Page 43 of Blood Pack Beginning

The light steps she took didn’t disturb foliage as she travelled, the only noise that of the rustling branches and the occasional hoot of an owl. While she didn’t follow a trail, per se, she did angle in the direction of the smell, which grew stronger and more distinctive. A once-living creature decayed, the rot ofdeath not something easily mistaken. What concerned was how far the odor reached. It implied something large had died, and yet these woods weren’t known to house anything bigger than a racoon or a fox. There were no bears in these parts or non-Lycan wolves.

The odor intensified, and with it, she noticed a lack of expected noise. No rustling leaves or skitter-scatter of wildlife scurrying through brush. What else she didn’t hear? The buzz of flies. Decaying meat always produced maggots, which, in turn, would have become flies—lots of them—only she didn’t hear a single whir of wings.

Past a thick tree, with a trunk bigger than she could hug, she stepped into a clearing, only instead of crabgrass tufting she encountered a heap.

Of bodies.

She blinked, immediately assuming she’d fallen back into one of Roderick’s or Morpheus’ memories. But the dead pile of people remained, a grotesque reality she had to deal with.

Did they have ghouls in the forest? It seemed unlikely. Someone would have noticed. While they didn’t have someone patrolling every night, they did ensure someone scouted every day. Yet these corpses had been dead for several. How had they not been noticed? Who were they, and who’d left them practically on the compound’s doorstep?

She neared the ungainly mess of limbs to get a better idea of how they’d died. It unfortunately required her to pull a few bodies free from the messy stack to check them for cause of death or pre-death injury. She grimaced at the spongy feel of their flesh. Two corpses tumbled free and hit the ground at her feet. Both males, and a quick glance at those still in the heap seemed to indicate all of them swung dicks. Of interest, the flesh remained intact, no gaping wounds except for a pair of puffyholes in each neck. Drained, most likely by a vampire, but that wasn’t the only interesting fact.

“They’re Lycan,” she murmured. Not easy to discern, given the current decomposition, but the obvious dog smell still lingered underneath.

A vampire, perhaps more than one, had killed these wolves and dumped their bodies in the woods. But why?

If this was meant to rattle her boss, wouldn’t it have been better to leave them somewhere more visible? This section of the forest was far from the compound. That said, it should have been part of the patrolling sweep. She’d have to find out when the last one occurred to gauge when the bodies might have been dumped and then raise hell because the sweeps were meant to be done daily.

“Holy dead people.” Diego’s sudden drawl startled Sasha, and she almost fell over she spun so fast.

She stared at him. “How did you manage to sneak up on me?” She thought herself the queen of stealth.

His lips quirked. “I’m quite good at tracking, even in this shape.”

“How did you know I’d left the compound?”

His smile widened. “I had a hunch you might be popping out tonight.”

“How did you find me, though? I didn’t leave through the usual exits.”

“I knew about the secret tunnel. Found it when I went for a jog the other day. I happened to be watching it when you emerged.”

“And didn’t immediately pounce?” She arched a brow.

“Didn’t seem sporting to catch you so quickly. I let you have a bit of a head start before I started tracking, which I’ll admit might have been a mistake, given you’re pretty good at not leaving a trace. I thought I lost you, but soon as the rot hit mynose, I had a feeling I knew where you’d be heading.” He glanced at the bodies and grimaced.

“Was this here when you went for your run?” she asked.

“Don’t know. I didn’t come this way, but I did notice the smell. Assumed something large had died.”

“Have you seen anyone else in the woods?”

He shook negatively. “Nah. And I only went for a jog the one time.” He stepped closer and canted his head. “How did they die? I don’t see any wounds or blood.”

“Vampire.”

He shot her a perturbed look over his shoulder. “I thought Thaddeus’ flock didn’t eat and kill people?”

“They don’t. I think this is meant to be a message from Morpheus’ master.”

“What kind of message? And what makes you so sure it’s this master?”

“A vampire killing Lycans and leaving them in Thaddeus’ territory resembles something Morpheus’ shit-disturbing master might command one of their minions to do.”

“You think one of their minions is kidnapping and killing Lycans then dumping them here? Why so far from the compound if they were meant to taunt?” Deigo frowned as he eyed the discolored face of one of the bodies she’d yanked free. He stood and paced around the pile.

A silent Sasha watched. Diego appeared intent, but she couldn’t tell what piqued his interest.

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