Chapter 12
CHAPTER 12
Duke muscled his way through the litter of leaflets, toward the front desk, and sniffed the air. “This same scent lingered where Cameron was found.”
Zee’s nose wrinkled. “Usually smells like Jenny’s perfume in here.”
“Can you track it?” I asked the beta.
He nodded, then tore off his leather jacket and dumped it on the desk. Then his shirt went next.
“Oh, okay. Usually you gotta pay for this kind of show?—”
Duke’s growl ended Zee’s commentary. He angled his bulk toward the door, and shifted mid-step. I had no idea what shifting looked like when I did it, and didn’t much want to know after seeing Duke’s body rip itself apart. Fur erupted, blanketing his whole body, claws sprouted, and a huge tooth-filled snout projected from his face.
He dropped onto all fours and bounded out the door.
Zee’s gulp said enough. “I cannot unsee that.”
“Follow him,” I told Victor, since he was the fastest of us all. “We’ll try and keep up.”
With a curt nod, Victor vanished, leaving Zee and me to scramble after them.
“Wait.” Zee pulled me up short outside. “Isn’t that the same truck from outside the vet’s?”
The rusted red pickup. I’d noticed it here when we’d first arrived, with the grass that had grown up around its wheels. But that same grass was all flattened now... The truck had moved... and recently.
“Is it Duke’s?” Zee asked.
Duke had his bike but the truck could be his too. “Maybe.” We didn’t have time to figure out what it meant, or even if it was the same truck.
A howl sounded behind the motel.
“Come on.” Zee flapped ahead, then vanished his wings between the confines of the trees.
Duke’s huge lupine form thrashed through the leaf litter around the back of the motel. He appeared to be bounding into the forest toward Zander’s old cabin, but the scent trail must have switched direction, because he made a sudden right turn and dashed back toward the bar. He turned again, following the trail deeper once more, then again, back toward the bar. Had someone deliberately tried to shake us?
The meandering route gave Zee and me a chance to cut through the brush and stay close, until we all ended up at the back of the bar where the kitchen door hung ajar.
Duke smashed through and vanished inside, but Victor stopped dead, arm out, blocking our path. “Blood,” he warned.
Panting next to Zee, I spotted the pool of blood dribbling out the door. That couldn’t be good.
A gut-wrenching howl filled the air.
Victor vanished again, disappearing inside.
Zee and I stepped more slowly over the creeping blood and into the kitchen. Glossy red splatters dribbled down the walls behind where Kate sat slumped on the floor. The air was rich with the smell of violence.
“This just happened,” I warned Zee.
“It’s weird how you know that.” Zee touched Kate’s neck, searching for a pulse. “She’s alive.”
Kate’s hand shot out and grabbed Zee’s arm.
“Gah!” he yelped.
She pulled him down and wheezed, “Galbraith.” She flopped back, wincing and clutching her side.
“Holy shizzle. Galbraith did this?”
“No. It doesn’t make sense.” Why would he hurt his own pack? No alpha would do that. Unless they’d figured out what he was... or were about to?
“Adam, get in here,” Victor shouted from the front of the bar.
We hurried through and found Duke—still a giant wolf—licking at Galbraith’s leg. Just his leg. The rest of the alpha was nowhere in sight.
“Eehk.” Zee recoiled. “Dicks, and fingers, and now legs?! I am so done with this shit.”
Duke howled again and shot from the bar, heading outside, back to the picnic table where we’d been seated minutes ago.
Victor dashed to the door but hesitated... “He’s heading toward the motel again. Adam?”
“Go. Stay on him.”
But Victor didn’t move. “The killer is likely close. They know we’re here.”
“We’ll be alright.” I crouched by Galbraith’s severed leg. “Track Duke, he has the scent. But if you find anything, come back here.”
“Very well. Stay... safe.” Victor vanished again, leaving Zee and me standing amid the grizzly scene.
“Imma take a guess and say Galbraith ain’t the loop-guru unless he cut off his own fuckin’ leg.”
“No, it’s not him.” Poking the top of the leg, where the claws had cut through the thigh, I separated the sliced leather from the flesh. The cut was almost surgically sharp. There hadn’t been any hacking or grinding, just one savage slice. “Whatever we’re dealing with is real strong, Zee.”
Zee’s tail thrashed. He looked around the bar. “Where’s the rest of the pack?”
“Duke mentioned they’re on a ride-out. Whoever is doing this knew Galbraith and Kate would be alone.”
“Yeah, but who? It’s not Duke, he was with us.”
“Was he, though?” I looked up from my crouched position. “We didn’t come into the bar. We spoke to him outside. He could have done this, seen us coming, and held us up.” Getting to my feet, my heart began to pound. “He’s the only other person around, Zee. He eats tiny animals, and he’s mean.”
“I dunno... It doesn’t feel right. I’m good at reading people, and sure, he’s a bunny-eating asshole, but slicing off his alpha’s leg doesn’t seem like his style.” Zee began to pace, heels taping the floorboards.
“Zee, you don’t trust the local postman because he’s too happy, but you think Duke wouldn’t murder?”
“It’s fuckin’ valid.” His tail flicked. “Nobody is that happy. He’s a paper-obsessed psycho.”
“Duke is the only one left. It has to be him.” The beta was playing us. He didn’t want us snooping around his territory, but couldn’t go directly against Galbraith. He maybe even wanted Galbraith out of the way, his rule upended to make it look as though Galbraith could no longer protect his pack. Either way, he was dangerous. “Oh no. I just sent Victor after him, alone.”
I dashed for the door—but didn’t make it.
The liquid form of something not quite wolf and not human either dropped from the ceiling. Twice my size, it spread part-shifted, muscular arms tipped with four deadly claws on each spindly hand, and roared through a mouth full of viciously long teeth.
“Or . . .” Zee squeaked. “Just a thought . . . It’s that!”