3

SHADOW

“I can’t believe this is happening.” I slumped my butt onto the couch.

“This is different, Shadow,” Lyon said as he sat on the chair across mine.

I wasn’t convinced because I felt it was a déjà vu all over again. It had been months since the attack at the compound, and I hadn’t fully recovered from what we lost— our fallen. I was still visited by that nightmare of watching Zack dying in my arms. I couldn’t go through that again.

“Hey.” I felt Zack’s hand on my knee, causing Califf to groan. In an instant, his hand was gone. “No one would ever cross Alpha. This is not a work of our pack.”

“How do you know it’s not one of us?” I looked him in the eye. He was worried.

I felt everyone’s emotions— they were all worried. They knew we were all in danger if someone would make such a ruthless attack on a helpless human.

“Unless someone catches a virus, no one will do it intentionally. Everyone knows the punishment is death,” Lyon said promptly.

Califf hadn’t said a word, but I felt his eyes on me as he rounded to sit on his desk. I lifted my chin, meeting his gaze. “What’s on your mind?”

“I don’t know who would hurt a human, but I will find out, and if someone from our pack did this, he would pay a merciless death. I will make sure of it.” His voice dropped icy cold. His jaw locked, and I could feel his anger radiating through him.

I touched his knee. “After what happened months ago, no one would ever try to cross you, Alpha. Relax. Your anger is brewing through you. It’s affecting me.”

A soft knock interrupted us.

“Come in,” he said dryly.

Zack and Lyon stood up.

Duke emerged. “Sheriff Carter is here, Califf.” He did not use the word alpha.

The sheriff— the new sheriff was here? I shut my mouth close.

“Relax,” Califf said through our link. “Let him come in.”

The sheriff walked in, in uniform, with a hat and an envelope in his grasp. He was medium built in his thirties, blond with brown eyes.

“I’m Sheriff Carter Wade.” He offered a handshake.

“Califf Stone.” My mate gripped his hand.

“You have a pretty strong grip there, Mister Stone,” the sheriff said confidently. His heartbeat, on the other hand, beat so fast.

“I do extensive workouts. This is my wife, Shadow, and my associates, Lyon and Zack, and you’ve met Duke.”

“Yeah. I saw Lyon earlier at the crime scene.”

“Please, have a seat.” Califf motioned.

“I’m good. I wanna speak to you in private. If you don’t mind.”

“Is it okay if my wife stays?”

“Of course.”

Califf nodded at Lyon. Zack and Duke left, and Lyon followed, closing the door behind them.

Once we were alone with the sheriff, Califf said, “I heard what happened outside my property.”

“Let’s cut to the chase, shall we?” The sheriff began, making me swallow. “I know what you are.”

“Excuse me?” My back stiffened at his words. My heart beat uncomfortably fast. I thought I was going to have a heart attack before the sheriff.

 However, Califf didn’t even react as if he heard that every day. My heart was still in my throat when he asked coolly, “What do you mean, Sheriff?”

“You’re a werewolf. An Alpha.” And then he looked at me. “And she’s your Luna.”

Califf laughed flatly. “A what?”

“I’m not here to cause you any trouble. My guess is the PD in town doesn’t know what you are. Me, on the other hand, I’ve met and have friends of your kind.”

“If you’re here to talk nonsense, I have no time to waste, Sheriff, but if you want to ask about the incident, my family and I will cooperate with you because the last thing I want is to involve the people I protect with murder.”

“I know Alpha Knight. I came from California. As I said, I’m not here to make any trouble. I know what you guys are capable of. The last thing I want is to get myself shredded to pieces. Trust me. The first time I found out about your existence, I couldn’t sleep for days, but I got used to the fact that werewolves, witches, and vampires exist. Call Alpha Knight if you have doubts, and I know werewolves are protective and cynical.”

“What do you want?” Califf’s voice was firm and deadly. He showed no emotion, much less enthusiasm, that a sheriff knew our existence.

“Cooperation. That’s all. I will leave you in peace. I just want to know who killed Jesse Miller. We both know for a fact that it was not an act of humans unless someone has an artificial Wolverine’s hand. Then that ruled out as murder.”

“I will hold myself accountable if my family has involvement with that brutal killing. We may have beasts inside us, but we have laws to uphold. And trust me, if proven guilty, I will hand them to you. You have my word.”

“I heard good things about you. I wouldn’t have come here if you were not a good man, Alpha Califf. I trust your judgment, and you would do the right thing if a member of your pack did it.”

