Knight (Sons of the Alpha Book 1), page 11
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.”
