Destined - Forever #3 (Sample of Published Book)

Chapter 5 - Part 1

Kyle

I felt the push of the mind-link.

We found another body, one of my guards on the edge of the territory informed me.

A werewolf? I had to ask the question.

Yes. Relief flooded through me. It wasn't Crystal. I couldn't go through this every time we discovered a new body. We would have to catch the person responsible for the murders soon.

Is the body still warm? If it was a fresh crime scene we might have a chance at figuring out who the culprit was.

Yes.

Where? I asked, looking at James.

As soon as he gave the location we shifted into our wolves and ran as fast as we could through the forest, intent on getting there as soon as possible in the hopes of finding a new clue.

The scent of blood was in the air when we arrived at the location. I shifted into my human form and surveyed the murder scene.

James stopped beside me but remained in his wolf form. He lifted his snout and breathed in the air above as we stood beside the dead form lying in the grass. Despite the smell of blood, there wasn't a lot of blood on the body.

The unmoving form of the werewolf lay on its side with its amber eyes open, staring into nothingness.

Slowly, I walked around the dead body, taking a deep breath. There was more than the scent of the deceased. I inhaled sharply again as I was struggling to pinpoint the smell.

It's human, James said through the mind-link.

He was still sniffing the grass a few feet away from the dead body. I walked closer to him and the scent strengthened. I breathed it in. It was soft and sweet mixed in with the metallic smell of blood.

Human female blood. It wasn't a female werewolf, so it couldn't be Crystal. The relief was short-lived. She was still out there somewhere, still in danger. Even though it couldn't possibly be Crystal I didn't like the fact a human girl had been injured in the attack.

There's another human scent, James said.

The guards watched as James and I walked the scene, one in human form and one as a werewolf. Once we were done, James shifted back.

"It makes no sense," he said. He was right. The only scents other than the dead werewolf were both human. It was difficult to believe a human had killed a powerful rogue.

"I know," I replied, feeling just as stumped.

I was just about to tell the guards to move the dead body back to the compound when I heard movement behind me. I turned just in time to see Cade and my sister arrive. As her eyes took in the scene, she stopped abruptly.

"What did you find?" Cade asked as he walked toward me. His eyes were already skimming the area around us.

"Coming here was probably not the smartest thing I've done," Scarlett muttered, closing her eyes briefly. I gave her a questioning glance but she opened her eyes and dropped her gaze to the ground. Her eyes fixed on the violence-free grass in front of her as she stood by a nearby tree with her one hand holding on for support.

"I have a thing about seeing blood," she explained, staying on the edge of the scene.

It was strange to have an aversion to blood. In our way of life, blood was a common thing.

"James can escort you back to the compound," I offered. I would have taken her but I still wasn't ready to leave the scene, somehow hoping I would discover something we'd missed the first time we'd gone over it.

Send our best tracker, I instructed James. I hoped that if one of our trackers could pick up on the scent outside the scene, we would be able to track them down.

Cade swung his gaze to sweep over James, assessing him before he looked back at his mate.

"You can trust him," I told Cade. They knew each other, but I knew James better and I would trust him with my life.

He considered what I said for a few moments.

"Go with James," Cade told her. "I won't be long."

She lifted her eyes to his and his features softened. Their obvious bond made my heart ache. The one I was supposed to share this with was trying to get as far away from me as possible. I shifted my gaze away from them, unable to see what wasn't within my grasp.

"Okay," she said, and James walked over to her.

"Anything happens to her, you're dead." The soft threat held as much menace as if he had bared his teeth and growled.

Even without trying, Cade was powerful and intimidating. James nodded and threw me a look that made me shake my head. Cade loved my sister and would do anything to ensure her safety.

Go with them, I instructed the guards, giving them more protection in case the person responsible was still around. Cade and I were alphas. We were more than capable of defending ourselves.

The two guards left, leaving Cade and me alone.

"He won't let anything happen to her," I assured him.

"He will pay with his life if something does." He shrugged his shoulders before he began to scan the scene.

By the dead body of the werewolf, he crouched down and touched the blood with his fingertips. He rubbed the substance between his fingers for a few seconds. Taking a deep breath, he stood up and swung his gaze to the smaller patch of blood that we had already discovered was the blood of a human and not a werewolf.

"It's a human female," I told him as we stood side by side and looking at the dark patch of crimson blood. "Everything fits with previous murders except this time there were two humans, not one."

His eyes narrowed as he studied the blood covering the grass.

"And the first time human blood has been spilled."

Standing up, he turned to face me with his arms across his chest as he contemplated all the information.

"It still doesn't tell us who it is," he murmured.

Unfortunately, he was right. Even with a fresh scene and a couple of more clues, we were no closer to catching whoever was behind this. Frustrated, I rubbed my hands over my face. I felt like no matter how hard I tried I couldn't stop that horrid feeling that uncurled in the pit of my stomach that something really bad was going to happen. Unable to find Crystal made that feeling so much more ominous.

I hadn't even been able to touch her. There was no way I could lose her. Even though my mind reminded me there was no proof she was still in the area, I couldn't stop worrying about her safety with all of this going on.

"We'll find Crystal," Cade assured me with a hand on my shoulder pulling me out of my dark thoughts. I nodded. I had to believe we would.

I nodded again as I took one last look at the murdered werewolf who hadn't stood a chance.

So far we had eleven dead werewolves, and not many clues. There had been one human injured but we had no idea who she was. We knew whoever was doing this was either a werewolf disguising themselves with wolfsbane or something entirely different.

I didn't want to think that there was a creature, human-like, that could do that to a werewolf. But something nagged at me.

"What did they do with the human female who got injured?" I asked, narrowing my gaze at the evidence of the attack.

"Maybe he took her with them."

"But why?" I asked.

Cade shrugged his broad shoulders.

Had the rogue attacked the human and the killer had intervened to save the girl?

We didn't have natural enemies. Our only enemies tended to be werewolves from other packs, or rogues.

I rubbed my temple as I took all the details in one last time so I could make sure I didn't miss anything. We had to find a way to figure out what was going on or I had a feeling there would be far more dangerous consequences than a few dead rogues.