It was only when I came to other packs, I tend to realise how hard Hercules worked to build his own pack. The infirmary here was neglected, it was small, dark, and smelly. 

It was underground, which meant you had to go through the basement of the pack house. I wondered if all the pack members would have to get permission to go here.

There was also a locked automatic gate once you get down here, and Zach had to use his fingerprint for the door to open. I would hate to get stuck down here.

There were floodlights all through the 'ceiling' but it was still dim and my eyes took longer than others with active wolves to adjust. I guess they didn't really have humans coming here often to make it look more like a medical clinic.

It was such a different contrast to the above ground buildings, that screamed wealth and opulence, here it felt like you were living in poverty. The rooms were mostly shut, lights off and no doors, which made me wonder if they even used it. 

Where as Hercules may not be as well off as some of these other Alpha's given that he didn't really run many human fold businesses to fund into his pack, but he spent every dime for the pack. I wondered what the Alpha's were doing with all the money.

Every year they also got quite a generous paycheque from the Enforcer headquarters as well, to keep all the packs running as well as allow for maintenance. We had deals with the human law enforcement as well as other agencies that sometimes needed our skills to help their world, and they paid very very well. My own bank account was glistening with a few numbers over the years, although it has stopped accumulating as much as it used to. 

"It was on Beta Nick's list to get funding for the infirmary, but once the late Alpha Tiane passed, Alpha Zloy didn't see it as a priority." 

"What happens when someone gets sick?"

"We make do. Sometimes we take the kids into town, cause they haven't shifted yet so their blood work looks relatively normal."

That's true, and with the pack being so young compared to others, they would be going to town more frequently than not. 

We finally reached the end of the corridor, which felt like it was really long but it was pretty short compared to Hercules' developed infirmary. 

The door at the end had no sign but once you entered the cold room you knew right away that it was where they kept the bodies. 

"We cremate, but Beta Nick waned to be buried so his step child could visit."

"Where do you bury him?"

"Our at the end of the border, we don't really have a designated site but probably where he wouldn't be disturbed by other animals"

"You don't have a burial site?" I asked shocked.  Hercules had one at the very end, similar to here, where people and animals don't go but it was neat, and he always have flowers planted after each death, so in spring if you were lucky the snow melted down, it would be a lushed green meadow with flowers everywhere. 

And from memory, each person had their own flower species to remember them by. I wondered what flower he would pick for me, maybe some nightshade cause I probably didn't deserve a good flower.

"There's no one here," I commented, is there no staff or Doctor down here?

"The body isn't here either."

"What?"

I turned around from my browsing to see Zach had opened what looked like the storage, "It was here last night."

"How can he just go missing?"

"He's probably placed somewhere else to preserve him," Zach said as he closed the door with a slam. He wiped his hands on his pants and shivered, "Let's get out of here."

He exited the room and back into the corridor and I followed suit.

"Where else would storage of a body be better than...here?" I asked as he locked the room with his fingerprint.

"Can anyone get in?" I asked, nodding towards the fingerprint scanned.

"No, only pack officials."

"So anyone in the reporting line to Zloy?"

"Yeah,"

Well that meant a lot of people could have come down here between last night and today. 

"They might have taken him to the local hospital for an autopsy," Zach guessed downplaying that a Beta had died, mysteriously in my opinion and now his body was missing. 

What Zach said could have been the truth, but then why did Alpha Zloy say for us to go check him out in the infirmary. 

Zach stopped at a door and knocked, "Doctor Roy only works on some days, looks like no one's here," well that was convenient.

"Did Nick spend much time elsewhere yesterday, maybe his room or something?"

"Why do you want to see his room?" Zach asked.

That's true, I need to come up with some form of story for my snooping around.

"I just need to do paperwork you see," I said, not a complete lie, "I just need to make sure its accurately documented his passing of death, where he was, what he was doing that it was natural. Zloy mentioned that it was through his sleep?"

"He doesn't stay at the pack house."

"He doesn't?" I asked. But he was Beta.

"He's got his own house down the road, I'll get you a set of keys if you want. He moved out a week ago actually, so I'm not sure if he's set up."

"Why did he move out?" I asked.

I followed Zach up the stairs back to the main pack house, almost relieved to be above ground again. 

"Well Akil will be moving in, besides he wanted his own place for his 'retirement'. I don't know why he would want to move out when he has no one to live with."

Well...that part I could relate to with Nick, I liked my own space and my independence. Look at me now, now that I got used to spending some time with someone I was way too dependant on them and their emotions. Or at least wondering what I did wrong half the time, it was a big adjustment living with people.

I followed Zach down the end of a corridor, this entire place was corridors after corridors and he paused before we entered the kitchen.

"Luna Hill, I'd be careful asking too many questions here," Zach warned me, "You don't understand the history here. Let's go join them for lunch so they can keep an eye on you."

With that he walked into the kitchen and then to the dining room and I staggered after him. Keep an eye on me, I had a feeling that there were a lot of people watching me this weekend.