Dreaming of the Shifter (Shifter World - Book Five) (Series of 13 Short Stories)
Chapter Eight: Crime Scene

They stood in silence as they waited for Amirah Kraftman. When her car pulled into the drive, no one moved. She didn’t bother knocking, and they turned to her when she entered the house.

“From Daryl’s phone call, I take it you all knew before I did,” she said, watching them.

“What happened, Mom?” Dustin asked.

Amirah took a deep breath. “Your father and his lover were killed in a car crash about five minutes before I got the phone call….”

“How can someone call you so fast?” Daryl asked, watching his mother.

She looked at him. “Apparently, I’m still his emergency contact. Or contact in case of death, whatever it is, they called me.”

Daryl shook his head.

“This can be a good thing,” Pearl said, watching them.

Amirah looked at her. “How?”

“Because we need a leader,” Pearl said.

“I thought Joy was going to lead….” Dustin started to say, then stopped when everyone looked at him.

“The children, yes.” Pearl nodded. “But before then….”

Everyone looked at Daryl.

Daryl shook his head. “I never wanted this.”

“But you’re the oldest,” Pearl said.

“And I don’t even have my mate yet,” Daryl said with a growl.

“Keyword there, Brother,” Dominic said with a grin as he placed his hand on Daryl’s shoulder. “Yet.”

“Mom, since you’re here, we have a favor to ask of you,” Dylan said as he approached his mother.

Amirah watched her son. “What is it?”

“We need a sitter for the five cubs. We have a mission we need to go on,” Dylan said with a bright smile.

Amirah chuckled. “A mission, huh? Do I need to worry about you lot?” she asked, looking around at everyone in the room.

“No, Mom, you don’t need to worry about us,” Dustin said as he handed his daughter over to his mother. “We’re protected by the Goddesses, remember.”

“But she’s not,” Pearl whispered, pointing at Amirah.

Amirah smiled at her newest daughter. “Don’t worry about me, dear. I’m too mean to die.”

“Isn’t that the truth.” Dominic laughed.

“So, where do we start?” Daryl asked.

“I think we should start by investigating your father’s death,” Pearl whispered.

“Agreed,” the others chorused.

“Mom, are you okay watching the cubs? This could take a few days,” Dustin asked, watching his mother cuddle her grandcub.

“I will be fine. You go and do what the Goddesses placed you on Earth to do,” Amirah said as she looked up at the large group of shifters, humans, and witch.

“Call Tate and Bridget; we’ll need them,” Pearl said as she pulled something from her bag.

“I’ll call Gerald,” Rolando said as he pulled out his phone. “He wouldn’t be happy if we left him behind.”

Pearl smiled at Rolando. “Yes, call him. He will be a lot of help.”

“Sebastian is back on the road for now, so he can’t help,” Dustin said as he looked through his contacts.

“What about your hockey buddy?” Pearl asked, looking at Raj. “Is he in town?”

Raj stared at her. “Uh, no. Why?”

Pearl shrugged. “We can use all the Supernatural help we can get. Does anyone else have friends who may be able to help?”

“I can call my cousin and see if she’s available,” Raj said as he pulled out his phone.

“Yes, another tiger would be nice.” Pearl nodded.

“Tate is on his way,” Shar said as she hung up her phone.

“On his way? I do believe he’s here.”

They all turned to the vampire.

“You’re always such a dick,” Bridget said as she appeared beside Tate.

Tate snorted. “Only around you.”

“Do you two really have to argue at a time like this?” Daryl grumbled.

“Oh!” Bridget chuckled.

“Death is not something to laugh at, devil woman,” Tate growled at her.

“I’m not laughing at death,” Bridget said as she straightened. “I was laughing at the vision of everyone in this room falling to their knees. I know it’s not funny, but to watch it….”

“Bridget,” Maddy said, watching her guardian.

“Yes, little bird?”

“Remember that talk we had about when you go too far?”

“Yes, of course, I do….” Bridget stopped talking and grunted. “I’m sorry. I am not used to being the good guy.”

The others laughed.

“So, what are we doing?” Tate asked as he looked around the room.

“First, we’re going to investigate our father’s death,” Dustin said.

“I don’t think it was an accident,” Pearl said. “They can’t kill us, but they can kill family.”

“Fuck!” Daryl sneered as he kicked the coffee table.

“Hey,” Shar squealed. “Don’t kick my table.”

“Sorry,” Daryl grumbled.

“Why would they kill our father? He hasn’t been in our lives since we were cubs,” Dustin asked.

Pearl looked at Dustin, then at the rest of her family. “Because he was the Alpha, and they always go for the Alpha. They thought if they killed your Alpha, it would damage your bond.”

“The only way killing an Alpha would damage our bond is if they kill an Alpha, we actually give a shit about,” Dustin growled.

“Exactly,” Pearl whispered. “They didn’t stop to think that killing your father wouldn’t damage your bond but strengthen it because now, your brother is the Alpha.”

“And he can’t be killed,” Dominic said, looking at Daryl.

“They don’t know I’m a Fated Mate,” Daryl said, his eyes opening wide.

“Exactly.” Pearl grinned. “They know with you as Alpha; it would cause more damage if you died. But they can’t see who’s a Fated Mate until they’re triggered. Only we know; because the Goddesses told Dylan.”

“Okay, so tell me, how smart do you have to be to become a dark witch?” Dustin asked as he looked at Pearl. “It seems that the smart witches are all white.”

Pearl chuckled. “Thank you. I will take that as a compliment.”

Dustin grinned. “It was.”

“Okay, so where do we start?” Daryl asked.

“Mom, where was dad killed?” Dustin asked as he looked at his mother, who had been quiet as she stood in the background.

She whispered the state, and all five of her sons stared at her.

