Kyle

I couldn't believe what I was seeing but there was no disputing the pictures I held in my hands. There was so much blood and the dead werewolf lay on the ground, its amber eyes unseeing into the distance.

"No scent of another werewolf was found at the scene," Cade told me. I lifted my eyes to his. My mind was reeling. If a werewolf hadn't done this, who had?

"That's not possible," I murmured, taking another look at the photos, hoping to discover something that would explain what had happened, but other than the dead werewolf matted with dirt and blood, there wasn't anything else. There were no clues in the photos that revealed who had taken the life of the werewolf by force.

From the looks of the photos the werewolf had put up a brave fight but its opponent had been stronger. Strong enough to beat it before finishing it off with a stab through the heart. We weren't indestructible but there was no way this could have been done by something other than another werewolf.

"Who was it?" I asked, feeling a rising panic at the thought that Crystal was out there somewhere, vulnerable to an attack like this.

"A male rogue."

"Have there been other bodies?" I asked the question even though I was scared of the answer.

"Yes." A cold vice-like grip squeezed my heart.

"Crystal?" I asked, feeling my increasing panic.

Cade shook his head.

"All the bodies we've discovered have been rogue male werewolves in wolf form. Wherever Crystal is, she has managed to evade whoever is doing this."

My relief was brief. She may be safe at the moment but if I didn't find her soon she wouldn't be. I took in the information as I studied the picture.

"Where was the body found?" I asked, feeling my increasing fear over my missing mate, who didn't want to be discovered.

In my subconscious I was already thinking of Crystal out there somewhere. Even for a moment thinking this could happen to her nearly stopped my breath in my lungs. If this could be done to a strong male werewolf, she wouldn't have a chance in hell of surviving. Hell, she couldn't even shift into her wolf. I dragged a hand through my hair, trying to rein in my panic.

"On the perimeter of Keri's territory."

The mention of my friend, who I was still pretty pissed at, made me look up sharply at Cade.

"She's safe." His answer gave me relief. Despite the fact our friendship had been affected by her deception, I still cared deeply for her.

"Blake's upped security around the compound," he added, easing my concern. Blake would put every measure in place to keep her safe.

"How many murders have there been?" was my next question.

"Ten," my uncle answered. My eyes shot up to his.

That was unusual. Rogues were lawless werewolves who couldn't live within the confines of a pack with rules in place. It wasn't surprising they occasionally murdered each other. But ten was too many; it was an anomaly.

As strange as it was, there had been a lot of unusual things going on since Victor had started a war with the other territories. He had gotten rogues to work together for him and after he had been killed the rogues had banded together and formed their own rogue pack. If Crystal hadn't infiltrated the rogue pack and fed information back to us, we wouldn't have known which pack they had planned on attacking first. Her bravery had ensured our victory and survival.

Cade stood beside my sister, watching me as I tried to contemplate who could be behind this. Was there some sort of serial killer picking rogue werewolves off one by one?

"Any theories?" I asked, my question directed to Cade.

"Not many," he answered with a shrug. "It could be a rogue werewolf who discovered Victor's little trick of using wolfsbane."

It would account for the lack of scent at the murder site. But why would a rogue be running around killing off other rogues? What possible motive could there be? It didn't make much sense.

Uncle Nate spread a map over the table and I stood up to have a look. My hands gripped the edge of the table as I peered over our territories. Red markings on the map indicated the places where the dead werewolves were discovered. It didn't surprise me that the majority of the killings were on the edges of our territories, just outside the range of our scouts patrolling.

I frowned as I took in the places where the bodies had been found.

"When was the first body discovered?" I asked, feeling my gut turn at the fact that for all I knew Crystal was still out there, unprotected.

My urgency to find her spiked to a new level that now only consisted of life and death. I felt a shortness of breath when I thought about something happening to her. If I couldn't find her to keep her safe, I had to catch the person responsible for the killings.

"A week ago."

Seven days. I gripped the table tighter, my nails digging into the wood, trying to keep my raging anger under control. I had done all I could to find Crystal but I still had no idea where she was.

"That's why we were so worried about you," Scarlett said from beside me. I looked at her, and she gave me a look that told me she had been beside herself with worry over me.

"I'm a big scary alpha werewolf," I teased her as I pushed my serious emotions away. I needed to give her reassurance that I could defend myself in any attack. Putting a reassuring arm around her, and I gave her a hug. I understood she didn't want to lose me so quickly after we'd just discovered each other. We hadn't had the time to get to know each other and I still wanted plenty of time to do that.

The calculated glare from her mate made me release her. He was so possessive over her.

"I'm her brother," I reminded him, shaking my head. I wondered if I would be as possessive over Crystal if we ever got to mate.

"I don't care," he replied, his eyes still laced with intent. Scarlett glared at him with her hands on her hips but refrained from giving him a piece of her mind. I dropped my arm from her shoulders.

"Have we started evacuating everyone back to the compound?" I asked, getting back to the problem at hand. I was already starting to form the steps in my head that needed to be carried out.

Some werewolves were allowed to live outside the compound but as soon as there was a threat they would be pulled back to the compound until it had been taken care of.

"Yes," Uncle Nate answered. "The only one who is left is Claire."

The mention of the old lady pulled at the nostalgia in me. Crystal had been close to her and had spent a lot of time with her in the cottage on the outskirts of my territory.

"Who did you send?" I asked, needing confirmation they had found her safe. I didn't want the death of the old lady on my conscience.

"Sean and Michael," he answered.

Have you evacuated Claire? I asked through the mind-link.

We are on our way to get her, Michael replied. We'll be back soon.

With Claire still on my mind, I pulled myself back to figuring out what we were going to do to stop someone from continuing to kill rogues in our area.

They weren't exactly law-abiding citizens but they had deserved better than the deaths they had been handed. The person going around doing this couldn't be judge and jury on each individual soul. Were they only targeting rogues or would the time come where they would point their focus at innocent members of a pack too?

We needed to figure out who was responsible for the deaths before they could kill another. I hadn't been able to find Crystal so I had to concentrate my energy on catching the killer to keep her safe. Her life could depend on it.

A vice-like grip clutched at my heart at the thought of finding Crystal like the werewolf in the photo. Lying dead in the forest, mud mixed with blood with its amber eyes. The last sight would have been their executioner.