Chapter 104: A Confirmation

Michael’s POV

Lawrence’s posture changed almost immediately.

His movements became unnatural, and the awareness in his expression disappeared. Whatever had been inside that creature was now inside him.

He went after Vera Hugo.

She tried to get away, but she was no match for the strength controlling her husband’s body. He caught her and wrapped his hands around her throat.

I watched without looking away.

Vera Hugo struggled, but the fight did not last long. Within moments, her body went still.

Lawrence remained beside her for seVera Hugol seconds. He did not appear to be reacting to what he had done.

There was no hesitation, no sign of the man who had entered the room earlier. He simply turned and walked away.

I followed the recording as he moved through the house instead of leaving immediately.

He went toward the security system. One camera after another went dark under his hands until the final recording disappeared.

I restored the next section. The footage returned in fragments before stabilising.

Lawrence was still inside the house, which caught my attention.

If killing Vera Hugo had been the creature’s only purpose, there would have been no reason for him to remain behind after the murder.

Yet he moved through the property with the same deliberate manner I had seen before the possession.

I watched him carefully.

He passed through the hallway and entered another part of the house. He stopped there, looking around as though searching for something. Then he moved to another room.

My attention sharpened.

The creature had not come for Vera Hugo.

It had entered the property before she ever saw it, and its movements had been directed toward something else.

Vera Hugo had only become involved because she happened to step out of her bedroom at the wrong time.

That meant her murder had been a consequence of what she witnessed.

I continued watching.

Lawrence eventually left the room and moved through the house again before finally making his way outside.

I switched to another restored camera. The footage showed him leaving the property.

I followed his movements from one surviving angle to another, using every available recording to piece together his route.

He walked along the road before disappearing beyond the range of the property’s cameras.

I checked the surrounding footage again.

One of the exterior cameras farther from the main house had survived the damage. After restoring its recording, I saw Lawrence.

He continued walking until a vehicle pulled over. He stopped, and the driver appeared to speak to him through the window before Lawrence got in.

I froze the footage.

The image was not clear enough to identify the driver or the vehicle’s occupants, but the location was visible.

I made a note of it. At least, I had somewhere to start looking now.

I restored the footage one more time and watched Lawrence disappear into the vehicle. Then I looked at the damaged security system.

I still had questions I could not answer. I did not know why the shapeshifter had entered the property, why Lawrence had been selected, or what it had been searching for before Vera Hugo discovered it.

But I had enough to move forward.

I took out my phone and called one of my men. He answered immediately.

"Alpha."

"Lawrence Park left the vacation home after Vera Hugo was killed. I have a location from the surrounding CCTV footage."

I gave him the details, then added, "I want you to find that vehicle and trace where it went. Find Lawrence."

"Yes, Alpha."

"And listen carefully. If you locate him, nobody approaches him. I want surveillance only."

"Yes, Alpha."

"Find out where he goes, who he meets, and what he does. I want everything reported to me before anyone makes a move."

"Understood."

I ended the call and looked at the restored footage again.

The body leaving that property belonged to Lawrence Park, but Lawrence himself was already gone. That was the price of shapeshifter possession.

Once one of them entered a human host, the human’s soul was destroyed. There was no separation afterwards, no possibility of the original owner taking back control of his body.

Whether the shapeshifter remained in the host until the body was destroyed or abandoned it for another, the human was already dead.

Lawrence had died the moment the creature took him.

Whatever happened to his body after that was entirely in the hands of the thing that had taken it.

My men knew that as well as I did. They wouldn’t just be looking for Lawrence Park. They would be tracking the shapeshifter now moving around in his body.

I glanced at the time. I still had a flight to Los Angeles to catch.

The investigation could continue without me for now.

I had confirmed what the police could not have known from the evidence alone.

Lawrence had been killed, and his body had been taken over by a shapeshifter who had later used it to kill his wife, Vera Hugo.

---

By the time I arrived in Los Angeles, the evening had settled over the city.

I went straight to Alaric’s home.

He was waiting for me in his study when I walked in. He rose from his chair, and we exchanged a brief nod before clasping hands.

"Lucien."

"Alaric."

Neither of us needed the usual pleasantries. There was too much to discuss.

Alaric gestured toward the drinks cabinet. "You want something?"

"Whiskey."

He poured two glasses and handed one to me before returning to his seat.

We still had some time before the meeting about the operation against the possessed members of influential families, so we had a few minutes to ourselves.

Alaric took a sip. "Any development with Vera Hugo?"

"I went to the vacation home before leaving for Los Angeles." I pulled out my phone. "I found something."

His expression sharpened.

I opened the file containing the footage I had recovered and handed him the phone. He watched without interruption.

When the recording ended, Alaric handed the phone back. "So it was indeed a shapeshifter."

"That’s what I told you yesterday," I said to him.

"And now we have confirmation."