Found by the Lycan King

Alpha Rick tried not to make a face as he lifted the body that had gone rather stiff and placed it directly on the table, stumbling a little on his way to the table and almost bumping the head into the corner of the table.

He then placed the body on the table and I turned my eyes away, for it was stark naked. The man did not weigh much, but his body looked stiff as a board.

Again, a strong scent of disinfectants and medicines hit my nostrils, and I tried to not retch by clutching the side of the table hard, letting my nails dig into the wood.

Some part of the wood chipped off as I tried to fight the nausea building up inside of me. The smell was not that big of a deal, but inspecting a living being who died with a cool face was not something I had ever done.

Callahan, meanwhile, walked around the table, carefully inspecting the body as if he had been doing this all his life.

He probably had. I recalled his retelling of the past where he would be guilt ridden of all the dead bodies piling up during the war.

I did not dare go too close immediately, but from here I could see there were no visible marks on the body.

“Name of this man?” Callahan asked, while continuing to stare at the

corpse.

“Mark. He was one of the low rank pack members. He and his group of friends were known to drink a lot.”

“All of them are your pack members?” Another question.

“Yes, my.King”

Callahan nodded and then looked at me.

“What does that mean?”

I was surprised to be asked that question and fumbled for a response.

09:27

I was surprised to be asked that question and fumbled for a response.

“Uh, maybe these men had irked the Rogue King or his men somehow.”

Callahan shook his head.

“Nope. Try again.”

I nervously stared at the corpse and tried to come up with a feasible

answer.

“They steered too far from the pack’s territory, so they were easy prey?” I asked in a questioning tone.

Callahan shook his head again.

“No. It means that these were the people nobody would notice had gone missing immediately.”

I tilted my head at that line, wondering how he came to that conclusion. Content provided by NôvelDrama.Org.

Callahan saw the expression on my face and explained, “Look at the corpse, really look at it. What do you see?”

I felt stupid with every line I spoke, but with Rick and Elijah watching, I had to answer.

“That they might have been killed by poison or cutting off their oxygen supply.”

Callahan shrugged. “Could be. We will come to that. My question was what made me assume nobody would notice their absence.”

I scratched the back of my neck nervously.

“Um, because they were low ranking members.”

“Wrong again. Observe the thing that is right in front of you. The corpse…the man he once used to be. What is his build like?”

I looked at him again.

“Stocky, he has a round belly too and is short.”

“Now you are talking. However, the correct answer is that they were not warriors of the pack. A warrior is always in good shape, pays attention to

09:27

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his health, and, in case of any attack, they have a system in place to alert their family back at home and save others, too.”

He then held the hand of the corpse, and I mentally shuddered.

“Look at the hand. Do you think this hand has ever held a weapon?”

The hand was more like a stump with thick fingers.

“No, your majesty”

Callahan nodded. “So, they chose people who would not only be unable to fight back, but also whose absence would not cause a stir immediately.”

He let go of the hand and dusted his hands before continuing.

“Now, answer me, Zenovia. Why would someone pick a weakling to leave a message instead of picking a strong warrior?”

Again, I could not think of a reason that would satisfy him.

“Because they just wanted to get the job done instead of stressing on the importance of the message? Like I don’t know if they did it only because they were ordered by their alpha or if they wanted to please him by going the extra mile and killing someone strong enough.”

This time, Callahan only gave me a small smile instead of commenting on my answer. And I was relieved he had stopped grilling me.

I was already feeling anxious and his questions, coupled with the fact that we were in front of a corpse that had its eyes carved out, made me even

more nervous.

Rick stayed silent and nodded to everything Callahan said, meaning Callahan guessed it either way and his assumptions proved to be correct.

His observation skills were quite nice. I had to give him that.

“I assume no proof or clues linking to a possible culprit have been found yet.” Callahan completed a circle, observing the corpse before returning near its head again.

“None” Rick replied.

“Hmm, now turn it over”

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Callahan ordered out of nowhere, and Rick’s face paled.

“B-but King, we have already checked everything. There is nothing more to find out.”

Elijah took a step forward and added, “You do not disobey the King in front of me or anybody at all.”

His tone held a hint of warning, and Rick immediately broke out in a

sweat.

“Uh, sorry, I will turn it over, right away, my King.”

Rick walked back to the corpse and turned it over with some difficulty, since the corpse was too stiff and the weight was also on the higher side. Neither Elijah nor Callahan attempted to help him as Rick struggled to turn the corpse over, the back facing upwards this time.

The body almost fell down on the bench with a thud and what I saw left me stunned.

The upper surface of the body was clean and devoid of any scars or wounds. But the backside was a completely different story.

Something had been etched onto the flesh of the corpse.

We all sucked in a breath to see that there were some weird patterns and shapes etched onto his back.

Callahan and Elijah stepped forward to look at it. The pattern was etched onto the back as if somebody had carved it into a block of wood with a chisel and hammer.

No blood was flowing out of the etchings, but it was all very eerie. It was as if somebody had tortured this man instead of killing him or maybe they had killed him first and then taken their time while drawing those patterns on the flesh with a sharp pointed tip of a knife.

Rick’s eyes went wide as saucers as Callahan looked up at him.

“Did you know about this?”

Rick’s mouth went dry.

“I did not. I swear, my King. I only knew of the eyes and that, as per

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protocol, we had to send them to the morgue.”

“Then why did you hesitate to turn it over?” Callahan asked, and Rick’s face turned even paler.

“I just….I am sorry, my King.”

“He must have been a disgusting and lazy person when he was alive, but he was still a member of your pack. The least you can do is not wrinkle your nose in disgust when I ask you to touch his body.”

Rick looked to the ground, unable to look Callahan in the eye.

“Apologies, my King.”

Callahan walked up towards him, staring him dead in the eye.

“I don’t want your apology. Tell me why did it take you two days to send it to the morgue? Was it you who did this? Someone from your pack? Maybe I should strip you of your alpha title.”

Callahan spoke in an icy tone and the man fell to his knees, begging and sobbing like a child.

ว

“I am sorry, Your Majesty. We discovered this, and it was all very new and shocking to us. Rumors are ripe that some witch or wizard is tryi come back to life and doing black magic. If he targets someone, else he is close to is also targeted. I did not want my pack to suffe wanted to ensure the safety of the others. So, I tried to hush it.”

My eyes went wide as I listened to the drama unfold.