“No, this is something I need to do.”
Sheriff Wheeler nodded in understanding, pushing his fingers through his salt and pepper hair. Wide hazel eyes flecked with gold slid to mine, and he frowned.
“You guys can follow us up the trail, and we’ll walk you to the body. I can buy you a few moments alone with it, but the feds have called in a special team from Seattle to handle the case. We had a ride-along with us, and your dad would always make sure nothing was left behind as evidence. I didn’t think twice about agreeing to this fed coming here.”
“It isn’t your fault, sheriff. If it’s my father, I will take care of the body once it’s returned for burial,” I whispered thickly, unable to hide my emotion.
“Damn, Xariana. Your dad was one of the good ones, and this world needs more men like him. Not less.” He wiped at his eyes, sighing and hiking his thumb over his shoulder toward a younger police officer standing beside a man in a fancy overcoat. “That’s my rookie, Tanner, and the other one is agent Abraham Lincoln with the feds. I’m guessing his parents thought it would be cute, but he’s pretty much a fucking prick that thinks we’re nothing other than a few patrol officers.”
I grunted before smiling at him. “Maybe we should give him a tour of our city at night,” I offered, watching the sheriff’s lips jerk up in the corners.
“No one should be out at night in this city, kid. Not you, not us, and not him.” He cleared his throat as he headed toward his blazer. “I’ll lead you up the mountain since we’re not supposed to advertise where we’re training, according to Lincoln. Like the people here don’t already know how to avoid crossing our paths?”
“Obviously, someone didn’t,” I informed, nodding to my guys to get the Land Rovers as my gaze clashed with agent Lincoln. He slid his cool amber stare over my face, pausing before turning and saying something to the rookie. “This is becoming a shit-show.”
“More than you having sex with Noah?” Kaderyn asked, barely controlling the disappointment in her tone.
“I didn’t fuck Noah, Kaderyn. He showered in my apartment because he spent the night after Micah tried to fuck me. Is this going to be a problem?”
“No, but what happened before, with you and Micah—it ripped our team apart, Xari. We lost you, and that fractured the group. We’ve all been together since we were in diapers, so losing you caused a rift in the team. So next time something happens, send the other asshole away. You’re our glue. Understand? Without you, no one checks us or puts us in our place. No one tells us when we’re being fucking petty or stupid, or that it will be okay when the sky is falling—and girl, it’s fucking falling on us all.”
“You will be fine.”
“Asshole,” she muttered.
“Bitch,” I returned.
“You’re both being childish,” Onyx injected, pushing us as we started toward the vehicles coming our way. “Kaderyn’s right, though, Xar. You’re our fucking duct tape, and without you, we were falling apart. It’s good to have you home again.”
Chapter Thirteen
The drive up the long, winding road to the canyon was filled with silent tension. A team of hunters were a mile behind us, and would scout the area once we entered the site where the body was found. If it was my father, someone was more than likely waiting for us to come upon the remains. I wouldn’t chance walking into a trap, not when lives depended on the fact that I wouldn’t make rash decisions.
“What if it is your father?” It was the question everyone was thinking but was too afraid of voicing out loud. I slowly slid my attention to Micah, frowning at the question.
“Then we bury him, find out who did it, and make them pay,” I informed softly, fighting the pain that flashed through me at the thought.
It could potentially be my dad in this canyon, lifeless and discarded like trash. The thing bothering me was, where were the women? The sheriff hadn’t mentioned finding more corpses. Our attackers didn’t take any other males, but they’d stolen several females from the compound. So if the remains are of my father, that would mean the kidnappers decided to keep the women, or they were somewhere out there, undiscovered.
“I want teams scouring these woods either way. Even if this isn’t Xavier, someone is dead in this valley, and we need to gather all intelligence and information to figure out who they are and why they died. Their family deserves closure. No one should be left wondering what happened.” I stated firmly, shoving away all emotion as the sheriff pulled off the highway and onto a back road.
“Maybe we should go in first?” Onyx offered, her wide, midnight-blue eyes narrowing, creasing her forehead. She pushed the dark blue hair from her face, turning to look at me as we hit a bump. “You shouldn’t see him like this.”
“I disagree,” I said with more bravado than I felt. “If it is my old man, I need the closure this will give me. I also want to find out what they did to him so that I know exactly how to repay the ones that harmed him when we hunt them down and end them.”
Our vehicles pulled off the road onto a shoulder, which was already crawling with police. Slowly forcing my heart to stop beating painfully against my ribcage, I slid from the car and waited for the others to do the same.
“I want eyes on everything; branches, broken twigs, and debris,” I ordered softly, keeping my voice down so the officers near us wouldn’t overhear. “Something or someone came through here to discard the remains. Look for the path they took. I doubt they entered from the road.”
Walking toward the sheriff, I waited for him to make quick introductions of the other officers. Lincoln smiled, nodding at me as I offered my hand to shake. The hair on my neck rose, and I peeked a glance at his coat, noting every weapon he had stored beneath it. For a federal agent, the guy had an alarming amount of firepower under his jacket.
“This is Xariana Anderson, our victim’s daughter,” Jeffery stated.
“Alleged victim,” Lincoln corrected, sliding silver eyes over me.
“Either way, it’s not pretty up there. It’s about a mile’s trek to the body. My officers have been watching the scene and the area around it since we were notified. I hope you don’t mind hiking up? I’ll be taking the four-wheeler, but Tanner here will guide you and the others up the trail behind me.” Jeffery nodding at Lincoln. “He enjoys walking, so he’ll be joining you with his sunny disposition.”
“Understood,” I grunted, sliding my attention back to the agent who had yet to take his eyes off of me. He wasn’t human; that much was obvious. I smiled tightly, slowly turning to Tanner. “We will follow you.”
Tanner was young, barely out of the academy from the looks of it. He was gangly, with shaven hair similar to a soldier’s cut, indicating he had some military background. His uniform was pressed, and there wasn’t a speck of dirt on it. The young officer took pride in his position, and it made me want to smile, but the thought of what we were about to see prevented that.
“I’ve got to warn you guys. It isn’t pretty. I’ve been on a few calls like this, but I lost my lunch when Wheeler forced me to look at this one,” Tanner admitted, rubbing the back of his head before grabbing a pack and hefting it over his shoulder.