Page 73 of Bonded Through Bite

“Well, I wouldn’t be alive without you.”

“Don’t be so sure.” I try to keep my tone light and reassure her.

“I am. That thing already killed a wolf. It would have killed me too.” Samantha’s voice wavers at the end and I lift my arm, tugging her closer to my side. I don’t like hearing the fear in her tone or feeling the slight tremors running through her.

“Alpha Zack, what⁠—”

“We ran into a shifter of some kind in the woods. It attacked Samantha. Luckily, I happened to be close by and managed to intervene.”

“A shifter,” Jere rumbles and looks suspiciously at the vampires.

“A shifter,” I confirm. “Samantha thinks she smelled the same scent around Alyssa’s body.”

Now their interest is solely locked on the creature by my side. I look down and see her eyes have fallen shut and her breathing evened out. Sleeping—she’s sleeping under my arm, in a half-sitting position. When her eyes are closed, I notice faint shadows beneath them and the paleness of her skin.

Fragile, her skin looks like it could tear from a harsh glance.

Worried, I look at Moretti and now I can see the strain in his eyes. There’s something going on here, something concerning Samantha, and my instincts roar, demanding that I defend her. Carefully, I maneuver her into a more comfortable position and then look at my wolves.

“Keep your voices down,” I say.

Jere surprises me when he reaches for a blanket lying on the chair next to him and holds it out to me. I take it and wrap it around Samantha.

“We need to plan and since the body and the attack happened on Mr. Moretti’s land, he—they”—I nod at Santiago—“are involved in that planning.”

Grudgingly, Olivia nods. “Should I call the beta over?”

“No. We will fill in the rest of the pack later. Please make sure you have the contact information for Mr. Moretti and Mr. Wacerra and that they have mine. And yours,” I add after a pause. We need to hunt this thing down and clear communication hopefully helps us all avoid unnecessary conflicts along the way.

“I stumbled on the body and we inspected the site,” Santiago says, pulling all our attention to him. “Alyssa wasn’t killed on the spot. I don’t think the body had been there for long. There were still marks and blood on her, despite the heavy rain.”

“Someone, the thing, left her on my land on purpose,” Rafael adds silently. He’s clearly trying not to disturb Samantha. “It’s possible that Santiago interrupted the thing, and it dropped the body by accident, but somehow, I doubt that.”

“Maybe the plan was to dump the body on the porch.” Santiago frowns.

“Why would⁠—”

“To stir trouble,” Jere interrupts Olivia, who didn’t care to keep her voice down. “And it would have worked, if not for the fact that our pack has never had a problem with Mr. Moretti or anyone visiting him.”

I raise a brow at them and Jere smiles a bit. “I don’t like vamps, but if I can choose my neighbors, Mr. Moretti is not half bad.”

“I take that as high praise,” Moretti says drily.

“Everyone loves Alyssa,” Olivia whispers, finally lowering her voice. “I can’t think of anyone who would do this to hurt her. And Alpha hasn’t had any challengers in the last ten years. He’s a good alpha, fair and strong.”

“So in-pack grudges are a highly unlikely motive,” I muse out loud.

“I haven’t heard any issues with other shifters either, but the beta would know more,” Olivia adds.

“What about all the other females?” Santiago asks. “Are we sure they are related to this incident, since none of them have turned up dead or otherwise?”

“What other females?” What the hell is going on here? Henry’s beta didn’t mention anything about other females. I hate being blindsided.

“That was one of the things we need to bring you up to speed with, Alpha Zack,” Olivia hurries to explain. “There have been females going missing for a while now, both shifters and witches. Alpha asked Mr. Moretti to make inquiries in vampire circles.”

“Which I haven’t had the time to do.” Rafael sighs and pulls out his phone. “I’ll get the ball rolling now, but it might take a while to get any reply, let alone anything resembling a full picture.”

“Anything else I should know right now?” I ask.