Alpha Nocturne’s Contracted Mate by A E Randell
Chapter 254 Coincidence
Felix led the way and as soon as the door opened, they were assaulted with the sickly-sweet metallic stench of blood and Lexi tried her best not to gag.
“NO!” Felix shouted in disbelief as he ran towards the bed, leaving bloody footprints in the blood that had pooled on the floor.
“She was right here!” He wailed in anguish as Lexi and Adam exchanged a look before venturing further inside the room.
“Felix?” Lexi asked, the unspoken question in her voice hanging heavily in the air above them.
“I swear she was right here!” Felix replied as he gestured to the bloody mess on the bed.
“I hope that rules us out as suspects in this Felix, we’ve been with you the whole time,” Adam commented carefully as he swept his gaze around the room.
Felix looked at him with uncertainty, but even he had to admit that there was no way that Allen or Adam could have pulled something like this off.
“This… I don’t remember seeing this…” Felix frowned as he reached for the dagger that lay partially hidden under the pillow, “It could have moved when I… had my final moments with Aoife though.” He admitted softly, silently cursing at himself for not being more observant when he came across her body.
“It’s understandable, don’t think too much about what you should or shouldn’t have done Felix. You were distraught. No wolf thinks rationally at the time of their mate’s passing.”
Lexi tiptoed carefully past them and through the congealing blood on the floor to squint carefully at the dagger. There was no way that she was removing her hand from her nose, for all the good that it did her.
“Can you not smell that?” She asked incredulously to the two males at her side. “Smell what?” Felix asked with a baffled expression, “If you mean the blood…”
“No, not that. The sulfur. Ugh! Seriously…”
Lexi gagged violently as she inhaled a large lungful of air, the taste of the blood and sulfur sticking to her airways and making everything a million times worse.
“Like with the creature that Greyson brought before?”
“Exactly,” Lexi answered nasally, fighting the urge to vomit all over the scene.
“So, do you know who did this?” Felix asked hopefully, “At this point, the first thing I want is her body back, so I can give her the send-off that she deserves. Then I’ll stop at nothing until I’ve caught whoever is responsible.” He growled ominously.
“I have a feeling that you’re gonna find the murderer at the same time you find the body, honestly.” Lexi grimaced, “But this whole scene… it’s just too much of a coincidence.”
“What do you mean? What coincidence?” Felix asked impatiently.
“Give me a break, will you? I’m trying to think in all of this stench.” Lexi snapped as she gagged once more.
While they waited for Lexi to finish gagging, Felix reached for the knife on the bed, but Adam stopped him, shaking his head warningly.
“We don’t know if it’s been poisoned or not, at least grab some gloves to handle it with.
Felix disappeared into the bathroom and emerged a few seconds later, holding 3 sets of latex surgical gloves.
“I figured we should all have a pair if we’re going to be t*ouching things,” He shrugged quietly as he passed them out, handing Lexi a disposable mask as well, just in case it was any use.
She held her breath as she put it on and immediately pinched her nose shut over the top, at least it seemed to dull the sensation of tasing the foul odor.
“Where have I seen this before?” Felix mused as he turned the knife carefully in his hand as he and Adam examined it closely.
“There was one just like that when my mother was murdered.” Lexi said finally, as soon as she had caught her breath, “Her body was missing too.”
Felix and Adam’s gaze snapped to Lexi’s face almost instantly.
“I’ll need to speak to Papa of course, as long as you don’t mind him seeing the crime scene, but he’ll be able to tell you whether or not the similarities are as obvious as I think they are. I was only a baby when my mother was… well… when all the evidence pointed to her being murdered. Papa was never able to find her body, but there was no reason to think she was still alive.”
Adam frowned as he turned back to Felix.
“Do you still feel her? The mate bond… is it still there?” he asked, with a hint of urgency in his voice, but his hopes were dashed when Felix shook his head.
“No… I can’t feel her, but I also didn’t feel it when she died. I don’t understand…” Felix frowned as he tried to wrap his head around everything.
She had to have died. There was no way that anyone would have survived that amount of blood loss, but surely his wolf would have felt her die too. None of this made any sense.
“Do you…” Felix paused, licking his dry lips as a sudden thought occurred to him, “Do you think she’s still alive somewhere?”
Adam wouldn’t meet his gaze, coming to the same conclusion that Felix had with the amount of blood that surrounded them.
“You know, I was wondering the same thing,” Lexi murmured as she narrowed her eyes thoughtfully. “Let me get Papa in here and we’ll see what he has to say. He never felt the mate bond snap either when my mother died, yet couldn’t find any trace of her wherever he looked.”
Felix nodded thoughtfully, his wolf eager for Lexi’s father to share what he knew. If there was even the slightest possibility of Aoife being alive somewhere out there, then he would stop at nothing to bring her home.
“Very well. Go and fetch your father, Lexi, I will return to Ann’s room, and for your sanity, Felix, I will keep Allen in there with me until you are comfortable with allowing him to help out. I promise you though, Allen and I had nothing to do with this. What happened between Jasper and us all those years ago, as I said in our many discussions, is between Jasper and us. We do not hold you responsible, but your assistance in bringing him to justice would be very much appreciated.”
Felix nodded quietly.
It wasn’t that he wanted to betray his family, but his brother’s crimes were too many to list. It had taken him far too many years to realize that he could make the decision to separate his loyalty to the family and his loyalty to his brother.
The loyalty he once held for his brother had weakened the more that he found out about his depraved ways, and it was hanging on by a hairs length.
His face hardened with resolve as he made a decision. If Adam and Allen could help
him resolve his mate’s murder and disappearance, then he would help them pursue justice against his brother.
He had been allowed to create chaos for far too long, and that had to stop soon before both kingdoms suffered any more tragedies.