Chapter 13 Theodore
Theodore
Knock, knock. Knock, knock.
The sound yanked me from sleep, my consciousness resurfacing like a drowning man breaking through dark water. My eyes snapped open to unfamiliar shadows dancing across an unfamiliar ceiling. For several disorienting seconds, I couldn’t remember where I was.
Knock, knock. Knock, knock.
Insistent now, demanding.
I tried to move but found myself anchored in place by a warm weight. Rory. He was draped across my chest like a living blanket, one leg thrown rather possessively over mine, his face buried against my neck. His breath tickled my collarbone in slow, even puffs.
Dead to the world.
The knocking came again, more urgent this time.
“Rory,” I whispered, gently attempting to disentangle myself. He responded by clutching me tighter, mumbling something incomprehensible against my skin. I carefully extracted my arm from beneath him, then lifted his leg off mine, earning nothing but a soft snore for my efforts.
I slid out of bed, my bare feet hitting the cold wooden floor as my hand fumbled for my glasses on the side table. The cottage was still cloaked in near-darkness, though the window showed the faintest hint of dawn’s light. Who the hell would be knocking at this ungodly hour?
Padding down the narrow staircase, it wasn’t until I reached the bottom that I realised I was wearing nothing but my briefs.
Well, if they were going to knock at this ungodly hour, they could hardly complain.
The knocking resumed, three sharp raps that seemed to echo through the silent cottage. My mind flashed to Callum, the wolf who’d attacked Rory. Had he come to finish what he started?
My sleep-addled brain vaguely registered I should grab something—a kitchen knife, a poker from the fireplace—but as I approached the door, I let my telepathy reach out instead. Two minds waited on the other side. Two minds that felt… familiar.
Taking a deep breath, I unlatched the lock and pulled the door open.
The astonishment struck me so forcefully my heart fully seized.
“Umm… surprise!” Felix whispered, his face illuminated by the soft glow of his phone screen. Behind him stood Priya, her arms crossed against the Highland chill.
“What the—” I stared at them, convinced I must still be dreaming. “How did you— Why are you—”
“We’ve been trying to call you both for hours,” Priya said, pushing past me into the cottage. “Let me tell you, we’ve had such a time of it, getting up here.”
I stepped back wordlessly, slack-jawed as our unexpected visitors entered the cottage.
Felix shuffled in behind Priya, looking distinctly uncomfortable, his shoulders hunched as if trying to make himself smaller in the unfamiliar space.
Priya immediately took charge, flicking on lights and illuminating the small living area. I quickly scanned the floor for any compromising evidence, a brief fear that I’d imagined throwing my jeans in the washing machine yesterday taking root.
Abruptly, a blur of matted grey fur shot out from Priya’s coat pocket, accompanied by an unearthly squeak. Freddy scampered across the floor and bolted up the stairs.
“But…” I managed, my brain still struggling to process their sudden appearance.
“The little mite met us at the gate. Marched us two miles or so to a hole in the wall.” Priya extended her elbow, which was scraped raw, the skin angry and red. “Wasn’t fun, but we managed. Then we walked another twenty minutes, because Freddy was clearly concerned about Rory’s phone.”
She reached into her bag and pulled out a bundle of clothes—the ones Rory had been wearing yesterday—and his phone, tossing them unceremoniously on top of the suitcase still open on the floor.
“Almost gave poor Felix a breakdown, following Freddy, because he kept leading us away from your phone’s location.”
Priya’s stream of words were making little sense in my sleep-deprived state.
“But… why are you here?” I asked, running a hand through my hair.
She blinked owlishly at me. “Is that really how to greet someone who’s been travelling for nine hours straight, including an overnight flight, to get here as soon as possible?”
“You flew here?” I asked, though it should have been obvious.
“After you rang Seb, we booked the earliest flights to Inverness.”
As soon as I returned to the cottage alone yesterday, I’d rung Seb to tell him my identity was somehow completely compromised. I’d managed to avoid explicitly telling him Rory had run off alone.
