Page 71 of Shadow of Fury

“Fucking hell.” Dillon McMurtry muttered, running a hand over his face. “Tell me this isn’t what I think it is?”

The youngest of the McMurtry brothers had volunteered to join his father and Logan on the trek. Dominic was busy elsewhere, with things Logan would rather not think about. Drake was working a shift at the previously defunct Sheriff’s office. Which had only left Dillon and despite Darren’s moaning that he could damn well make the trip there and back without a babysitter, Dillon had come along.

He had whistled as he walked along behind them, young and carefree in a way that Logan couldn’t ever remember being. Dillon had skipped rocks like a kid and largely ignored the conversation his father and Logan were having. Which was how he’d come to be standing on the hill with a look of utter shock at what lay before them now.

Darren looked at his son with something akin to shame, “This is where he made me bury the bodies.”

“You?” Dillon gaped. “You did this?”

“He was forced by my father. He used his Alpha voice to control your dad and force him to keep his secrets.” He turned back to Darren McMurtry, “You have nothing to feel guilty for. You didn’t do this of your own free will. This is his doing, all his.”

The older man turned away and dabbed at his cheek, coughing to cover his sniffle before facing them again, “That doesn’t mean it didn’t kill a little piece of my soul every time he ordered me to clean up his mess.”

“Dad?” Dillon still looked wary. “Who are these people?”

Darren shot Logan a look and waited for him to nod his consent before he cleared his throat, “These people were the casualties of Byron Kemp’s reign of terror.”

“I don’t understand.” Dillon crossed his arms over his chest. “Make me understand.”

“Byron began abusing his power decades ago. He got it in his head that as Pack Alpha, he had the right to bed every female in the pack before her mating ceremony. It was an ancient practice, one nobody in their right mind would ever try to bring back, but Byron had appetites that were… outrageous.” Darren looked out over the field. “He bedded the ones who were willing and then sent them on their way to their mate.”

“And the ones who weren’t willing?” Dillon demanded.

“He raped them.”

“Fucking hell.” Dillon said again.

Logan spoke up when Darren looked like he might not be able to speak. The old man had been through more than enough already. Logan would have preferred Darren simply showed him where this gravesite was on a map but he had insisted on going in person. Still, the trek hadn’t been easy and emotions were running high so he took over to fill in the parts of the story Darren had already conveyed to him.

“It started by accident, at least that’s what he said. One of the girls fought back and he got rough. She died and he forced your father to get rid of the body and tell the parents that she’d run away.” Logan swallowed past the knot in his throat, “The thing was, the supposed accidents began to happen more frequently and then, the sickness started.”

Dillon eyed him suspiciously, “You mean whatever it was that made your dad sick was what? An STD?”

“Kind of.” Logan acknowledged. “We don't know how he contracted it to start with but we think it was a form of canine distemper. It’s rare in our kind but it attacks every part of your body and it’s deadly. Nobody survives it.”

“So all these unmarked graves are the female pack members that died from some wolf STD your dad gave them when he raped them? Am I getting this right?” Dillon started to pace. “Because this sounds insane.”

“Believe me, I know how it sounds… but it’s true.” Darren found his voice again. “Only, most of the bodies buried here didn’t die from the virus. Byron killed them as soon as they began to show symptoms and then he made me get rid of them. If the parents or the family started to ask too many questions, he got rid of them too.”

“He murdered whole families?” The color drained from Dillon’s cheeks and his gaze ping-ponged from his father to Logan and back again. “Are you saying that all those stories about families that picked up and left in the middle of the night are lies? They’re all dead? Buried out here?”

“A lot of them, yes. Some really did leave. They had their suspicions and got out when they could but…”

“What about Gray?” Dillon cut in with a high-pitched whine. “Is he out there? Tell me Gilly and Gray aren’t out there. Tell me the whole Rose family isn’t buried in some unmarked grave out there.”

It took Logan a second to place the names. The Rose family. They had owned the flower shop in town, fitting with their surname. They had a daughter, Gillian, and a son, Grayson. He had a vague memory of Dillon and Grayson playing in the pool as kids when he and Dominic were supposed to be babysitting.

“No, son.” Darren put a hand on Dillon’s shoulder but the young man shrugged it off.

“Don’t lie to me!” Dillon yelled. “He was my best friend and he just disappeared.”

“He’s not out there. None of them are.” Darren tried again, “I promise. They got out before Gillian came of age. I couldn’t tell them much but they were wary of the Alpha and I urged them to go before it was too late.”

Dillon’s shoulders seemed to relax just a little, “They’re really out there somewhere then?”

“Yes. All four of them left and the last I heard, they had joined a different pack. It’s been years since I heard from them but, I’m sure they’ve made a good life for themselves.”

“How can it be good if they’re not here?” Dillon jerked his gaze between them again. “They’re Shadow Pack wolves. Everyone who left is. Someone should find them, track them down and let them know that the evil bastard is dead and it’s safe to come home.”

---