“Mom?” Daryl whispered.

She sniffled. “He called the other day. He wanted to see you, boys. He’d heard about the Fated Mate thing and found out about Joy.”

“And you didn’t think to tell us?” Daryl asked, shock in his voice.

Amirah Kraftman stood up straight. “I raised you, boys, on my own. He was no father to any of you. I was both mother and father….”

“Mom, we know that,” Dominic said as he wrapped his arms around their mother’s shoulders and laid his cheek on her head.

“He was going to take you, boys, with him. He said you were old enough to make your own choices….”

“So, we have kids, and now we’re old enough for him to come see us,” Dustin growled.

“He said that with my hatred of humans, I could never love my grandcubs. But that’s not true,” Amirah cried. “I love Joy.”

“We know, Mom,” Dustin said as he moved over to their mother and kissed her on the forehead.

“I’m going to take Joy to the nursery,” Amirah said with a hiccup as she pulled from her sons and headed down the hall.

“That fucking bastard,” Dustin growled as he watched their mother.

“He’s gone for more than seventy years, and now, out of the blue, he wants in our lives?” Dylan said with a growl.

“Let’s get to the site before the humans destroy any evidence,” Pearl said as she placed her hand on her mate’s shoulder.

“I’m going to go tell mom we’re leaving,” Dustin said as he headed down the hall, Shar close behind him.

Dustin opened the door and stopped. His mother was in the rocking chair rocking Joy, tears streaming down her cheeks.

“Mom?” He whispered.

Amirah closed her eyes. “I still love him, you know.”

Dustin grunted. “Mom,” he said again as he entered the room.

“I never stopped loving him, no matter how much I hated him.”

“Amirah,” Shar said as she moved over to her mother-in-law.

Amirah opened her eyes and smiled at her. “You changed everything for me, do you know that? You and this little angel,” she said, looking down at her grandcub.

“I know,” Shar whispered. “You know none of us would have left you, don’t you?”

Amirah smiled up at her. “Yes, dear, I know my boys better than anyone. But the thought of him coming here, with his new lover….”

“Mom. We would have kicked them both to the curb,” Dustin said with a wide smile.

Amirah chuckled. “Yes, well….”

“Mom?”

They turned to the door to replace the rest of her boys standing there, watching their mother.

Shar took Joy from Amirah’s arms just in time as all five of her boys crashed down on her.

Amirah chuckled. “Careful, or you’ll break the rocker.”

“Mom, we’d never let him hurt you again,” Dylan said as he kissed his mother’s cheek.

“I’d have killed him myself if he’d tried to take us and Joy from you,” Dustin swore.

Amirah wiped her eyes and cheeks. “You would not have.” She sniffled. “Now give me my grandcub and go do your investigating.” She shoved the five large men off her and reached for Joy. “And when you replace those bastards who killed your father, cut off their heads for me.”

All five men chuckled as they stood and backed away from their mother.

Shar smiled as she handed Joy over to Amirah.

“Are we punishing them for killing dad?” Daryl asked.

Amirah looked up at her eldest. “No. We’re killing them for killing your father to make you the Alpha. It doesn’t matter that they’re idiots and don’t know you’re protected by the Goddesses. Their intentions were to kill you.”

All five brothers nodded.

“Now go, kick some dark witch ass,” Amirah said with a grin.

“Yes, ma’am,” the brothers said simultaneously, then turned and left the room.

Dustin paused in the doorway and turned to Sharissa. Shar smiled when he held his hand out to her. She took hold of it, and they left the room together. They went back to the living room to plan their first move.

~🧹~

“Do you sense anything?” Dylan asked as he watched his mate circle the car and tree where their father had been killed.

“It was definitely dark magic,” she said as she sniffed the air. “Do you smell that?”

Dylan sniffed the air and nodded. “Sulfur.”

She nodded. “Your sense of smell helps a lot with my work,” she said.

He chuckled. “Happy to be of service.”

She winked at him. “You’ll be of more service later tonight.”

He moved closer and leaned forward. “I can’t wait,” he whispered.

“We can all hear you two!” Dustin yelled from his place on the other side of the road next to his mate.

Dylan and Pearl chuckled.

It had taken them two hours to get here. To think, their father was so close to them, and they had no idea.

“More are coming!” Tate shouted from his position at the police cars.

He and Bridget had taken control of the police in the area so they could work without interruptions.

“I’m done here.” Pearl turned and headed toward the others.

Dylan followed close behind her.

“What next?” Daryl asked softly.

Dylan looked at his oldest brother. Daryl had started talking softly after he’d gotten agitated on the drive here and hollered about something—which made everyone in the car come to attention, and Dustin almost crashed them into an eighteen-wheeler.

“We need to visit the morgue,” Pearl said as she joined the others.

“Let’s get going, then,” Daryl said as he turned and headed to Dustin’s car.

“You need to get hold of those friends of yours,” Dylan whispered to his mate.

Pearl nodded. “I’ll get hold of them and see if one of them can help. It’s odd to have an Alpha who doesn’t know how to take control of his powers. Alphas are usually trained from birth.”

“Most don’t have a father who abandoned his children,” Dylan grumbled.

Pearl nodded. “They’ll understand that, more than anything else.”

“They don’t believe in Fated Mates?” Dylan asked as they headed for the car.

She shrugged. “They think it’s a fairy tale. They’ll believe it in time. But don’t rush them.”

Dylan nodded.

“Tate!” Pearl called out to the vampire.

Tate looked at her.

“Find out which morgue the bodies were taken to.”

Tate nodded, then started talking to one of the officers. He got the information and released the officers, then disappeared and reappeared in the car with the others.

Dustin looked at Tate through the rear-view mirror, and the vampire told him where to go.