Chapter 416: Talking body
CIAN
I pushed through the estate grounds with Garett at my side, my boots striking the stone paths with more force than necessary. Every corner we turned felt more vacant than the last, each room we checked offering nothing in return. The sentinels had been thorough, excessively so, to the point where it no longer made sense.
"We’ve covered the eastern wing, the guest quarters, the garage, and the cellars," Garett said, matching my pace. His tone remained steady, but the strain beneath it was unmistakable. "The greenhouse, the storage buildings, the old chapel. Nothing."
I stopped and turned to him. "Do you really think she left?"
He hesitated, only for a mont, but it was enough.
"Speak freely," I said.
Garett’s jaw tightened. His gaze drifted past
before returning, more deliberate this ti. "There were bags in her room. Packed, but still there. Her wardrobe was almost untouched. I’ve been in this pack long enough to recognize when sothing is off, Alpha. That’s my job."
"And?"
"Elara loved that Gucci attaché case," he said. "The one with the gold hardware. She carried it everywhere, whether she needed it or not. She wouldn’t have left it behind. Not if she intended to be gone for any real length of ti."
The knot in my chest tightened further. I looked past him, scanning the grounds ahead. The sun had risen higher, casting warmth across the estate, but it failed to reach the cold settling deep in my bones.
"Where else hasn’t been searched?" I asked.
"The forest line. The training grounds. A few outbuildings near the periter we haven’t gotten to yet."
"Take a group to the forest line," I said. "I’ll check the training grounds."
"The training grounds sit close to the forest edge," Garett replied. "It’s also a shifting area. Do you want backup?"
"No. I’ll handle it."
He gave a single nod and moved off to gather the others. I watched him go for a mont before turning toward the training grounds.
The path was familiar. I had walked it countless tis. Ronan and I used to race along this stretch when we were younger, reckless and laughing, our wolves urging us faster than we could control. The mory surfaced uninvited, and I forced it down before it could take hold.
I never really knew him.
That was the truth I had to accept now. The man I had called my brother had been soone else entirely, soone capable of betrayal, soone who could stand beside , smile, and plan my ruin all at once.
The training grounds stretched out ahead, wide and flat, bordered by trees on one side and open sky on the other. The dirt had been packed down by years of use, and the lingering scent of earth and sweat hung in the air. I paused at the edge, letting my gaze move across the space.
Nothing seed out of place.
I stepped further in, scanning the ground, the tree line, the shadowed edges where anything could be concealed. Beneath my skin, my wolf stirred, restless and unsettled. He had been uneasy since morning, and now that tension sharpened.
I turned toward the forest’s edge, and that was when I caught it.
Blood.
The scent was faint, but unmistakable, tallic and wrong. My wolf surged forward, and I followed without hesitation, drawn toward the far corner of the grounds where the trees thickened, and the light dimd.
The sll intensified.
I quickened my pace, my chest tightening with each step. The trail led past the tree line and into the shade, where the undergrowth grew denser, and the ground softened beneath my boots.
Then I saw it.
A patch of disturbed earth. Fresh. The soil was darker, damp in places, covered loosely with leaves that had been scattered in haste. A large stone rested nearby, partially concealed by the brush.
I moved closer.
The stone was stained. Dark streaks ran along its surface, settling into the cracks where the rock had split. It was blood. The blood was still fresh enough from how cool the weather was that it had not fully dried.
My stomach dropped.
I stared at the ground, at the stone, at the careful attempt to make it all appear undisturbed. My mind resisted what my eyes were telling , refusing to form the conclusion waiting just beneath the surface.
It couldn’t be.
It couldn’t be what it looked like.
But the sll of blood had grown too strong, too undeniable to ignore.
I dropped to my knees.
My hands struck the dirt with force as I started tearing into it. There was no thought behind the movent, no strategy, only instinct. I dug, clawing through the soil in frantic handfuls, my breath coming faster as the earth gave way beneath my fingers.
