing, her expression remained flat and her eyes returned to the table.
"So she says? Is there something you want to say? Spill it already man! If you're gonna be an alpha, the least you can do is have some fucking confidence."
"Fine, I know there is more to the story than what Ashina is letting on. And no matter what, I'll get to the bottom of it."
"More to the story?" She whispered, "What makes you so certain?"
"I watched you tell the story, you were being careful. Picking your words and thinking of every syllable that you let out of your mouth. You might have fooled others, hell you might have fooled Luke here, but you didn't fool me!"
"You fucking asshole!" Luke hurried over to Drake and grabbed him by the collar, hoisting him up. "Say that again, I dare you."
"Are you really foolish? Or do you just choose not to see the inconsistencies in her stories?"
Luke pushed him against the wall, cracking it heavily. Drake let out a groan as his head connected with concrete, punching a hole through the wall. Drake grabbed him by the neck, and reversed their position, slamming Luke hard into the wall with such force to send the house trembling. Luke shoved him out of the way and tried to punch him but Drake easily sidestepped and landed a punch of his own. The punch sent Luke crashing back against the wall, before falling to the ground.
With a howl of rage, his claws emerging from his fingers and his fangs jutting out of his gums, Luke flew at Drake once more but the latter was ready. He backstepped and brought his knee up, smashing it hard into Luke's jaw. The wolf snapped back as if he had been shot by a bullet. He hurtled through the air and crashed against another wall with enough force to send him through it. He fell hard to the floor in a flurry of plates and pans going down with him. He was now in the kitchen.
Luke wasn't done though, he surged to his feet and tried another attack, but this time, Drake caught him by the arm and turned him around, forcing him down to his knees, and twisting his arm into a chokehold.
"How long are you planning to keep this up, huh?" Drake asked. "What makes you think you're a match for me?"
"You fucking asshole!" Luke rasped, struggling to get back up but Drake kept pushing him down. "You're accusing Ashina of murdering Ulva, and you expect me to be nice to you? Are you out of your mind?"
With a howl of fury, Drake shoved him away, sending him crashing back into the kitchen. "I'm not accusing her, you idiot! She's just a suspect. And the longer she keeps being quiet about what happened in the woods, the longer she will be one."
Ashina was calm as she stared at them both, she didn't seem fazed that they had just destroyed half of her home. It didn't even matter to her at that point. She was instead staring at Drake as if she was only just seeing him for the first time. He approached her and stopped right before her, he sat on the table and looked into her eyes, "Why don't you tell me what really happened tonight?"
"I've already told you, it's not my fault you have trust issues."
"This is the problem I'm having with you, for someone who isn't guilty, you're being too calm."
"Why? Because I haven't tried to rip your head off your neck just yet? Don't confuse me for Luke, Drake. If I come for you, I won't miss."
"I just "accused" you of murdering our alpha, we just bulldozed through your living room and kitchen, but you're so damn calm about it. Or maybe you're so damn guilty."
"I think it's time for you to leave."
"No, I don't think so, Ashina," Drake said. "You lied about the hybrid bite, didn't you? If he was bitten tonight, how the fuck did it kill him tonight? It takes at most a day for the venom to kill a wolf. No one survives it, I know. But it sure as hell doesn't kill anyone in such a short amount of time. So I'm asking you, the bite didn't kill Ulva, did it?"
"I said…" Ashina slowly got to her feet, "you need to leave, now."
"Ashina, keeping the truth from me is only going to make things worse for you–"
"I said leave, you asshole!" She grabbed him by the collar and hoisted him to his feet, she then pushed him to the door! Leave my fucking house!"
"Okay, I'm leaving." Drake said, "But know that this changes nothing. No matter what, I'll get to the bottom of this. And you," he turned to Luke who was leaning against a couch, his clothes dirty from his crash through the walls. "You better talk to your girlfriend! You can keep your head buried in the sand for too long, but eventually, you'd have to accept that she's lying about something."
"Go!" She shoved hard at him, pushing him until they got to the door which she opened herself and gestured the way out.
Without another word, Drake stepped out of the house. His work there was already done.
Even after he left, the door remained open. At that moment, Luke looked around the living room and saw the mess he and Drake had made of it.
"Shine, I'll fix everything by morning, I promise." He said.
"Just save it! I'm not in the mood for any of that right now. I'm not in the mood for anything at all."
"Shine…"
"You have to leave as well," she held the door open. "And I mean it for real this time. I need to be alone."
"I don't think now is a good time for that."
"Just go, please. We'll talk tomorrow, okay? I promise. Now, can I have my house to myself?"
"Okay, tomorrow then." He then walked out of her house. She immediately slammed the door shut and slid the bolt home. She looked down at her hands to find them trembling, she bunched them into fists and opened them back up.
Walking through the rubble, she went to her bedroom and took off her clothes until she was in her undies. Then, she fell on her bed like a boulder and hugged her pillows tight. Drake's words were ringing shrilly in her head, over and over again. She had no idea when she began to weep all over again.