The Forest's Grim Message and a Heated Confession

My stomach lurched as I stared up at the body, the girl's lifeless eyes seeming to stare right through me. A message, Jaxon had said. This was a message for me.

"We need to get closer," I whispered, stepping out of Jaxon's protective embrace.

His hand shot out, grabbing my wrist. "Are you insane? Stay back."

I pulled against his grip. "I need to see what's carved on her chest."

The forest remained unnaturally silent around us, that sensation of being watched still prickling along my spine. But something else was taking over—a detached, analytical part of my brain that recognized this as evidence, as something I needed to document and understand.

"Jax, let go," I said, my voice steadier now. "Whatever's written on her could tell us who did this."

His jaw tightened, but he released me, staying close as I approached the hanging body. The girl couldn't have been much older than me. Her dark hair hung in limp strands around her face, and her neck was bent at an unnatural angle from the rope's tension.

As I got closer, the carving on her chest became clear—a single letter "J" gouged deep into her flesh.

J for Josie. J for Hazel.

"Holy shit," I breathed, backing up a step. "It's a J."

Jaxon's face darkened. "It's definitely meant for you."

My mind raced. "I need to take pictures. Document this before anyone moves her."

"What? No." Jaxon grabbed my shoulder. "We need to get the hell out of here and tell Vance what we found."

I shook my head. "This is evidence, Jax. If someone tries to cover this up—"

"Cover it up? We're not in your human criminology class, Hazel!" His voice rose, echoing through the trees. "This is a clear threat against you!"

"Exactly why we need proof!" I fished in the pocket of Ronan's sweatpants, relieved to find my phone still there. "I'm just taking a few photos."

Before he could stop me, I stepped back and raised my phone, snapping several pictures of the hanging body from different angles. The flash illuminated the grotesque scene in sharp relief.

"Are you done?" Jaxon hissed, looking around nervously. "Because whoever did this could still be watching."

I moved closer again, trying to see if there were any other marks or clues. The girl's wrists showed signs of restraint—deep bruising that suggested she'd been bound before she died. The letter J had been carved postmortem; there was minimal bleeding around the wound.

"Look at her neck," I said quietly. "The rope marks aren't the only thing. She was strangled before she was hung."

Jaxon ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "Great detective work. Now can we please get the fuck out of here?"

I reached toward the body, wanting to check her hands for defensive wounds or any trace evidence, but Jaxon caught my arm in a bruising grip.

"Don't touch her," he warned, voice deadly serious. "You don't know what kind of trap this could be."

"We need to call Kaelen," I conceded, lowering my hand. "The wards are still up. We can't port out."

Jaxon nodded tersely. "Do it. Now."

I pulled up Kaelen's contact and pressed call, my eyes still fixed on the hanging girl. Who was she? Was she a Grey or human? And why kill her just to send me a message?

He answered on the first ring. "Miss Thorne?"

"Mr. Vance," I said, trying to keep my voice steady. "We've found a body in the woods. A girl. Someone's killed her and left her for us to find."

There was a beat of silence. "Where exactly are you?"

"About half a mile north of the Academy grounds. In a clearing." I glanced around. "There's a big oak tree. She's... she's hanging from it."

"Don't touch anything," he ordered. "I'm lifting the wards now. Port directly to my office."

"But the body—"

"Will be handled. Port to my office immediately." His tone left no room for argument.

The call ended, and moments later I felt the shimmer of the wards dropping. Almost simultaneously, Silas, Ronan, and Rhys burst into the clearing, then froze at the sight before them.

"Holy fuck," Rhys whispered, his face draining of color.

Silas pushed his glasses up his nose, visibly shaken. "Is that—"

"A warning," Jaxon cut him off. "For Hazel."

Ronan moved to my side, his usually gentle face hardened with protective anger. "Who would do this?"

"Vance wants us in his office," I said, tucking my phone away. "Now."

Jaxon nodded, extending his hand. "Everyone grab on."

As my bonds linked hands to form a chain, I couldn't tear my eyes from the girl's face. Someone had murdered her to send me a message. The reality of that hit me like a physical blow.

Then we were porting, the forest dissolving around us. The sensation of being pulled through space made my already unsettled stomach roll violently. We materialized in Kaelen's office, and I immediately doubled over, fighting the urge to vomit.

"Breathe through it," Silas said softly, his hand on my back.

I straightened slowly, only to freeze when I spotted Seraphina standing beside Kaelen's desk, her perfect features arranged in a look of concern that didn't reach her eyes.

The memory of seeing her kiss Kaelen crashed over me again, igniting a flare of irrational anger that my heat-affected hormones amplified tenfold. I took an instinctive step forward, but Silas's subtle grip on my arm held me back.

"Not now," he murmured, so quietly only I could hear.

Kaelen stood behind his desk, his expression thunderous as he took in our disheveled state. His eyes lingered on the bite marks clearly visible on each of my bonds' necks, and I felt a flicker of possessive satisfaction despite the gravity of the situation.

"Explain," he demanded, his voice like ice. "Why were you in the forest? What happened to your necks? And what possessed you, Miss Thorne, to attempt to examine a murder victim?"

I opened my mouth to answer, but Rhys stepped forward, the words tumbling out of him in a rapid-fire confession.

"Hazel's heat started this morning. She shifted into her wolf for the first time and chased Jaxon into the forest. We all followed because, well, obvious reasons. When we found them, her wolf was dominant—like, super Alpha dominant—and she marked us all." He gestured to the bites. "Then we were coming back when we found the body. Hazel wanted to investigate because the killer carved a J into the victim's chest, clearly meaning it for her. We called you, and here we are."

The room fell into stunned silence. Kaelen's face had gone completely rigid, his blue eyes flashing dangerously as they moved from Rhys to me.

I lifted my chin, refusing to be cowed by his stare. "I have photos of the body if you want to see the evidence."

The look Kaelen gave me then made my breath catch in my throat. Beyond the obvious anger, there was something else—a flash of raw emotion I couldn't quite identify. Possessiveness? Fear? Whatever it was, it made my wolf stir restlessly inside me.

"Mr. Warner," Kaelen said slowly, his gaze never leaving mine, "are you telling me that Miss Thorne has entered her first heat, claimed all four of you as her pack, and discovered a murder victim specifically targeted at her—all in the span of a single morning?"

Rhys swallowed audibly. "Um, yes, sir. That about covers it."