Chapter 4

Alvize:

I walked out of the office, ignoring the clench that I felt in my chest as my wolf grew annoyed by my attitude toward the woman who was supposed to be my mate.

I didn’t understand the joke that was in this, but I knew one thing. It was NOT funny, not one bit.

“Boss.” Viktor said, snapping me out of my daze. I shook my head in question, waiting for what he had to say before he looked at the front door where they brought the body.

Joseph didn’t really agree to this, but that was the least of my concerns. Their people weren’t going to be checking on one of my pack members. If anything, they were lucky enough that I agreed to have one of ‘them’ working on this with me.

I nodded and walked toward the body which was covered in white sheets. Removing it, I looked at the man closely, studying his wide eyes, noticing the marks that were on his neck.

He was not drained of blood, that would have taken a lot more time. The man was choked to death, but for what reason, I didn’t know.

“Shit,” I heard Elena say inside the office before she walked out. “I’m ok my way, Drake.”

She froze at the sight of the body before she shook her head, “Drake, send me the location, I’ll come to you myself.”

“Elena, you came with me, you don’t have a car.” Drake said through the other line.

“Don’t worry, I’ll manage my way.” She said, “I’ll see you there.”

She didn’t wait for the man to say a word before she hung up and looked at me. She shook her head in question before taking a step closer to the body, momentarily distracted from the call that she initially got.

“I see that you got the body.” She said, looking at both Viktor and I. The men were already working on the clearance long before she arrived. I was mostly thankful that they didn’t bring the body when she just arrived.

“I told you that I would.” I said, and she nodded. “Is everything alright?”

I nodded at the phone that she was gripping as tightly as she was, giving her the silent warning that she was about to break it. She shook her head and loosened the grip on the device before putting her phone in her pocket.

“When did you identify the death of your friend here? An approximation of when it happened.” She asked, making me frown in confusion.

“He disappeared at around five, but must have died at six or seven, why?’ I asked, shaking my head in question. I looked at Viktor who frowned, studying the woman’s expression, trying to read it. The fact that I couldn’t read her expression or understand what was going on in her head was something that I didn’t like. Especially considering that I knew that it was something that I was good at. At least, with normal women. This one was a trained agent who was sure to mask her expression very well regardless of how she was feeling. Whatever the reasons were, I knew that Joseph wouldn’t have assigned her to work with me if she wasn’t the best. Especially considering that she had a partner.

“Was he with anyone? Or?”

“Not that I know of, what’s going on?” I asked, looking at Viktor who crossed his arms over his chest, trying to understand what was going on.

“There were two Eye cases last time, and if we can confirm that they happened at the same time. Then your man’s body was taken to the highway, hence why we wouldn’t find any traces on how things happened. We’ll need to retrieve the car as well. I have a feeling that it might lead us to something.”

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“Fucking hell,” Elena said, frowning at the burnt house. The woman’s body was outside, meaning that she tried to run away. At least, that was what we could see for now.

She showed her badge to an officer who let her in almost immediately and looked at him, giving him the silent order to let Viktor and I in with her. I raised an eyebrow at the woman who seemed to be feared by the officer. Whatever her rank and position was, I knew that the officer was in a lesser rank than she was.

“What happened here?” She asked, approaching her partner who was on his knees examining the woman’s body.

“Yeah, if you think the scene is bad, then you have to see her body.” Drake said as Viktor and I approached. He looked at Elena with a raised eyebrow but the woman simply nodded and motioned for him to go on. He shook his head and went back to looking at the woman. “She too struggled, and the carving on her hand tells us that this is an Eye case.”

“He carved it on her hand this time?” Elena asked and Drake nodded.

“That is not the worst of it either. The person must have watched the house burn down because there’s fresh paint on the walls. She died at the same time his man died. Though I am not sure how that happened.” Drake said, and I frowned before heading toward the house.

A heavy feeling settled in my chest as I looked at the crib that was in the house. The crib was empty and unslept in, meaning that the child was not asleep when it happened. Toys were scattered around the place, though burned, I could tell that they were there.

The name Konstantin was on top of the crib, it was the ONLY thing that didn’t burn and that itself came as a surprise for me. Especially considering the fact that the letter frames seemed to be made of wood. Elena walked inside the house, following me as she looked around. Viktor, who came in with me, looked at me and I motioned for him to leave.

Her eyes met mine and she shook her head in question, trying to understand what was going on.

“How was this not burned? It’s like the fire never even touched it despite everything else being ruined?” She asked, voicing out the question that was running through my mind.

I shook my head in response, not really understanding what was going on. She crossed her arms over her chest before she walked toward a different room. My wolf, feeling uneasy, had me following her before I could think about it.

The feeling of someone watching us made me tense. Though I couldn’t hear or catch the scent of anything, the eerie feeling was one that I couldn’t understand.

She looked at the living room’s door which was burned though it was closed before kicking it slowly, watching as it fell to the ground. “The house has a baby, but the baby is not here and no one came back with the child?”

“Maybe the baby is with his father?” I asked, and she shook her head, trying to think.

“Judging by the crib and toys, I can assume that the child could be too young to be that far from his mother. I can be wrong, but wouldn’t the father at least call the mother to assure her that the baby is fine?” Elena asked, and I shrugged, not knowing what to say. Elena almost tripped over a piece of burned wood, but wrapping my arms around her, I pulled her to stand straight.

My heart raced against my ribcage as sparks coursed through my body. Her eyes met mine and the word MATE almost left my lips. However, containing myself, I frowned at the sight of the ‘paint’ that was on the wall.

Following my gaze, Elena looked behind her as I unwrapped my arms from around her. The two of us stood in front of the wall for a second as the smell of blood filled my nostrils.

“Please tell me that you’re not smelling blood in this.” Elena said, looking at me. The word on the wall was not written with ink. It was blood. Who’s blood though, I didn’t know. However, it was the same name that was on top of the crib in the other room.

Konstantin.