Chapter 39

Damien

“Goddess,” I shook my head, “What did you do, Peter?” I looked at his mangled body on the ground, knowing that we couldn’t leave him here in this condition. Anytime wolves were to blame for crime in the city, there was hell to pay. So, if a wolf was suspected, it meant that any wolf small business owner, bar, restaurant, or entrepreneur felt it.

“Alpha, should we alert the human authorities? Try to get ahead of it?” Lyulf asked, just as Rolf arrived and gasped at the scene.

“Fucking rogues did this,” Rolf said, “I know it. Those fucks that wrecked last night.” I didn’t think he was wrong, but I saw Katla wince as the memory and then recompose herself to looking at the scene, lost in thought.

“That may be,” I said, “But, we don’t know for sure. Look at these marks,” I said pointing to his shoulder and the broken crescent on his ankle. “Have you ever seen anything like this?”

“Who would’ve marked him like that? He’s a human!” Rolf said, as he started to inspect the branding. “This though, it’s the logo for the Broken Crescent bar, and a lot of the wolves that hang out there have it tattooed on them. The vertical line with the two horizontals though, it looks like something off of a rune.”

“Rolf, you’re a genius. I know I made fun of you for hanging around the Broken Crescent, but you’re a fucking genius,” I said, as I snapped a picture of the branding on Peter’s leg. “You’re going to need to go back to the bar though. Something tells me someone there knows something, but be careful, and don’t mention Peter.”

Katla spoke up, “Look what I found,” she said, passing her phone to me. “When Rolf said it looked like a rune, I remembered some symbols I had seen a long time ago, as a child. So, I went to the place on the phone you told me to go to find information–”

“The Internet?”

“Yes, that thing, and typed in what the symbol looked like. It’s the same symbol that my grandfather used to have tattooed onto our criminals who were bound Omega servants. It is a rune symbol- Rolf, you are a genius. This was burned into his skin instead of being tattooed, though. I think someone was trying to say that they owned Peter, and given the crescent moon shape with the, I’m going to say it was wolves.”

I looked at Katla’s phone to see what she had found. The symbol on Peter’s ankle was a binding rune, a spell that had been created for a specific purpose. The two horizontal lines indicated that he was tied to another entity as a slave. I had heard that he had been spending more time at the Broken Crescent, and everything was pointing us to that as the next stop. “Rolf, are you good with going there before the news breaks?” I said looking at Peter’s lifeless form.

“On it,” and he turned and walked back to the Benz he drove here. “I’ll let you know what I find out” he called over his shoulder.

Katla continued looking at Peter. “Has anyone checked his pockets?”

Lyulf, looking almost offended that she would ask, knelt down, and began looking. He took Peter’s wallet from his pants, and looked through the cards. “This one is interesting,” he said, holding up a crisp card from a pawn shop not too far from here.

“Katla and I will follow that lead,” I said, “Gamma, can you see to this looking…accidental?” I asked.

‘Yes, sir. Do you want him to remain here, or relocated?” he asked back.

“Whatever you think is best. Also, make sure the mark and brand are, well, you know,” I said, feeling ashamed about this happening to Peter, an all around wonderful human, under my nose.

“Yes, Alpha,” he said, sensing my uneasiness with the situation.

Katla and I walked in silence to the address listed a couple blocks away, the neon light flickered glowing PAWN in bright red letters. The door had bars, and a button to call for the door to unlock. Signs throughout the windows offered “cash fast,” and “paycheck advances,” and “money transfers.” There were faded signs for calling cards that had long gone out of fashion for calling “international” human places. They also offered the largest assortment of wolf bite preventing silver jewelry and wolf repellants. I paused and took a small box from my pocket.

Katla watched as I opened the box and popped brown contact lenses over my own red hues. “Humans find red eyes … unsettling,” I said, “And I’ve found they trust this more. It helps me blend in. You’ll be ok, don’t worry.”

I pressed the button, and Katla stood close by my side. All of a sudden, she startled, “Did you hear that?”