KNIGHT
Chapter 8
Jake stood beside Alexia with a forced smile, both awkwardly waiting together in the living room. “So you and Neil, huh?”
“No! Not at all,” she said with a nervous laugh. “Really, it was just…He was showing me what happens when you shift into wolves.”
“If you say so.” He gave her the up-down, then cracked a wide dimpled grin. “You know, if you need a full demonstration—”
“Down boy.”
“Not talking about me.”
“Course not, player.”
He comically widened his expression at her as if offended by such gossip about himself.
She chuckled. Even though she was probably accurate about Jake Bryant’s overactive libido, he still seemed harmless. For a lethal Level One Alpha Three Enforcer werewolf, and the next powerful High Alpha.
“I hear you’re engaged?” she mentioned casually. “I’d love to meet your fiancée Eva LeBlanc sometime. She sounds really sweet.”
The smile slid from his face, and he turned back to the closed bedroom door.
“Neil, you about done in there?” he called.
The door opened seconds later, and Neil exited wearing his typical dark tee-shirt and blue jeans. He eyed both Alexia and Jake curiously, then jutted his chin for them to head out. All three walked in relative silence up the forested paved road for several minutes until Alexia couldn’t stand the tension anymore.
“This murdered girl you found,” she said. “Do the police have her body right now?”
Neil kept silent, still facing forward.
“Because if they don’t,” she added quickly, “we could drive out to the site, and I could do a quick forensic investigation before they arrive.”
“No.”
“The human police are never going to look for someone trying to kill an actual were-being, so any evidence that might point—”
“You’re not going, Alexia,” he stated harder.
Jake frowned down at her. “No, the police aren’t on the crime scene yet. A local Pack member just discovered her body a few minutes ago on his farm outside of Tieton and reported it immediately. So we need to get there before someone else discovers her and calls the local sheriff’s department.”
“See, then you really need me,” Alexia said, almost running to keep up with their long, fast strides. “Neither one of you are as medically qualified to do this as I am. Besides, if you clean up the scene without checking things out thoroughly, you’ll destroy any possible clue that could be used to find out who did this to her.”
Alexia hoped she sounded credible, because her rotation with the pathologist had been minimal at best. Not that she planned to volunteer this bit of information, because now she really, really wanted to go. This was the most exciting thing that had happened to her in a long time.
With the exception of being chased by actual monsters the night before, of course.
And being secreted away to an exclusive werewolf resort in the Pacific Northwest.
“Oh, come on!” she pleaded. “You know I’m right.”
The two men exchanged a silent, hostile conversation as they walked. Neil didn’t look happy.
“It’s not far from here anyhow,” Jake said quietly. “We would be back in less than two hours.”
“Too dangerous,” Neil answered.
“Not with both of us watching out for her.”
“No.”
“She is right, and you know it. This time it was way too close to here, and we’ve got to find out and stop whoever’s killing our gifted before we don’t have anymore. What if they’re not the only wolves this killer is targeting? Like it or not, Neil, we need someone with medical expertise to see what we don’t.”
“Then wake Piper up and have him meet us at the van in ten minutes,” he spoke through his teeth.
Jake shrugged. “Just a thought. Let’s go see what dad wants us to do about all this.”
This seemed to satisfy Neil, and Alexia quickened her pace to keep up with them.
“Scott? Really? Not even Rachel who is tons more qualified?” Alexia grumbled. “You’re such a misogynist, Duran.” When Neil didn’t react to her nasty comment, she added, “Do you even know what that means?”
“Yeah, a smart man,” he returned. “You’re still not going.”
When they reached the Lodge lobby, Alexia started to follow them down the hallway towards Bryant’s office, until Neil barred her way with his arm.
“Your room is upstairs,” he said, jutting his chin towards the nearby elevator.
“Jake said that his dad was going to make the call whether I could come or not,” Alexia argued.
“Hey, don’t drag me into the middle of your lover’s squabble,” Jake said, hands raised.
“Goodnight, Alexia,” Neil said in a knife-edged tone, his narrowing eyes glowing a dark steel gray.
