The Alpha-Born Wolf's Mate

4.

*Mariah*

Those blank glassy eyes have been haunting me for days. The police came after they were called and dug the body out of the dumpster but they don't seem to know much. No one does... I still don't know who that person was, what exactly happened, or who the culprit is. If the police know anything, they aren't speaking on it.

The thought scares me. The incident was so close to home and so disrespectful towards the victim. It's repulsive really... taking the life of another is bad enough, but to just throw them away like a piece of worthless garbage seems to make it so much worse.

"Are you ok?" the customer asks, waving a hand in front of my face.

"Oh, I'm sorry." I reply, shaking my head as I snap back to the present. I've been doing that a lot lately, just drifting off with my mind wondering back to that night.

"Do you have any other necklaces?" she asks, in a tone that makes me think it's not the first time.

I pull out another tray, watching as she looks them over. "Do you see anything you like?"

She continues examining the different jewerly for a moment before pointing to a pretty white gold necklace with a blue stone. "I'll take that one."

I nod, removing the necklace and putting it in a box before I put the box in a bag. I ring her up, collecting the money, and wait as she turns to leave the shop.

"Have a good evening." I call after her, before sinking down into a chair and covering my face with my hand as the door swings shut behind her.

"Mariah." Gia says, and I jump as she places her hand on my shoulder. I didn't hear her coming so it caught me off guard.

"I'm sorry." I reply, glancing up at her. "I've been a little on edge lately."

She starts to respond but stops as our attention is drawn to the window. The sound of sirens fill the air, wailing loudly as a police car flies by. I stand up, walking to the window, and watching as the car reaches the end of the block, and then turns down the street.

"I wonder what's going on now." I muse. The police car is out of sight but the flashing lights are bouncing off the building down the road so I know it's not far away.

"Apparently, they found another body." Gia informs me, a look of concern flashing across her face.

"A second one?" I question, fear pushing through me at the thought.

Gia nods, her body tensing up as she looks out of the window as well.

"I need to leave for a little bit. I'll be back before close." She says, before turning to head towards the back. She swings back around a second later. "Everything should be fine while I'm gone, but if anything else happens... or if something doesn't seem right, then lock the door and stay here until I get back. I don't want you walking home on your own right now."

"Ok." I whisper, picking up on the urgency in her tone. Gia is trying to appear at ease but clearly something is off. I can see why she's concerned. We live in a fairly quiet town with an exceptionally low crime rate. So, having two murders occur in the matter of a week is definitely cause for concern.... but something is telling me that there may be more going on here then I'm aware of.

I hear the back door close, before Gabe's voice echoes through the shop.

"Gia, are you ready?" he asks, popping his head through the doorway that leads to Gia's office and the back room.

"Yes, I'm coming." she responds, throwing a smile over her shoulder at him. She looks back at me, an urgent look shining in her eyes. "Like I said, don't leave without me, Mariah."

"I'm not going anywhere." I assure her, giving her a wide smile.

I wait until she leaves the room, listening for the back door to close, before letting out a deep sigh.

I start cleaning up and straightening trays out before putting them away. I've been trying to stay as busy as possible. It helps to keep my mind off things... for a few minutes anyways.

I finish cleaning up and then grab my notebook. I might as well start plotting out the next few chapters of my book while I wait for the next customer.

I sit down, opening up the book, and slowly losing myself in the world I've created.... a world where dead bodies aren't showing up damn near on my doorstep, but they might start showing up on theirs... after all, most good stories have some truth to them, even if the majority of it is make believe.

*Levi*

"Hey, Gabe." I smile, grabbing his hand and pulling him in for a quick hug. His brown eyes light up as he smiles at me in return.

"Levi! I heard you were coming back. It's good to see you." he replies, hugging me back before stepping away. He gestures beside him with his hand, indicating the female next to him. "This is my mate, Gia."

I turn towards her, holding my hand out and shaking hers as I introduce myself. "I'm Levi. It's nice to meet you, Gia."

"It's nice to meet you, too." she reveals "I've heard a lot about you from Gabe."

