Chapter 47 - Hook

"If possible, may I ask whose was this?" 

The question was asked in a drawled voice that was effectively tuned out as both of the middle-aged men inside discussed the investigation in a hushed but urgent way. Zeke shrugged his shoulders. 'Fine, I will just have to find it out myself.' 

Straightening himself up from the couch he was currently slouching on, the young Roderick took hold of the stinky black plastic bag with his bȧrė hands. Curiosity had won whatever hygiene idealism he believed in. 

'Curiosity killed the cat.' His inner voice chided at him. 

'Too bad I am not a cat.' Zeke sing-songed, wasting no time in ripping the dark plastic bag that might hold an important piece of evidence. This time, he was the one tuning the conversation beside him. 

"--What time is it?" Derek asked, his fingers rapped impatiently on his desk. However, the whole rapping didn't do any justice on his lazy form. He was currently draping himself all over the chair he was on, one leg slung carelessly over the armrest. The other armrest dug painfully into his back, which he paid zero mind to. 

He had changed into another set of clean clothes, mind you. It wasn't exactly pleasant sitting around with a patch of warm tea, despite having dried up, sticking to your skin, especially when said patch was just right on top of his junior. 

"A quarter to eleven. We still have time to head to the station and see how things are progressing before meeting the Lord of Zero in the evening," Lynn answered, clicking his pocket watch open to check the time. 

Derek nodded his head, agreeing. So many things to do, so little time. It made the Head of Roderick feel stretched thin and exhausted. He pinched the bridge of his nose and glared at the other, besides Lynn, occupant in the room and decided to stamp the "black sheep" mark on his forehead. 

That was the source of his headache, he was sure of it. "We also needed to hand in the newest evidence. The earlier the better, we can have the fingerprints-- WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU DOING, YOUNG MAN!" 

Said young man jumped at the loud booming voice coming from his left, dropping the crucial piece of evidence in process, not before nicking himself, of course and hissed in response. 

The mother hen of the three who seemed unfazed at the older Roderick's exclamation hurriedly took large steps and snatched the youngest Alpha's wrist before he could put the bleeding digit into his mouth. 

"Careful--" Lynn cried out. 

"Are you dumb?!" Derek hissed. "That's evidence you are holding onto! Not some toy for you to roll around and play with!" 

The tone cut through Zeke like steel that automatically made him ducked in shame, at least he still had the audacity to look like it. 

"My Lord--" 

"Don't you try to take his side, Lynn! He needed to grow up and it wasn't helping at all if you kept baby him like that." His ċhėst rumbled as he growled out each word. 

The room was suddenly filled with tension, mostly coming from Derek. The Alpha in him was flaring and rolling dangerously, emitting dominance and commanding submission from the other younger Alphas. 

Lynn, to be honest, had no problem submitting to the Head Alpha, on the other hand, was quite surprised at the sudden outburst coming from Derek. It wasn't a common occurrence but yes, it did happen once in a while, mostly from stress overload and stuff. 

However, Lynn didn't smell anything like stress from Derek. He gave off the scent of impatience, anger, sadness, guilt, and something the gray-haired Alpha didn't want to dwell about. Derek had always conferred with him when it was work-related but not the other--

His train of thoughts were cut off by Derek's long sigh, as if he was tired of all the situation that happened when it was still quite early in the morning. 

Derek took a brief moment to reflect on the fact that he started to sound like a grumpy old man similar to a certain Zero at the other side of the town and decided he hated it. "I--" 

"I apologize," Zeke said before Derek could start. "My mistake for doing something that might tampered the evidence, it was stupid. I should have known." 

This felt really bad. Zeke had never seen his father this angry at him before. He could jump around and hit any buŧŧons on his father and always get away with it. He realized his mistake the moment he ripped open the plastic. It was no wonder his dad was mad. Heck, he looked furious. 

Disapproval danced in his golden irises. Finally a lead, and some annoying kid decided to tamper with it. 

Even the cut on his index finger was nothing compared to the cold look his father gave him. It hit Zeke like a punch in the face. It felt even worse when the kind Lynn was being snapped at because of him. He had wanted to rise and defend Lynn, only to be stopped by a hand landing heavily on his shoulder. 

It gripped and squeezed tightly as if giving reassurance. 

He remained quiet until the thick and angry Alpha pheromones subdued. And when it did, a number of apologies were already hanging on the tip of his tongue. 

Derek nodded slowly, not giving anymore reaction as he turned to Lynn. "Help him, make sure he isn't infected. We don't know what the dagger had touched before." 

The oldest Alpha stood from his chair and walked over the couch, rubbing his temples tiredly. He must have scared his boy shitless just now as he saw Zeke hunched up his shoulders and shuffled his feet. 

Derek pulled out a pair of rubber gloves he kept in one of the drawers and snapped them on before taking hold of the fallen dagger. 

There was also a unique design on the handle of the dagger. Just looking at it had already sent thousands of alarms off inside his head. 

He had seen these symbols hundreds, thousands, even millions of times, it wasn't impossible for him to recognize them immediately. 

"There you go, lucky for you, we always keep the first aid kit around here since your dad is a trouble magnet--" Lynn stopped himself when he saw Derek's sullen expression. 

He had wrapped the bandage neatly and patted the wound gently before giving Derek his full attention. "What's wrong?" 

The other Alpha in question raised the dagger higher to show Lynn the cause of his sullen expression. Derek asked, slowly. 

"Tell me, are you seeing what I am seeing?"