Chapter 15: 14, Anise

Rayvin parked her car next to the house as she arrived home. She took out her phone and texted Mikael.

R: I’m home, I just need to take the groceries inside and I’ll come to the pack house.

M: I’ll send someone to take the groceries inside, come straight to my office. 

R: OK, on my way.

Rayvin frowned as she walked to the pack house. One of the pack members that was working in the kitchen was walking towards her. 

“Luna, the alpha asked me to unpack your car. Is it locked?” the man asked.

“No, and you just need to take the grocery bags that are in the trunk,” Rayvin told him.

“Yes, luna,” he nodded and Rayvin started walking to the pack house again. 

She quickly walked up the stairs and was about to knock on the door when it opened and Mikael pulled her into a tight hug. 

“Hi,” she said and returned the hug. 

“Hi,” he said, letting go of her just to take her hand and walk inside. 

Ben was standing at the window that looked out over the drive and the village. Rayvin saw the worry on his face. 

“What’s going on?” she asked. 

“I’ll explain,” Mikael said as he sat down on the couch and pulled her down so that he could place his arm around her. 

He told her about the car and the possible blood. Rayvin had a feeling that said that the chances of them getting Thomas back alive were slim. 

“I’m sorry, this must be hard on the both of you,” she said to Mikael and Ben. 

Ben’s phone buzzed, and he looked at it and Rayvin could see the last hope drain from his face.

“Diana says there is a smell of dead body around the car. It’s fresh so the human can’t smell it. She says there is something else as well that she can’t identify,” he told them.

“Tell her to be careful,” Rayvin said. Ben nodded and started typing his reply.

“I needed you back here and safe. Somewhere out there is someone powerful enough to take down a werewolf and careless enough to let humans find him,” Mikael told her. 

“I understand,” she nodded and took the hand he had on his knee and intertwined their fingers. 

“She should be here in about thirty minutes,” Ben told them and sat down on the opposite couch.

“Did you get into the room?” he asked Rayvin.

“Yes, thank you for your help,” she nodded.

“And?” Mikael asked.

“Something is off. He hasn’t been in the room since he checked in three days ago. But all his luggage is there, and his cellphone,” she told them.

“Are you sure he hasn’t been back?” Ben asked.

“Yeah, I saw the room’s digital sign-in information,” she nodded. 

“Do you think something has happened to him? Humans are fragile and accident prone,” Ben offered.

“Maybe, it’s the next thing I need to find out,” Rayvin nodded. 

“Can he be involved in what happened to Thomas?” Ben asked. 

“Thomas went missing a little over a week ago. Frank was still down south by that time, he only came up here three days ago,” Rayvin said.

“I have met the human, I don’t see how he could have overpowered Thomas. He may be intelligent, but he is middle-aged and not in good physical condition, even for a human. Thomas is a young werewolf that spends his day at the gym,” Mikael told them. 

“That’s a good point,” Ben nodded. Both men then fell silent and got a glazed look. 

“Ask her to drive the car into the big garage,” Rayvin quietly told Mikael. 

“How did you know it was Diana that contacted us?” Mikael asked.

Rayvin just looked at him.

“Yeah, okay, it was rather obvious,” he chuckled.

“Why the garage? We are on pack land,” Ben said as they got up to walk over to the communal garage where the joint vehicles were stored and repaired. 

“Call me paranoid, but if we are going to uncover a dead body, I would prefer that no nosy onlookers can see what we are doing,” Rayvin shrugged. 

“Watching our backs,” Mikael smiled and kissed her temple and squeezed the hand he was holding. 

“Always,” she smiled.

Diana came driving in a big, black pickup. Mikael and Ben opened the doors to the garage and Diana drove the car into the part of the garage that was used for repairs. They walked inside and closed the doors behind them. Diana hopped out of the car and Ben walked up to her and gave her a kiss. 

“Are you okay?” he asked her.

“I’m fine, love. Driving the car is the easy part,” she smiled at him. 

Rayvin sniffed the air and she could feel the stale smell of death that Diana had reported. She also scented the unfamiliar scent. There was a faint recognition in her mind. She had scented it before. It was spicy but reminded her of candy. It irritated that she couldn’t place it.

“It smells like those liquorice candies you like,” Diana told Ben and wrinkled her nose. 

“Stop!” Rayvin told them as the memory fell into place. Everyone froze.

“What is it, Ray?” Mikael asked.

“Do you have ventilation in here?” she asked.

“We have ventilation for welding and heavy reparation,” he nodded.

“We need to turn it on and make sure no one goes near where it is vented outside the building,” Rayvin told him. 

Diana walked over to a set of buttons and soon there was a buzzing sound as the ventilation was switched on. Rayvin could feel the air moving upwards. 

“Care to tell us what you know?” Mikael asked.

“It’s anise,” she told them.

“The unfamiliar scent?” Diana wondered.

“Yes. I knew I recognised it, but it didn’t click until you mentioned the liquorice. Anise is a plant that has some interesting effects on werewolves. Think of it as catnip for dogs,” Rayvin explained.

“Who are you calling a dog?” Ben huffed.

“Calm down, Ben. I’m trying to explain something important,” Rayvin sighed, and Mikael and Diana shot Ben an irritated look.

“So anis gives dogs a high?” Mikael asked.

“Yes, and it does similar things to werewolves. It acts as a stimulus and can heighten other subjects. Add it to alcohol and we will have a similar effect from a beer as a human does. The same goes for drugs. When you add high amounts of it into, for example MDMA, things happen,” Rayvin told them.

“I have never heard of this,” Mikael frowned.

