Guardians of the Opal Moon

Chapter 26

Phoenix leads the tracking group, while his wolf is a lot more out of control compared to the rest, as long as Alina is fine he is actually reasonably placid, but he is still very strong, with the extra strength bringing increased abilities. His nose and his tracking is top notch.

They sniff in a circular pattern around the scene, it is a lot easier to work with a smaller area, they can move slower and more thoroughly.

Hunter keeps to the inner ring and keeps Ava out as far as possible from Brodie. No matter how far she is away, it seems like the smell of Brodie’s blood is so very potent that it is hard to smell anything beyond that.

Axel and Jade arrive back at the alpha house. They realize now that their job may be just as hard as shifting around the bodies, as the ex alpha and beta come running out to the car looking distressed.

Axel grips Jade’s hand and squeezes tightly.

“Just wait here for a moment”

Axel gets out of the car to meet the pack members. He will take this bullet as he just wants to keep Jade from shouldering any more pressure on top of the mountain that is already pressing on her.

Axel herds the group back into the house, leaving Jade alone in the car. Jade wrings her hands together nervously, feeling more and more useless but is appreciative that she doesn’t have to do that terrible task.

Jade steps out of the car and moves around the house trying to find the scent that Hunter and Axel followed. The investigation cannot be put on hold in order to console the pack members, it is the worst outcome, but it is done now and no amount of guilt can bring Brodie back.

Inside the house, Axel’s guilt is building at an exponential rate as the ex alpha is on his knees sobbing like a child, his blood line has disappeared from the earth in a space of two days, his family is gone, the hope for the pack is greatly diminished.

The ex alpha and beta don’t blame Axel and the others because they all stayed in the alpha house at night, in the very same house that Brodie disappeared from. No blame is thrown, it is just the suffocating guilt that makes the air hard to breathe. No one is spared from this guilt, every single person failed Brodie.

There are no words of comfort, there is no help to be offered, there is nothing to make the situation better.

Grief fills the air.

The death of Brodie is so hard to take, it is so much harder than even the death of his parents, he didn’t even get a chance to live a full life, he didn’t have a chance to live up to his potential, to show the world what he could do, to find his mate, to have kids of his own, all of that taken.

Axel just watches silently, his heart violently constricting. Is it the fact that he will soon be a father that this hits him so hard? Is it the thought of losing his own child in a similar way? Or is it just devastating no matter the circumstances?

Axel pats the ex-alpha and Beta on the back and then heads out of the house. There is nothing he can do here right now. They just have to grieve, he can’t take it all away, he can’t help them with that. The only way he can help is to find the people responsible. To seek justice. Axel can't bring them back but he can make sure someone is held accountable.

As soon as he exits the house, he breathes deeply, all of this, every single bit of this is so much harder than he could have anticipated. Axel looks around and locates Jade quickly. He frowns slightly as he looks at her. She is obviously on the same path that Hunter and he followed, the path of Brodie’s scent is on.

Jade is standing up and then squatting down, then returning to stand position, her back is to Axel and she is deep in concentration.

Axel stands back and watches her repeatedly stand and then squat. She even puts her face down to the ground. The sadness that he just left behind in the room is replaced by a slight bit of worry. Jade has been acting slightly out of sorts lately, but this is really weird. Axel gently approaches Jade, pregnancy brain doesn’t kick in so early does it?

If Jade is really losing it, Axel feels the added weight of the situation, his voice is so gentle and kind, sounding like he is coaxing a child.

“What are you doing baby?”

Jade turns around and looks at him. Her eyes are not dazed or hazy, instead they are filled with an unmistakable sharpness. Jade’s hand shoots out and grips Axel’s hand dragging him over to her side.

“Smell this”

She pushes his shoulder down so he lowers and then drags him so that he stands tall. Axel just keeps staring at her, his concern only growing.

“What is it baby? Maybe you should sit down”

“Stop looking at me like I am crazy”

Jade snaps at him, the pity and concern on his face when he looks at her is very unpleasant, with the insane hormones surging through her body that she is trying to keep a lid on coupled with that look from Axel, she is ready to explode, but she manages to rein it in and suppress it.

Jade presses Axel’s shoulder down again and sinks down into a squat position, pressing his head so his nose is even lower.

“Smell”

She demands, as soon as he takes a deep breath in, she stands again, pulling him to his feet.

“Smell again”

Axel breathes deeply again.

“Do you notice anything?”

“No Jade, I really think you should sit down”

“Damn it Axel, if I am losing my mind I will tell you, The scent is not as strong on the ground as it is at this level”

Jade flattens her hand and indicates at her eye level. Axel’s eyes widen as he looks at her.

“Impossible”

He squats again and sniffs the ground before discovering the same thing.

“What does that mean?”

“He floated?”

They look at each other, shaking their heads before repeatedly standing and squatting hoping for a different verdict.

Alexis and Lucas walk around the bodies. The alpha and Luna weren’t thoroughly searched yesterday so they have to comb the area.

“Is this where my countless hours of watching Crime Scene Investigation shows come in handy?”

Lucas looks at Alexis and smirks.

“Well, I will leave it to you boss”

Of course, he doesn’t, he starts climbing the tree in order to look at the ropes that the alpha and Luna are still suspended from the tree with. Alexis is studying Brodie’s body when she notices his tightly clenched fist, grabbing his small hand. She has to apply a fair amount of pressure to pry the hand open.

Lucas is keeping an eye on Alexis while doing his own thing. The tree actually provides a good vantage point. He whips out his phone to take photos so that they can add it to their evidence wall later.

Alexis finally manages to see what is lying in Brodie’s hand. It is a small black pendant, made up of three circles. She takes it out of Brodie’s hand, peering closely at it.

“Lucas, look what I fou…..”

Lucas looks over as he sees Alexis’ eyes glaze over as she looks at something in her hand.

“Drop it”

He yells, but Alexis’ eyes roll back in her head, her whole head tips back to an unnatural angle as her mouth opens, but not a sound escapes.

The haze hits Lucas through the link and he struggles to hold on, but loses control of his body as he falls straight from the tree to the ground.

In front of Alexis’ eyes, the sky is replaced with rivers of blood as she looks around, bodies surround her, Lucas looking at her with his arm stretched towards her, but there is no life left in those blue eyes, so much blood, Jade and Axel dead, their bodies circling three tiny bodies.

Ava and Hunter laying lifeless, grasping each others hands. Phoenix’s dead body shielding Alina’s dead body.

So much blood, so much death.

Alexis releases a blood curdling scream that echoes through the entire pack lands. Lucas looks at his mate whose whole body is convulsing, her scream is tearing him apart, he pulls through the haze and drags his semi-useless body far enough that he smacks the pendant out of her hand.

Alexis collapses to the ground sobbing.

“Everyone is dead”