Alpha Micah Black: Homecoming

Chapter2

While two of our forensic minions, Demon, oops, I mean Demi Mason and Raymond Cornell were snapping photos of the entire area, they noticed something significant.

“Um… Detective,” Raymond called out in our general direction.

“Yeah,” George and I hollered back in unison.

“There’s something we think you should see,” Ray stated, pointing to the area in question.

George and I made haste to the spot. Before us on the half-melted snow was a thinner blood trail leading away from the unknown victim’s body and into the woods. Odd-shaped footprints surrounded it.

“That’s the strongest and best lead…so far,” George stated the obvious. Addressing the minions, he added, “Good job, guys.”

And with the trail still fresh... literally, Demon, my favorite forensic minion, urged us to follow it ASAP.

“Officer Reynolds!” Noah Davidson, grinning widely, hollered. “Grab the duffle bags, please. This is going to be fun” Excitement twinkled in our eyes. George and I exchanged smirks. It’s time.

Why duffle bags, you ask? They keep our extra clothes handy after we shift back.

Here’s a quick recap…

Since the secret of werewolves came out last year, during a long and difficult investigation, Chief Fenton Edwards had the humans who worked closest with George and me take a blood oath. All done voluntarily, of course. Some may have needed some extra persuasion. Wink. Wolfdale City is still a human city. So, no. There’s no official pack…yet. It’s a delicate and complex situation.

“Should you call Tiffeny?” George inquired. “We don’t have any idea what we’re gonna find.”

He’s correct. I should call Tiff. Mind-linking isn’t an option. Things seem to work differently in Wolfdale City. It’s creepily weird and frustrating. As supernatural creatures, we’re used to exuding certain behaviors. Here, most are not possible. Maybe that’s why most of our wolves have stayed hidden. This leads me to assume why I had difficulty identifying the other werewolves. Besides, physically, what was happening to me at the time?

Stepping away from my colleagues for some privacy, I pulled out my phone. Tiffeny, my beautiful mate, answered on the second ring.

“Hey, my sweet moon,” I began, speaking into the phone. However, my colleagues overheard me and chuckled in my direction. Bastards…I’m so loved. “Ahem, as I was about to say before I was rudely interrupted…another body turned up Wolfdale City PD gets to look into it.”

“Yay, you,” Tiffeny sarcastically teased back. “I’ll see you at home in a few days then.”

“Yeah, a few days,” I muttered back. “I’ll check in with you when I can.”

“Okay, watch your six and stay safe. I love you, my alpha.”

“I love you, my luna.”

After ending the call, I made my way back to the crime scene. Something felt off…again, but I didn’t have time to think about it. At the scene, our patrol officers had everyone cleared out. Officer Kyle Reynolds and forensic minion, er technician, Raymond Cornell would follow close behind George and me. Besides carrying the bags, they would also mark anything our wolves would discover along the way. Demon, er..um, Demi, volunteered to stay behind to help Noah continue processing the scene around the unknown victim.

Ducking behind some shrubbery, George hid behind one group and I behind another. We tossed our clothing to our “handlers”. Go ahead and laugh. George wasted no time in shifting. I, on the other hand, or paw, took a smidgeon longer. Taking a slow, deep breath, I repeated the mantra I was taught. I am my wolf, my wolf is me. The sound of bones cracking and rearranging echoed in the stillness of the playground.

George emerged from the shrubbery in his light brown, blond wolf form. He shook his fur down. The scars on his face and chest from the previous altercations stood out from his fur. His muscles and ears twitched as he impatiently waited for me. George grunted into the cold air, creating a small ice cloud.

A few short minutes later, I stepped out from behind the shrubs. My alpha wolf strutted toward George and the others…unsuccessfully. My left hind foot got entangled in a hidden vine, twisting it, and sending me hard onto the cold ground.

Oof, not again! First my Rogue. Now my ankle. Can this day get any worse?

Lifting myself off of the ground, I bit and yanked the vine, freeing my sore ankle. George, Kyle, and Ray’s faces had a mixture of concern, fear, and withheld laughter. The laughter was George. I shook down my dark brown fur and the embarrassment then limped toward the others.

Giving a nod, the others followed my lead. Since this was our first trial run as werewolf K-9s, it was incredibly awkward. Where Ray needed to document, Kyle stepped in his camera angle. George and I fumbled with learning each other’s quirks. Yeah, mind-linking isn’t established between us either. Remember, there’s no official pack here. So, what normally would have taken mere minutes, took us an extra hour.

My nose picked up the smell of snow, grass, dirt, human blood–two different kinds, and the oddest of them all–a male human but having a familiar wolf scent. Traces of long human hair could be found in the trail of blood we followed. Odd-shaped footprints pointed in the direction in which our perpetrator headed.

George’s ears perked up about thirty feet away from the established crime scene. Padding my way closer to George, I heard what he heard. Growls with an undertone of human screaming. Kyle and Ray looked confused. They couldn’t hear what we did. The agonizing sound was coming from at least eight miles from our current position. I sure hope Kyle and Raymond are up to the trek. My gut tells me there is another crime scene to process. Yay, us.

With the information we picked up on, George and I gave each other a knowing look. We needed to shift back and have a quick huddle. And with little time to waste, we did.

