Page 6 of The Alpha's Grave Secrets

“If he stays in the park, he will likely find another spot not too far off the park roads. That could help us narrow it down,” Callie asks, eyebrows knit together as she looks out into the woods around us. “Whoever he is, he is strong but not strong enough to carry the bodies all on foot. If he’s a shifter, he’s a weak one.”

“An omega for sure,” Gun chuckles to himself. “There are five other parks and nature preserves in the vicinity if he doesn’t choose to pick a new site in Eagle Creek. There’s no telling yet how much we’ve spooked him.”

“Not enough,” I say shaking my head. He’s not done killing yet. I can feel it in my bones, especially once he learns about Elara surviving her burial. We’ve done an excellent job of keeping the media out of it for now, but there’s always a leak. It’s inevitable.

“Do you think he’s going to go back after Elara?” Callie’s quiet as she asks, looking like she regrets the question the moment it leaves her lips, but she had to ask; I’d be a fool not to understand the danger Elara might still be facing.

“He might,” I swallow back the acid of those words. “I have assigned a 24/7 uniform patrol to her. There is no telling what our unsub will do now that his M.O. has changed. He’s been unraveling. Otherwise, Elara wouldn’t have been left alive in the first place.”

An awkward silence falls between us. Gunnolf and I lock eyes, knowing he understands my feelings. Callie’s gaze sweeps around the graveyard once again, picking at the skin on the side of her thumbnail as she does.

My heart skips a beat as my phone rings, “Hello?”

“Agent Blackwood, I’m Elara’s nurse. I was told to call and tell you that Elara is ready to talk to you again.”

“I’ll be right there,” I hang up, not waiting for a response. “I’m going alone this time. Gun, give Callie a ride back to the office when you are done here, yeah?”

“Will do.”

Callie opens her mouth like she wants to argue with me but thinks better of it, snapping her jaw shut, “What about Hati’s intel?”

“Don’t call me. I’ll call when I leave the hospital.”

And with that, I’m on my way back to Elara’s hospital bedside. I wish I could hold her and kiss her and let her know that everything is going to be alright. But I won’t take advantage of her after what she’s been through. The best I can do for her now is solve this case.

Chapter 4

Elara

Goddess, I hate hospitals. How long will I be trapped in this forsaken place?

The stench of illness is only overpowered by the sanitary scent of bleach. I hate the paper hospital gowns, the scratchy sheets, and the thin-pilled blankets.

Who laid on these sheets before me? Who died beneath these blankets?

And the flickering fluorescents—ugh. I wish I could go back in time and punch whoever invented them right in the face. Hard. We might now have areas of society keyed in on paranormal, but a lot of progress still needs to be made.

Number one on the list. No fluorescent lights in the paranormal unit of the hospital.

I close my eyes, trying to escape, but the moment I do, I’m back in that graveyard. Naked, mud-caked, trembling, and staring into the half-rotted face of a young woman that could have been me had circumstances been even a fraction different.

Why me? Why did I survive when no one else did?

Squeezing my eyes shut tighter, I try to push the images out of my memory to no avail.

Kato’s harried expression fills my mind. Fear and anger simmered in his eyes, the way his lips pressed together, and jaw tightened. I hadn’t seen him for years, and this was how we reunited.

How absolutely humiliating.

Those late nights when Ezra was fast asleep beside me, and I let myself indulge in thoughts of what could have been and how my life would be different if Kato and I were together again. This is not how I’d imagined that would go.

I’d have given anything for Kato not to be the one who found me. Why couldn’t it have been a couple camping or a scout on a hike? Heck, I’d even take Discovery by Poacher over this.

Goosebumps erupt on my skin. Nervousness settling over me. Rain, leather, and whiskey. I smell him before I feel his presence.

I don’t open my eyes. Childish, hoping that he will go away if I keep them shut. As if he wasn’t the lead agent on this case. As if I wasn’t the only victim who ever escaped alive, at least that we know of. As if I didn’t tell the nurse to call him.

“Elara,” Kato says his deep voice tentative and soft as he says my name. My wolf whines.Oh, shut up.

---