Under A Paper Moon

XXVI

As Elias and Micah drove to the location, Elias couldn't help but feel that there was a piece missing. There was something that didn't quite add up, but he couldn't figure it out. He looked at his side, at the torn expression on his mate's face. He reached out, keeping his hand over Micah's before squeezing it reassuringly.

Micah looked at Elias, a small smile on his face as he nodded. The two boys held hands till they reached their destination. It was an abandoned warehouse a few miles outside town, and Elias frowned, wondering how Jeremiah even found this building in the first place.

As the two boys entered the warehouse, from the back door like Jeremiah had instructed, both the boys knew that they weren't alone, and that it wasn't just Jeremiah with them.

The lights flickered on, and there stood several men dressed in black, guns in their hands. Elias and Micah took a step back, but the door automatically shut close. Micah watched in disbelief when he saw his older brother, the man he had looked up to his entire life, walk out of a room and stand beside one of those men.

Jeremiah wasn't restrained, he wasn't beaten up like Micah had imagined. Apart from the fading burn marks around his lips, he seemed fine. He did seem a little uncomfortable, but in no way did he look like a hostage.

The man Jeremiah stood beside, was grinning like there was no tomorrow, but there was something sinister about his smile. There was a huge scar on his face, three lines as if he had been clawed by a wolf. He was the only one wearing a red shirt with a black suit, unlike the rest of the men that were in all black.

And that's when it hit Elias.

All the missing pieces fit now. He remembered Micah telling him about the rose and moon necklace that he had found years ago, and how it vanished from his room. He remembered Daisy telling him about the symbol of the organisation, a rose piercing a moon. Micah didn't lose the pendant, it was probably Jeremiah that lost it and then took it back from his younger brother.

Jeremiah loathed werewolves, his own kind. He wasn't forced, instead he was working with the organisation all along, that's why he bit Elias. Considering his hatred, it made sense that he was with the organisation that's been trying to turn werewolves back into humans for centuries.

He was also a Trueblood of the Black Wolf Line, he probably volunteered to be a part of the ritual.

Micah let out a bitter laugh as he ran his hand through his hair, Elias looked at him and he knew that his mate had figured it out too. He had realised that his elder brother, the one he had looked up to his entire life, his own flesh and blood, was a traitor.

"Welcome!" The man with the scar said, "I hope the drive here was okay. I know this place is a little out of town but for what's about to happen, I figured we'd need a little privacy."

"What do you want?" Elias asked.

"You're dumber than I thought," The man chuckled, "You very well know what I want, Mr. Niveus- oh wait, it's Pearson, isn't it? You don't have your family name."

"I.. I.." Elias didn't know what to say.

"I wasn't sure whether you'd show up or not, Elias. I thought I'd have to torture your lovely mate to lure you out here. But you just made it so much more convenient!"

Micah growled at the man, and then at Jeremiah. The older brother flinched, as he looked down. Elias didn't know whether it was guilt or not, but if he had been in Jeremiah's place, then he wouldn't want to be facing his brother after having stabbed him in the back either.

"What's stopping me from tearing apart all of you?" Micah growled, as soon as he finished he saw laser dots on Elias and himself.

"Calm down, mutt! If you want to make it out of this place alive then you're going to keep those fangs inside. I have snipers everywhere, one wrong move and they'll fill your body with bullets laced with wolfsbane." The man snarled.