Page 17 of Mated in Darkness

“I’m not going to say anything. I promise you.”

“I don’t know you well enough to see if that promise makes any sense.” I met her gaze and gave her a tight nod. She didn’t trust me, but I wanted her to. I wanted to know more about her.

She took a step forward, as if against her own volition, and she frowned, shaking her head. “What the hell is wrong with me?” she muttered, and I had to wonder the same thing about myself.

This wasn’t a usual thing for me. I wasn’t great around women, it took me a while to get through my awkwardness, but I wasn’t usually this drawn to another, especially under these circumstances.

“How many bodies have you found like this?” she asked as we got to my desk, and I pointed at a few files at her.

“Around here? Eleven.”

The tablet dropped from her hand and she reached out quickly to catch it before it fell, and she blinked. “Eleven?”

“In the state. There could be more around the US, but I don’t know. We’re searching.”

“Eleven. Eleven people with these black bite marks?”

“Yes. Over the past two years.”

“And why haven’t I heard about this? Why hasn’t anyone heard about this?”

“Because Riaz said to keep it private.”

She narrowed her eyes. “And you just listened to the Alpha?”

“He’s a very large wolf with very sharp teeth. Of course I fucking listened to the Alpha.”

Her gaze widened at my profanity, but I shrugged. “He’s helping. The whole Pack is. And it’s not just wolves this is happening to. There are humans too, and a witch.”

“Why hasn’t this hit the news? Why does no one know what’s going on?”

“Because nobody put it together until recently.”

She blinked. “You. You put it together recently.”

“As of two weeks ago, I put it together. Nobody was talking to one another, and Texas is a fucking big state. They didn’t put two and two together until I started looking into the death of a local wolf.”

“So it’s going to break soon.”

“It might. But people still don’t know what’s going on; my goal is to figure out what the hell is going on so I can help the Pack find this person or wolf or whatever.”

“Damn it. I need to call my Pack. They need to know.”

“You should talk to Riaz first.”

A low growl rumbled in her throat. “Riaz is not my Alpha. Spencer was a Redwood. I’m telling my Alpha and my Pack what the fuck is going on down here. They can help. I can help. Because I’m going to find out what happened to him.”

“Okay then. I’m not Pack, I’m not going to get in the middle of that.”

“Good.”

She let out a breath, her shoulders shaking. I frowned and then moved forward without even thinking. I put my hand on her shoulder, and she froze.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m fine.”

But she wasn’t fine. I could hear it in her voice.

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