Page 83 of A Silent Prodigy for the Lycan Princess

“I’m roaming the dark net,” she says. “I’m not exactly sure what I’m searching for, but I thought it worth a try.”

“Good.” With our tasks all set, I join the main group that’s sitting at the table, with all the pamphlets with our potential victims in front of us. Gustave was right; there are dozens of police reports.

“I’ll call Liam and tell him to check for a tattoo on the wrist of the victim that was found a year ago,” Aurelia says before stepping out to call her brother.

For the next couple of hours, we work in silence. I have our potential victims’ faces memorized and go through police reports now, skimming through them while my eyes are glued on the attached pictures.

In my mind it’s like a whirlwind of images that put themselves together, to be compared before separating again.

No… no… maybe, have to see it again… no… no…

Yes?

I pause, closing my eyes and opening them again, staring at the police report of the body of a 25-year-old man they only found last week. He has a scar on his chin, an old one. I reach out into my mind, digging through the pictures again. No one is like Meg. Meg is special. I believe they have kept her for years,but the others? No, I doubt it. They are not being kept for ages, mostly for months. A scar like that is too old to have been from his kidnappers.

I reach out towards the victim I have in mind, his name popping up in my mind. “Louis,” I say. “Louis Auclair. Where is his folder?”

“Here.” Aurelia hands me his folder, and I open the first page, putting my tablet with the opened police report next to it. Louis was eighteen when he was reported missing.

Everyone’s heads bend over the two files. “They have the same scar,” Aurelia says, her sharp eyes easily catching the most important characteristic. She is incredible.

“He is skinnier and paler than he was when he got abducted,” Emilien says. “But that’s definitely the same person.”

“You’re right,” Leila agrees. “They are altering their looks, though. Look, he was blond when he disappeared, and here he has brown hair.”

“Why are they doing that?” Zoé asks. “If they alter their looks, there must be a reason for it. If they abduct these wolves just to keep them, why change how they look? Why tattoo them?”

“Maybe to alter them to their preference?” Emilien offers. “Isn’t that what a lot of culprits do?”

“Yes, a lot of sexually motivated culprits see one certain person in their victims, but in this case...” I pause. “I’m with Zoé. Our victims vary in looks, age, even gender. There is no way to make them look like the same person.”

“You have a point,” Nox agrees.

“He was found last week,” I say.

“You’re kidding?” Emilien gapes. “This means we can actually take a look at the body! We can compare him and Claire,” he pauses. “I apologize. Sounding excited in such a moment is truly irreverent.”

“We get it,” Leila reassures him. “We are all excited that we found something. We know you aren’t happy that someone died.”

“I found something too,” Zoé says all of a sudden, turning to us with her eyes wide. “And… I think I might know why they alter their looks. Wasn’t there a young teenage girl that only disappeared two weeks ago?”

“Yes.” Nox roams through the pamphlets. “I just looked at hers. Here. Annette Renaud. Our reports say she is a young omega girl, not an orphan. Her father is a single dad and instantly reported her missing.”

“She comes from a pack further into the country, a small one hidden in a forest,” Emilien says. “Their alpha is a good guy and immediately went to search for the girl.”

“Good that he did,” Zoé says, “because look.”

We all step closer to her, looking at her screen. There is Annette’s face looking at us, scared and her eyes swollen. She has red hair in it, not brown like she had when she disappeared. Next to her is a countdown and a number that’s changing.

“What is that?” Leila asks breathlessly.

“An auction,” Zoé says quietly, pointing at the number. “That’s the amount of money the bidders are bidding.”

“That’s why they are changing their looks,” I mutter. “It makes it harder to detect them. Are there more?”

“Yes, this is a special chatroom,” she explains, showing us her interaction with someone named bloodlust57. She’s named herself bl00dy7. “All bidders have names connected to blood. That’s how I found them. There is only Annette being auctioned and this man.” She shows us the picture of a young man, looking rugged and beaten up.

“They tried to hide it, but he was beaten up recently,” I say. “He can’t have disappeared for long.”