Page 13 of A Wolf’s Wound

Ryder

I’m woken from dreams of Hannah by Evan shaking me. Asshole.

“What?” My voice is rough with sleep, and my dick aches something fierce.

“Gavin needs us all in the study right away,” my youngest brother tells me.

I shake my head to chase away the image of Hannah, naked in my arms. Then I move to sit up before pausing to make sure the blankets are bunched over my morning wood. “Why?”

Evan shrugs, looking uncharacteristically somber. “I don’t know. But one of the wolves who was patrolling the forest last night came in about an hour ago and looked really shaken up.”

That news is enough to drive all thoughts of Hannah out of my head—and body. I jump out of bed and pull on the jeans and shirt I wore yesterday. Then I follow Evan to the study, where my other brothers are already gathered. Our mom stands beside Gavin as he sits behind his desk.

“Okay,” Gavin says as soon as I close the door, shrouding us from other ears. I take a seat next to Michael, and Evan sits down in the other empty chair. “Here’s the situation. A body was found in the woods early this morning.”

At his words I remember I never told him about the body I found. I meant to, but that scene with Hannah at the veterinary clinic drove all other thoughts from my mind.

“It was smashed up,” Gavin goes on. “All of the bones broken.”

“All of them?” Thomas interrupts.

“Yes,” Gavin answers. “The muscles were torn too. Whatever happened was bad.”

I clear my throat and everyone looks at me. Goody. “I found a body in the woods yesterday. By the big clearing in the southern section of the forest. Could it be the same one?”

“No.” Gavin shakes his head. “This was found on the western edge. Why didn’t you tell us about the other body?”

“With everything going on, I forgot.” I grimace.

Gavin’s brow furrows, but he doesn’t say anything.

Epitome of the disappointed alpha. “I was going to. I know this means you’re in charge of all the investigations now,” I add, hoping to mollify him.

It seems to work as Gavin’s face relaxes, and he nods.

“We’re glad you told us now,” my mother says. “And I don’t think this delay would have made a difference. From what we can tell, the body discovered this morning had been dead for over twenty-four hours.”

“We’ll send a team out to find the body in the clearing and bring it in for an examination,” Gavin decides. “Ryder, you asked if they could be the same. Was the body you found damaged in the same way?”

I nod. “Every single bone was broken. I couldn’t tell if all of the muscles were torn, but a lot of them were. It was brutal.”

“Sounds like the same manner of death,” my mom murmurs, her face pinched and worried.

“What could be causing these deaths?” Thomas asks. “I’ve never heard of a creature that could do that kind of damage.”

“There aren’t many creatures that could destroy a person in this way,” our mother answers him.

“And of the few that can, none have ever been spotted around Stonehaven. Not during your father’s time.

While it’s possible this could have been an attack from a human, it’s difficult to imagine that one person, or even several people, could have done this undetected and left no trace. ”

“Could it be another pack trying to destroy us?” Michael asks. We all know he’s talking about the Blackwood pack. Maybe Mason’s decided to go back on his word?

Gavin shakes his head. “I talked to Blackwood earlier. He swears that they’re abiding by our agreement. And I don’t believe he’d do anything to threaten Hannah’s safety. I also don’t think wolves would cause this kind of destruction although that may just be wishful thinking.”

“It’s not,” our mother says decisively. “Wolves are never this violent.” She nibbles her lower lip. “Though there is another possible cause.” Mom looks to me. “Ryder, the body you found—was it a shifter or a human?”

“Human, definitely.”

“So was the one found this morning. We could be seeing the effects of humans trying to become shifters,” our mother replies.

“What do you mean?” Evan pipes up, ever curious.

“You all know it’s incredibly rare that a human successfully survives the transition to shifter,” our mom explains. “There’s only one chance in a hundred that they will live to tell the tale.”

Jackson, the quietest of my brothers, lets out a low whistle. “And if they don’t, this is what happens to their bodies?”

“Unfortunately, yes.” Our mother clears her throat. “It seems likely that in both cases, the shift didn’t take.”

“I thought that a bite from a shifter was guaranteed to make a human change,” Evan says.

“There are no guarantees,” our mother says sadly. “The odds are very, very low. The only exception is if the person’s mate is the one biting them, or if the mate is nearby. Their presence is enough to help support the human through the change.”

“So just being bitten by a random wolf is the risky approach,” Michael says, and our mother nods.

We all sit with this information for a few minutes.

I don’t know what my brothers are thinking, but my thoughts are with Hannah.

I don’t know why I feel this strong, almost undeniable pull toward her, but it’s not going away.

In fact, after yesterday’s kiss, it’s stronger than ever.

That kiss! That fucking incredible, amazing kiss. I never wanted it to end.

Yet once it did, all I could do was leave. I didn’t know what to say to Hannah, much less April. So, I fled like a coward and left Hannah there to deal with her friend’s anger alone.

A bolt of shame shoots through me as I remember the look on Hannah’s face. I’d been mad at her words, but her face… I should have believed the yearning look in her eyes, not the words coming out of her mouth. I now see that those words were meant to placate April.

But Hannah’s a human. So, no matter what I feel for her, it’s pointless.

I can never have a future with a human. And attempting to change Hannah into a shifter will more than likely kill her.

The idea that what happened to these other two people could happen to Hannah because of me is almost more than I can stand.

I need to stop thinking about Hannah. Which is especially difficult because this shirt still smells like her.

I’m hyperaware of the scents of vanilla and lavender filling my nose, touched by just the slightest edge of citrus.

It’s so strong I can’t believe no one else is sniffing the air or at least looking my way, hunting the scent because it’s so delicious.

I shift in my chair, hoping that moving my body will dislodge another thought—any other thought. But what flashes through my mind is Hannah, the first time I saw her. In her apartment, being attacked by the councilman—

The councilman! I sit up straight.

“ Wait ,” I say out loud, and everyone looks to me. “The councilman. His body wasn’t torn up in the same way. His bones weren’t broken and his muscles weren’t torn. But he was still really badly damaged when I found him. Ripped up, ripped apart .”

Gavin nods, no doubt remembering the corpse on the exam table. Our mother stares at me, and I see that she’s already reached the same conclusion that I have.

“But the councilman was already a shifter,” I go on. “Why would he have died in such a gruesome way too? No one would have bitten him and triggered the change.”

“That’s a good question, Ryder,” our mother says. “Gavin, did the examination turn up anything?”

“Not yet,” Gavin says. “Just that something tore him up, but we already knew that.”

“Something, or some one ?” our mother asks softly.

None of us have a response to that. But I know that we have to figure out what is going on.

Not just to protect Stonehaven and our family, but to protect Hannah too.