I sat back and looked at everyone’s faces, but it was Marcus’s crazed eyes that waited for my eye contact. He waited until Ireached him, and he leaned in. “Do you know who that wolf is?” He watched my face without blinking.
“No, I’ve never seen her before.” I looked down at the picture on the desktop. “She was beautiful, though, and young.” I touched her face, and I accidentally zoomed in on the photo. The photo jumped around before settling on her hands. Half shifted fists with her nails digging into the palm, I gasped before I could stop myself.
“What?” Marcus looked from my face to the screen.
I traced her hands, and my mind flashed to my first life. “She was alive when this photo was taken.” I spoke without thinking, and I heard someone stumble back a step.
“You can’t know that for sure.” Theo tried to argue.
I shook my head. “I’ve been tortured before, Theo.” Rowan’s eyes flickered for a second. “A corpse doesn’t clench its fists in pain.”
There was a savage growl, and all I saw was a blur. “She was my DAUGHTER!”
Marcus’s hands were around Evan’s neck before anyone even thought to move. “She was my daughter, you son of a bitch.”
Evan sneered. “She was not your fucking pup, and we all know it. She was a whore’s throwaway, one you picked up as a mistake.” He wrapped his hands around Marcus’s wrists and tried to pull them off of him. “I did you a favor.” His eyes were dead. This man, this wolf, was dancing on a thin thread of sanity.
Nix paced under my skin.Look at her eyes.Nix’s voice pulled me away from the fight and back to the photo. I shifted back to the girl’s face, and while at first glance you think she is dead like I originally thought. Her eyes were half closed, but it was the deadness in them that made me think I was wrong, but her fists told her story. Nix’s voice broke through my thoughts.She is staring at the one taking a photo. Someone else was there. Someone she knew.
I opened my mouth but Megan’s soft voice stopped me.Her stomach.There was a soft cry that came from my wolf that had my blood freezing.
“Oh, Goddess.” The call fell from my lips before I could stop it. Everyone turned, but I was glued to the screen. I zoomed again, and there it was. “How could you?” I choked out as I stumbled from the chair. Evan’s dead eyes found mine, and I wanted to kill him. “You are a fucking monster. And believe me when I say this…I don’t say that lightly.”
Evan’s lips curled up slowly. “I know.” Marcus’s hands tightened on his neck, and I watched as red travelled up his neck, his eyes locked on mine.
“Wait.” I walked around the desk, putting myself way too close to the others. Rowan growled and stepped up behind me.
“Are you trying to give me an aneurysm?” Rowan growled in my ear. “Don’t do that again.”
Marcus turned his face toward me. “What? He deserves to die.”
“I’m not trying to save him. I just need answers.” I stepped closer to the two men.
Marcus growled. “Answers about what? Why he killed her?” I shook my head. “Then what?”
I turned back to Evan, and his soulless eyes. “Who helped you?”
Every one tensed. “What do you mean?” My father’s voice was icy as he stepped up to the desk, trying to see what I saw.
“Look at her eyes.” I looked back at the picture on the big screen. My father zoomed in on her face again. “I had originally thought she was dead because of her eyes.” I explained. “But the truth is there. She is staring at the person taking the photo.”
My father zoomed in and then growled. “The picture is too old to manipulate enough to figure it out.”
“Whoever it was, she knew, and she felt betrayed by.” Ronnie’s voice cut through the murmuring.
I nodded. “Pan to her stomach.” My voice was barely a whisper as I stared at Evan. His eyes stared back at me, and I watched a smile bloom on his face.
“You see what most miss.” He chuckled. “I don’t think anyone who has seen this photo realized the truth. No one but you.” He grinned as Marcus turned to stare at the screen.
“I don’t see it…” My father kept staring for another second.
I swallowed before I looked at the picture. “Her chest is broken open, and most of her organs are on display.” My voice was almost a whisper. “But her intestines were pulled out, and they are off to the side on the table.”
“You don’t have to explain it. We see what he did to her.” Marcus screamed.
“Do you know why someone might remove the intestines from a woman?” My words were soft, and Evan grinned.
“Men would miss the reason with all the rest going on.” Even leaned closer. “But you caught it.” His eyes searched mine. “Have you lived through the same experiment?” He licked his lips. “Vince said he had caught a female a few months back…Was it you?”
