CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY FOUR
GRAHAM
I didn’t like the silence. I liked silence overall but not this kind of silence. The type that hung in the air too long like the forest could feel that something eerie was about to happen.
I was in my office when the knock came. I ignored it the first time, but then it sounded again, harder this time.
“Come in,” I said without looking up.
My beta, Ronald entered. He hesitated in the doorway, a habit of him I noticed he did whenever he felt unease. That already told me something was wrong.
“What is it?” I asked.
He shut the door behind him. “There’s something… odd. I just came in from the north patrol. One of the sentries caught a scent. He said it didn’t smell like rogue or wolf.”
I sat up straighter. “What did it smell like then?”
Ronald swallowed. “Strange but it smelled like burnt iron, and old blood. Something… dead, but not really dead.”
My fingers curled slightly around the edge of the desk.
“Where?” I asked.
“Right along the stream, clo