She folded her arms, attempting not to look intimidated. Dang it, he just was, though. “You’re not my boss, my keeper or my High Alpha.”
“You’re staying here, that’s final.”
“Is that a fact, oh mighty one? Because you don’t control me, and I’ll just follow you to Rob Bryant’s office and ask him myself after you leave, so you might as well not waste time arguing.”
Jake bit back a grin, hiking his brows at Neil who looked ready to unleash his scary wolf onto her any moment.
“Excuse us a second,” Neil stated low and controlled.
He gripped Alexia’s upper arm and not so gently marched her towards the elevator and out of earshot, at least what would be her human earshot, then lowered his mouth to her ear.
“If you don’t go to your room on your own,” he whispered dangerously, “I will haul you over my shoulder and carry you there. Then I will tie you to your bedpost and gag you, hanging a Do Not Disturb sign on the doorknob until I come back for you in the morning. If I’m feeling generous by that time. Do you understand?”
She stared wide into his glowing silver eyes and didn’t doubt his threat in the least. Her mind raced through all sorts of scenarios, but there wasn’t any that didn’t end up in his favor and her utter humiliation. Even if she was somehow discovered trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey, the maid would only think she was into such kinky foreplay.
“Alexia?”
She pursed her lips at him. “I take it back. You’re really not nice at all.”
“As advertised. You have five seconds to comply. Three, two…”
“Okay, fine! Wolf jerk.”
She stood there another moment, and he raised his brows. Fuming, she stormed four steps towards the elevator and pounded the call button with her fist. He stood there unmoving with his arms crossed, waiting until the elevator door opened and she stalked inside.
“Alexia?” he called. She turned around to face him. “Sleep well.”
She grabbed an empty coffee cup sitting in the corner and threw it at his head.
“She’s a wild one,” Jake remarked, chuckling as they headed towards Rob’s office.
“She’s a pain in my ass,” Neil muttered, his strides long and fast. “I’ll be glad when she’s out of my hair.”
“Ah, common. She’s cute, fiery and super smart, a real challenge. Admit it, you like her.”
Neil sliced him a daggered look. Jake raised his hands in surrender, still smirking. His foster brother could be a huge royal pain as well.
The door to the executive office was open, and they headed inside. Rob pressed a button underneath his desk, and the door automatically closed, then waited until they both took a seat before saying anything.
“That makes four now. Neil, what’s your next move on finding this wolf killer? We can’t lose another gifted member, or three of the main superpower Packs will gain the upper hand at the Council seats. That means possibly losing businesses, territory, and a lot more.”
He rubbed the rough stubble on his chin, reining in the urge to remind Rob that he might have already found and stopped this guy if he hadn’t been yanked from the case to fetch a stubborn half-human girl with a bad attitude. Not that his H.A. probably wasn’t already thinking it himself. Not that it solved anything.
“I’m taking Piper to the scene to find any possible forensic evidence the killer left behind,” Neil said, not meeting Jake’s smirk when taking Alexia’s advice.
“Good thinking. The clean-up team should already be there. I’ll call and give them instructions not to touch anything until you give the green-light.”
Both stood to leave, and Rob gestured Neil to hang back.
“I’ll get Piper to the SUV and meet you there,” Jake said to him, then left.
Once gone, Neil turned back to Rob. “What’s up?”
“The girl Alexia,” he said standing and leaning again the desk with crossed arms. “What’s your take on her?”
Neil snorted. “Annoying as hell, but fine for the most part. Why?”
“Want you to do me a favor and keep a sharp eye on her while she’s here.”
Neil narrowed his eyes. “Again, why?”
Rob shook his head. “First, we all owe it Erik to protect his only daughter.”
Maybe. Maybe not. Neil knew he had a minor hand in separating the girl’s mother from Leonid years ago, but it hadn’t been his decision. At the time, he and Jake were only following orders.
“Secondly, if Rachel discovers that Alexia’s anywhere near as gifted as her father, she could add to our numbers. I don’t need to remind you of that importance. Not to mention that being female, she might one day produce—”
“I can’t be in two places at once, Rob. Finding our killer takes precedence over babysitting some wolf princess.”
