Page 27 of Our Haunted Omegas (Moonscale Heirs Duet #1)

We walked in silence the rest of the way there.

First came the basket and the little mountains of clothes that Odie and Cobalt had left behind when they fled the woods via the sky.

Then through the trees and foliage was the body.

Teal had covered Reve up from the neck down with a tarp.

He and three other men stood in a circle around the body.

Two of the men faced the body and Teal and another faced outward as if they were trying to see in every direction.

“Hey, Teal,” Crilus grinned and I rolled my eyes.

“He’s not Teal’s mate. He should leave him alone. He’s not—” my wolf started but I ignored him.

I didn’t care if he humped Teal right here in these woods as long as he solved the murder first. Teal wasn’t mine or Odie’s.

Sure, something was off about the elf and I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life around him but if Teal was anything like his brothers, he’d stop messing around once he found his true-mate.

“Hey, Cri,” Teal managed a tired grin. He smelled genuinely happy to see us all and I almost hugged him before I realized it was Indigo’s instinct and not mine.

What? Was he not allowed to hug his brother in front of his friends?

They didn’t seem all that big and bad. They might be dragons but that didn’t mean anything.

Hell, I saw so many dragons blown--- I shook my head to stop the memory.

This wasn’t the time nor the place for those memories to come bumrushing into my brain.

“I hate to say it but I’m going to have to see the body,” Crilus frowned.

I rolled my eyes. That much was obvious. To solve a murder, you had to look at the damn body. Indigo squeezed my hand and pulled me into a hug.

“I can hug him. I just figure everyone should focus on Reve. He was a good guy. I mean, obviously, he didn’t respect anyone’s privacy but outside of that he was decent, I think,” Indigo said.

“I’m sorry about your friend—”

“He wasn’t my friend exactly but no one deserves to die like that. Well, no one deserves to die like that for taking photos. Not without a trial and all that anyway. Hell, I don’t know.”

Cobalt glanced away because unlike his brother he would’ve killed him for taking those photos.

“Too bad someone stomped on the camera,” Teal said, shooting daggers at Cobalt with his eyes.

“I did---” Odie started but Teal shook his head.

“I know who told you to. It’s not the first time he killed one of Reve’s cameras.”

“That’s because Reve was behind the dick pic leak,” Crilus said, squatting down near the newly exposed corpse.

“Did you always know that?” Cobalt asked.

“Who else could’ve done it? Don’t look at me like that,” Crilus frowned at the corpse. “I wasn’t over here when it happened. It wasn’t me but yeah, he runs a site that sells celebrity dick pics. Someone bought it and spread it around in a group text message.”

“How do you know about it?” I growled.

“People get drunk, and they talk. I own a bar,” he shrugged. “This isn’t a wraith.”

“Duh,” I rolled my eyes again and Indigo hugged me tighter.

“What is it then?” Cobalt asked.

“This feels like residue from a haunted object,” Crilus frowned. “It’s still here. Probably on him. I hope someone tells his family to cleanse his belongings. Whatever he brought along with him must’ve had a bone to pick.”

The elf pushed himself upright and frowned at me.

“I didn’t sleep with Indigo. I didn’t leak the dick pic.

I didn’t come here to seduce anyone with my bare feet.

I came here as a favor for my friends. If you’re anti-elf, you should know Clarence started most of those wars.

If it’s something else just spit it out.

I have a feeling we’re going to cross paths a lot in our lives. ”

I opened my mouth to say we absolutely were not going to cross paths, but I stopped short. What the hell did he mean that we were going to cross paths?

“Give it back, Crilus,” Indigo sighed.

“Give what back?” Crilus blinked at us.

“The scale. Which one of us did you snatch it from you shiny-mania bird?” Indigo laughed.

Crilus glowered at me and yanked off the necklace and handed it over. Yep. That dark scale belonged to my mate.

“It was a protection charm, asshole,” Crilus rolled his eyes.

“You have to ask before you—” I started.

“I found it on the floor at the bar. It was just a scale. So, I made use of it,” Crilus rolled his eyes again.

