Chapter 6 Theodore #2
Something uneasy fluttered through me as I watched him.
For all his irritating qualities, his relentless teasing and boundary-pushing, there was something genuinely painful about seeing him this way—wound tight, being scolded like a child in front of everyone.
The urge to say something, to somehow ease that tension in his shoulders, was overwhelming.
Rory was clearly hanging by a thread over this whole situation with Dev. He should have been told first, privately, rather than have it sprung on him in front of the entire team.
I cleared my throat and narrowed my eyes at Kit. “Should we let Felix tell us what he’s found, then?”
Felix swallowed hard, his fingers nervously tapping the edge of his keyboard.
“So, I’ve had a passive IMSI-catcher simulation running on our network since Rory asked me to monitor Dev’s device.
I wrote a custom Python script to ping his IMEI number every three minutes through cellular triangulation protocols. ”
…oh god they’re all staring don’t panic don’t panic should have told Rory first stupid stupid he’s going to hate me forever now what have I done…
He turned his laptop slightly, showing a screen full of code and blinking status indicators that meant nothing to most people in the room.
“At fourteen thirty-seven, his phone suddenly authenticated with a cell tower in a remote area. My system immediately initiated a metadata extraction protocol—” Felix paused, noticing the blank stares.
…simple words, Felix, simple words…
“Um, basically I set up a back-door API that hooks into the telecom infrastructure to pull all available device telemetry when it connects.”
Flustered, he clicked through to another screen.
“I only managed to scrape partial location data, SMS header information, and app notification logs before the device went dark again. The phone was only active for approximately ten minutes and twenty-three seconds before it either powered down or entered a Faraday environment.”
“So where is he?” Rory practically screamed, left leg bouncing so wildly it was tempting to reach over and place my hand there to still it. Thankfully, I had more self-control than that, because I valued my fingers attached to my body.
“The geolocation data is… unusual. The cell tower coverage in that region is extremely sparse, which means the triangulation accuracy is terrible—we’re looking at a radius of over ten kilometres rather than the usual few hundred meters.
The signal strength was also fluctuating wildly, suggesting either significant terrain interfere—”
“Felix, I think Rory is about to explode,” Flynn said softly.
“Right. Yes. Got it.” An even deeper pink flush coloured his cheeks as Felix tapped around on his laptop.
The projector flickered, displaying a topographical map with a large red circle encompassing what looked like wilderness—mountains, forests, and not much else.
“Where the hell is that?” Priya leaned forward, squinting at the projection.
Felix zoomed out, revealing more of the surrounding area. The map expanded to show more of the region, including water, and a small cluster of buildings that barely constituted a town.
“So, yeah, it’s this random place up in Scotland of all places,” Felix said, fiddling with the hem of his hoodie.
“Holy fucking shit.”
Rory’s voice came out strangled, barely above a whisper. The bouncing leg stopped dead.
A tidal wave of thoughts crashed into me, Rory’s mind exploding with such intensity it made my breath catch.
…what the fuck…what the fuck…why is Dev there…anywhere but there…this can’t be right…this must be a joke…
I looked back at the map, focusing on the name now visible near the red circle: Glenmoriston.
…home…
“That’s… home,” Rory said, the words falling like a stone into the sudden silence of the room. “That’s our pack. Glenmoriston.”
The name Glenmoriston hung in the air like a live grenade.
Rory suddenly jumped up. Without a word, he bolted for the stairs, pounding footsteps echoing through the basement before he disappeared from view.
Kit remained frozen, staring at the projection as if it had personally betrayed him. His mind was completely blank—a static emptiness that spoke volumes about his shock.
I found myself on my feet before I’d even made the conscious decision to stand. I took one step towards the stairs, a strange tightness in my chest.
Everyone’s eyes swivelled to me, Priya’s gaze particularly sharp and assessing. Her lips curved upwards, questioningly.
What the hell was I doing? This wasn’t my circus, not my monkeys.
I had no business chasing after a wolf I barely tolerated on good days.
I slowly sat back down, straightening my tie to cover my momentary lapse in judgement.
Yet the memory of Rory’s unexpected vulnerability about his family during our car journey flashed through my mind.
I didn’t need to imagine very hard about how he was feeling right now.
The phantom sensation of wanting to follow him lingered uncomfortably, like an itch I couldn’t scratch.
Kit clearly wasn’t moving anytime soon, so Flynn and Priya exchanged glances before both of them trailed after Rory, murmuring in low voices.