Rob’s brows hiked. “Funny, she didn’t seem like a pampered elitist to me.”
She wasn’t, Neil inwardly admitted. But he was reaching hard for excuses to have done with the girl. The more time he spent with her, the more uncomfortable he became. And he wasn’t about to put a name to his unfamiliar and at times overwhelming protectiveness and even possessiveness of her.
He was a lone-wolf and liked it that way.
“Have Luke watch over her. The kid’s been aching to get involved in the organization, and it’ll give him something more to do than just prowl around the territory perimeters looking for trouble.”
Luke Bryant was the youngest of Rob’s three sons, born only a few decades ago, barely out of adolescence. He was his mother’s favorite, and Catherine Bryant often manipulated her husband to keep her precious pup out of the heavy part of the business and harm’s way.
Truthfully, Luke was tougher than most men his age and hated her smothering and interfering into his opportunities to get his hands dirty. This might be a good way to give him a job that even his own mother couldn’t balk at.
That, or Neil was just looking for a good out himself.
Rob shook his head. “He’s too inexperienced.”
“And whose fault is that?”
Rob hiked a brow at the crack, but he couldn’t disagree. The Bryant High Alpha feared no man, one woman. And no one, not even the High Alpha himself, got between the Prima and her cubs.
“I need you to do this for me, Neilson. I don’t want to pull rank, but I will, if I have to. It’s that important.”
A low growl rumbled deep inside Neil’s chest. Not that it mattered. He would do as Rob ordered. Again.
So fine, he’d watch out for Alexia Raine when he was here in the community, but he wasn’t about to give up his case in finding this wolf killer either. Somehow, he would just have to make both work, even if it meant losing sleep. Not that he was getting much of it these days.
“Is that all?”
Rob nodded, then sent him a look of appreciation. “Be watchful, Neil. No telling if this guy wants to target more than just our gifted. He may go after my senior people next. That means you first. I can’t lose you, son.”
His heartfelt concern should have softened Neil, but it only boiled deep inside him even more. As much as Rob wanted it, Neil knew he would never be a part of the Bryant clan, not really, not as long as Catherine Bryant had any say it in.
“I’ll be back with a full report,” he said, then stalked out, fighting his familiar, deep burning resentment for the man who took him in when he had nowhere else to go.
His pace didn’t slow as he pushed out the Lodge entrance and down the walkway towards the rear parking lot, cutting through the dense woods between them. Although his tread was feather light and no branch so much as snapped as he hiked, a red beam flashed across his vision, stopping between his eyes, making him freeze.
His breath came in cold puffs as he faced the darkness ahead, following the red beam all the way to the laser-sided Glock held by the blond man in black leather jacket.
“You’re dead, Duran.”
Neil frowned, stalking up to him, pushing the gun away. “Unless you’re firing silver nitrate laden bullets, it’ll just piss me the hell off, Adam.”
“Maybe I am.”
“And maybe you’re full of it,” he returned, picking up his pace again, Adam Bryant now at his side keeping up.
“I’m the best tracker our Pack has, and dad knows this. I should be on this case too.”
“You’d do best to take it up with your mother.”
Adam growled deep inside his chest and throat at the reference. He was no mama’s boy, none of the Bryant boys were, but Catherine wielded a power none of them could overcome.
“I’m coming,” Adam said when they reached the van.
“Not going to happen,” Neil said, opening the driver’s door of the SUV. “Go home, Adam, before Catherine takes her displeasure at your suggestion out on me. It’s bad enough that she’s letting her pretty, regal heir here come with me.”
Jake sitting on the passenger’s side twittered his fingers at his younger brother and grinned wide. They both had their mother’s Nordic coloring and features, but that’s where the similarity ended. In truth, Adam was the more lethal and most volatile one of the bunch, and that included Neil himself. The guy was a natural born hunter-tracker, and it didn’t set well with him not to be using his talents.
“Common, be a bro. Let me come, Neil.”
“Give your mother my regards,” he told Adam, then slammed the car door.
Adam jumped into the seat behind him next to Piper anyhow, then strapped down. Neil glared back at him.
