Page 3 of The Alpha's Grave Secrets

“Gun, that’s on you,” Callie says, “Elara honey,” she softens her voice, “we are going to have to get whatever evidence we can off you before you go to the hospital. Do you mind if I do that? Just a few swabs nothing too invasive.”

Elara doesn’t say anything, but she tilts her chin down and Callie takes that as permission, nodding her head toward the road and leading the way for us. Forensics passes us on the way toward the road, ready to set up their lights and take stock of the scene before them.

Relief washes over me as the ambulance arrives, lights flashing and siren blaring into the quiet night. My blood is pumping so hard I can hardly hear myself think.

“Why don’t you ride with Elara in the ambulance? Hati and Bruce are on their way, we’ll be fine here.” Callie offers.

A smile is all I can muster, one small tight-lipped smile of appreciation as I stagger off toward the ambulance, Elara walking slowly at my side clinging only to my arm. I can’t stand to look at her under the harsh lights.

Dark circles under her eyes tell me she hasn’t slept for a while, at least not well. She’s gorgeous. I’ll always think that about her but looking at her now, so wounded, so quiet, it’s almost too painful.

Instead, I train my eyes on the back window as the paramedics clean up a bit of her arm so they can attach an IV to her and get some fluids flowing back into her.Good.My jaw tenses and I take a deep breath trying to keep my instincts to kill under control.

“Long time Kato,” Elara barely croaks out startling me. I swear there’s even a hint of amusement in her voice despite everything that she’s been through tonight and who knows what she’s been through leading up to this. Those dark circles under her eyes certainly aren’t just from today. I shake my head, the corner of my lips lifting, and when I finally grasp the courage to meet her eyes, she’s already dozing.

Chapter 3

Kato

“Did you get anything from our vic that can help us?” My fists tighten at the question. The idea of Elara being reduced to ‘our vic’ simmers my blood. The idea that anything so evil would have happened to her, to put her name in the mouths of my team, has my wolf ready to break free.Deep breath in, deep breath out.

“She was drugged, held captive for days before being stuck in that grave, and she’d spent her time blindfolded. Unfortunately, with the drugs still in her system and the adrenaline wearing off she couldn’t say much. The hospital will alert us when she’s awake again and ready to talk more.”

“Whoever drugged her knew she was a shifter. Regular drugs wouldn’t be able to have a hold on her like that,” Hati says more like he’s working out the information in his own head, and saying it aloud as a courtesy to the rest of the team.

“The hospital is running tests now to determine exactly what the drug compound is and a blood sample has been given to our forensics team as well.”

“Good,” Hati says, “Do we know how long she was missing?”

“No, I need someone to look into that for me. She’s dehydrated enough that it had to be a couple of days.”

The team shifts their eyes to Hati who cracks a small grin hardly even looking at anyone but knowing that all eyes are on him, “I’ll look into that and look into figuring out where she was before the kidnapping. Intelligence is kind of my thing.” Gunnolf scoffs but no one denies Hati’s claim, as a former CIA agent, we know he’s not putting on airs.

“Go ahead and let me know the moment you find out anything,” I say nodding to Hati who is already standing at his desk pulling his long thick blonde hair back and putting it up. “What did we get from the other graves?”

Bruce clears his throat, “Each of the victims was found in varying states of decay. The medical examiner is looking over the bodies now and we’ve made this our top priority case. What I can say is that everybody found in those graves were paranormal women who looked to be between the ages of twenty-five and thirty-five. They had varying hair colors, and all their throats were slit.”

All their throats were slit except for Elara.What does that mean for her?

“The questions we need to ask ourselves now, then, is what makes Elara different? Is it something she did or perhaps there was a different unsub riding off the coattails of whoever created the mass graveyard out in Eagle Creek Park.” Callie asks what we are all thinking out loud.

“And if it is another killer, how did they find out about the makeshift graveyard? I mean that’s a little odd right?” Gunnolf chuckles but stops himself when he catches my eye. He never knows when to be serious.

I try to stay focused on the team’s discussion but my mind wanders toward my memories of Elara from all those years ago. Her brightness and the twinkle ever present in her eye like she knows something hilarious that you don’t. The way she tilts her head raising a singular eyebrow when she knows someone is full of shit.

That raspy laugh of hers and the softness of her hair when my fingers curl up in it. Her full lips and the way her breath hitches and breasts heave when she’s about to cum. The feeling of her body pressed against mine on lazy days in bed.

Then, as if taking away all my fond memories, come the images of Elara’s dirt covered tear-soaked face, the blood seeping from her knees and fingertips and the wild unbridled terror and sorrow in her eyes.Will she ever recover from this? Will she ever get that glint back in her eye?

And yet, she’d still managed to crack a joke in the ambulance.Long time Kato,my heart thunders in my chest as I recall the way she’d struggled to say anything at all and yet she’d said my name. She’d known I was there.

“Boss?” Callie says looking at me expectantly. “What do you think?”

Rubbing the back of my neck I roll my head from right to left and then back again letting out a long-exasperated sigh, “Think about what?”

Callie, Bruce, and Gunnolf exchange glances before Callie asks again, “The hospital called. Most of the drugs are flushed out of Elara’s system and she’s able to talk now. We’ll have to be patient with her while her throat and lungs heal but she can talk. I want to come with you.”

“Why?” I ask stopping in my tracks, I didn’t realize I was already heading to the door.

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