Beta Kelvin

My heart skipped a beat when a knock echoed at the door. I took a while to respond because the one thought that came to my head and drained my energy was when I thought it was the libarian. I stayed quite for a while, stopped rustling the papers I was holding in my hands, and waited for him to complain. That was the only way I would have been sure that it was him anyway.

It went silent outside, just as I had gone silent inside. When the faint footsteps sounded to be fading away, I mustered the courage to ask whoever was out there to come in, although I hesitated a bit, unsure of whether to welcome the person in or not, just in case it was the librarian.

"Come in." I responded, my voice going deep. My voice turns deep whenever I am scared or nervous, and at the moment, I was clouded by both feelings.

I held my breath, and my gaze stuck at the door to welcome whoever it was. The door creaked open slowly, revealing a short figure standing in the doorway. I sighed in relief. "At least it's not the libarian." I murmed. The librarian was taller compared to that person.

A head popped in, and I relaxed, leaning on the back of my chair, when I saw it was Kiara.

"Can I help you with anything, Maria?" I asked. She stayed silent, her iris darting all over, scanning the place. They setlled at the empty chair across mine and lingered for a second. Her brows furrowed as she pulled herself into reality and stared at me.

I guess she was surprised that I had called her Maria instead of Kiara. Well, I was in no mood to make fun of her or threaten her today. I was so low that I have been fighting since morning not to let the tears that had been stinging my eyes well out.

"Can I help you with anything, Maria?" I asked again when she drew off reality again to her own world. She jerked her head up and said, "I was looking for Dr. Maria."

I chuckled. "She might be in her office." I responded, shook my head, and focused my gaze on the papers in front of me.

A short silence enveloped me before her voice jarred me. "Are you okay, doctor Kedeva?" She asked. I looked up at her, worry etched on my face.

"I am not okay, Kiara. I have never been." I wanted to break down and tell her, but I wiped the worry off my face and replaced it with a nervous smile. "I am okay. Since when did you start caring for me?" I asked, hoping that I would be able to distract her from my true feelings.

My response took her aback for a moment, then she chuckled softly. "Well, just now. You seem uncomfortable, and that's why I asked," she replied with a warm smile, which I am sure was faked. "But since you are okay, I'll take your leave, Dr. Kedeva." She smiled warmly at me again and turned to leave.

Her words touched me. I have been nothing but an asshole to her, but she asked when she noticed that I needed someone to talk to. I forced myself to remain glued to my chair and not run after her because, after all, whatever was eating me up had something to do with her. Something worse which I had planned for her.

I shifted uncomfortably in my chair, wondering if I should take my next step, which was to follow her and see where she was going. Slowly, with hesitation plunging through my heart, I rose from my chair and followed her behind.

She was heading to the library, the exact place that I was supposed to lead her. A happy feeling was supposed to wash over me at that moment, but I felt sad instead. Earlier, when I executed this plan with the librarian, I didn't feel any remorse toward her because her doom meant my freedom, but it seemed like that feeling is long gone now.

Poor girl; she has never done anything bad to me since the day we met, but here I was helping the man she had successfully escaped from catch her again. As I watched her walk towards the library, a wave of guilt crashed over me. The weight of my actions began to sink in, and I couldn't help but question if betraying her trust was truly worth my own freedom.

"What's happening over there?" The librarian's voice echoed in my head. I had completely forgotten that I was mind-linking with him.

"She is heading your way." I responded with a heavy sigh.

“Are you feeling sympathy?“ The voice echoed again, this time full of suspicion and curiosity. It was as if he could sense my internal struggle and was trying to uncover the truth behind my conflicted emotions.

I hesitated for a moment, unsure of how much to reveal, before finally wanting to admit, "Yes, I am. I never thought it would be this hard to go through with it," but I stopped myself.

I shook my head vigorously, slapped my cheeks, and faked out a snort. “Why would I?" I swallowed hard and closed my eyes, trying to mask my true feelings of vulnerability. I knew that revealing my true emotions would only complicate things further, so I decided to play it safe and keep my regrets to myself.

I couldn't trust the librarian. Just not. There was something about his demeanor that made me question his intentions. I couldn't put my finger on it, but a sense of unease washed over me whenever he was around me or in my head. It was as if he was hiding something, and I couldn't afford to let my guard down in his presence or even when talking to him.

“Good. Now do as you were asked." His voice came again, stern and commanding.

"Of course." I responded and returned my gaze to Kiara. I followed her up to the library, and once she was inside, I made him aware through the mindlink. It was now his turn to take things south. My turn was to lure her into the library, something that I didn't do because she went all by herself. I just followed her.