“Let him come,” Jake said. “I’ll take the blame from mom. We could really use his help with this.”
Neil couldn’t deny this and finally gave in, shifting into gear and backing out of the parking lot. They drove out of the community and towards the farm where the latest wolf victim had been slaughtered.
A dark blue van and two men and one woman from their clean-up team stood next to the body near an alcove of birch trees when they arrived. No lights of any kind illuminated the area, but all were wolves with the ability to see even better in the dark than in the daylight.
“Nothing was touched as ordered,” Oscar, the team leader informed him.
Neil jutted his chin, then turned to Scott Piper who frowned down at the woman’s body, donning latex gloves on his now trembling hands. “See what you can make of it before we move her.”
“It would be better if we took her to the clinic where both Rachael and I can examine her more thoroughly,” he said, bending down and looking at her slumped, matted and bloody figure in the muddy grass. “The sooner, the better too. Rigor is already setting in.”
“Fine. Just try and identify anything you can find here first.” Neil scanned the dark area, not seeing much of anything of help. He turned to Adam who looked ready to jump out of his skin, eager to be on the hunt. “Go on.”
Nostrils flaring, Adam grinned wide, then gave a curt nod and bent down, studied the area and giving the body a quick sniff. Immediately his eyes widened, and he straightened, scanning the area in all directions, lifting his nose to catch whatever scent he detected.
“What is it?” Neil asked.
Adam narrowed his eyes and lowered his head, looking ready to instinctively shift into wolf form. Not that he needed it to locate whatever it was he detected. He was one of the most gifted tracker-hunters Neil had come across in over fifty years.
Immediately he was on the move, and it was all Neil and Jack could do to keep up with him as he trekked through the bramble and outlying forest.
A quarter mile later, he halted and looked down, pointing. “Human, male. Two. It ends here.”
Two?
Neil frowned, not considering that before. Although that would explain some things from his previous investigations.
In the pitch-black night, he could easily make out the wide tire tracks in the mud that led towards a nearby dirt road. Neil squatted down, his fingers touching two different boot prints. He brought his fingers up to his own nose, and he could scent a trace of the victim’s blood.
Yes, Adam was right. They must have parked here, unloaded the body and carried it through the forest and laid it on an open pasture where she was sure to be discovered by the farmer who owned it. And way too close to their gated community
Which meant that this killer—killers—wanted Neil and his team to find it, in order to send a message. Or a challenge.
The awful, rancid smell startled Alexia awake the next morning. Sitting up, the cloying odor almost made her vomit, and she covered her nose and mouth with her palm before she actually retched.
What was that? Dead cat fried in tar?
Still wearing Neil’s oversized tee-shirt as a nightshirt, she jumped up and turned in all directions trying to figure out where the offending smell came from. Facing the front door, she dashed over and yanked it open, then gagged when uncovering the serving tray lid to see a plate filled with ham, fried eggs and bacon.
She reached down to the note propped against the small glass of orange juice and gritted her teeth as she read:
Had this sent up since your wallet still seems to be lost and figured you wouldn’t want to eat with me in the cafeteria. Can’t blame you for being mad about last night, but after we got there at the crime scene, I knew I made the right call. I’ll check up on you later.
P.S.—If you eat more than the toast, I promise to take you into town later so that you can get a few things. –ND
Alexia crumbled the note in her fist and tossed it back down on the food tray, but grabbed the juice and buttered toast. She had her pride and would forever be a staunch vegetarian, but she was also starving.
After showering and dressing, Alexia clipped her locket back on, tucking it underneath her borrowed red button-down blouse, pulled on and tied her Reeboks, then headed out.
Trying to get her bearings, she wandered around the main streets of the small town that consisted mostly of office buildings. There were residential streets as well, but those were about a mile down the intersecting roads. According to Scott yesterday, to live in this protected community one had to be of the ultra-Pack elite, members with the most important or immediate use to the High Alpha and his royal family.
It didn’t seem fair to all the other Pack members, in Alexia’s opinion. This whole hierarchy thing was antiquated and socially bigoted, making her glad that her mother never moved here with Erik Leonid. It would have been horrible growing up in such a sheltered, claustrophobic compound like a prisoner. In fact, she was already developing cabin-fever stuck in this place, and it had been less than two days.
