Chapter 62

This was not how either of them thought they'd be spending the remainder of their evening. Poor Lorenzo had finally built up the courage to speak up about the mating ceremony when suddenly that terrible call came through. He knew he had to tell Eleanor about it.

He dreaded the thought of what that news would potentially do to her. Eleanor hadn’t exactly handled the first grizzly occurrence well. God only knew how she was going to handle dealing with another one.

‘It’s too soon,’ he thought bitterly to himself.

The two of them had just started making some decent headway into the case, when suddenly another body was discovered.

“What is it?” Eleanor asked nervously.

Lorenzo bit back a curse as he called over their waiter. Without so much as a single word or explanation, he grabbed Eleanor’s hand and led them out of the restaurant and back to the car. He told the driver to head to the county morgue.

Eleanor’s patience was growing thinner by the second until she felt her inner cord snap. “Lorenzo, goddamnit! Tell me what’s going on!”

He let out a long breath and squeezed her hand. “That was one of the Lycan Luna’s guards...They said that they found another body.”

He watched all the color and emotion drain from Eleanor’s face. Her jaw grew slack and her lips parted, but not a clear sound came out.

Lorenzo felt the muscles in his stomach clench with regret and sorrow. He desperately tried to cling to Eleanor while her hand started to slip from his grasp as she slumped back in her seat.

By the time they pulled into the parking lot in front of the county coroner’s office, Eleanor practically flew from the car before it was even parked. Lorenzo shouted after her to stop but she rushed through the crowded lot and barreled through the hordes of reporters and police officers.

A terrible sense of deja vu swept through her as she stormed down the hall to get to the back rooms. At least this time around, no one tried to stop her. When she reached the coroner’s main office, she stopped short and overheard part of the conversation.

“Based on the body’s current exterior condition, she hadn’t been out there long,” someone concluded.

“Can I get a better estimation of time for the report?” an officer questioned.

The coroner scratched the back of his neck and tilted his head. “My educated guess, somewhere within the last forty-eight hours or so,” he claimed. “Like I said, there aren’t many signs that indicate she’s been out there for long.”

The officer nodded his head and jutted his chin to the cold corpse that was currently covered by a white sheet on the table. “Any idea who she is yet?”

Eleanor’s heart crashed within her rib cage. Her voice came out strained and broken. “I bet I could tell you.”

The two men swung around to face her with blank expressions. The coroner offered her a sad wave of his hand, indicating for her to come in. Not a moment later, Lorenzo came flying into the room with a stricken look of distress painted across his face.

His mouth pulled back in a deep sneer as he glared at Eleanor for her thoughtless, reckless behavior. “Don’t ever do something like that again,” he hissed.

Eleanor didn’t even bother to glance at Lorenzo. Instead, she slowly moved toward the metal table. “May I pull back the sheet?”

The coroner glanced at Lorenzo who was utterly dumbstruck by his mate’s request. Before anyone was given the chance to answer her, Eleanor reached out and pulled at the material.

A broken, distorted cry tore from the back of her throat, nearly sending her to her knees.

Good God. No.

It was another young girl. But not just any girl...It was one of the four girls that had originally gone missing.

“It’s Lucy Grant,” she whispered.

Lorenzo came to stand by her side, he wrapped his arms around her center, keeping her stable for the time being. “Eleanor.”

“Where was she found?” she asked.

“Guards said she was found close to the same area where the first one was planted,” the officer said coldly.

Lorenzo tried again to get her attention but to no avail. “Eleanor.”

“Did they manage to find anything else besides her?” she questioned sharply. “A scrap of clothing, an item the guy may have dropped, a fucking footprint?!”

“Eleanor, ENOUGH!!” Lorenzo shouted.

Eleanor struggled to get out of his arms. Hot, burning tears filled her eyes, causing her vision to blur. Her breathing grew so erratic that it sounded shallow and labored.

“We need to go,” he told her. Lorenzo never let Eleanor leave his grasp. He turned to the coroner and told him to please keep them informed as the results began to come in.

...

The ride back home was filled with unnerving silence. The calm before the storm. Lorenzo knew what was coming. And he was determined to do everything in his power to prevent it. His Luna was on the cusp of losing it.

“Eleanor, please. I’m so sorry. I should have never brought you there,” he confessed.

“What does it matter?” she said tightly. “I was going to find out anyway.”

He let out a long breath of defeat.

“My job—my purpose was to find these girls and finally return them to their families. They’re supposed to be alive—not in a fucking body bag!” she yelled out.

Lorenzo felt terrible for both Eleanor and the way the situation has been playing out. “You need to take a break.”

She turned to gape at him. “What?! No, I’m not giving this a break, I am not giving up–”

“I’m not telling you to give up anything, but what you need is to give your mind and yourself a real break.”

“No.”

“Yes! Eleanor, this is not up for discussion. I will not have you pushing yourself any further. Not today and not tomorrow either.”

She scowled at him in displeasure. “Well, what the hell do you expect me to do then?!”