Chapter 135

Aria

The moment we found the body, Darren and I froze. My stomach churned, bile rising in my throat as I stared at the mangled remains of the hiker.

His face was unrecognizable, torn apart by what could only have been claws. His throat was a mess of shredded flesh, and the metallic stench of blood hung heavy in the air. It cloyed into my mouth and nose, the scent of rot and decay and the buzzing of flies. How long had this man been dead? Hours? Days?

I turned away, unable to look any longer, and immediately retched into the bushes.

Darren held my hair out of the way as I vomited. “We need to call the authorities,” he said quietly. “This man is—was—a human. It’s only right to get the human authorities involved.”

I nodded, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. My mind raced, trying to make sense of what we were seeing. Who could have done this? And why here, in the middle of the forest?

We quickly decided to contact the chief of police. Since this was a dead human, we felt it was only right to involve the human authorities in good faith. Darren pulled out his phone and dialed the number, his jaw clenched as he explained the situation.

The chief arrived within a few hours, with a small team of investigators. It was risky allowing humans this close to the pack border, but we didn’t have much of a choice. At least the incident hadn’t occurred on official pack grounds.

He didn’t say much at first, just walked around the body, taking in the details. His officers followed, snapping photos and collecting evidence.

It didn’t take long for them to find signs pointing to a potential fight. The ground was torn up, leaves and dirt scattered everywhere, and there were deep gouges in the bark of nearby trees. But what really caught their attention were the claw marks on the hiker’s face and the bite marks on his throat.

The chief crouched beside the body, examining the wounds closely. “These look like animal claws,” he said. When he glanced up at us, there was an accusatory glint in his cold gray eyes. “But not just a normal animal.”

My heart sank. I exchanged a worried look with Darren, whose face was ashen. Of course, we knew that those claw marks were from a werewolf. We’d realized it right away. “None of my people would attack a human,” he said firmly. “Especially not without reason.”

The chief stood, brushing dirt off his hands. “The evidence speaks for itself,” he said. “This was an aggressive attack. The victim clearly didn’t stand a chance.”

I felt a knot tighten in my chest. “What are you saying?”

The chief’s gaze hardened. “I’m saying that this looks like the work of a werewolf who lost control. And the fight occurred two days ago, judging by the state of the body.”

Darren and I looked at one another again. Suddenly, it seemed to hit us: Alfira. She was the only one who had left the pack borders recently, and we hadn’t heard from her yet. But her film crew was nowhere to be found. Unless she had gotten separated from her crew…

Still, in good faith, we explained the situation with Alfira to the chief when he asked if there were any comings or going from the pack. The chief’s eyes narrowed as he listened, and as soon as we were done, he turned to his investigators. “I want the area secured,” he barked. “Find that werewolf. I’m officially declaring her a public threat.”

I blinked, stunned. “A public threat?” I echoed. “Alfira is the sweetest, kindest person. She would never attack anyone, especially not a human, without reason.”

The chief’s expression didn’t change. “We’ll just have to ask her what happened, then, won’t we?”

“But you’re assuming she’s guilty before you’ve even—”

“I have a duty to protect my fellow humans,” the chief cut me off. “And right now, there’s a werewolf on the loose who—clearly—attacked and killed a human in a very unfair fight. No offense, ‘Luna’, but I’ve been doing my job for thirty years. If I deem someone a threat, I have my reasons.”

Alfira had been nothing but kind and supportive since we’d met her. She’d gone out of her way to help us, to bridge the gap between humans and werewolves. The idea that she could have done something so violent, so senseless, was unthinkable.

I opened my mouth to say something else, but Darren placed a hand on my arm to stop me. I bit my tongue.

Darren stepped forward. “At least let us look for her,” he said. “If we could just talk to her—”

“This is a criminal investigation now, and I can’t have civilians interfering. Alfira is officially a fugitive, and I’m ordering you not to intervene,” the chief cut him off, his tone brooking no argument.

Darren and I looked at each other. I could practically hear Bella’s warning about her father echoing in my mind. We both knew that if we stood up against the chief right now, it would just make matters worse.

So we obliged. For the moment, anyway.

With that, the chief turned and walked away, barking orders at his officers.

That night, after returning to the human lands, Darren and I sat in the living room, trying to make sense of everything. Bella and Liam were with us, and Lucas was fast asleep in his pup form with his head on my lap.

“This just doesn’t add up,” I whispered, stroking my fingers through Lucas’s silky fur. “Alfira wouldn’t do this. She’s not violent. She doesn’t hate humans. There has to be more to the story.”

Darren leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “If it was her, then I have reason to believe she was provoked.”

“What about that strange scent from the last fight?” Liam asked. “Did you two notice anything in the air when you found the hiker?”

Darren frowned. “The chief said that the hiker had been dead for two days. If that scent provoked Alfira—assuming it was even her who did this—then it was long gone by the time we found him.”

“Regardless, we need to find Alfira,” I said firmly. “We need to hear her side of the story before the chief does something he’ll regret.”

Darren nodded. The chief had warned us to stay out of the investigation, but of course we weren’t going to do that. We had to do something. Anything. She was one of our people, just as the dead hiker was one of the humans.

The next morning, we contacted Alfira’s family, hoping she might have returned home and could answer some questions. But when we asked if Alfira was available, her mother, who had answered the phone, sounded worried. “She hasn’t come back yet,” she said. “We haven’t heard from her in days. We thought she was with you.”

I felt like I was going to be sick. We tried not to worry her parents too much, but it wasn’t easy. When they found out about the incident regarding the hiker and the fact that it may have been Alfira’s doing for some reason or another, they were frantic. We promised to do our best to help and hung up, feeling even more full of dread than before.

But before we could do anything else, the apartment buzzer went off, indicating a visitor. Darren pressed the button, and the security officer informed us that a human government official was here to speak with us.

Figuring it was in regards to the investigation, we invited the official up to the apartment. He arrived a few minutes later, and without preamble, handed Darren a… deportation notice.

“Darren Avarise,” he said, “you are hereby requested to leave the human world and return to your ancestral land.”