Page 68 of Wife Number One

But nobody said anything more until I was done with my prayers. I dredged up the strength to stand, and Hawk held the door open for me.

He didn’t try to touch me again, the way he had earlier.

But of course, now there was no reason for him to check my pulse.

I got out, and Rebel linked her arm through mine, Fang flanking her left, while Hawk flanked my right. The two men moved like they were in an action movie, heads swiveling side to side, searching for danger. Talking with their eyes above our heads, communicating with each other in a way only men who’d worked together for a long time could.

Ice was positioned ahead of us, Aloha behind.

The four men should have made me feel safe, and yet my trembling grew worse with every step. I didn’t hear the cops talking with the medical examiner. I stood numbly, walking only when told to walk, my brain desperately trying to check out from reality.

But none of it stopped the shaking.

The medical examiner gave us a small smile and then led us down a short hall and stopped at the doorway to a room marked “viewing.” “I just want to prepare you for what you’ll see on the other side of this door. It’s a very simple room, with a metal table in the middle. The body has already been placed there and is currently covered. When we go in, we’ll need to uncover the body so you, the family, can make an ID. Do you understand?”

I twisted my fingers around themselves, trying to get the shaking to stop. Rebel looked at me. I nodded. I just needed to get this over with. I couldn’t stand not knowing a minute longer.

But taking those steps into that room was the hardest thing I’d ever forced my feet to do. Everything inside me screamed to turn and run, to pretend this wasn’t happening.

To go back to the commune and beg for forgiveness.

Nothing good happened inside the commune walls.

But nothing good happened outside them either. There was evil everywhere, and no matter what I did, I couldn’t hide from it. This just proved it.

The mortician tucked his fingers into the white sheet and pulled it back, exposing just the face of the dead woman beneath.

Beside me, Rebel froze. “Oh God. I’m going to be sick.”

She spun on her heel and pushed her way out of the room, the sounds of her gagging filtering back until the door swung closed behind her.

The medical examiner grimaced at Rebel’s departure and then reached out a hand to touch mine in comfort I didn’t want.

Hawk stepped between us. “Don’t touch her. Don’t lay a single fucking finger on her.”

I flinched at his sharp tone.

The medical examiner did, too. “I…um. I’m sorry. Kara, is that your sister?”

I stared at Alice’s face. At the lack of color in her cheeks. At the vaguely blue tinge of her lips. It was her.

But at the same time, it wasn’t. Everything that had made her Alice was gone. The mischievous spark in her eyes. The sassy tilt of her smile. The warmth of her touch.

But the medical examiner didn’t care about those things.

“Yes,” I croaked out.

“You’re one-hundred-percent sure?” the man asked.

Hawk glared at him. “She said it’s her, all right? Don’t make her say it more than once.”

The medical examiner backed off quickly, apologizing profusely. “Of course. Of course. I’m so sorry for your loss. I’ll leave you, give you some time alone.”

The door swung closed behind him, and silence fell in the tiny room.

Hawk cleared his throat. “I’ll leave too. Fang went after Rebel, and Aloha and Ice are keeping guard outside. But I’ll be right outside the door. I won’t go any farther.”

My hand shot out to grab his before I could even contemplate what I was doing.

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