182
182
182 Lucas: Ghoulish Discovery
LUCAS =
Who the fuck steals burning bodies of the dead?
The motive is completely unfathomable.
Angry flames lick at the night sky, smoldering remnants of what should have been a sacred night, with souls returned to the embrace of the Moon Goddess.
Instead, there are eighteen disturbed mounds, with no bodies to
be found.
Nude after my shift, my bare feet sink into the sodden earth as I move closer, mud squelching between my toes.
י
"Alpha." Kellan's voice cuts through the haze of my thoughts. He holds out a bundle of clothes, emergency spares we keep on hand
for situations like this.
Grabbing only a pair of jeans, I pull them on with a vicious yank, fury boiling just beneath my skin. The breeze, cool and oblivious to the undercurrents of the night, is almost soothing against my heated skin. Around me, my wolves move through the clearing, noses to the ground as they try to parse out any lingering scents. But there's nothing. The air is too clean, too pure. It's as if someone took a giant eraser and before us.
"I don't understand," I mutter, more to myself than anyone else.
"How can there be no scent? It's like the area's been sanitized."
Kellan frowns, his brow furrowed in concentration. "It's not just the scents of the offackers that are missing. I can't even catch a whiff of Ava"
been
16. 16.
eerie glow across the clearing. My wolves move like shadows, their
of the monsters
searching I order, my voice rough with emotion. "There has to be something
it's futile. Whoever did this was meticulous, leaving no trace of their presence
if it's not, we risk a war that
clamoring, screaming for the streets to run crimson beneath our silver moon. A true war hasn't
It's real.
ICCS Devery
already died, but for
much as my life revolves around her, Ava alone can't possibly be
like we're all being led to one conclusion, like sheep to slaughter,
Deep.
Slow.
only lead to misstep. There's no more leeway for mistakes and
wolves rely on me for their safety,
think?" Kellan asks, his voice so soft not even the wolves near us would
Miriam. The connection I share with my beta is tight, so no
knowing how much this
the idea of establishing any sort of connection with those bloodsucking monsters,
wait around for the scraps any spies
1. us.
keep
eyes again, I square
to me for guidance now more than ever before. And I won't let them
"is everyone accounted for?"
alert. I have two groups out looking for our missing wolves There's no warmth or solace in the intense heat radiating from the funeral mounds, made
grasping for answers that
did this happen? How did we let ourselves become so vulnerable? So exposed? The questions gnaw at me, bringing no answers,
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