Chapter 7 - Tolliver
Tolliver couldn’t believe he kissed Laila. He couldn’t believe she ran, either. Pressing the heel of his hands into his eyes, he released a torrent of expletives. What had he been thinking? Or maybe he hadn’t been thinking.
He prided himself on having a handle on his emotions. His valued control had no chance around Laila, it seemed. Kissing her had been reckless. He’d told himself he’d treat protecting her like any other job. However, that was proving impossible since he wanted her with every fiber of his being. He wanted to kiss her again and go much further. However, it appeared Laila didn’t want what he wanted.
Her panicked expression before she bolted still haunted him. It cut him deeper than anything she could have said. She had looked at him as if he were the enemy. Laila didn’t trust him and maybe she never would again. He was furious with himself for losing focus. Because of that, he’d missed the threat to her. When he followed her into the woods, he hadn’t even sensed the danger to her until the shifter was much too close.
The shifter had taken off when Tolliver appeared, so he wasn’t sure if it was the same man stalking Laila. He thought he’d gotten her out of the path of danger, but the criminals were still closing in. He needed to get his head screwed on straight and stop getting distracted.
I shouldn’t have kissed her , he thought.
“Idiot,” he hissed.
“You’re being a bit hard on yourself,” he heard Ryder say. “What did you do?”
Tolliver looked up to see Ryder and Alpha Zach at the door. Both men studied him with raised eyebrows.
“Yeah, what did you do, Tolliver?” Zach asked.
“Nothing,” Tolliver grumbled. “Come in, guys.”
Ryder and Zach exchanged glances and then stepped into the office.
Zach got straight to business. “We have some interesting news,” he announced. “While you were at the cabin with your…” His eyes shifted to Tolliver, who had swiveled his chair around to face them. “Laila.” He’d almost slipped up and called Laila Tolliver’s mate, and he guessed that was a sore point for his friend.
Tolliver lifted an eyebrow in amusement.
“We got news about another woman being taken,” Zach continued.
Tolliver sat taller, his heart sinking with disappointment. Although he’d been the one tracking that shifter for weeks, and he’d seen evidence of treachery, a part of him hoped it had all been a misunderstanding. But three missing women… something was definitely not right.
“Three women…” Tolliver mused.
“Maybe more,” Ryder said. “There could be victims we don’t know about. There’s no telling how long this has been going on before we noticed.
Zach let out a slow breath. His blue eyes darkened with worry. As the mayor of Bellefleur and the alpha of their werewolf pack, the pressure to keep their people and everyone else safe weighed on him.
“There’s something you need to see,” Ryder said, stepping forward and holding up a file.
Tolliver’s chest tightened as he took it.
“The woman who was taken is a werewolf shifter,” Ryder said.
“Of course,” Tolliver sighed. He flipped the file open. Inside was a photo of a woman, her face frozen in a cheerful smile. His heart dropped. The brunette woman in the photo looked eerily similar to Laila—the same dark hair, similar facial features, and the same petite but curvy frame. This wasn’t a coincidence. Of course, they had gathered that the rogue werewolves were targeting female shifters with a certain look.
“That woman was taken from Cedar Ridge, Tolliver,” Zach shared.
Tolliver’s stomach twisted. That meant he’d gotten Laila away from danger by a hair’s breadth. The shifter targeted the next woman when Laila disappeared from Cedar Ridge. “She can’t go back there anytime soon,” he said, rubbing his forehead. Laila was going to blow a gasket when he told her she had to stay in Bellefleur even longer. He dreaded the conversation because he knew she itched to get back to her life.
“We have enough evidence to identify this as a threat,” Zach decided. “We need to up our efforts to find out who the hell these guys are and put a stop to whatever they’re doing.”
“Yeah.” Tolliver glanced at Zach and Ryder. “These shifters are getting bolder. I think one of them was here.”
“The hell you say?” Ryder scoffed. “Right here in Bellefleur?”
Tolliver nodded. “Last night…” He decided to skip over what led to him and Laila being in the woods. “I sensed a shifter in the woods near Laila’s cabin. I think he was watching her. However, he was gone the moment he sensed my presence, so I’m not sure if he was one of the rogue shifters. For all I know, it could have been one of our own from town on a late-night stroll.” Frustration burned in his gut as he cursed himself for the hundredth time for letting his guard down last night. If anything had happened to Laila, he’d never forgive himself.
“So maybe they’re still after Laila despite missing their chance in Cedar Ridge,” Zach said, stroking his jaw thoughtfully.
“Maybe.” Zach sighed. “I told Laila to stay locked in the cabin until I get back. I think after the uncertainty of who or what was in the woods last night, she’ll actually listen to me.”
“Trouble in paradise?” Ryder asked with raised eyebrows.
Tolliver snorted. “You trying forcing a mate you broke up with, who hates you, to stay in a confined space with you and tell me how it goes.”
