CHAPTER THREE || REED
“Reed, wake up. We found him.”
My eyes snapped open and I lurched upright, bleary-eyed, to find Lee standing beside my bed.
His green eyes were steady and he stood perfectly still, waiting for my reaction.
The vein jumping in his temple was the only indication he felt any tension at all.
His twin brother, Hunter, identical to Lee in every way, stood behind him, arms crossed over his chest.
“What are you talking about?” I demanded, groggy and trying to make my brain work. Judging by the darkness outside my window, it wasn’t even dawn yet. I had been asleep for only a few hours, most likely.
“The hiker,” Hunter said. “We found him. And it’s bad.”
“And is he—”
Lee’s mouth twisted into a grim line. “He’s dead.”
* * *
“Fuck,” I muttered, taking in the scene before me.
My stomach plummeted. In the back of my mind, I had been holding out hope that maybe the hiker had been killed by bears, mountain lions, or wolves—the non-supernatural kind.
But whatever had killed the hiker hadn’t been anything natural.
“We’re going to need to call Dr. Langley. ”
Dr. Langley—who everyone called Hattie, much to her annoyance—was the town’s doctor and medical examiner. Though she was human, she knew about pack affairs. She was instrumental in keeping our secrets.
“We ought to just bury him,” Lee said flatly.
“And have a cadaver dog find him?” Lacey demanded, stepping off the trail with a disapproving expression. I’d called her to join us. Unlike me, she seemed wide awake. “That turns this into a murder investigation.”
Her shoulder-length blonde hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail, her icy Nordic features set in disapproval.
And, though it was late May, it was still the early morning hours before sunrise and there was a chill in the air that only ever went away in the height of summer.
Despite that, she wore only a pair of jean cutoffs, a neon pink bedazzled crop top, and sneakers.
Wolves didn’t like too many clothes if we could help it.
She added, “Think about it, Lee. We need to stop whatever this is from eating the townsfolk. If we’ve got tons of investigators crawling through the woods, we make it way more likely that one of them is going to get munched on too!”
“He knows that,” Hunter said, glaring at her. “But the more we involve humans in our business, the more likely we are to be exposed for what we are. Not human.”
He grimaced as he said that last part.
“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” Lacey said, shaking her head at him. “We’re stronger, faster, and better than humans.”
“We might be stronger and faster, but we’re not better,” Lee and Hunter both said at the exact same time.
I should’ve been used to it by now—the twins had been with the pack for nearly two years—but it still startled me.
Lacey snorted. “The creepy twins strike again. Do you two share one brain cell or something?”
Hunter and Lee traded a pointed look at that.
“Or something,” Hunter muttered.
Lee didn’t say anything, but a dark expression crossed his face.
Then, when an awkward silence fell, the twins turned to me. Hunter raised his eyebrows meaningfully, an expectant look on his face. Lee, usually the more reserved of the two, studied me, his expression neutral, and fell silent.
Lacey followed their gazes and smirked at me, a steely glint in her eyes.
I realized they were all waiting for me. Deferring to their alpha.
Great. Just fucking great.
“We should call Dr. Langley,” I said, staring Lacey down.
“She’s medically trained and she ought to see the scene before we disturb it.
” I grimaced, hating what I was about to say.
“We’re going to need to cover this up. It’s going on day three of the investigation.
They’re going to have dozens of people searching the woods in a few hours, along with search and rescue dogs. We’re going to need Daniel, too.”
Hunter scowled openly and Lee’s expression tightened, a steely glint entering his eyes at my words. It might’ve been at the grisly work we needed to do, but I strongly suspected it was at the mention of the warlock. They openly disliked him.
“Lovely. Glad you can see reason.” Lacey paused, her gaze sweeping over the twins, taking in their rigid postures and the way their breathing had become extra-controlled, as if they were struggling to keep their emotions in check. She pursed her lips. “Hmmm. I guess I’ll get Daniel.”
“Go,” I told her with a sharp nod. Then, when the twins shot me a questioning look, I added, “You two go get Hattie out of bed. Be discreet. Make sure she brings her kit.”
The twins nodded, then turned to trek off into the woods.
“And I’ll guard the body,” I said to myself, glancing down at the remains of the hiker. “Poor bastard.”
The forest was too silent. As if the wildlife around us were still holding their collective breath. Another sign that whatever had done this wasn’t natural.
