Waking Bel (Lords of Discord 3)

“Why is he here? Bel’s property goes on for another quarter mile at the closest edge to here.”

Wyatt turned to look over his shoulder at River, not needing to answer. River knew why the man had been killed here. To frame them.

“Come on. We need to return to the house and tell Bel what we found.”

Part of River wanted to dig his heels in and say no. They’d just close their eyes to it and pretend the shifter hadn’t been brutally murdered as part of some elaborate ploy orchestrated by Albert. He didn’t want this happiness to end. Didn’t want to go back to life on the run. To hiding. He didn’t want to give up his Bel.

But this wonderful dream was already dissolving into the nightmare that had been his life for so very long.

Bel was already grabbing his coat when Wyatt and River strode through the sliding glass door at the rear of the house. He’d been nervous about them going for a run, but Wyatt had promised they’d stay deep in his property. Nothing to worry about.

But they couldn’t have been gone for more than twenty minutes before a spike of horror and fear sliced through Wyatt, echoed just a second later by River. Something was wrong, and he needed to find his wolves.

“What happened?” Bel demanded, stopping in the middle of shoving his arm through the sleeve of the coat.

“We found a body,” River blurted out.

“What?” Bel nearly choked on the word. “A dead body? On my property?”

“Yes,” Wyatt said. “He was killed. Throat torn out.”

Bel stumbled backward a step, his hand rising to his parted lips. He couldn’t speak. Who would do such a thing? Was this a message from the Ministry? A vampire was excellently equipped for such a brutal form of murder, and it would certainly send a clear message to Bel that he was next in their sights.

Dragging in a gasp of air, he caught the first faint hint of blood. And it came from one of the wolves. His heart skipped a beat while his mind raced ahead. Were they somehow involved in the man’s death?

“Did it look like it was done by a vampire?”

Wyatt shook his head. “No. Definitely a wolf.”

“Did you touch the body?”

“No,” Wyatt quickly answered. Bel’s eyes darted to River, but the wolf was already shaking his head.

Fear crawled up his throat, threatening to block the words, but he forced them out. “Did you have something to do with his death?”

“No, of course not!”

Bel took another deep breath, but there was no mistaking it. He could smell blood wafting around them. “I would understand if something happened and you—”

“Bel, I swear to you, we never touched the man!” Wyatt shouted.

“I smell blood.” The words came out hard and flat. Bel knew what he smelled. There was never a doubt when it came to blood.

Wyatt dropped his head forward and looked embarrassed. “It’s from a rabbit. We were running, and I gave in to the urge to chase it down. I…I didn’t want to tell you. I was afraid you’d be upset that I was hunting on your land. Or maybe just disgust—”

Bel stopped his words with a hard kiss. When he broke off the kiss, he pulled Wyatt in for a tight hug and grabbed River as well, holding both men tight against him as a wave of relief washed over him.

“Oh, thank God,” he sighed. He rested his forehead on Wyatt’s shoulder and closed his eyes. “I was afraid something had happened to you or River. I know you’d never hurt anyone in cold blood.”

Wyatt nuzzled the top of Bel’s head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think.”

“It’s okay.” Reluctantly, Bel released them and finished pulling on his coat before smiling at Wyatt and then River. “Just remember. Vampire.” He tapped the side of his nose with one finger. “I’m basically a blood-seeking monster. I can always smell the blood.”

River surprised him by kissing the corner of his mouth. “You’re no monster.”

Bel didn’t argue, but…could he become one? When it came to protecting River and Wyatt, the answer was yes.

“Do you need to grab your clothes first?” Bel wasn’t exactly eager to go look at a dead body, but it would be best if they took care of this before they ran out of night hours.

Wyatt shook his head. “I think we should go as wolves. If there’s trouble, I want to be able to quickly shift.”

Bel nodded and locked up his house while werewolves shifted on the patio. He followed them through the woods, inwardly grumbling once again about his lack of appropriate footwear. When he got back to the house, he would need to put hiking boots on his shopping list. It had been years since he’d last spent this much time tromping through the woods.

As a vampire, there just wasn’t much call for it. There wasn’t a lot of prey to be had out in the middle of a forest at night. And too often, campers were armed. He didn’t want to worry about being shot if he happened upon some poor hikers huddled around a campfire.