Chapter Six

Ronan’s POV

Ghost is on a warpath in my head, trying to take control. Hearing Willow deny being our mate stirred him up and made him determined to mark her right then and there, whether she was willing or not. That is the last thing I want. She may be an infuriating woman but marking her while she resists will make it physically painful for her and I don’t think that will help make her trust us. If anything, it could scare her away and I have waited too long for my mate to let her go.

She seems to like Xander well enough. Maybe I can get him to put in a good word for me. I put the car in drive and continue down the old dirt road to the packs medical examiner’s office. Hopefully Charles completed his examination. It may help us in figuring out who did this to her. Everything about this case from the outside looking in, screams wolf attack but, I can’t shake the feeling that there is more to it. If it was one of my pack members, it brings a whole new set of problems for me to deal with.

“Where are we going,” I hear Willow demand.

I can sense her nervousness and I fight the urge to reach back to reassure her, but I know she will not accept my comfort right now.

“A couple days ago a young woman was found murdered and dumped just outside of our pack lands, so we have to stop by and talk to the medical examiner to see if he has any clues as to what happened,” I share, hoping that I don’t live to regret it.

Her eyes perked up. What kind of weird shit is this girl into? She seems awfully excited for someone who just heard about a murder so close to the place offering her asylum.

“Any idea who would have hurt her?” she asks, the gears turning in her mind.

“We aren’t even sure of the what, let alone the who,” Xander answered for me.

Willow seemed to be lost in thought for a minute before she nodded her head and added, “I may be able to offer my assistance. You are helping me after all. I see no reason why I can’t return the favor.”

I arched my brow and stared at her questioningly before asking, “Don’t take this the wrong way but, how is it that you can help us?”

She crossed her arms over her chest defiantly, “I am a private detective and I specialize in cases dealing with mystical and supernatural beings, like you and me.”

I nod, lost in thought. How did a private detective go from hunting down the bad guys to running for her life? I have never dealt with vampires before, but I don’t imagine there is much for a werewolf to be afraid of.

“So, if it is your specialty, why are you running from them?”

“Pete made me,” she stated while giving me the stink eye.

I didn’t mean any offense by the question. I was truly curious because she doesn’t seem like the type to run away from her problems.

“If I were sure, it would be just one vampire, we were up against then I wouldn’t have moved us here, but my gut tells me that there is way more to deal with than just one. Hopefully, the move here means we won’t have to deal with them at all, but I am not taking risks with the only family I have left,” Pete said defensively. Besides, even Willow can’t outlive a silver bullet.”

I pulled into the parking lot of the office of Charles D. Thompson, ME. There was a light on so that means Charles is here. I slam the shifter into park and turn the car off. I turn in my seat to stare at both Willow and Pete.

“If you think you could be of assistance, I would be happy for the extra insight. I just ask that you not speak about this to anyone outside of this car and the examiner’s office. I don’t want to cause panic in the pack.”

They both nod their heads obediently and agree to never speak of it to anyone else. I get out of the truck and open the rear door, offering my hand to Willow to help her out. She hesitates and stares blankly at my hand before opting to help herself out of the truck. A pang of jealousy it me for a second and then it was gone. It seems I am the only one not allowed to touch her when I am the only one who is supposed to be touching her.

“Thank you. I didn’t mean to offend you. I just don’t see the point in taking help when it’s not needed,” she offered before moving for me to step in front of her.

The group follows me into the office where Charles warmly greets us. Charles is one of our oldest pack members and was a great friend of my fathers. His once jet-black hair is now a sparkling shade of silver in the areas that he is not yet balding. He stands around five feet four inches tall. He would probably be at least five foot six inches if he wasn’t slouched over from a rare curvature in his spine. According to Charles and numerous doctors, it is just something that happens to older wolves as they age.

“How have you been ol’ friend?” I ask as I pull Charles into a hug.

Charles pats me on the back, “I am hanging in there Alpha. I just finished up with our Jane Doe.”

I release the old man from my arms and smile affectionately, “What’s your take Charles? Was it a werewolf that did this to her?”

Charles straightened himself up as far as his body would allow and smoothed his lab coat before looking up at me, “I can’t be sure. I smell wolf and the cuts at first glance look like gashes from wolf claws but when you look at them a little deeper you can see that it is not. Whatever was used to cut this woman up was not wolf claws. Wolf claws are sharp and make a nice clean cut. Whatever cut Jane Doe’s face was dull. Whoever did this wanted it to look like a wolf attack.”

I was trying to wrap my mind around what I had pretty much suspected in the first place. I knew there was something off about this case. Not just because of the way her face was gashed open but because of the way the freak ripped her heart out. Willow walks up beside me, slightly brushing me as she did. The hair on my arms stand rigid as my body reacts to her touch.

“May I see the deceased, Doctor Thompson?” she asks politely.

Charles looks at her and then to me. I offer him a quick nod signaling that it was okay. He offers Willow a courteous smile, “Absolutely Miss. Follow me.”

“It’s Willow,” she replies, offering him her hand.

“Right then. Right this way Miss Willow.”

We follow Charles through a small steel door into a long narrow hallway. There are multiple doors that lead into different examination rooms. He leads us to the far end of the hall toward the morgue and opens the door and holds it for us to enter. Xander, Pete, and I stay back while Willow follows Charles to the cooler. Charles grabs the handle of a cooler door and slides it out to reveal the body hidden within its surgical steel walls.

“Here you are. I may need to revisit the body in the future so please refrain from contaminating any potential evidence,” he asks before bowing to me and walking out of the room.

