Chapter 48

The bang of a door sent me reeling out of bed and reaching for my gun— which wasn’t on my nightstand. Fuck.

“Get dressed,” Declan snapped. What the fuck was up his ass? I glared at him. Disgruntled and disheveled with a heavy dose of pissed-the-fuck-off was what he was. He tossed my clothes from my cubby on the bed. “We need to go take care of something.”

“What the fuck happened?” I demanded.

“We’re not talking about it here.”

“What the fuck does—”

“It means get your fucking clothes on and meet me at my truck,” he interrupted. “Now.”

Without another word, he stormed out. Shit. Declan was never the pissed-off one. He was the reasonably mad one of us. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

I scrubbed my hands over my face, attempting to get my bearings. The room was dark in the early hour.

Genevieve.

I reached out to where she’d fallen asleep, even though I knew it was pointless. There was no way in hell she would’ve slept through Declan’s invasion. She was gone. Her side of the bed was fucking cold, which meant she’d been gone a while. How the fuck had I missed that? Stealthy little thing.

Flipping on the light, I grabbed my old clothes and dug out my phone with hopes she’d at least text me something. Nothing.

“Fuck.” I sighed. No note, no text, not a word. I wasn’t an idiot—hopeful but not an idiot. And the hopeful part of me wasted just enough of Declan’s time to text my wife.

I know why you left amp; please know you didn’t have to. If you’re okay with it, let me know you got home safe.

I tossed my phone on the bed and hurried through getting dressed, doing my best to focus on whatever was up Declan’s ass. I had no belief that Genevieve would text me back. If her emotions were enough to send her running, I’d give her space long enough to think about it before I chased after her.

PRINCESS: Safe.

Thank you. When you’re ready to talk, I’m here. I’m not going anywhere this time, Genevieve.

At least she was safe. That was all that mattered, right? So why the fuck didn’t it feel that way.

I took longer to get my shit together than Declan would’ve liked—the glaring expression on his face gave that away. My wolf nudged against my skin, and a frustrated growl vibrated in my chest as I stormed across the parking lot toward his truck.

“What the fuck is going on?” I demanded when I got close.

“Stop fighting me, and get in the truck,” Declan retorted.

“Not until you—”

“Get in the fucking truck, Killian, or I’ll drag you myself.” A dark growl rumbled in his throat. Fucking hell. He was really put out by something—made me wonder what the fuck I did. Ah fuck, was he pissed about my whole thing with Genevieve? Was this another angry Declan talking to?

I listened, getting in without fighting him.

“You going to tell me what the fuck I did at…” I glanced at the dashboard as he drove into the forest. Fuck. It wasn’t even five in the morning. “Jesus fuck, Dec—”

“George found a dead wolf,” he interrupted. Those fucking words cut through any mounting frustration I had with him, my blood doused in ice. “And it’s not a gray wolf. It’s one of ours.”

“Fuck,” I whispered. I ran a hand through my hair as I blew out a breath. “Do we know who?”

“No. Just that the wolf has pale blond fur,” he said. Fuck. That had to only add to his mood. Even though I knew from his behavior it wasn’t Raven, the thought that it could’ve been had to of fucked with him.

“She’s okay, right?” I asked quietly.

“Yeah, she was gone when I got the call,” Declan replied. “It took a hot minute, but she had Cade drop her off at her studio to paint.”

“At least she’s safe.”

“Yeah.” He didn’t sound convinced. I could only imagine the momentary panic he’d had imagining the what-ifs. I would’ve lost my fucking shit if I’d thought that it could’ve been Genevieve.

“Do we know what happened?”

“No,” he said. “George only said it was bad and to get our asses over there. I have Maverick and Cole meeting us there. Isla is with them. Lucas and Finn are grabbing Nolan. Sam is… gone right now.”

Gone right now.He meant Sam was lost in the fucking woods as a wolf. Shit. I had so many fucking questions about that alone but knew it wasn’t the right time.

We sat in silence as Declan drove us into town, down Main, and right back out of town. Half a mile out, George’s beat-up fucking station wagon sat on the side of the road with several other cars. My chest tightened. Fuck, I hadn’t seen George in over three years—not since the day he let me go due to Phillip Goodwin’s continuous hell-raising.

Declan pulled up behind him, and I climbed out. Cole, Maverick, and Isla stood off to the side with Nolan, Finn, and Lucas. No one said a fucking word—not even small talk. They were stoic and tense.

George stood a little taller when he saw me. The man had fucking aged and not in a good way. His hair had gone gray, he was thinning, and he looked fucking worn.

