He did as she suggested.
She rounded the scene and stood at the tail end of the tortured animal. “By blood, we rightfully ascend,” she read aloud.
“Looks like someone isn’t happy about Alex’s death,” Silas said. He’d arrived beside her, snapping pictures with his phone.
“You think a remnant of Bloodright pack is out for revenge? I thought they all submitted to you as their new alpha?”
“Me too. Except we never found Alex’s Zafka, Jonah. He’s missing. I assumed he had gone into hiding. Looks like he chose another path.”
Normally, when one alpha killed another, the dominated pack would be bound to the victor. Submission was almost inevitable. Almost. It was possible under the right circumstances—extreme emotional stress or suppressed alpha tendencies—for a wolf to go rogue, break off, and form its own pack. Any Zafka eventually took on characteristics of the wolf they protected. Clearly, Jonah didn’t just serve as Alex’s doppelgänger; he was cut from the same power-hungry cloth.
“The heart is missing,” Laina said.
“How can you tell?”
“The way the corpse is mutilated makes it difficult, but what you are seeing behind the rib cage is actually the liver. It looks like they took out all the organs and shoved them back in wherever they would fit. It doesn’t make any sense.”
Silas growled. “I don’t like this, Laina. Something like this appears in a crowded room, and no one saw a thing? Whoever did this has friends in the magical community.”
“You think a witch is helping Jonah?”
“Or a fairy. Go home and lock your doors.”
“Silas—”
“That’s an order.” He took her hands in his large, rough ones. “I’m sorry to pull alpha on you again, but if Jonah did this, he isn’t going to stop at terrorizing us. I’m responsible for Alex’s death, and like it or not, we are royalty. He’ll want to hurt me. He’ll want me dead. He’ll come for you or Jason to get to me. Or he’ll come for me, and you’ll end up getting hurt.”
“I could help you. The state of the body suggests the death occurred around an hour or more ago. If I could do a necropsy, I might find more clues.”
“No, Laina. It’s too dangerous. Home. Locked door. Go.”
It was an alpha command. She tried to stand her ground, eye to eye with her brother. “Silas…” She grabbed his wrists and held on, determined not to obey. Every moment she fought it grew more uncomfortable. Her head buzzed, and the inside of her skin prickled as if her veins were filled with acid. The muscles in her legs began to tremble.
“Don’t fight it, Laina. You’ll be sore tomorrow.”
In a huff, she gave in and yanked her sweating hands from his wrists, striding toward the exit.
Her Zafka met her on the veranda. Stephanie wasn’t her exact twin, but she was close enough that someone who didn’t know her intimately would easily presume she was Laina. Same face, same coloring, same height and weight. A convincing doppelgänger. Most importantly, she was deadly, trained in mixed martial arts and never without the gun she kept holstered to her thigh.
“Please take the back roads, Princess. I’ll take the highway,” Stephanie said, bowing at the waist. “That will give me time to sweep your apartment before you get there.”
With a deep breath, Laina nodded reluctantly. “You don’t need to bow. And please be careful. I’ll see you at home.”
Stephanie bowed again, ignoring Laina’s request, and jogged toward her car. Laina tried to take a shortcut across the lawn to the place her car was parked, only to have her heels sink through the grass and into the mud. She kicked them off and continued barefoot to her silver Audi R8, tossing her muddy shoes and purse onto the floor of the passenger’s side. She slid behind the wheel and fired up the engine.
“Fucking Silas.” If she didn’t feel like an egg being hard-boiled every time she disobeyed an alpha command, she’d enjoy kicking his ass.
Halfway home, she paused at a stop sign. No one behind her. Nothing but road ahead. If she turned right, she’d be on course for her condo. Left was Four Paws Animal Hospital. Silas said to go home. He never said to gostraighthome. With a smug grin, she sped in the direction of her veterinary hospital. She’d check on Milo before heading home, maybe call and give Kyle an update and an apology.
As she pulled into her usual parking space, she noticed the light above the front door was still lit. Her assistant should have gone home hours ago, although it wasn’t completely unheard of for Becca to forget to turn the light off. Still, given the night’s events, Laina glanced over her shoulder as she slid her key into the lock. She was defiant but not stupid. If any of the Bloodright supporters wanted to challenge her, she’d be ready.
The scent of blood filled her nostrils as she slipped inside, and a chorus of barking came from the kennels.What the fuck?All the file cabinets behind the front desk were hanging open. Papers littered the floor around the toppled chair. Quickly, she rounded the desk and grabbed a pair of scissors from the drawer.
The tile floor felt cold under her bare feet as she hiked up her dress and crept deeper into the room, scissors squeezed in her fist and poised to strike over her right shoulder. She swung open the door to the kennels.
She’d designed the room to be accessible from both the front office and the surgical suite, each dog with its own climate-controlled den connected to an accessible, private outdoor run. Reinforced glass doors and mounted cameras allowed her and her staff to easily monitor patients indoors or out. The setup was ideal and unique to her practice.
But as she passed through the door, the hair on the back of her neck stood at attention. The monitors mounted behind the workstation were turned off, and a cursory inspection found the computer was unplugged. She plugged it back in, continuing around the corner to the kennels while the system came online. Milo was fine, as was the spaniel she’d operated on that morning. But what she found in the third kennel made her drop the scissors and race to its locked gate.