“Like I said. You have my word.” His tone remained hard and cold. He didn’t even blink.

“Your secret is safe until I die.” He stood up. “Mind if I ask you something?”

“Go ahead.”

“Does any of you catch a virus?”

“Me and Shadow just arrived yesterday from our honeymoon, but I haven’t received a report of someone catching a disease.”

“Congratulations.”

“Thank you, but why you were asking about a virus?”

“I’m not accusing anyone of anything. I’m just investigating what happened, and I didn’t want to get another report of a dead body. I hope you understand. I just want to know if anyone here is sick.”

“I will let you know if someone catches a virus. And I understand, considering it happened near my land. Are you sure it’s not a bear attack?”

“I’m sure Lyon told you the extent of the injury. The laceration.”

“We were attacked a few months ago and have refugees with us. The tendency of getting attacked outside my territory is considerably huge. But I will be honest if I get a report from my doctor.”

“Thank you. Feel free to contact my office if you find something.”

“Sheriff, mind if we see a picture of the corpse?” I asked.

“Of course.” He opened the envelope and handed me the copies.

I took them from him. The first picture was the whole body. The man was around his thirties, medium build, wearing a white shirt and a dark brown leather jacket. His body was filled with blood.

I forwarded the picture to Califf and looked at the second copy taken in the morgue. The dead body was shirtless, showing substantial claw marks on his chest. I swallowed hard as I remembered the picture of Kent thrown at me in that confinement.

“Are you okay?” Califf asked.

“Yeah. It reminds me of Kent,” I said via the pack link and gave him the picture. “Looks familiar?”

He breathed through his nose and nodded. “Yeah.”

“Are you sure this man is human?” I asked the sheriff.

“Yes.”

“How do you know he’s not a werewolf?” Califf asked.

“No one came to claim. Usually, you guys don’t come alone. I see authority when I see one. I recognized your Beta instantly, and of course, you, Alpha.”

“Why would someone do this to him? What did he do?”

“I have no idea. I’ll be checking if he has criminal records. I sent a picture to Alpha Knight, but he didn’t recognize him either.”

“Knight is a good man. He’s my ally.”

“Yes, he is. He said good things about you and warned me not to cross you.”

“As long as you won’t hurt my people, we’re good.”

“I won’t dare unless I have a good reason. And I don’t think someone will believe me if I say you’re a werewolf.” Sheriff Wade chuckled.

I gave back the pictures. “We’ll do our best to help you find who did this. This could be just an accident or just the beginning. This incident can be a threat to us, too.”

“Since I can’t prove anything, I will rule this out as an animal attack, but help me find out who did this.”

“I give you my word, sheriff. This incident is also unsettling.”

“Thank you.”

Once the sheriff’s car left, I grabbed my phone and dialed Zarah. This time, she picked it up.

“How’s the honeymoon?”

“Good to know that you’re not having Alzheimer’s.” I inhaled a noisy rush.

“Imagine the odds, but I have coven duty, Shadow.” She sounded bored.

“What about my training?”

“You will start on Monday. Why are you calling me?” She hooted. Gee. She could be so cold and mercenary sometimes.

I rolled my eyes. “Do you know any werewolves have caught the virus recently?”

“No. Why?”

“A dead human with claw marks on his chest found outside our territory.”

“Are you sure it’s not done by one of you?”

“I’m not sure, but why would they do that?” I heaved a sigh.

“I don’t know, Shadow. When was the last time you talked to your father?”

“Last week. Why?”

“Is your mate with you?”

“I’m listening, Zarah,” Califf interjected.

“Be careful. Both of you. Warn your pack.”

My shock was so great I gasped. I took a moment to reorient with her warning. “About what? You’re scaring me.” I felt goosebumps erupt all over my skin. My wolf instantly became agitated with that kind of warning.

“Warn your allies. That incident could be a bait to prevail your existence, Alpha.”

My throat tightened as I listened to her. I barely blinked. I even forgot how to breathe.

“What do you mean, Zarah? Care to elaborate?” His tone turned hard.

“I thought Alpha King informed you. He said he didn’t want to alarm you while you were on your honeymoon and rush you to go home.”

“What is it about?” Califf finally toned down as he felt my emotions everywhere.

“There have been attacks in the south three weeks ago. They were targeting werewolves. Two alphas were dead, and betas and some members were burned beyond recognition in their wolf forms before they could shift. Just be careful.”

“Oh, my God.” I jerked as I felt a hand on my back, turning my head at Califf. “Who would do something like that?”

“Hunters.”