“Killian,” he greeted with a tight nod.

“George.” I offered him a hand because it wasn’t George’s fucking fault my father-in-law was a dick. “You’re looking old.”

“You’re looking real damn good, kid,” George replied as a smile broke the tension on his face. Poor guy expected me to start a fucking fight. “Quit eating all those donuts?”

“Oh, fuck no,” I said.

“Declan.” He nodded to my brother. “How’s the fiancé? Not wandering off too much in her sleep?”

I watched my brother draw in a deep breath as if taking a moment to mind his manners. Not that I blamed him. What a fucking question to ask.

“We’re doing just fine, George,” Declan told him.

“It’s the damnedest thing, I tell you.” George’s attention snapped right back to me. “I get a call about a dead body one night, and it turns out to be his fiancé—”

“We don’t need to be Esther and Vera, now do we, George?” I cut in. Not because of Declan’s sake but rather for Raven’s. There was no need for the fucking gossip. She had enough shit going on without the people of Cedar Harbor being dicks. “There’s better things in town to talk about. Got it?”

“Like your father-in-law showing up at my station every few days?” he asked. Fucking Phillip. “He ain’t happy about you being back, kid. I’d watch your back. Preacher or not, I know he’d be the first to stab you in the back.”

“I meant, tell us about what you fucking found, George. You’re stalling.”

“On purpose.” With a sigh, he peeled away from his car. “Look, I’ll be real honest with you, kid. I come out this way to take a damn nap. My son and his wife moved in with us, which means their kids moved in with us. Now, I love my grandkids, but I did my damn time. And that baby, she screams all night.”

“Grandpa’s tired. Got it.”

“Pop-pop’s real damn tired,” George agreed. “Anyway, I come this way to nap. Only today… we don’t have natural wolves that look like this one, kid. I know that much. Right?”

“Right,” I assured him. George was human. Back when my dad was alive, he’d stumbled across our pack’s secret and said nothing to anyone. George was good like that—always had been. He kept us safe and updated when shit popped up that would affect the pack. And when the shit hit the fucking fan with Phillip and fucked with my job, George had been nice enough to let me go due to budget constraints so I could get another job as a cop whenever I wanted. Not that I had some burning desire to be a cop again. “Just show us what you found, George. We’ll take it from here.”

“This way.” He gestured with his chin for Declan and me to follow. We did with everyone else close behind us. George rounded the front of his vehicle where a black tarp was thrown over the wolf in question. “I’m staying right here, kid. I can’t see that thing again.”

“It’s all good, George.” Declan clapped him on the shoulder. “We appreciate it.”

And so we stood there for a solid minute, staring at one another. No one made a move toward the body in the dirt. I realized I was the only one with any experience with dead bodies, which meant I was the only one who’d go near it.

“If you feel like you’re going to throw up, do it on the road,” I ordered. “No one goes any closer. You’ll contaminate my scene. Got it?”

Murmurs and mutters followed. Yeah, definitely didn’t have to worry about any of them fucking with my goddamn scene. Before I even moved, I closed my eyes and dipped into my wolf senses. Just for a moment. I needed an assessment of the situation.

No sounds outside of the ordinary—just the usual creatures in the forests. The coppery scent of blood filled the air, mixing with wet soil and wild woods. At least there were no additional fucking surprises waiting for us. This was as bad as it’d get.

I studied the dirt as I took slow steps. No disturbances. No shoe prints. Nothing out of the ordinary. I frowned. Odd. Whoever had done this was damn good at covering their tracks. That didn’t bode well for solving this quickly.

While some might’ve taken the time to ease into the situation, that wasn’t me. I tossed back the tarp. Behind me, Finn gagged.

“Road!” I barked, pointing. Jesus fuck. The kid barely made it there before vomiting.

Not that I blamed him. Fucking hell, the person who’d done this was a fucking monster. The wolf in question was a dusty blonde in color—fur on the longer side—and faded blue eyes frozen wide open. My heart fucking sank. There were only three wolves I could think of with that eye color.

“Fuck,” Declan said. “The Harveys.”

“Fuck…” I echoed. I crouched as I forced myself to face the real situation. The wolf’s underbelly was ripped open, organs spilling into the dirt. I whispered, “I’m sorry.”

With that, I reached out and lifted a back paw for the most invasive look I could get. It felt wrong—unbelievably wrong—but it was necessary. Definitely not Connor.

“Did anyone see Charlotte or Cecelia last night? This morning?” Declan demanded.

“They left early,” Nolan replied. “I think they said they were going to the ranch today. Family day.”

