Paranormal Romance and Romantic Suspense Author Caridad Pineiro

Chapter 25

The scene in the morgue was grim.

The council stood behind her father while Hemmerich and her half-sister Selena stood off to one side. On the gleaming stainless steel tables in front of them lay the naked bodies of two of their younger adult pack members.

Catalina paused before the bodies, Helene on her left and Ramon on her right. It staggered her to see the young wolves there, side-by-side in death much as they had been together in life. Had it only been a few years since she had attended their wedding? Less than a year since she and the other wolves had welcomed their new son into the pack.

“The child?” she asked, her gut tightening into an ever more malicious knot as it occurred to her that the child might have been with them.

“Left at home with the grandparents. Kate and Edward had decided to go out for a long awaited night alone,” her father replied and Catalina strode up to the tables for a closer inspection.

The two wolves bore dozens of defensive wounds, a testament to how bravely they had fought for their lives. Numerous bites also marred their bodies. The vampires had feasted on them, but more troubling was the possibility that Kate and Edward had been turned during the feeding. Although it was rare for vamp-were hybrids to occur, it was possible and there was only one way to prevent that.

“Incineration — ”

“Already scheduled,” her father replied, but then quickly added, “They were not on the hunt.” He motioned to the pile of bloodied and shredded street clothes lying on another table beside the bodies.

Catalina nodded and asked, “Who found them?”

“Kate managed to shoot off a distress signal after they were attacked. Victor and the pack members on guard tonight tracked the signal on her cell phone, but arrived too late,” her father advised, prompting a series of distressed murmurs from the council members behind him.

She glanced at the council, who were wringing their hands and moaning like a bunch of old ladies at a funeral. She expected more from them and as her father turned and shot them a condemning look, she realized he did as well. When her father returned his gaze to her, she said, “Have you secured the compound and sent out a warning to the other pack members?”

“It’s been done, daughter,” her father answered. He lifted his hand and with a wave to the bodies, he instructed the two wolves manning the morgue to take them away. Then with another annoyed glare at his council, he said, “We need to retire to the chambers and discuss what to do next.”

“Do you think they mean war, father?” Helene asked and beside her, Catalina sensed Ramon’s uneasiness. As the physician to the pack, he would be the one responsible for tending to the injuries of the wolves, as well as her own because she had no doubt who her father would appoint to lead them into battle.

Turning to face her half-sister, she said, “It’s always been war, Helene. Only now it’s our turn to be on the defensive.”

Sadly, not one person in the room disagreed.