The dirt was loose, unnaturally so. It shifted too easily, crumbling apart as if it had been disturbed not long ago, and that realization only made the urgency worse.
I kept digging.
My nails scraped against sothing solid, and I froze.
For a second, I couldn’t move. My hands trembled as I brushed away more soil, careful now, exposing what lay beneath.
A hand.
Pale and motionless. The fingers were stiff, slightly raised, the palm was in full display, and the pinky finger was facing upward, with the thumb angled downward.
My chest tightened painfully. Air refused to co. My thoughts scattered, slipping out of reach as I continued digging, more desperate now, tearing through the earth until more of her erged. An arm. A shoulder. The curve of her torso.
Then her head.
The skull was crushed on one side. What remained of her face was barely recognizable, but it didn’t matter. I knew. I knew before I had even uncovered her fully.
This was Elara.
The world shifted beneath .
I leaned back on my heels, my hands still buried in dirt and blood, my vision blurring at the edges. Inside , my wolf let out a sound that barely resembled a howl, sothing broken and raw that tore through every part of
at once.
Devastation ca first. It struck like a physical force, knocking the breath from my lungs and leaving nothing in its place. Then grief followed, heavy and suffocating, wrapping tight around my ribs until it felt like they might give under the pressure.
Then ca rage.
It burned through everything else, sharp and absolute. My hands curled into fists, and I felt the shift pressing against my skin, my wolf rising with a single, violent purpose. He wanted blood. He wanted answers. He wanted sothing to tear apart for what had been done here.
Who did this?
When?
Why?
I reached for her, my hand trembling as it settled against her shoulder. "Who did this to you?"
The words fractured as they left .
Then sothing shifted in my mind.
Her hand. The way it had been positioned. The thumb angled downward, the palm open and steady. It wasn’t random. It was deliberate. Rigor mortis had fixed it in place, but before that, It looked like she had chosen it.
Was it sign language? If it was... That would... That would spell...
Father.
Cold spread through my veins.
Aldric was dead. I had killed him myself. I had torn his head from his body and watched the light leave his eyes. There had been no doubt, no hesitation. Death like that did not reverse. There was no power capable of undoing it.
And yet the thought refused to release its grip.
I pushed myself to my feet, unsteady, my legs barely holding beneath . My mind raced, trying to force logic onto sothing that made none, trying to shape aning out of what should have been impossible.
Then I heard movent behind .
I turned sharply, and to my surprise, soone stood there.
A woman, small-frad, dark-haired, and dressed in clothes that were far too clean for soone who had been moving through the forest. Her expression was composed, almost serene, in a way that felt deeply wrong, as if she had been waiting for this mont.
"Who the fuck are you?" I growled.
She tilted her head, her lips curving slightly, sothing close to a smile but not quite. "I apologize, Alpha Cian."
The magic or whatever the fuck it was, hit before I could react.
It slamd into my chest like a battering ram, lifting
off my feet and throwing
backward. My body collided with a tree, and I felt the branch pierce through my side, tearing through flesh and muscle as it punched out the other side.
Blood filled my mouth.
I coughed, spitting it out as my vision swam. Pain radiated through my torso, sharp and unrelenting, but I did not care. I gripped the branch with both hands and shoved myself forward, feeling it tear free from my body as I staggered off it.
The woman watched
with that sa calm expression.
I charged.
My shift began before I even made the conscious choice. Bones cracked and reshaped, my skin splitting as fur erupted across my body. The pain was brutal, worse than it had ever been because I was forcing it too fast, pushing my body past its limits, but I did not stop.
My claws extended mid-stride, and I swiped at her.
I barely grazed her shoulder when my entire body locked.
Every muscle seized at once, freezing
mid-motion. I could not move. I could not breathe. My wolf snarled inside , thrashing against whatever force had taken hold, but it was useless.
I dropped, as the ground rushed up to et , and my vision blurred as darkness crept in from the edges. I tried to fight it, tried to hold on, but the pull was too strong.
The last thing I saw was the woman stepping closer, her expression still maddeningly calm.
Then everything went black.
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