“It’s okay, Crilus,” Teal chimed in. “You can have one of mine. We’ll wait with Reve, guys, you all should try to get some sleep.”

“Was that really all it was?” Odie asked me.

“I guess. He’s still annoying,” I shrugged.

“Sometimes you just don’t like people. I don’t like him eith---” Odie started as a shadowy hand grabbed onto Crilus’s shoulder.

I startled away and Indigo shoved me behind him.

“What the actual fuck?” the words tumbled off my lips before I had time to think about it.

That was the same hand I’d seen playing out over and over again in Cobalt’s memories.

Cobalt made to grab for the hand but Crilus grabbed his wrist and shook his head.

When the elf was sure the dragon wasn’t about to snatch at the shadow hand again, he let go of him and turned his attention to the hand digging its ethereal fingers into his skin.

“We walk now,” Crilus said.

“Where to?” Teal asked.

“No, you be my eyes here. You’re the most clear-headed person around right now,” Crilus shook his head. “Watch Reve for anything strange to happen. Just watch and don’t get eaten or turned into sliced ham, okay?”

“Are you calling me a pig?” Teal laughed.

“No, you’re a ham,” Crilus said, too cheerful for my liking.

Why would you be cheerful when a haunting shadow spirit was holding onto you.

“I don’t like this,” Cobalt announced and Odie frowned.

Crilus turned to walk away and we followed on his heels.

The hand was disembodied as if some great shadow man reached out of the void or through the veils between worlds and latched onto him.

Magic thrummed in the air, buzzing and zipping around.

I squinted, wanting to see what made so much noise but couldn’t.

The hand didn’t fade with the passage of distance or time.

What was Crilus hoping to accomplish? Did he think he could drag the spirit away from the object it haunted?

“I don’t really like this either,” Odie said over our link.

“I mean, he’s annoying. His energy is all buzzy and…

. I don’t like this. He doesn’t deserve to die like that.

Hell, Reve didn’t either and…. Hell, I think he’s going into heat.

That’s probably it. He’s annoying because he’s going into heat and he’s around our mates and we’re not pregnant and… ”

I glanced at Crilus again, wondering how I could get a better sniff of him to see if Odie was right but when my eyes locked on him the hand was gone, and he’d stopped midstep.

Cobalt held his breath and Odie copied him.

I squeezed my friend’s hand, willing him to breathe.

Just because it cut Reve up as a tentacle after it disappeared as a hand didn’t mean it would do the same to Crilus.

The elf put his other foot on the ground and turned to face us. He dug his big toe into the grass and dirt to mark the spot.

“I guess this is the radius the spirit can travel from whatever object is on Reve,” Crilus grinned.

“You should mark it better and maybe text Teal to send one of his friends out to measure. It might be important for whoever ends up with Reve’s belongings next.

Who’s going to tell his family that he’s gone?

His mama is going to be beside herself.”

Cobalt rubbed the back of his neck. Reve had been behind the dick pic scandal and had probably taken creepy photos of him and Odie messing around.

“Not one of us,” Indigo shook his head. “We’ll leave that to our grandparents. If we do it, I’ll tell them the truth about the perverted little lizard.”

“Well, I guess that decides it then. I’ll stay until they move the body in case there’s any more problems,” Crilus smiled and performed an exaggerated curtsy.

“Get Teal to give you some pheromone blocker spray. We’re not creeps, but this place is about to be buzzing with people. I don’t know that we can count on everyone to behave.”

“They’ll behave or I’ll nail their hands up on my trophy wall at the bar,” Crilus said, stepping past us and heading back toward the murder scene.

“He’s going into heat, right?” I asked aloud, double-checking.

“Yeah,” Cobalt nodded. “I didn’t realize it until Odie did. It’s not like I was sniffing him. I’m more worried about making sure you lot are okay.”

“You’re the one who got splattered with blood and organs,” Indigo pointed out. “Let’s get back to the house. I sort of want to give you another bath.”

“That’s my fault,” I laughed uneasily. “I don’t want Odie to get sick.”

“I didn’t drink the blood. Sheesh,” Odie managed a laugh too.

We tried so hard to be normal over the next few days, but the days themselves were anything but normal.