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“Just to be safe, I’m ordering an MRI. We must rule out tumors.”
Lev stiffened. Tumors?
“Is it possible something in Lev’s fluids might have caused a tumor?”
Darius lowered his voice as if that would do any good. “Your father deemed Lev’s fluids not radioactive. Nonetheless, I’m not sure we can rule it out, since his physiology appears to change. His DNA is like no other. First, let’s wait for the blood panel results and if anything shows up on the MRI.”
Lev scowled. If he’d hurt her, he’d never forgive himself. He’d bitten other werewolves either in battle, play or during sex. Nothing had happened to them. Yet, Rachel was a vulnerable human and important to their society as a Stallo woman. If he caused her suffering, he’d give her up. Her health and life meant more than his life. He must leave as soon as possible. She’d be safe at LIA headquarters. His inner wolf growled, Wait for the evidence. Lev squeezed his hands into tight fists.
Rachel agreed. “Might as well get the MRI now.”
“Let me notify our tech.”
“Good.”
Darius talked to his tech. “An hour is perfect. We’ll see you after lunch.”
Lev’s mobile buzzed. A text from Rylee. Emergency meeting in the ready room in ten. He texted back. Roger. He swallowed and knocked on the door.
Darius opened the door. “Come in.” He turned to Rachel. “If you wish, Lev can accompany you to the MRI room. Afterward, we should have the blood results.”
“Unfortunately, Rylee wants me in a few minutes.”
Rachel nodded. “That’s cool. I don’t need hand holding.”
Lev’s heart clenched. My job is to hold your hand. Yet, did I not decide to let her go? “Let Cricket know what is going on.”
Rachel rolled her eyes. “Later. I’m sure she has better things to do.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Not better than watching her charge.”
“If you say so, Mr. Alpha.”
Lev kissed her on the forehead. “We’ll talk later.” If the results concluded he had poisoned her, it would be to say goodbye. He took an elevator directly to LIA headquarters and arrived at Rylee’s office.
The alpha smiled at him. “Lev, please sit. We have some developments.”
“News about the rogue pack?”
“No. But thanks to our forensic artist, we have an identity for the human with the gray beard who had followed Rachel to Nepal and shot at you. Manny and Jesper put the drawing in the facial recognition data bank.” Rylee flicked on the big screen. “Look familiar?”
Lev furrowed his brow. There were two pictures of the same man. One a younger version with a full head of brown hair and the other the way he looked now, bald and a trimmed gray beard. Perhaps in his late fifties. Tall and more muscular than his first picture. Though human, he was almost as big as a lycan. Probably on steroids. Whatever pack he belonged to, he must have been given beta status. “Da.”
She flicked back to a screenshot of the younger man. “Andrew Joki, born in Detroit, Michigan, sixty-five years ago, but he disappeared thirty years ago after being a person of interest in college student Tammy Warren’s disappearance.”
Lev frowned. “Did she have the Stallo women blood type?”
“Yep, but we don’t know if she had the Stallo gene marker. Joki’s father died in a car accident when he was five years old and his mother never remarried. But get this, his grandfather, Conrad Joki, vanished from the face of the earth when Andrew was in middle school. About the time two teenage girls went missing in the woods.”
“Did Conrad keep in contact with his grandson?” asked Lev.
“We believe so, although they probably met in secret because Conrad Joki was never seen in public. Conrad and later his grandson, who had a degree in anthropology, were involved in occultist communities. Drawn to magic, we think Conrad may have joined a rogue pack and then recruited his grandson.”
“Humans to do their bidding.” Lev had heard of humans who believed being with a pack gave them power over other humans. Once they tried to use such influence over humans, they were quickly eliminated. Unless, the pack happened to be oath breakers like the one they were pursuing.
“Stallo wannabees,” scoffed Rylee. “Not the first time an occultist or so called warlock or witch thought they could gain the power of the wolf.”
“That might explain the attempt to steal Stallo’s bones.”
