Taming A Predator

Chapter 26

Xander's POV:

"Prince Alexander, please. I swear it wasn't me. I-I swear on my life!" The boy in front of me cowered, nearly on the verge of tears.

He wasn't the first that I've brought down to that.

The room was thick with the stench of fear, every boy here rightfully worrying about what would happen if they were found to be the guilty one.

Panic and Guilt were difficult to differentiate in a situation where most of them are already scared.

And thus, every time I thought I heard even a semblance of guilt, I pressed harder just to make sure.

I was almost done here with a few boys left, everyone else having proved their innocence.

Leaving every boy I dismissed and let leave more shaken than the last.

The list of potential suspects grew smaller and smaller along with my patience.

The only thing growing now was my frustration.

I glared down at the one in front of me. It was one whose scent I had memorized from the first day they got to lay their eyes on our girls.

"You sure?" I pressed, a growl teasing my words "I've seen the way you look at them when you think no one is watching."

He took a half step back, definitive guilt showing after that, but not at what happened last night.

Dammit.

"S-sir I swear, it's never been anything more than a look, and I never planned on ever having it be anything different," The words spilled messily out of his mouth, "I've never even talked to Khloe or Doe."

I didn't like hearing her name leave his mouth.

All of the internal variables I was constantly listening in on told me that those words were true.

My sigh turned into a grunt, pinching the bridge of my nose.

"You can go," I dismissed him, and he scurried out particularly quick.

I turned my head to the rest I had to go through.

Three of them remained, and each avoided eye contact.

Though the last boy didn't look nearly as nervous as his compatriots.

I kept my eye on him, something not sitting quite right with him right off the bat, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

The two before him both proved to be innocent relatively quickly, both taking the strategy of giving me their Alabi straight away and having their body tell me that they were being honest.

A boringly quick way to get it over with, though I could still see that the anticipation of waiting to get it over with had a very tight grip on both.

Which could only mean that the culprit was the one boy that was left.

His disposition changed slightly after I dismissed the boy in front of him, the first hint of well-hidden worry showing itself.

I turned to face him, catching myself as soon as his full scent caught my nose.

Now that I was fully focused on his.

It was the same scent as the one on Doe's hand yesterday.

The connection sent an ache through my fangs, that fact alone given the situation being enough to almost completely set me off.

He spoke before I could.

"Look, I know this looks bad on my part, but it wasn't me," he stated.