I watch Willow change from the defiant pain in my ass that she was ten minutes ago into a woman with purpose as she circled the body, taking a mental note of anything she deemed noteworthy. She grabbed a latex glove from the table beside her and slipped in on her hand.

“The doc is right. A wolf did not do this, but someone went to great lengths to make it look like one,” she announced as she poked her gloved hand into the wounds on the victim’s face, causing my stomach to churn a little.

“That’s great but can you tell us anything that we haven’t already figured out,” I ask impatiently.

She rolls her eyes at me, “Don’t get your big ol’ wolfy balls in a knot. I’m still looking.”

I close my mouth into a tight thin line. How dare she speak to an alpha that way. I calm myself down and continue to watch as she pokes and prods our Jane Doe. She leans down and sniffs the body, just above the gaping hole in the chest cavity. I may just lose the contents of my stomach. When she is done, she covers the body and returns it to the cooler, sealing the door and locking the handle before coming to stand in front of me.

Her big blue eyes bore into mine, “It appears that you and I have a common enemy. I have to say I am surprised though. Montana isn’t the typical choice for a vampire.”

I am taken aback by her announcement.

“You’re telling me that a vampire did this to her and then purposely made it look like a werewolf did it? Why? We have no dealings with vampires. We have never even met one.”

She shrugs, “I don’t know why but I know without a doubt that this was a vampire. One I can pick up traces of the vamp’s scent. He or she tried to mask it but it’s there. Secondly, it is a vampire’s go-to move to rip a person’s heart from their chest. They usually have to be pretty angry for that so either the girl made him angry, or he was sending a message to the person who pissed him off. Either way, can we say overkill?”

‘What does a vampire smell like,” Xander asks.

Pete steps forward, “It’s difficult to describe really. It’s almost sweet but a bad sweet.”

Willow chuckles at Pete’s description, “Have you ever smelled hot antifreeze when your car overheats? That is what it smells like. It’s sickly sweet.”

Pete nods in agreement with her as Xander looks like he just met Wonder Woman.

“Is there anything else?” I ask.

Her face fell and she nodded her head, “Jane Doe was pregnant. It was too early on for Charles to pick up on it, but she was definitely carrying a wolf pup.”

I knew she was telling the truth. There was a sadness to her that wasn’t there before. How could a werewolf be so careless to have sex with a human? If the vampire wouldn’t have killed her, giving birth to a wolf cub damn sure could have. That is why we have rules in my pack against dating humans let alone having sex with them. There are some packs who allow their members to fraternize with humans but I refuse to risk someone’s life just so my pack can have a little fun while they’re still unmated. The only exception is if their mate is human because I can’t mess with the fate the Moon Goddess has set in motion for someone.

“How are we supposed to figure out if the wolf who knocked her up was one of our own?’ Xander asked to no one in particular.

I look at Willow, “Would you be able to tell who the father is if you came across him?”

She shrugged her beautiful shoulders, “It’s hard to tell. I could give it a try. Just don’t get your hopes up. The scent of the baby was very faint, maybe too faint.”

“What are you going to do, have everyone line up so she can sniff them all like a weirdo?” Xander laughed.

Willow smirked and shook her head before playfully smacking him in the back of the head.

“No dumbass. But as she meets our pack, she can signal me if she comes across him.”

We all nod our heads in agreement. I look back to Willow again and offer her my hand, “Thank you,” she raises her brows and stares at my hand with skepticism, “Seriously. You gave me the only bit of information that made sense.”

She shrugged nonchalantly, “My pleasure.”

“Not to annoy you or anything but can we go now. This place gives me the creeps,” Xander whines.

I roll my eyes and signal for him to lead the way. We pass my Charles in one of the exam rooms, beginning the autopsy of another. I wave to him on our way out.

Spending time in a morgue will make you appreciate the warmth of the outside. As soon as my feet hit the ground, I press the unlock button on the key fab and race to open the door for Willow. No mate of mine will open her own door while I’m around.

She looked at me strangely before climbing into the backseat. I would prefer to have her in the front seat with me like any Luna should be, but I bite back my pride in an effort to show her that I am not the monster she thinks I am.

“Thank you,” she says as I close her door and open my own.

I climb in the SUV, “Here we go,” I say as I put the key in the ignition and turn it, bringing the SUV roaring to life.

The ride back to the pack lands was quiet. It was hard to maintain a positive attitude after you just got done studying a dead body. It makes me wonder how Willow has the stomach for this kind of thing. She didn’t seem fazed in the least bit by the body. She seemed more upset about the baby wolf cub.

The entrance to the pack lands is just ahead, marked by a wooden sign with the Blood River Pack Insignia engraved into it. It was there as a warning for anyone who dare cross into our lands without invitation.

“Okay, we are here,” I announce, stopping the truck just short of the border, “Willow, can I talk to you outside for a sec?”

She seemed surprised that I would request to speak with her. I get it. We did start off on the wrong foot.

“Suuure,” she said, elongating the word so she sounded nervous.

I climb out of the car and open her door to let her out, closing it behind her.

“If this is about pledging my loyalty to you and the pack I-,” I raise my hand, cutting her off.

“I know that we got off on the wrong foot and that right now you are not sure about me. It was selfish of me to demand loyalty from someone who has never met me before today and I know you don’t want it to be true, but you are my mate, Willow. That fact alone means that what is mine is yours, including the protection and loyalty of my pack. So, with that said I am not requiring your pledge for you to enter. I would much rather have you get to know me and trust me before pledging your loyalty. Otherwise, I am no better than the alpha before me.”