This reminded Alexia that major decisions needed to be made today. No more stalling. She needed to talk to Erik into having Bryant release her from their protective care. If she didn’t show up to work tomorrow, Uncle Paul would go on his own personal manhunt to locate her, involving the police, private detectives and even the FBI if necessary. She wondered how many times he had already called and left a voicemail this weekend.
Dang it all, she wanted her cellphone back. She needed to call him!
Of course, what would she say if she had it?
What have I been up to this weekend? Oh, nothing special. Just hanging out with a bunch of hunky werewolves hidden in the mountains of Washington State after they kidnapped me Friday night. Speaking of which, I kind of need a few more days to figure out if I’m one too and…
Perfect. The man would lock her up in a padded cell and throw away the key.
Turning a corner, Alexia spotted Jake in the distance standing underneath an oak tree by a greenbelt and pond. A stunning woman with sleek, black hair stood beside him with folded arms. She was the long, leggy magazine cover type that drew all eyes to her, dressed in a white silky blouse, short black satin skirt and red high heels that matched her dangling earrings and pursed glossed lips.
Alexia was about to call a greeting, then held back as she watched Jake argue with her, throwing up his hands and turning away with shaking head. She certainly wasn’t about to intrude on that unpleasant scene.
Too late. Jake spotted her and beamed a dazzling smile that made her reflexively wave. Alexia lowered her hand instantly when the black-haired woman knifed a threatening glare her way.
Perfect. If she had to guess, this was the deadly Eva LeBlanc that Neil warned her about.
Before she caused any more damage, Alexia backtracked and headed down another street. The clinic loomed at the end of this one, and the thought of spending more time with Rachel and Scott instantly perked her up. It was the perfect distraction from Jake and Eva’s unwanted drama. Plus, she certainly didn’t want to risk running into Neil again either, or she would be forced to slowly kill the infuriating wolf man.
Okay, she was definitely still ticked off by his Neanderthal routine last night. They needed to have an understanding while she was stuck here in this fortress.
Heading inside the main waiting and receiving area, Alexia hit the elevator button to go to the fifth floor lab. When it opened, three people including Rachel Meadows exited, looking distracted. Alexia even had to wave in front of her face to catch her attention.
“Oh, Alexia, hi! Sorry, I didn’t think I’d see you today.”
Uh, oh. Maybe she had taken her and Scott’s enthusiasm yesterday all wrong.
“You did say to stop by again for the test results, didn’t you?” she back peddled. “I could come back later if this is a bad time.”
An older woman nudged past them, looking to Alexia first with sniffed revulsion as she continued to the reception counter. She spoke to the girl behind the desk, but Alexia swore the woman turned and gave her the stink-eye a couple of times. She made a mental note to see about finding a different soap or shampoo than what the Lodge provided.
“Just a minute. Please.” Rachel walked over and whispered something to the reception girl, then nervously smiled at the waiting patient before returning to Alexia. “Actually, we have a situation here.”
“Oh. Fine, I’ll come back—”
“No, I mean…” She leaned in, touching Alexia’s shoulder. “Maybe I could use another pair of eyes. Downstairs.”
Even in a small hospital like theirs, Alexia knew what she referred to. Most discreetly kept their Pathology units below ground level.
“Is this about Neil’s and Jake’s midnight run?” she ventured.
Rachel looked surprised, then relieved at her insider knowledge. “Scott’s down there right now verifying my initial findings. I’m hoping he can catch anything I might’ve missed. But I’d appreciate another opinion as well. This isn’t our usual…procedure.”
“Lead the way.”
Both headed down a long hallway to the rear freight elevator, then took it to the basement.
“This has been our first opportunity to examine one of the bodies,” Rachel rushed out as they continued down another long, echoing corridor. “The first victim was an older member who was discovered by his family right on their property south of Salem, Oregon.”
They turned left and picked up the pace.