Though I ought to have been focusing on the task at hand, I couldn’t stop myself from thinking of him instead.
Harris. He had been conspicuously absent from my dreams last night—meaning they had just been ordinary, jumbled dreams, chaotic and only halfway remembered. Now that I was alone and had a moment to myself, a mix of loss and unease settled over me at his absence.
But what if something bad had happened to him? What if he was injured—or worse—and that’s why he hadn’t joined me in the dreamscape last night?
Mentally, I took hold of the mate bond thrumming between us. His energy was almost close enough to touch. Even though he was almost a thousand miles away, he suddenly felt so near that I had the irrational urge to start running in his direction.
My wolf whined in my chest, clawing for freedom. I let go of the connection, mentally turning away from him. Harris needed to stay exactly where he was. It was better that way. For all of us.
* * *
Dr. Langley and the twins arrived less than an hour later, a few minutes after Daniel and Lacey.
I felt anxious. In less than two hours, the sun would be up, and the forest would likely be teeming with search and rescue volunteers. We were rapidly running out of time.
“I’m too old for this shit,” Dr. Langley complained, trekking through the woods, supported by Lee on one side and Hunter on the other.
“Hi, Hattie,” Daniel said brightly, waving at her.
He pushed a lock of dark hair out of his eyes, grinning.
He was dressed in flannel, jeans, boots, and a tan jacket, but with his delicate, almost elven features, he still managed to look out of place in the forest—more fae than man.
Or, now that I thought about it, perhaps he looked more in place than the rest of us.
“It’s Dr. Langley when I’m on the clock,” she said, tsking at him. But she smiled back.
The twins both glowered at Daniel. They were formidable—both a half foot taller than him, six-two at least, with matching dark hair, pale skin, and cold green eyes. Identical right down to the icy fury in their gazes.
The warlock caught their expressions and a flicker of dismay swept across his face. But a moment later, he turned his attention to me, apparently determined to ignore them. “So, I guess the bleeds really are starting back up, huh?” He glanced at the dead hiker and blanched. “Oh wow. Holy shit.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Yeah, holy shit is right.” I paused. “A warning that the rifts were weakening would have been nice.”
Daniel bit his lower lip. His ears turned red. “This stuff isn’t really an exact science. I didn’t get any sort of warning.”
“Maybe whatever did this crawled out of the bleeds the last time they opened,” Lacey pointed out, glaring at me. She often jumped to Daniel’s defense, which hadn’t earned her any goodwill with Lee and Hunter. “Or maybe it’s not corporeal. It could have been a wraith or something.”
“No ordinary wraith did that,” Lee said, gesturing to the hiker’s body.
“The point still stands. The monster could have already been in the woods,” Lacey shot back, glaring daggers at the twins. “It’s not Daniel’s fault.”
“Fine. If that’s true, why bide its time?” Hunter argued, his voice even colder than his twin’s. “Why attack now? Why this hiker?”
“That’s why we’re here! To figure that out!” Lacey snapped.
“And you’re helping in what way, exactly?” Hunter demanded.
“I don’t see you two doing anything useful, either.”
“We’re here to find out if we can narrow down what did this,” Dr. Langley said firmly, giving me a sideways look I had no trouble interpreting as: Control your people, Alpha.
I glared at them. “Quit bickering and let Dr. Langley do her job. We’re running out of time.”
“You’re the alpha,” Hunter muttered, falling silent.
“Well, it’s official. I need a cup of coffee,” Dr. Langley muttered. “Or maybe tequila. Or tequila and coffee.”
Daniel eyed her. “It’s not five o’clock yet, Dr. Langley.”
“When you get to be my age, it’s always five o’clock,” she said with a wink at him. Then she let out a low whistle when she caught sight of the corpse for the first time. “Well, I can see why you guys want to keep this quiet.”
I grimaced. “Yeah. It’s not pretty.”
“Just once, I’d love it if we had a neat monster on our hands. Or at least one that cleaned up after itself.” She paused. “I assume you guys have already photographed the area?”
Dr. Langley rolled her eyes at my blank expression.
“It’s called a camera phone,” she said, with a shake of her head. “You guys are going to stage the hiker somewhere else after this, I’m guessing. And clean up the area so it doesn’t look like something from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I’m going to need photos. Lots of them.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I replied. “Hunter, Lee, Lacey—start photographing. Daniel, can you do a light spell?”