Page 9 of The Alpha's Grave Secrets

We need to make progress soon. Why is it that I have absolutely nothing to go on and this is the most important case of my career? When I find this guy… Elara was wrong. I may be sworn to the law, but I’ll kill the man who hurt her without a second thought. He’s killed others. He brutalized them. He’s proved himself to be a threat.

Not any member of my team would think twice to cover for me if need be. No one in the agency would ask many questions. I will kill him, for Elara.

Elara… she deserves peace of mind.

I haven’t seen her since she was discharged from the hospital a few days ago. I wish I could be there for her, to make sure she knows she doesn’t need to lay awake in fear. To comfort her and hold her tightly in my embrace so she can fall asleep feeling safe. It shouldn’t be this hard, butGoddess, I miss her.

Despite what I want, she doesn’t need me now, not to comfort her, not when she has her live-in boyfriend to do that. I hate it. My fangs start to descend, and a low growl sound begins in my throat before I can control my wolf.

I could really use a drink.

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I close my eyes for a moment and take a deep breath, trying to shove thoughts of what might be happening at this very moment between them in her house. At least I don’t feel her being pleasured by him now and haven’t since she’s been home.

I knew she had a boyfriend and that they lived together, but I guess while she was in the hospital, I could pretend that it was just her and me, like back in the day.

Those delusions were only made possible by the fact that I never ran into Ezra when I visited Elara in the hospital, and she never mentioned him on my visits. You’d think she’d mention him if she really cared about him. But that’s all too likely just hopeful thinking. Now that she’s back in my life I don’t want her to leave again.

It’s good. I shake my head, trying to convince myself. It’s good that she’s moved on; she deserves to be happy, even though it hurts like hell that I couldn’t be the one to make her happy.

“Coffee,” Bruce’s voice cuts through my thoughts along with the sound of ceramic sliding across the wood of the table. I don’t budge, taking another deep breath until Bruce says, “Drink up and wake up.”

“Why didn’t Elara’s boyfriend report her missing?” Callie asks, and I open my eyes, glancing toward her. My hand wraps around my coffee cup. She catches my eye and twists a lock of her hair nervously. “I mean, she was missing multiple days like the other victims, right?”

“Apparently, he was out of town for a speaking engagement. Their relationship is the sort where it’s not unheard of for them not to touch base every day when one of them is gone.” I shrug, “According to the agents that interviewed him, he’d tried calling her once or twice but didn’t think much of it because Elara tends to get lost in her work, especially when working on a new project.”

“It makes sense,” Gun says shrugging. He’s not the most communicative when in a relationship himself.

“One of us should have interviewed him,” Callie says, ignoring Gun and shooting a pointed look in my direction. Another low growl escapes my throat, and I look at Callie with fire in my eyes.

“Are you volunteering yourself for a second interview?” Bruce steps in, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes,” Callie says, starting to say something else but I redirect. I don’t want to talk about Ezra. His alibi checks out and he has no known connections to the other victims, it is a waste of our time.

“How many of the other victims were officially reported missing?” I should have asked this question long ago, but now is as good a time as any. Goddess, my head is all over the place.

Papers shuffle, and all eyes turn to Hati. It’s quiet for a moment before he looks up, glancing between us. “What?”

I repeat my question, and without hesitation, he says, “Out of the victims identified so far, five were reported missing, but unfortunately, by the time most of the reports were made, they were already dead. Since they were adults and most of them appear to have been abducted on a Thursday or Friday night, their jobs didn’t notice they were gone either for a few days.”

“So, most of the victims that have been identified, were reported missing, that leaves two that were not?” Callie asks as the heat of the coffee burns my throat.

“Correct, those two women were relative loners working as freelancers with families that are no longer living or were previously estranged. There was no one checking on them and no one they’d gotten to know well enough to press the issue. Their jobs eventually just figured they’d flaked out on them and hired replacements.”

Callie blows a raspberry and pulls her legs off the chair she’d been propping them up on. Without missing a beat, Bruce claps a hand on her back. “Don’t worry. We are your family now, and we won’t let a minute go by without searching for you if you don’t show up to work or we don’t hear from you.”

Callie smiles but averts her eyes to her hands, now fidgeting in her lap. She misses Guns’ wink, but he doesn’t look at all perturbed. Finally, the caffeine starts buzzing through my bloodstream, and I feel like I’m coming back to life.

“I also finally got the credit reports I was waiting on from the last three victims, and they all spent quite a lot of money in the same seven-mile radius of the city center. Our unsub definitely has a hunting ground.”

“Good work,” I say as Hati gets up to draw out the radius on the map hanging from our board. “Since he most likely owns or rents a house, I’m guessing there’s a better chance that he works in the area as well as lives there. Elara believes he works nights, so we should look into what kind of nightlife and third-shift jobs are in that area. It’s not likely he’s a CEO.”

“There are probably hundreds. It’s right in the city center,” Gun complains.

“He’s a bit of a loner. I don’t believe he will have many, if any, friends. However, he still must be non-menacing enough to avoid drawing too much attention to himself.

“Which means he can’t be too ugly or too handsome. My guess would be that he’s a relatively good-looking man who is aging enough to keep too many eyes from being on him. He won’t have anything offensive about his image like big sores, an off-putting haircut, or anything particularly unique that makes a statement.”

“Essentially, we are looking for a gray man,” Hati mumbles.

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