“They didn’t think to bring him back here and have one of us at the community do an autopsy,” Rachel continued, “so they just had him cremated and performed the memorial ceremony down there. They assumed he came back home to die because he sensed it was his time. Yet, when we questioned the daughter afterwards, she admitted that she noticed contusions all over him suggesting…something else.”
They turned another corner, as she continued, “The last victim, Thomas Spencer, was much younger, but he had several health problems. He became so desperate to find a cure to his chronic disabilities that he gave up seeking our medical help and started looking to human specialists. They could do nothing for him that we couldn’t, of course.
“When his wife reported him missing we all thought he was depressed and just trying to deal with his new normal. That is, until his body was discovered by the human police in Utah.
“Our sources here pulled a lot of strings and had him moved and cremated before any autopsy by them was performed fortunately. But one of our people who handled him mentioned all the unhealed cuts and bruises he noticed. Just like the first victim.”
Rachel used her electronic passkey to gain access to the door labeled “Medical Personnel Admittance Only”, the door after that “Pathology”, the one next to it “Morgue”.
When Alexia followed her into the Pathology lab, Scott was already working on the cadaver of a girl about their age. The expertly made “Y” incision exposed her organs from her thorax to her lower intestines. Rachel handed Alexia a disposable gown and hat and pair of latex gloves, then both moved closer to Scott.
He shook his head, raising the surgical loupe eyeglasses to his forehead. “You were right,” he said to Rachel. “Everything’s perfect.”
This didn’t seem to please her as she turned to Alexia. “Okay, your turn. Take a cursory exam and see if you can spot anything.”
Alexia felt very incompetent now, not wanting to admit her true lack of forensic experience. She had always found the puzzles Pathologists discovered in autopsies morbidly fascinating, so she posed to her dad at the beginning of her medical schooling about making it her specialty. To which he immediately shot down, guiding her towards his own specialty of neuro-surgery.
Scott pulled off and handed her the surgical glasses, and Alexia moved into place. She started with probing the eyes, nose, ears and mouth, then shifted positions to where the skull had been cratered to expose the fibrous gray matter. But examining the brain itself would take all afternoon, and Alexia knew she wasn’t skilled enough to discover anything they hadn’t.
Of course, Rachel did say cursory, so Alexia made a rough attempt.
Finally, she shrugged. “Sorry, I just don’t see anything out of the ord…whoa, wait.”
Alexia checked deeper, poking a flap of tissue back with a surgical probe. “Okay, there’s a small repair. Several of them, in fact, wow. That’s odd. It almost looks…Were these done postmortem? The sutures are very clean, very tight though. Nice job.”
Alexia looked up to Rachel who was facing Scott while biting her lower lip. “Why did you stitch your cuts though? Isn’t it SOP just to—?”
“What else can you find?” she prodded.
Swallowing hard, Alexia took a long breath and continued examining the exposed brain, but didn’t see anything else. She shifted down to the neck and throat, examining throughout the body all the way down to the pancreas and reproductive organs, which both looked to have been sutured in various places. Once quick glance at her lower extremities provided nothing else of consequence.
The heart and lungs and a few other major organs had already been removed and placed in separate containers. Alexia examined each of them and was impressed by Rachel’s clean, surgical technique. Aside from several autopsy cuts and stitching, however, she couldn’t find anything that they wouldn’t see in any other very healthy individual.
Who just happened to be dead, of course.
“Sorry,” Alexia said pulling off the surgical loupes. “I need to confess that I never spent a long time in pathology, so I’m less that useless to help you. You should probably have one of your other physicians look her over.”
“But what did you see?” Rachel prodded.
Scott waited for her answer too.
“Nothing,” Alexia said. “Your sutures are really good, by the way. You must practice a lot.”
Scott and Rachel exchanged looks, and she answered, “No, not very much at all anymore.”
Alexia frowned. “I don’t understand.”
“Lycanthrope beings typically heal very quickly,” Scott explained. “Most injuries are healed long before the individual even reaches one of our physicians, even if they needed suturing initially. So most of us don’t perform it very often.”
“But the heart and aorta…and all those on the brain and…”
“Were not my work,” Rachel said. “Nor were the initial Y and skull cuts.”
