The Nameless Dead

Chapter 16

The Nameless Dead

Devin found his father already awake.

Which wasn't surprising.

Alpha Rowan Hunter seemed to require less sleep whenever there was a problem threatening the pack.

Unfortunately, Silverwood had several.

The investigation.

The unknown scent.

The dead wolf.

And whatever had been moving through the eastern forests.

Devin stepped into the Alpha's office carrying a stack of reports.

Rowan looked up from his desk.

"You've started making that expression."

"What expression?"

"The one that says you've been thinking too much."

Devin sat down.

"That's rich coming from you."

His father smirked.

Fair.

For a few moments, both worked in silence.

Then a knock sounded at the door.

"Come in."

Beta Garrett entered carrying several folders.

"We received responses."

That immediately got both Hunters' attention.

Responses meant answers.

Or at least the possibility of them.

Garrett placed the documents on Rowan's desk.

"The neighboring packs identified the wolf."

Devin straightened.

For nearly a week the dead wolf had remained a mystery.

Now, finally, they had a name.

"Who was he?"

Garrett opened one of the reports.

"Elias Voss."

The name meant nothing to Devin.

Apparently Rowan felt the same.

Garrett continued.

"No known pack affiliation."

"A rogue?" Devin asked.

The Beta shook his head.

"No."

That surprised him.

Most lone wolves eventually became rogues.

The distinction mattered.

"Elias traveled."

Garrett flipped through another report.

"Worked as a tracker."

"A tracker for whom?" Rowan asked.

"No one."

The answer made Devin frown.

Garrett looked equally puzzled.

"He moved between territories. Sometimes hired. Sometimes not."

"Why?"

The Beta's expression darkened.

"That's where things get interesting."

Silence settled over the office.

Garrett placed another report on the desk.

"He'd spent the last year investigating disappearances."

Devin sat forward.

His father did the same.

"What disappearances?"

Garrett opened the file.

"Wolves."

A chill moved down Devin's spine.

"Wolves from where?"

"Everywhere."

The Beta tapped several names written across the report.

"Different territories."

"Different packs."

"No shared bloodlines."

"No common rank."

The list didn't make sense.

Until Garrett pointed at a map.

And then it did.

Every disappearance occurred near the eastern forests.

The forests shared by Silverwood and Blackthorn.

Suddenly the room felt much smaller.

"How many?" Rowan asked.

Garrett grimaced.

"No one knows."

Not an answer the Alpha enjoyed.

"How many confirmed?"

The Beta hesitated.

"At least six."

Devin's stomach tightened.

Six wolves.

Missing.

Gone.

Without explanation.

Over the course of a single year.

"How did nobody connect this?"

Garrett nodded toward the map.

"Because the packs didn't talk."

The answer was frustratingly simple.

Each disappearance belonged to a different territory.

A different Alpha.

A different investigation.

No one had seen the larger pattern.

Until Elias Voss.

And now he was dead.

---

An hour later, Devin stood before the large map wall in the council room.

The eastern forests stretched across several territories.

A vast wilderness few wolves explored completely.

The perfect place for something to hide.

"The body changes everything," Rowan said quietly.

Devin nodded.

Before, they had suspicions.

Now they had evidence.

A dead tracker.

Missing wolves.

Repeated border disturbances.

Someone was operating in those forests.

The question was who.

And why.

A clerk entered carrying another box.

"What's that?"

Garrett accepted it.

"Elias's belongings."

Interesting.

The three wolves gathered around the table while Garrett sorted through the contents.

Clothing.

Camping supplies.

Maps.

A hunting knife.

Several notebooks.

Then a leather journal appeared.

Everyone stopped.

Garrett carefully opened it.

Most of the pages were covered in notes.

Names.

Territories.

Dates.

Devin immediately began reading.

The deeper he went, the worse he felt.

Elias had been tracking the disappearances for months.

Longer than anyone realized.

Trying to connect clues.

Trying to identify a pattern.

Trying to find whoever was responsible.

Then the entries suddenly became sparse.

As though the tracker had become cautious near the end.

Several pages had been torn out completely.

Someone had removed them.

Deliberately.

"That's convenient," Garrett muttered.

"Or concerning," Rowan replied.

Devin flipped toward the end.

The final readable page contained only a few lines.

The handwriting looked rushed.

Uneven.

The writing of a wolf who had been running out of time.

The last entry read:

"The trail keeps leading back to Shadow Pines Camp."

Nothing else.

No explanation.

No map coordinates.

Just a name.

Garrett frowned.

"Have you heard of it?"

Rowan shook his head.

"No."

Devin tried the name again in his mind.

Shadow Pines Camp.

It sounded familiar.

Yet he couldn't place it.

"Old settlement?" he guessed.

"Maybe."

Garrett looked unconvinced.

"Abandoned outpost?"

"Possible."

None of them knew.

And that bothered Devin more than it should have.

Because a dead tracker had clearly considered the location important.

Important enough to record as his final clue.

---

The rest of the day passed in meetings.

Planning.

Reports.

The kind of leadership work Devin had grown increasingly involved in.

At one point, Rowan dismissed everyone except his son.

The office fell quiet.

"You're doing well."

The unexpected praise caught Devin off guard.

"That's suspicious."

Rowan laughed.

"I'm serious."

Devin relaxed slightly.

His father rarely offered compliments without reason.

Which made them matter when he did.

"The pack is starting to look to you."

The words carried weight.

Responsibility.

Expectation.

Trust.

Normally that would have been enough to occupy all of Devin's thoughts.

Today it wasn't.

His mind kept drifting elsewhere.

To the investigation.

To the missing wolves.

To Jade.

Specifically, to the way she had noticed details everyone else missed.

The scent trail.

The forest.

The border.

She had become unexpectedly valuable to this investigation.

And a surprisingly effective training partner.

The realization made him shake his head.

"What?"

Rowan asked.

"Nothing."

The Alpha's expression immediately said he didn't believe that.

Fortunately, another knock interrupted before the conversation could continue.

A messenger entered carrying fresh correspondence from Blackthorn.

More reports.

More patrol findings.

More questions.

Not enough answers.

By sunset, they still knew almost nothing about Shadow Pines Camp.

Nothing about the missing wolves.

And nothing about who had murdered Elias Voss.

Yet as Devin stood looking out over Silverwood from the Alpha House balcony later that evening, one thought refused to leave him.

Elias Voss hadn't died because he found nothing.

He had died because he found something.

Something worth killing for.

And somewhere in the eastern forests, whatever he had uncovered was still waiting for them to find it.