Family day.Fuck, we had to figure out who this was before we talked to the Harveys. God, this was a fucking mess.

I tuned them out and focused on what I knew I could do. My head cocked to the side as I took in the wound. There was something… off about it. Careful to not end up in blood, I lowered myself to the ground in an attempt to get a better look.

“What the hell are you doin’?” Cole demanded, but I shushed him.

“I’m sorry, sweet thing. I wouldn’t do this unless I had to,” I whispered. I carefully pushed back bloodied fur and studied the edges of the wound. They were clean—too clean—no rough or severed edges, no tears, no… anything. “A knife didn’t do this.”

“What do you mean?” Declan asked.

“Even the sharpest of blades would leave some kind of evidence to tell us what it was,” I told him. “This cut is perfect—straight line, edges. No one is perfect. It’s almost mechanical or…”

“Or what?” Maverick prompted. I didn’t answer as I shoved to my feet and took a long step back to look at the entire situation all over again.

No shoe prints.

No paw prints.

No broken grass or weeds.

No upset dirt.

No signs of struggle.

At all.

Why wouldn’t she fight back? She had to be a good one-seventy to two hundred pounds, muscular and strong. She would’ve put up a fucking fight. No one just laid down to take being gutted.

And that positioning…one paw curled to her chest, neck long and snout stretched out, tail rigid.

Almost like a hunting dog.

“But we’re not dogs,” I murmured. Someone behind me said something—I didn’t have a fucking clue. We weren’t dogs. That thought was stuck on replay as I worked out the oddity laid out in front of me. “We’re not…”

I took another step back and glanced down the road. I could see the entry into town from where we stood.

“What’s that way?” I asked, interrupting whatever their conversation was. I knew the fucking answer, but I needed a sounding board.

“The vet’s office,” Lucas said.

“The vet’s office,” I repeated. My gaze flicked to the wolf. “The vet’s office… do both Charlotte and Cecelia still use the woods behind Connor’s office to go running?”

“Yeah.”

“And we’re what… half a mile away?” I continued. I didn’t wait for an answer as I stepped back to the road, bypassing everyone. My brain was fucking rolling. “His office is on the other side of the street… that means they’d be on this side… we don’t cross streets… it’s too dangerous…”

Any wolf knew to avoid the roads. It was a surefire way to get yourself into fucking trouble. What if a car hit us? What if someone from town saw us? Too many fucking variables. Cecelia or Charlotte wouldn’t have crossed the fucking street—not for a damn thing in the world.

I stepped into the street, staring into the woods on the other side. I scanned fucking everything I could.

No disturbances.

No footprints.

No fucking struggle.

Tail pointed right to the vet’s office.

Nose pointed to…

“The town sign,” I whispered. I took off at a fast jog down the road.

“Killian!” Declan called after me.

“Town sign!” I shouted but fuck all if he heard me. I wasn’t waiting to find out.

Half a mile down the road was the infamous welcome sign to Cedar Harbor. The giant colorful sign had the town’s symbol on it with a cheerful welcome message. It was single-handedly the most vandalized place in town—even I’d had some fun with the sign in my teenage years.

The back was untouched. A good thing? I could fucking hope.

That hope was dashed as I rounded the sign. My heart ratcheted in my chest, my anxiety spiking. Someone had vandalized the sign, and fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

Blood dripped and dried across the front in a sloppy message that read: I’m coming for you.

Next to the message, a knife had been stabbed into the metal and through a driver’s license. I stepped closer and ran my fingers over the name.

“Charlotte,” I said as my brothers caught up with Cole, Maverick, and Isla. “It’s Charlotte.”

“Damn—”

“You need to get the hell out of here,” I continued over him as I gave Maverick, Cole, and Isla my attention. I knew what did this. We were all fucked. “Get your siblings and get the fuck out of town now. Go back to your houses and stick close. No one in, no one out. I don’t know if they’re safe.”

“What are you gettin’ on—”

“You need to call Cade,” I pointed to Isla, “and tell him to watch his back. No one is fucking safe.”

“What’s wrong?’ Declan asked.

“We need to get every fucking pack member we can back to the house.” I was on a fucking roll. My mind raced, and my blood ran cold. We were out of our fucking league.

“Slow down,” Maverick cut me off. “What the hell is going on, Killian? What is this?”

“A hunter,” I said. “A hunter is in Cedar Harbor.”

That shut everyone up as the gravity of the situation slammed into them. Hunters were a rare breed of creature that passed as humans with their own brand of magic and training. They were powerful, skilled, and highly dangerous.

And they had one fucking mission in life: to kill shifters.