You must be wondering why I orchestrated this plan with the librarian, right? Well, this is the truth. He was the other spy Alpha Benna told me about. If you have forgotten, Benna had threatened me that if I was lying to him about the whereabouts of Kiara, the other spy he had in the pack would tell him the truth.

You remember, right?

The only thing is that, up until now, none of us have told him about Kiara being here. Both of us are trapped in Alpha Bena's evilness, and we just can't escape even when we ask him to. It was the librarian who came up with the plan of summoning shadows to help us abduct her and take her to Alpha Benna.

Before all this plan started, we had agreed with Benna that if we found Kiara and took her back to him, he would stop bothering us, and our deal with him to spy on our alphas and packs would end. The day has finally arrived, but I am not happy at all.

“I just can't wait to get off his hook.“ I told the librarian who was standing in front of me. He never answered me, though, because he was lost in his thoughts.

“Don't you feel bad?“ I tapped his shoulder to get his attention. He turned to face me, startled by the gentle tap on his back. His long black hair that flowed to his back waved on his other side, and his big brown eyes widened in fear.

He narrowed his brow when he realized it was me who had tapped him and chuckled.

“I just can't wait for the heavy pay. Do you know how much he's giving us?“ he asked, a wide smile crossing his face. He turned to look at me and narrowed his eyes suspiciously when I failed to respond to his question.

"Wait,” he said, coming to stand in front of me. “Are you feeling bad for her? That's what you asked me, right?" He pinched his chin and tilted his head, studying my expression. "You've always been too soft-hearted," he sighed, shaking his head. "But trust me, she's not worth your sympathy."

I was taken aback by his response. I sighed and sat on the floor, crossing my legs. “Why are you doing this?“ I raised my head to look up at him.

“Doing what?" He asked, his tone indicating that he was curious. His eyebrows furrowed as he crossed his arms over his chest. He sat on the floor beside me and looked at me, waiting for my response.

“Why are you helping Alpha Benna get Kiara? Is it because of money?“ I inquired, my heart thumping wildly as I waited for his response. "God, I hope that he has the same reason as me." I prayed silently. I wished that his motives weren't only fueled by momentary gain.

“Well, is there any reason why I would do this if not for money?“ He shrugged, and my heart dropped. Disbelief clouded my eyes as I shook my head at his response. Here I was, thinking that he was doing this for the same reasons as me, and that was to finally get off Alpha Benna's hook, but I was mistaken.

“Where have you gone to?“ A tap on the shoulder jarred me from my unconscious state of mind. I turned to look at him with a fake smile on my face. “Uh, nowhere.“ I sighed and scratched the back of my head. “Do you think this will work?" I asked, my voice filled with doubt.

After a short, heavy silence that was constantly broken by my heavy sighs, I turned to ask the librarian once again because he had yet to respond, “Do you think this will work?“ I don't know why, but I was suddenly feeling nervous, and nothing seemed good about all this.

“Of course it will, dude. What's with you today? You seem off.“ He patted my back in encouragement and squeezed my hand gently.

I shot a forced smile at him when his gaze lingered on my face. It's only the moon goddess who knew how I was feeling at that moment. "There is nothing wrong with me." I lied through open teeth and then continued, "So, how are we doing this?“ I asked.

“We lock her in and let the shadows out. They'll do the rest.“ He explained to me, his lips curling up into an evil smile, which turned into a wide grin when he turned to look toward Kiara. All this while we were hiding behind a pillar so that she wouldn't know that we were following her. We had masked our scents too, because, as a werewolf, she would have picked up our scents long ago.

"She is in. I'll go and close the door." The librarian said this while rising from the cold ground. I nodded at him.

A minute later, we heard Kiara calling for help. I closed my eyes and hummed to distract myself from her cries. I just hoped that the shadows wouldn't kill her, because after all, before I went with the librarian to seek them out, we were warned that they had fatal consequences.

“They got her!“ The librarian laughed gleefully and clapped his hands together when the screams stopped. “Let's go and see what they have done to her.“ He pulled my hand and rose me to my feet.

"Just go and check for yourself. I'll head back to the office before someone notices that I am not there." I told him.

“Right. Go ahead, bro. I'll take care of everything here.“ He patted my back and walked to the library, whistling happily.

I excused myself not because I feared someone might notice my absence at the office but because I was mad at myself for doing all this.

I was given a day off after calling in sick, and I was sure that even if I was never found, no one would question me. The reason I walked away from there was because I didn't want to be there and watch as the shadows dragged Kiara out of the library. I also didn't want her to know that I was involved in her abduction.

"I hope everything will go as we had planned, or else we will be doomed." I said to myself inwardly. I had spent weeks carefully orchestrating the plan, ensuring every detail was in place. If something were to go wrong now, it would not only jeopardize our mission but also put both of our lives at risk.