Zach and Ryder exchanged horrified glances.
“I think Laila would claw my balls off if given the chance,” Tolliver grumbled.
Zach winced. “Tough luck, my friend. That being said, we’ll excuse your absence from the office. I’m sure you want to get back to bodyguard duty.”
“I hadn’t intended to stay away from her for too long.”
The three of them fell silent as they stared at the picture of the latest missing woman. The tension in the room could be cut with a knife as the weight of the situation pressed on them.
“We need to tighten our surveillance,” Zach said, breaking the silence. “Start combing through every lead we’ve got and put more eyes on the ground. If they’re targeting shifters, we have to move fast.”
“Agreed,” Tolliver said. “I’ll go through every bit of footage we’ve secured again. Fortunately, I can do that from the cabin.” He didn’t plan to let Laila out of his sight.
“Good. I’ll check the other departments for updates. I’ll see you guys later.”
After Zach left, Ryder drew a chair and sat to study Tolliver intently. Giving him a side glance, Tolliver asked, “Something on your mind, Ryder?”
His friend sat back. “I’m just wondering how you’re doing with… You know… The whole Laila situation.”
Tolliver quirked an eyebrow. “I’m doing just fine.”
“Bullshit.”
Tolliver sighed. As much as he could hide from everyone else, there were three people who could read him like an open book—his sister, Laila, and Ryder. Sometimes, he wished he could fool those who knew him with his emotionless mask. “What is this, Ryder?” he snapped. “Are we going to discuss our feelings? What’s next? Will we braid each other’s hair? Perhaps do each other’s nails?”
Ryder threw his head back and laughed. “Look at you getting on the defensive. Laila really had you tied up in knots, huh? You poor bastard.”
Tolliver scowled like he’d never scowled before because his friend was spot on. He was wound up so tightly in emotional knots that he might snap at any moment.
“You don’t have to play the stoic unbothered card with me, man,” Ryder said. “I know what the mate bond does to you. You broke things off with Laila years ago. You were far away from her, so it was easy to ignore the bond’s intensity. I imagine now that you’re in proximity, it’s driving you crazy.”
Tolliver let out a deep breath of defeat. “Yeah…” he admitted. Sometimes, he wondered if he could survive the intense emotions he’d been experiencing since reuniting with his mate. He’d kept himself closed off for so long… To feel so many things at once was overwhelming.
“Do you think there’s a chance that you two will rekindle your romance?” Ryder asked.
“I doubt that.”
Ryder’s eyes widened. He couldn’t imagine being so close to his mate and not wanting to claim her… not at that point in his life, anyway. He’d ignored the pull to his mate for years—throughout their childhood—and it hadn’t been easy. If he were in the same predicament now, he wouldn’t last a day without claiming what was his. “Why not?”
“Because Laila doesn’t want that.”
“How do you know?”
Tolliver’s lips twisted into a rueful smile. “I kissed her, and she ran like the hounds of hell were on her heels.”
The room got quiet as Ryder watched Tolliver closely to gauge how that had made him feel. Something told him Tolliver would go off on him if he dared to ask. “I see…” he murmured. “Well, that’s…”
Tolliver’s eyebrows shot up at Ryder’s hesitant words. “Go ahead, say it.”
Ryder shifted uncomfortably, clearly not wanting to press the issue. However, he continued. “It’s just hard to imagine, that’s all. I mean, you’re her mate. You two are connected in a way that most people only dream of, yet you think it’s over because she ran after a kiss?” Ryder gave him a skeptical look. “That’s not how mate bonds work.”
Tolliver shrugged. “I know how mate bonds work, Ryder. Believe me, I feel the damn thing every second I’m near her. But just because we’re bonded doesn’t mean she will forgive me for the past. Laila has every right to run from this—run from me .”
Ryder’s frown deepened. “But what are you running from? If you still feel the same way about her, why not fight for her?”
Tolliver's jaw became so rigid his molars started to ache. The familiar mix of guilt and longing flared up inside him. There were times when his regret for letting Laila go ate at him. “I should have fought for her years ago,” he said quietly. “Maybe there’s no point now. I think she hates me. The only thing I can do for her is to make sure she’s safe. I’ll find out who’s kidnapping shifters and deal with them so she can get back to her life and be happy.” That was what he wanted, for his mate to be happy even if it wasn’t with him.
He gave Ryder a beseeching look, begging him to drop the subject. Ryder let out a soft sigh. He’d never seen Tolliver look so hopeless. “All right, I’m going to get back to work. Later.”
Tolliver nodded. When he was alone, he took another look at the photo of the missing woman. It could easily have been Laila had he not gotten to her in time. Just the thought of her in the clutches of those deprave shifters chilled him to the bone. He was seldom afraid of anything, but his mate at the mercy of those mysterious shifters terrified him.