“I’m so sorry, I had no idea— I would have told him privately— I just didn’t realise—” Felix was practically hyperventilating, his hands fluttering like panicked birds.
Completely having lost control of his meticulously planned meeting, Seb looked dazed, the five-hundred--year--old vampire utterly thrown.
“You didn’t have any idea at all?” I asked Felix, trying to keep my tone neutral. The kid looked miserable, hunched in his oversized hoodie, dark circles prominent under his eyes. “About their connection to Glenmoriston?”
Felix’s eyes widened at being directly addressed by me. “N-no, Detective Maxwell. I swear. I mean, I know they’re Scottish, but I d-didn’t. Obviously, I take full respon—”
“Of course Felix didn’t know,” Kit suddenly snapped, breaking out of his trance-like state to jump to his feet. His voice was razor-sharp as he glared at me. “We don’t talk about Scotland. Ever. So how exactly would Felix have known?”
He moved protectively closer to Felix, who looked pathetically grateful for the intervention.
I raised my hands in surrender. “Okay, okay. I was just surprised, that’s all.”
The irony wasn’t lost on me, that Rory had actually shared bits of his past with me during our drive—his struggles with ADHD, his turbulent childhood. Though to be fair, I knew even more from accidentally picking up his thoughts than what he’d willingly revealed.
Kit continued to hover near Felix, carefully maintaining a few inches of space between them. Felix’s fingers fidgeted with his keyboard, eyes darting repeatedly toward his lair. The guy looked like he was calculating his chances of escape.
“I should probably… I mean, I could try to narrow down the location more precisely if I—”
“That would be helpful,” Sebastián said, his voice gentler than usual. “But perhaps take a moment first.”
Kit still hadn’t moved, his broad frame positioned like a shield between Felix and me, his expression still holding deep concern.
Interesting. This was one of those times where it became extremely tempting to peek inside someone’s mind.
Instead, I took my glasses off and pretended to clean them. I’d long ago learned that knowledge wasn’t worth the cost. People’s inner lives were messy, complicated, and frankly none of my business unless they affected my cases.
Still, I didn’t need telepathy to recognise the subtle tension in Kit’s jaw, the softness in his eyes when he glanced at Felix, or the way Felix seemed to lean almost imperceptibly toward Kit’s presence like a plant seeking sunlight.
The basement door creaked open, drawing all eyes upward. Rory descended the stairs with Priya and Flynn flanking him like prison guards escorting a high-profile detainee. His face was unnervingly blank, eyes slightly puffy.
The room fell into uncomfortable silence as Rory wordlessly reclaimed his spot on the sofa. He sat ramrod straight, hands folded in his lap with uncharacteristic stillness. No fidgeting, no tapping, no bouncing, just an eerie calm that seemed more alarming than his earlier outburst.
“I need to tell you something,” Rory finally said, addressing Kit directly.
Kit blinked in surprise.
“Our mother called me this morning when my phone was dead,” Rory continued, now addressing the entire room. “I haven’t spoken to her since she rang to tell me about Dad’s death.”
The silence that followed was deafening. Even Felix stopped his nervous typing.
“You don’t think that was a coincidence, do you?” I asked.
Kit cleared his throat, expression turned pained. He looked everywhere but at his brother. “I actually know what she wanted. Alexander emailed me yesterday.”
…Uncle Alex?…why would he contact Kit?…
Sebastián frowned, his dark eyes narrowing. “Who?”
“Alexander Thorne,” Kit explained, his voice carefully controlled. “Our mother’s brother. He invited the pair of us to a pack gathering next Friday.”
Rory’s eyes widened. “Why didn’t you tell me? And what did you reply to the email?”
“I deleted it, of course.”
Without hesitation, Rory held out his palm. “Well, give me your phone so I can undelete it.”
“That’s not possible,” Kit stated.
“That’s… definitely possible,” Felix mumbled. “Give it to me.”
Kit stared at his brother. The silence stretched between them, taut and uncomfortable. Finally, Kit exhaled heavily through his nose, his shoulders slumping in defeat.
“Fine,” he spat, pulling his phone from his pocket. He unlocked it with a series of rapid taps before handing it to Felix, expression pained, like someone submitting to an invasive medical procedure.
Felix’s fingers flew across the screen. “Got it,” he announced, immediately connecting Kit’s phone to his laptop.