Alexia’s jaw dropped at the implication. “You mean she came in that way?”
Which means she was discovered that way.
“Whoever killed her performed several surgeries prior to her death,” Scott said, “that would not heal on their own naturally, requiring the sutures. Which is an impossibility for a lycanthrope being. And they did their own autopsy after she expired.”
“Then dumped her off,” Rachel added. “After they roughly stitched up her Y cut. You know, they just duct-taped her cranium back into place.”
Cold. Heartless.
“Just like the other three victims, none of the security logs record her as ever leaving the community here either,” Rachel continued. “But no one has seen her since last Sunday morning. I calculate that she was very likely still alive this time yesterday. That means a lot of time in between. I hate to say this, but she’s been systematically and gruesomely worked on for several days. Her actual death was caused by someone surgically removing her heart, probably while it was still beating.”
Rachel gripped her stomach at the thought of her own conclusions. “You know, they just tossed it back into the chest cavity unattached. As if they wanted us to find her that way.”
“Who would torture sweet Theresa like that?” Scott growled, pounding the counter with his gloved fist. “She never hurt anybody.”
Monsters. The real kind. Those who were bloodthirsty and evil and had no conscience whatsoever. Those who derived sick, twisted pleasure out of someone else’s agony and death.
“Definitely someone with surgical expertise,” Alexia said.
“It’s a safe bet they know she was a wolf from the Bryant Pack,” Scott added. “This now makes four of our most gifted members killed within three weeks. It’s more than just a coincidence.”
Alexia shook her head. “I don’t believe in coincidences. So what could she do? Special, I mean.”
“Telekinesis,” he answered. “But she rarely used it. Just for show once in a great while, or when it was truly needed. Mostly during rescue missions. She helped saved a little boy once who fell off a cliff. She always felt it was cheating or something.” His frown deepened. “She liked Wonder Woman because she had the Lasso of Truth.”
Alexia laid a hand on his arm when he pinched his welling eyes, then turned to Rachel. “What is the typical procedure in these circumstances? You can’t take the body back to the crime scene and let the human police handle everything. They wouldn’t know what to really look for.”
She shook her head. “No, she stays here with us. We always race the clock to beat the human authorities in collecting and handling our dead to keep the secret of our existence safe. When we’re done here, her parents will take her to be cremated, then we will all hold the memorial rites at the next full moon by the lake here.”
Alexia was going to ask about this ritual, then refrained. It wasn’t the appropriate question now. Not with a serial werewolf killer nearby, so far targeting the Bryant Pack’s most gifted members.
And supposedly most protected, all living within the confines of the gated and guarded Timber Ridge Lodge fortress.
Yet, all were found far away from this place as well, with no record, no eyewitness of their ever leaving.
None of it made sense.
The door burst open, and the three startled and turned to face the intruder. Neil stood at the door huffing and puffing looking ready to blow the place down as his dark glare honed in on Alexia.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
“Helping my friends like I was asked,” she shot back. “What are you doing here?”
“I’ve been looking all over for you! Then someone said that you were taken down the freight elevator…”
He cursed, then rubbed a rough hand across his jaw. “You’re lucky you smell so human to others. You’re going to give me a coronary before this is all over.”
“Then you’re in the right building, but the wrong floor. CCU is on three.” Then Alexia realized why he was so angry. He came to the same conclusion she had just now. “Someone’s kidnapping your gifted Pack members right off the compound. Under your very nose.”
For live experimentation.
Then killing them when they’ve served their purpose.
But what purpose?
Neil’s stare locked with hers. She didn’t need Erik’s gift of mindreading to know what he was thinking.
Someone on the inside then?
No, not necessarily. Predators lure people via the internet all the time. It was way too easy these days.
“We need to see all of her social media accounts,” Alexia said, snapping off her gloves and pulling off her disposable gown and hat. “She could have communicated with someone she met with last Saturday before she went missing. If we compare names with the accounts of the other two victims, we just might have a starting point.”
Alexia turned to Neil. “We have to tell Rob Bryant. He needs to know. And he needs to lock this place down. Now.”