“Whoa, there, Sergeant,” Officer Kyle Reynolds balked, shielding his eyes. “Warn us next time.”

George and I could only give a frustrated look while Kyle quickly dug out some sweatpants for us.

“That would have been impossible for them,seeing wolves’ mouths are shaped differently than ours,” Raymond the forensics minion explained.

“How long will it take to get a cruiser and forensics to follow us?” I asked them as the senior detective.

“Maybe another hour or so,” Raymond answered. “It all depends on who’s available from forensics. May I ask why?”

“We heard someone screaming off in the distance,” George answered. “And the smells from the trail point in that direction.”

“I’m curious, Sergeant. How far in the distance do you believe this person of interest is?” Raymond inquired.

“Roughly eight miles…give or take,” I muttered, getting ready to shift again.

Addressing George, I asked, “Do you think you can lead them when they get here?”

“Sure,” he replied.

“They’re on their way here,” Kyle informed us after getting off the phone with dispatch.

“Good. I’ll see you there.”

Within seconds, I shredded the sweatpants and was back into my dark-brown wolf form.

Somewhere outside of Wolfdale City municipal limits

With my nose on the ground, I quickly picked up on the scents. The screaming and growling carried enough on the breeze that my ears easily could follow. Somewhere between here and there, my vision began to get fuzzy again. Thank the Moon it didn’t last long. So, I shook it off. Onward I went. Five more miles to go.

Two miles from our person of interest…

I hung back enough so I didn’t scare the possible POI. Minutes later, the sounds of vehicle engines roaring and ground crunching were heard off in the distance. They were only two miles behind. They’ll be here in no time. Standing in the middle of the access road, I waited. George saw me first, but hung back a little. Our team’s vehicles came to a halt. Kyle tossed out the duffle bags from the window. George and I grabbed our assigned bags and did our thing.

Ten minutes later, George was ready to go, dressed in his regulation suit with a necktie. Yuck! I hate those damned neckties. As usual, I took longer to shift and dress. My ankle feels better, however, woozy spells made dressing interesting. Trading one ailment for another, yay, me.

“Dear, G-ddess, not again,” I whined loudly.

“Not what again?” Officer Kyle Reynolds inquired, concern evident in his voice.

“Just a tiny, and I mean hardly worth getting worried about, dizzy spell. I’m fine guys,”I lied, hoping they would buy it.

“Stubborn ass…just like Hanna,” George quietly mumbled under his breath, but my wolf hearing easily heard it.

“AHHH! NOOOO!” A mysterious voice desperately screamed, catching our attention.

Wasting no time, the four of us took off toward the screams. The vehicles followed. I, of course, got there first, being an alpha. George was next, followed by Kyle and an out-of-breath Raymond. Running two miles on rugged terrain is no easy task unless you’re a wolf. Wink.

Ze’ev’s former territory…

Yep, you’ve read that correctly. Another access road led right to the area. So, my careless cousin, Dylan Blackwater, didn’t lead “whoever” into the area and destroy the pack. This is good news for him and his mate, Lil Bet…Hanna. She’ll always be Hanna to me.

On the edge of the road, hidden among tall, brown clumps of sweetgrass was our mysterious person of interest. A young adult male covered head to toe with hair. His upper and lower canines were elongated. His hands resembled claws. His feet matched the footprints left behind. Dark red blood covered his mouth, upper torso, and hands. He held tightly to a dark red object. His eyes widened as he continued to scream.

“OH MY G-D!WHAT AM I? WHAT DID I DO?” He cried out in agonizing despair.

George, Kyle, and I slowly approached the overly hairy male suspect with our Glocks ready.

“Wolfdale City PD. Calm down and stay put,” I stated with the authority given me.

“Don’t hurt me, please, don’t hurt me,” the suspect cried, trembling all over.

“No one’s gonna hurt you. Just do as Detective Sergeant Black says,” Officer Kyle Reynolds reassured him. “Just stay calm and don’t move.”

George and I hung back and let Kyle approach the suspect. He slowly grabbed a large evidence bag from an inside pocket within his winter jacket.

“Here, can you stick that item in this bag for me?” Kyle gently asked our suspect.

Our suspect gladly handed the item–the missing liver–over and placed it in the bag. His cooperation will help him in the long run. Kyle handed the evidence bag over to Raymond who stuck it in a container another forensic minion brought from their van.

“May I take some pieces of hair from you?” Raymond, our forensic minion, inquired. He held a shiny pair of metal scissors in his gloved hand. Snip, snip, Raymond removed pieces of hair from the suspect’s body and placed them in a small glass container.

“Let’s get you cleaned, okay?” Raymond asked our scared suspect. George found a package of wipes. Another contribution from Madam Mayor Joanna “Jabberwocky” Wilkinson. Under Raymond’s direction, each wipe was placed into an evidence bag.

With our suspect calmer and feeling a little better, it was my turn to ask some questions.

“What is your name?” I rattled off by rote.

“I-I..I don’t know,” our suspect answered, worry etched deep within his eyes.

“Do you remember how you got out here?” I pressed him further.

“N-no, no,” he stuttered, shaking his head.

Motioning to George, we needed to talk privately. As weird as the last case was, this one is freaking odd! Kyle and Raymond stayed with the suspect, keeping him calm and safe.