11. The First Victim?

Chapter eleven

The First Victim?

*ARDEN*

W e spend the whole day planning and plotting what to do, only taking one lengthy break for lunch so that everyone could find some time to relax. Gustave and Zoé use it to look around a bit and grab something on the go, but only after both Leila and I make sure Gustave promises us not to make a move on Zoé.

Leila, Emilien, and I use the time to sit outside on Eric's terrace and have our lunch there, just making some small talk. Eric has been my supporter for a while, but I've never really had a personal talk with his beta. He is a private man who is rather quiet and composed, and I like him instantly. And, obviously, Leila is one of the most interesting people I've ever met.

"Do you know Prince Eric's guests?" I ask them after a while.

"Well." Leila smiles. "His cousin Aurelia is related to me, also."

"Right," I say.

"I really like her. She is a confident and smart young woman."

Emilien just nods his agreement. "I am glad she and her friends are coming. Ever since Prince Eric's twin advisors left, he's felt a bit lonely. They were like his little sisters."

"Elodie and Elise, am I right? You think they are not going to return?"

Emilien smiles slightly. "No, one of them has already met her mate there. I don't think they will return. They found their place somewhere else. Eric fully supports it, but it doesn't mean he doesn't miss them."

"But he has Arden and Vander, now," Leila says and winks at me.

"Yes, he really likes you." Emilien chuckles. "Be careful, or he will hire you."

"I wouldn't mind," I say.

"You will probably become alpha," Emilien says. "So, it will be difficult for you to join him here full time."

Leila just smiles at me, her eyes carrying a knowing gaze I don't quite understand, but she doesn't say anything, and I know better than to push.

While we chat, one of the maids approaches Emilien, telling him that the suites for Eric and Valerie's guests are ready. "Each of them get their own room. Just in case," Emilien tells me. "Only one of the young women is mated, the young witch hybrid. She happens to be Lady Valerie's closest friend."

"Valerie has been looking forward to all of them visiting," I say. "I am so happy for her."

"Me too. She basically moved continents for Eric and left her friends and family behind."

"It's interesting," Leila says. "It doesn't really show in Val's behavior. She is quiet but not shy, and she fits in here so well."

"She was very sick as a child due to her wolf having special powers. I think she was just happy to finally be able to travel and make plans instead of being bound to a hospital bed," Emilien explains.

"A fresh start," I mutter.

"Indeed."

For a split second, I envy her. I wish I could have a fresh start like she did. Valerie is one of my favorite people on the planet, and clearly, I don't truly envy her, but I still dream of this option.

"I think it's time for us to return," Leila says.

Emilien and I agree, following her back to my office. The plan for the afternoon is to track down the girl Leila dreamed of. Once back in the office, Gustave and Zoé arrive soon afterwards, getting right back on track.

I have a digital drawing pad for Leila to draw the picture of the girl again, just her face from the front and her profile. Leila is the best at drawing out of us, so it's clearly something only she can do. Zoé helps her getting accustomed with the pad before she draws said pictures of the young woman.

"It's the best I can do," she says.

"It's good enough," I reassure her.

"And now?" Gustave asks.

"Zoé," I say. "Can you try to run the picture through our database of missing werewolves?"

"Of course," she says. "Prince Eric gave me access to everything. The Council overrides the usual autonomy of the packs. In this case, I can access all the digital information."

I watch how she runs the program, all of us looking at the pictures of men and women popping up. It's a surprisingly large amount of werewolves who have gone missing. I wonder what happened to them. Maybe some of them became rogues or died without anyone knowing, maybe some ran off…

The number of missing werewolves is still relatively small compared to what the humans probably have, so Zoé is done quickly.

"No success," Emilien mutters.

"Maybe I was wrong?" Leila says.

"No, your vision was way too detailed. The only other possibility would be for her to have been born in captivity." I pause. "But seeing how her body and health are described, I doubt she would have survived that long. Alternatively…" I pause. "Can you alter the picture, Zoé, and make it younger?"

"Sure," she nods. "I can run it through the age-altering software."

"Subtract eight to ten years," I say.

Zoé stares at me in shock. "That much?" When I nod, she proceeds with her work. It takes a while, so the rest of us go through the list of victims again, those omegas who were abducted recently. I've made sure that we also have folders of all missing omega wolves going back for three years. I'm certain this case didn't just start now. It began years ago.

"It's sad to imagine how long some of them might have been held captive," Gustave mutters.

"Yes," Leila agrees. "But I'm not sure what exactly we are looking for, Arden?"

"Only the omegas are of interest to us at the moment," I tell them. "So far, they have all been between the ages of sixteen and forty when they disappeared, so let's exclude anyone who is older than that." I pause, allowing the information of the known victims to flash in front of my inner eyes. "None of the abducted omegas we know of was a hybrid. So those who are hybrids, exclude them. And they were all orphans, at least from what we know. We still need to verify these facts, though."

"Got you," Gustave says and hurries to oblige. I noticed he tries really hard to be polite to me. I'm not sure what to make out of it.

Meanwhile, Zoé is finished running the picture through the database again. Once more, without any success. I frown. "Try it again," I say. "But this time use the human database."

"What!?" Emilien asks, shocked.

"I'd need to hack into it," she says.

"Can you do that?"

"I'm not sure," she admits.

"I can ask our IT team to do it," Emilien says. "They will find a way around the safety protocols."

"Do you think they could get access to Interpol?" I ask.

