Page 51 of Bonded Through Bite

She’s lying on the ground, clothes torn, brown eyes frozen open, and blood pooling under her. Her scent is fading, but I know she’s a wolf.

Not good.

What is a dead wolf doing on Rafael’s lands?

I try to look for any traces, but the snow is messing with both visibility and smells, so I move closer and squat down to get a better look. The wounds look like an animal attack, but they are so messy I can’t say what animal. Her spine is twisted and neck broken.

“Well, fuck.” Samantha’s voice behind me has me spinning in place. How the hell did she sneak up on me?

“Go back inside,” I say softly, trying not to spook her as I step between her and the body. She’s barefoot and only wearing Rafael’s shirt in this weather. I might not be bothered by it, but she’s shivering.

“Nope.” She huffs and then shouts over her shoulder. “Rafael!” When she faces me again, there’s no fear in her eyes, no disgust or panic. Before I can say anything to apologize, Rafael blurs over to us.

“Samantha, what is it?” He skids to a halt when he spots the wolf and curses under his breath.

Samantha moves to crouch next to the woman and inhales deeply, her eyes going wide. A moment ago, I thought about her being dauntless, but now her hands shake and she blindly reaches behind, looking for support. Rafael is there to pull her up and wrap his arms around her, and she buries her face in his neck and bursts into tears.

“It’s all right, it’s all right,” he soothes her, looking as lost as I feel.

I’ve seen too much violence, dealt too much of it, for it to rattle me anymore. I want to wrap my arms around her and tell her everything will be okay, but I hold back. I need to do something, though. “We’ll take care of the body,” I promise her. “Go back inside.”

Samantha cries harder, shaking her head.

“Samantha, sweetheart. Let me take you back inside. It’s freezing out here. You can talk to Santiago later,” Rafael murmurs and this time she shakes her head sharply and pulls back. She dashes a hand over her cheeks.

“No.” Her voice comes out as a frail whisper and another sob escapes her. “No. I’m fine,” she lies.

“Little fangs,” I begin but fall silent as she takes a deep breath, chokes, and points at the body.

“She—she is… was pregnant.”

“What?” Rafael and I growl at once. The sound echoes in the quiet forest.

“I don’t know how I know it, but I do. Pregnant. They… they killed a baby,” she chokes again, but this time it seems to be from rage.

“With this storm, I can barely scent her,” I say to Rafael, who’s also inhaling deeply, trying to gather what little information there’s left.

“I’m pretty sure she’s from a local pack. I get a hint of the alpha’s scent,” he replies, still holding Samantha close to his chest. Neither of us says the obvious thing. She wasn’t killed here. The ground around is undisturbed and there’s not enough blood. Just the pool beneath her.

“Earlier, you said something about wolves,” Samantha says, her voice quiet and steadier now.

“Yes. The local pack requested a meeting with Rafael.”

“Seems that they had a reason,” Samantha mutters to herself and scans the body up and down. Her fangs are peeking, but I don’t think it’s from hunger. My instincts to protect her from everything are pushing forward, but I fight them back. Letting my instinct out left her whimpering in fear last time.

Rafael is wrapped around her, looking like he’s seconds from whisking her away. He’s scanning the forest around us, while trying to shield Samantha from the wind. Carefully, I shift, so I’m shielding her a bit too.

She just looks at the body, not even glancing at me. Her steady response makes me curious.

“How are you taking this so well? Seen a lot of bodies?”

She shakes herself a bit, glances at me, and then focuses back on the body. “I worked in crime scene cleaning.”

Rafael growls.

“They moved me to the office once I was diagnosed. Some of the smells were… triggering.”

“Diagnosed?” I ask, but Rafael speaks over me.