"All good, I hope." I smile, shooting him a glance as I wonder if he told her about all of our childhood escapades. Gabe and I got into a lot of trouble together as we grew up. He was my partner in crime for years.

"Ummm... some of it." she laughs, her hazel eyes lighting up. She has light brown hair and a sprinkle of freckles across her nose and cheeks that seem to bring the color of her eyes into focus even more. She's a pretty girl... but her scent is different then what I'm used to.

I subtly take a deep breath, trying to figure out what makes her different.

Apparently, I wasn't subtle enough as Gabe looked at me a moment later. "She's not a wolf."

I glance at Gia apologetically before responding. "Yea, I figured that out. I'm sorry, I'm just not familiar with your scent."

"It's no problem." she assures me, "I'm a vampire."

I nod, smiling to myself. I've never been around a vampire before. I'm not really opposed to it. If it's one thing my parents taught me, it's that we respect the Goddess' plans... and if she decides to pair us outside of our species, then who are we to question it?

Although, I'm not in a rush to find my own mate. I'm happy for my brothers and for Gabe, but settling down just isn't on my list of priorities right now. I have too many other things to do at the moment... like exploring Hawaii.

"Ok... now that that's settled." James says, opening the door to his office. "Let's get down to business."

He walks into the room, sitting behind his desk, and gesturing towards the chairs in front of it.

Gabe and Gia sit down while I walk to the edge of the desk and sit on the corner, facing them.

"What's going on, guys?" James questions, looking them over with a serious expression on his face.

"Something is going on in the human town." Gia starts, "Someone was killed and thrown in a dumpster less than a week ago and then a second body was found today... they didn't even try to hide this one... simply left it laying in the middle of the sidewalk."

James wrinkles his nose up, looking between Gabe and Gia. "That's awful... but I'm not sure what we can do about it..."

"Well, if it was just a typical murder it would be different... but I spoke with the chief of police, who is also a vampire, and he told me that the death was caused by another one of us. He managed to cover up the cause of death BUT with a second death now occurring and possibly others in the future, we have to think of something." Gia insists, an expression of concern taking over her face.

"I wasn't aware that the police chief was a vampire." James muses.

"Yea... he's not with my brood, but his brood has been in town for quite some time... even longer than mine." she sighs, "We have existed in this town for awhile now without creating any waves, so I'm pretty sure that the vampire responsible for this is new to town and clearly doesn't care about our rules or what mayhem his bullshit may cause."

James sighs, "So, what are you thinking, Gia?"

"I think we need to try to track the vampire down and get a grip on this before it gets too far out of hand..." Gia hesitates before continuing, "We are all at risk of exposure right now, James. This isn't going to be good for any of us if it continues."

James nods his head, leaning back in his chair as he looks thoughtfully around the room.

"Also-" Gia starts again, "Mariah is the one that found the first body and she hasn't been taking it very well. She's human and she knows nothing of our world. She's not used to stuff like this and I can tell she's taking it hard. She won't tell me... but she's scared James and honestly I'm scared for her. She found that body right around the corner from her apartment... and the second one wasn't even a block away. If something happens... well, Mariah is a strong, healthy girl, but she's no match for a vampire."

"She's a good friend of yours, isn't she?" James questions, sitting forward in his seat. "Why don't you and Gabe try to keep her with you more often?"

"We can try." Gabe says slowly.

James shrugs. "there's safety in numbers... and she doesn't know about supernatural creatures and I can understand why you don't want to tell her if you don't have to, but the best way to keep her safe is to keep her surrounded by the people that can protect her. Why don't you invite her out with you for this evening or something? And then we can start trying to track down these damn vampires tomorrow. At least then we know she's safe for now."

Gia nods her head. "We can definitely try, but the only problem with that is that Mariah has refused to go out with Gabe and I before when we have tried to take her out with us... she doesn't like to play the 3rd wheel."

"Well, then maybe she can be the 4th wheel instead." James says, with a smirk as he turns to stare at me.

I point at my chest. "What the hell are you looking at me for?"