Chapter 32

Dylan

After breakfast, Alpha Dimitri leads us into his office. The room is vast, with high ceilings that make it feel almost cavernous. Heavy mahogany furniture fills the space, giving the room an ancient, almost oppressive atmosphere. Everything looks like it’s been here for centuries, well-maintained but undeniably old. Dimitri moves to a cabinet on the side, pours five glasses of expensive-looking cognac, and hands us each a glass. The drink is rich and smoky, a stark contrast to the cold air outside.

We sit around the massive desk, and Alpha Dimitri takes his place in the large chair behind it. He sips his drink slowly, tapping his fingers on the polished wood, the sound echoing in the quiet room.

“Well,” Dimitri began, his deep voice heavy with a Russian accent, “business before pleasure, as you Americans say. Let’s discuss the reasons that brought you here.”

Nathaniel leaned forward, his tone serious. “Alpha Dimitri, our intel informed us about the man found in the forest, and we wanted to know if you could provide more details. We’ve encountered a similar situation back in New York.”

Dimitri nodded gravely. “Of course. A few weeks ago, one of our patrol teams picked up the scent of blood and decay in the woods. They followed it to a waterfall, where we found a man roughly in his forties. His heart was missing, but otherwise, there were no signs of struggle. We believe he was a rogue wolf. We’ve never encountered him before, and there are no other packs nearby.”

“Do you still have the body?” Nathaniel asked, his voice sharp.

“Yes,” Gamma Nikolai replied, his voice free of the thick accent his Alpha and Beta carry. “The body is in our morgue. I can take you there if you wish.”

We agreed, and Gamma Nikolai led us to the pack’s hospital. As we walk, I couldn’t help but comment, “Your English is impressive, Gamma. You don’t have the accent like the others.”

He offers a small smile. “Yes, my mother is from a pack in California, and I was born there. My father was the Gamma here, so I returned to Moscow after my training.”

“A fellow American,” Nathaniel remarks, giving him a nod.

The rest of the walk is silent, the air growing colder as we move deeper into the pack’s territory. Eventually, we reach an old building behind the main house. Gamma Nikolai swipes a card, and the elevator hums as we descend to the lower levels. The corridor we walk through is dimly lit, the sterile scent of antiseptic thick in the air. It’s unsettling, like the walls themselves hold secrets.

We enter a cold, clinical room where an elderly man in a lab coat sits at a small desk, reading a newspaper. Nikolai speaks to him in rapid Russian, and the man stands, nodding before moving to one of the freezers. He pulls out a body covered by a white sheet and gently rolls it to the center of the room.

When the sheet is pulled back, the sight is… familiar. Stitches crisscross the corpse, a result of the autopsy, but the gaping hole where the heart should be is the most striking feature. My eyes scan the body, moving from the feet to the face, and something in the man’s features sends a chill down my spine. A strange familiarity.

I glanced at Nathaniel and saw the same confusion mirrored in his eyes.

“Gamma Nikolai,” I said, my voice steady despite the unease crawling through me, “can you ask him to turn the body around?”

Nikolai repeats the request in Russian, and the doctor complies, carefully turning the body. As the corpse shifts, something catches Nathaniel’s eye.

“What’s that on his shoulder?” he asked, his tone sharp.

We both step closer, inspecting the body. There, just above the shoulder blade, is a mark. It’s faint, almost burned into the skin. But it’s not just a burn - it’s a symbol. A symbol I recognize immediately.

The Crimson Rose crest.

I look at Nathaniel, and the shock in his eyes tells me he’s reached the same conclusion. The rogue… he was one of them. One of Rosemary’s pack.

Nathaniel’s voice cuts through the thick silence, steady but filled with tension. “Thank you, Gamma Nikolai. And please thank the doctor for us.”

We walk out of the room, leaving the coldness of the morgue behind, but the weight of what we’ve seen clings to us.

Let’s go to the woods. We need to talk alone, Nathaniel’s voice echoes through the mind-link.

Agreed, I respond, already feeling the knot of tension tightening in my chest.

As we step outside, the frigid air bites at my skin, but it does little to numb the questions racing through my mind. What does this mean for Rosemary? For our pack? We’ve uncovered something, but it feels like the beginning of something much darker. Something that’s been hidden for far too long.

***

“I think it’s time you share your theory with me, buddy,” Nathaniel said, his voice tense as we walked deeper into the forest. The trees closed in around us, the air heavy with the weight of our discovery.

I hesitated, glancing at him. “I’m not sure how it all adds up yet.”

Nathaniel stops in his tracks and turns to me, frustration clear in his expression. “Dylan, we need anything we can get after seeing Mer’s pack symbol on a dead man.” His voice rises, almost shouting. I get it. He’s right. This is too important to hold back.

“Okay, okay,” I concede, taking a deep breath. “If I’m not mistaken, there’s an old myth. A summoning spell. Some witch’s ritual that requires three specific hearts: one from a witch, one from a werewolf, and one from a hybrid. But I don’t know the specifics beyond that.”

Nathaniel looked at me, his brows furrowed. “And now we have a dead werewolf, and I’m assuming that the person from the club was a witch. But hybrids? They’re all long extinct. There hasn’t been a trace of one in over a century.”

“Perhaps something is making Andromeda believe otherwise,” I said, my mind racing as the pieces started to click together.

“Maybe,” Nathaniel muttered, his voice low, “but we can’t be certain that it’s Andromeda behind this.”

“So let’s look at the facts,” I said, trying to ground us both. “We need to figure out what a werewolf from Mer’s extinct pack was doing here in Russia, of all places, nearly two decades after they were wiped out. Something’s not adding up, and we need answers. Let’s visit the murder site and see if we can sense or smell anything.”

“I agree,” Nathaniel said, running a hand through his hair, clearly trying to keep calm. “We’ll speak to Alpha Dimitri tomorrow morning. But first, we need to speak with Ethan. His Luna is involved, whether we like it or not. He’s not going to want to wait until we’re back home to hear this.”

I nod, understanding the gravity of what we’ve stumbled upon. If Ethan finds out that Rosemary’s pack is somehow tied to a ritual that involves murder - well, let’s just say things could go south quickly. He’s been on edge ever since Andromeda resurfaced, and this? This could push him over.

I take a deep breath, the tension in my shoulders easing slightly. “For today, though, let’s grab a drink. I need to decompress before we drop this bombshell on Ethan. And I want to hear everything about your cute little boyfriend.” My lips twitched into a smirk.

He rolls his eyes, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Bro, you’re an idiot.”

“A proud one at that,” I said with a laugh, the tension breaking between us for a brief moment.