“It’s not commonly known. Mistvalley discovered it a couple of years ago. Some rogues experimented with it. It was before we all got along, and it was decided that this information was dangerous if it were to become common knowledge,” Rayvin said.

“Dangerous how?” Diana asked.

Rayvin looked at them. Then she sighed and looked at Mikael.

“I need to call my alpha,” she said. He looked at her and nodded.

Rayvin took out her phone and dialled alpha Brutus. 

“Auga, what is wrong?” he answered.

“We have an issue. It is related to Sambuca. I need permission to talk about it with alpha Mikael, Beta Benjamin and Gamma Diana,” she said. 

“You have a Sambuca-related issue?” he asked. 

“Yes,” she answered. 

“That has to be a hell of a problem. I trust your judgment. We live in the age of friendship. You are free to tell them what they need to know. Don’t forget that you are still a part of the pack. Let me know if you need anything,” he told her. 

“Yes, sir. Thank you,” Rayvin nodded.

“Take care Auga.”

“You too, alpha,” she said, and they hung up.

She turned around to face the three wolves that were staring at her.

“Sambuca?” Mikael asked.

“It’s the code name for the use of anise. It’s an anise liqueur, it seemed appropriate,” Rayvin told him. 

“Alpha Brutus told me to tell you everything. What we discovered when we looked into the use of anise and MDMA is that if you mix two parts of distilled anise with one part of MDMA you create a drug that will hype up a werewolf to the point of an uncontrolled shift,” she told them.

They looked at her in horror.

“A forced uncontrolled shift?” Mikael asked.

“Yes. The animal part will take over, and it is a painful experience. If the wolf isn’t contained, there is no telling what they will do. They have no inhibitions. They will hunt, eat, and… other primal animal instincts until they collapse or the drug washes out of their system,” she said. 

“You have seen it?” Diana asked. It didn’t sound like she wanted to know. 

Rayvin sighed. This was not something she liked to talk about. Being an agent of Mistvalley, she had seen things that she rather not remember. 

“I have,” she nodded. 

She looked toward the covered flat bed of the truck.

“Why did you ask us to turn on the ventilation?” Mikael asked as he walked up to her and put his arm around her waist. He felt her uneasiness, and she appreciated having him close.

“We can be affected by inhalation of anise as well. It’s not as powerful as if we take it orally or inject it, but it can still affect us,” she told him.

“Is it safe to remove the cover?” Ben asked.

“I would suggest that we use gloves. It may be over the top, the scent is faint. But I would rather be safe than sorry,” Rayvin said. 

“I agree,” Mikael nodded. 

“Gloves will be here in five minutes,” Diana told them.

They all stood around waiting when there was a knock at the garage door. Diana waited a moment before opening the doors and took the gloves inside. Rayvin appreciated the steps to make sure that no one knew what was inside the garage. 

They put the gloves on, and Mikael and Ben opened the cover. On the flatbed of the truck, there was a man. He was clearly dead. But it looked like he hadn’t been dead for long. 

“Thomas?” Rayvin asked. Mikael nodded solemnly. 

“I’m sorry,” she said and placed her gloved-clad hand on his back. 

“Look at his wounds,” Diana pointed out. 

Rayvin let her eyes scan over the dead body. There were heavy burns on his wrists and the t-shirt he was wearing had multiple stab wounds. Rayvin lifted the bottom of the grey sweatpants. There were similar burns there as around his wrists. 

“Silver,” she said. 

“He was kept tied up,” Mikael growled. 

“But this isn’t his clothes,” Diana pointed out.

Rayvin looked at the t-shirt and sweatpants again. The t-shirt was too big for him and was a promotional item from a fast-food chain. The sweatpants also looked at least two sizes too big. 

“I’m guessing he usually wore more fitted clothes?” Rayvin asked.

“Yes, he always showed off his body, said it was good for business,” Diana nodded.

“You know that how?” Ben asked, and looked at his mate. 

“Ben, a blind woman would have noticed that,” Diana huffed. 

Ben let out a low growl, and Rayvin had to smile. 

“What killed him?” Mikael asked. 

Rayvin looked at the body and lifted the t-shirt to get a better look.

“I would say either silver or wolfbane poisoning or a combination of both,” she said and lifted the t-shirt so they all could see the black veins and the rash. 

Mikael and Ben both cursed, and Diana looked pissed. 

“What the fuck is going on?” Mikael asked. 

“This is serious. Someone kidnapped, drugged and tortured a werewolf,” Rayvin said. 

“You think they used the anise on him?” Diana asked.

“There is an injection mark on his neck. There are no black veins that you get with silver or read rash from wolfsbane,” Rayvin pointed out. 

“What do we do now?” Diana asked. Everyone looked at Rayvin.

“Me?” she asked.

“You have the experience in this, sweetie,” Mikael said.

“Sure. First, we need to try to find out where he was held. Tracking his phone should be a top priority. If the clothes don’t belong to him, we should try to find out who it belongs to. The car’s GPS can also be useful. Someone with medical knowledge should examine the body and draw blood,” Rayvin counted out.

“I’ll ask my alpha to send over the medical information we have on the effect of anise,” she added. 

“How dangerous is this anise? Do we need to take extra precautions when handling Thomas’ body?” Ben asked.

“No, if we leave the ventilation going overnight, it should be okay. But I would warn the ones that will physically handle the body to wear gloves and if they draw blood or other fluids, they need to make sure not to get it on the skin,” she said. 

“Let’s place guards around the garage. No one in or out that isn’t approved by one of us. We will ask Jonas to examine Thomas in the morning,” Mikael told them. 

“We will meet up in my office after breakfast. Let’s leave it here for now,” Mikael sighed.