"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine." Even as I said it, I couldn't feel myself breathing. I felt like an empty shell, disconnected from the world. Everything before my eyes had turned gray.
Herman looked worried. I ignored him and walked straight into my study, shutting myself inside alone.
I threw myself into work like a madman, trying to numb myself. Company business, investigation reports on the hunter attackfrom four years ago—I needed the truth to fill the void inside me. Whatever that truth was, I had to find it.
It was the only thing I could do now.
But the words wouldn't sink in. Finally, without realizing it, I found myself watching a video. The footage from the missing warrior showing "a woman dealing with hunters"—the "ironclad evidence" that had pointed all suspicion at Serenity.
The video quality was so poor you couldn't make out anyone's face. Even professional restoration had been useless. The only clue was that the woman's back closely resembled Serenity's. That's why the investigation had given up on it so early.
I didn't know why I was still watching it. Maybe I just missed Serenity so much that I was torturing myself, greedily replaying the footage over and over, staring at the woman on screen.
From day into night. From night into the next morning.
My eyes were exhausted and my vision blurred. I was about to stop this pointless viewing. But just as I reached for the pause button, something "off" flashed through the footage I'd now studied for an entire day.
I froze. I quickly rewound and watched again—there it was, that strange detail. I suddenly noticed that the woman in the video had kept herself completely covered the whole time, but in one single frame, she'd turned her head slightly, revealing a small strand of golden hair near her ear. It looked just like Serenity's hair color, which was why no one had ever noticed a problem. But now, staring at that lock of near-platinum hair, I felt ice spread through my veins.
That wasn't Serenity's hair.
I had seen hair that color before. I'd even compared it to Serenity's real hair at the Moon Ceremony four years ago?—
It was… Liv's hair!
The discovery horrified me. A possibility I'd never considered surfaced in my mind. I shot to my feet and started digging through all the location records and witness statements from pack members four years ago.
Line after line of text passed before my eyes. With each document I reviewed, the turmoil inside me grew stronger.
Nothing!
Not a single statement or record mentioned anything about Liv's whereabouts. On the day of the hunter attack, she'd vanished into thin air.
This reminded me of Herman's investigation into Liv's missing six months—the same result. No werewolf knew where Liv had been. The only explanation was that she'd been somewhere with no werewolves at all.
But what kind of place had no werewolves?
Unless…
Human territory.
My teeth ground together. I suddenly threw down the files and burst out of the room. Herman had been waiting outside the door. When he saw me, he rushed over. "Alpha, look at the state you've put yourself in. You need to rest?—"
"No, I have something more important to do!"
I ignored his concern. Urgency made me nearly shout.
"Herman, bring Liv to me—now! There's a lot I need to ask her!"
Herman moved quickly. Liv was brought back within the hour.
She smiled when she saw me. "Elias, have you finally changed your mind?"
She started toward me but was stopped by my men. I pointed to the chair across from me and commanded flatly, "Sit."
Liv looked at the solitary chair, then at the wolf warriors stationed at each corner of the room. Her smile stiffened. "Elias, what is this about?"
"Some things need to be cleared up." My hands were clasped over my knees.