"Goddess," Emilien groans, "give me a minute." With that, he leaves. It takes him more than a minute, though. He stays gone for two hours while we all go back to going through the folder of victims, writing down similarities on the whiteboards I had brought to the office and coming up with theories.

Eventually, Emilien returns. "Zoé," he says, "do it now, but please be fast."

Zoé instantly hurries to her laptop. "Which picture should I use?"

"The one where she is a kid," I say.

She nods and runs the picture through the database while Emilien shifts around nervously. "Why are you so nervous?" Leila asks. "No one can possibly track us."

"That's true, but it still could mean trouble," he mutters. "When they know they might have been hacked, they will up their security. They might do research, and we need to be double as careful. And—"

"Goddess!" Zoé exclaims. "I… I got her."

"Quick, copy the information," I push her.

"Got you." She instantly downloads all the information before leaving the database. Emilien lets out a sigh of relief before linking someone to tell them we are done, and they should remove all the traces.

I pull my chair closer to sit next to Zoé and stare at the screen. The girl looking back at us resembles the one Leila drew. She is just a younger version. She has a fuller face, though, and looks healthier. "She lived in a human orphanage," Leila mutters. "That's why she was in the human database."

I stare at her picture. "Meg Acorn," I say. "We have a name."

Meg. We finally know your name.

"You think she is important?" Emilien asks.

"You don't?"

"No, I think you are right," he says. "Leila saw her in her vision after all."

"It's not just that," I mutter. "It says in her file from Interpol that she disappeared when she was twelve. We don't know her exact age, but judging by how Leila saw her in silver chains, I'd say she is at least eighteen now, if not older. They've kept her for many years."

"I don't think I understand," he says.

"I don't believe they are keeping all their victims that long. Yes, there could be the possibility that it's a whole underground dungeon with many prisoners, but seeing how the number of victims might be much higher than we anticipated, especially, since we don't know anything about other continents..."

"They might have missing werewolves, too," Leila adds, quietly.

"Exactly," I say. "Do we really think they abducted a vast number of wolves of different ages and genders for years just to keep them in a dungeon? The key will be to find out what they are doing with them, but Meg… she might have been one of the first victims, if not the first. If she truly was the first, then she is the most important. She is special to them."

It's eerily quiet in the room.

"We need to do a proper victimology," I say.

"I think Aurelia, Eric's cousin, could do that," Emilien says. "I've heard she studied the victims who disappeared in her area well."

"Good. But she will need help."

"I will help her," Leila offers.

"Me too." Gustave nods.

"Then, Zoé, can you create a map reconstructing where these omegas were from and where they were last seen?"

"We don't have enough information for a geographic profile," Emilien mutters.

"I know," I say quietly, exchanging a gaze with him.

"Why not?" Zoé asks.

"Because we haven't found any bodies," I admit quietly.

"Yet," Emilien adds. "I'm skeptical of our first theory. If they truly started around ten years ago, I don't think everyone would still be alive."

My heart sinks at his words. I want to believe they still are, but he isn't wrong. It's a long time span. "No one has announced them deceased, though."

"Maybe no one knew who they were," Gustave suggests. "After all, you found Meg in the human database. If… if a body landed in the hands of the humans…"

"That could be an unfortunate possibility," I agree. "We need something at this point. Either we need to find out where they were abducted exactly, or how. We don't have a crime scene, which makes it so difficult. Or—" I pause, not able to finish my sentence.

"Or we find a body," Emilien says. "Then, we know how they died, which would help us in our investigation."

"Emi," Leila says quietly.

"I know." He sighs. "But it's a possibility we need to be aware of. It might also lead us to the species responsible for this. They target omegas, so they must be aware of our world. Either they are one of us, or they are another kind of shifter or supernatural being."

"I agree. They are definitely from our world in one way or another. However, Meg lived with the humans and was in an orphanage. For now, she is our main lead," I say. "I will research her and try to find someone who knew her and the orphanage."

The atmosphere is heavy at the prospect of so many men, women and teens having been abducted for many years with no one noticing, but at the same time, the room is brimming with motivation for finally having an actual lead and a goal.

Leila and Gustave work on the victimology, while Emilien and Zoé try to pinpoint the places our possible victims were abducted. Meanwhile, I try to gather as much information about Meg as possible, in preparation for when I need to talk to the orphanage.

Cato stirs in my mind.

Is something wrong? I ask him.

I can see him sit up, tilting his head, one of his ears flopping over while he just seems to stare at something in the distance. Then, he raises his nose and sniffs gently.

"Eric is coming," Emilien says, all of a sudden. "I can hear his footsteps."

Even with my hearing aid, my hearing isn't as perfect as theirs, but Cato probably took up their scent. Now that they are getting closer, I can hear the laughter of a bunch of young people. Leila pulls the blinds of my office up so that we can peek into the corridor. Further down I can see Eric and Valerie. A girl with beautiful braids has her arms linked with Val. There are other young women and men around them.

These are Eric's and Valerie's guests.

I can already feel the air around us getting a bit lighter. Hearing and feeling them come closer and bringing a bit of joy with them will help us, and we all watch them approaching. Among them, one young woman sticks out in particular to me. She is just catching my eye, so effortlessly stunning.

That's when I feel Cato getting even more restless, and then it hits me. The scent of bergamot, ginger, and a hint of pepper and cardamon… like I enjoy my tea. The scent is subtle at first, then finds its way to my nostrils, and fills me up from the inside. It's heavenly, it's everything…

It's…

No way!