Page 49 of New Nebraska Home

No one was there. No one standing anyway. On the porch was a blue plastic tarp wrapped around something that smelled of blood and death.

“Fuck,” I heard Malik say as he shifted back. I made myself visible again and crouched over the tarp, pulling the plastic back. Amelia’s dead eyes stared back at me. Her face was pristine, but her body had been beaten, her arms broken into awkward angles that made my stomach roll, and then I saw the message carved into her stomach.

“What is it?” Liz said from the living room. Brock was right behind her.

“Brock, was Amelia full Fae?” I asked, staring down at her body.

“No, a halfling, but from a powerful line, why?” he asked.

I stood back and let him see what was carved into her stomach.

We will clean the earth of these abominations.

Liz

CAN’T A GIRL GET SOME PEACE?

“What happened?” I asked, trying to see over Brock’s shoulder as his entire body shook.

Brock let out a sob and Cal pulled him into his arms. I still couldn’t get around them to see what the hell was happening on my front porch.

“You need to go get dressed,” Cal said, looking over Brock at me. “Now.”

I looked down at the sheet I had wrapped around my body and considered it for a moment. “No, I want to know what’s happening.”

“Please, Liz, go get dressed,” Cal said again.

“No, tell me what’s going on!” I demanded. “This is my home, and I need to know what’s happening.”

Malik pushed past Brock and came inside, pushing me gently back into the house.

“Angel, please. We’ll tell you everything, but you don’t need to see that. You need to go upstairs, get dressed, and call the police.”

“What exactly is happening? Did another vandal hit our home?”

“Something like that, but it’s so much worse than a brick this time. Please, I don’t want you to have to see.” There was a note of something in Malik’s deep voice—remorse maybe, or fear? “Please go upstairs, get dressed, and call the police.”

“And what exactly would you like me to tell them? Something is going on, but no one will tell me what’s happening or let me on my own front porch?” I tried to push past him, but Malik grabbed onto my waist and held me against him.

“Angel, please. I can’t let you go out there. It’s for your own good. You can’t unsee it once you see it. Just tell the police there’s been a murder.”

“A murder?” My blood went cold. My mind went straight to Leif. Was it his body they wouldn’t let me see? Did those fucking wolves attack him at his friend’s house? I was almost positive his friend was human. They’d been here before New Nebraska was formed. They’d stayed on their family’s land. Surely they would’ve kept him safe?

But what did I expect a bunch of humans to do against an entire pack of hate-filled shifters?

“I need to see,” I cried out, trying to get out of Malik’s arms. If it was Leif, I needed to see. Did I do this? Was my sister right? Fae weren’t like other supernaturals. I could have registered him, and we could have left. Did my stubbornness lead to my little brother’s murder? “Leif!?”

“No.” Malik’s arms tightened around me. “It’s not Leif. Trust me.”

I did. But I still had to see. “Just because I had sex with you doesn’t make you, any of you, in charge of me. You don’t decide what I can or cannot handle. You don’t get to be the big bad alpha and order the little human around.” My fingertips tingled as I turned in his arms to face him. “Let me go.”

His arms tightened for a moment. Then he dropped to his sides and took a step back.

I turned and stomped my way to the front door, clutching Cal’s satin sheet to my chest.

“Liz, please, don’t—” Cal started, and I shot him a look that made his mouth snap closed. Brock was still in his arms, his shoulders shaking with sobs.

I moved past them and saw the blue tarp wrapping around a large shape, thick, dark blood leaking over the side. My breath caught in my throat as I pulled back the tarp and saw a mess of long, tangled red curls and a very adult, very female body.

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