“You didn’t tell me you rang Seb.”
A voice from the top of the stairs made my heart immediately kick into overdrive. Rory stood there, his hair tousled from sleep, wearing nothing but a tatty oversized T-shirt that hung off one shoulder, revealing the mess Callum had made of his shoulder.
“We were… busy…” I managed, as my eyes drank in the sight of him.
Rory took the steps two at a time, flinging his arm around Priya as if he hadn’t seen her in months.
“Um… hi. I’m here too,” said Felix from the shadows.
“Did you want a hug?” Rory offered brightly.
“No, thank you,” Felix replied.
“I have to say, I’m surprised to see you here, Felix,” I said. Killigrew Street’s tech expert rarely left his lair of screens and equipment.
“Well, Flynn volunteered but wasn’t allowed to come, and I wanted to help, you know, after…” Felix fidgeted with the sleeve of his hoodie.
I fought the impulse to roll my eyes. “So Flynn wasn’t allowed, but you were? Your life is just as important as Flynn’s,” I said firmly. “It’s dangerous here. Rory was attacked yesterday.” I gestured to the many patches of blood still visible across the floor and furniture.
“You were attacked?” said Priya, gently inspecting Rory’s shoulder. “You didn’t tell Seb that!”
“We were… busy…” Rory said, meeting my eyes, his lips twitching into a secret smile that sent a shiver right through me.
I forced myself to look away, suddenly very aware of my near-nakedness in the middle of the living room.
Rory turned back to Felix and Priya, his expression growing serious.
“Maxwell’s right, though, it’s dangerous for you here.
The cameras at the gate would have picked you up.
Plus, the shifters will catch your scents.
You can’t just secretly hang out here. This isn’t a holiday park.
Random visitors aren’t exactly welcome. And to be honest, your appearance is going to compromise our efforts,” Rory continued, running a hand through his chaotic bed-hair.
“Maxwell and I are supposed to be a couple visiting family, not hosting a reunion.”
As he said my name, he caught my eye again, and I couldn’t help but think that he was thinking the same thing as me—that these two had picked one hell of a time to show up.
Because as much as we needed all the help we could get finding Dev, we needed to talk properly about what the hell happened yesterday.
“I’m just going to pull some clothes on,” I mumbled, dashing for the stairs. I did want clothes, but more than that, I wanted a moment to myself.
Last night, I’d told Rory I wasn’t freaking out.
I lied. I was completely freaking out.
I’d grown used to our antagonistic relationship over the last two years.
The constant bickering, the pointed jabs, the repeated insults, the way he deliberately pushed my buttons—all of it had become familiar territory.
I knew how to navigate those waters. But this?
This was uncharted territory. Dangerous territory.
What made it worse was the looming dread of what would happen when this inevitably came out. Would Seb fire me? The thought of facing him, of him finding out about my ludicrously unprofessional behaviour, filled me with mortification.
Before we slept, I’d been close to asking Rory not to tell anyone at Killigrew Street about it.
But the words had died in my throat. I didn’t want him to think I considered it a mistake or some kind of experiment.
Because despite my panic, despite everything logical in my brain screaming that this was a terrible idea, I didn’t regret what we did.
Now his best friend had waltzed through the door before I even had a chance to talk to him.
And sorely interrupted the plan you two had to further “get it out of your systems” this morning.
Not the time, not the time!
After hastily locating a light jumper and jeans, I trudged back downstairs to catch Priya saying, “So you really want us to leave?”
“I don’t want you to leave,” Rory said, “but it’s not safe—”
A series of urgent electronic beeps cut through the tension. Felix’s eyes widened as he fumbled for his rucksack, dropping it to the floor with a thud. He yanked out his laptop and threw himself into an armchair, fingers flying over the keyboard before the screen had fully illuminated.
“What is it?” Priya leaned over his shoulder.
Felix’s face lit up. “Dev’s phone is back online again!”
The change in Rory was instantaneous. His entire body seemed to vibrate with renewed energy, his eyes wide and hopeful. “What? Where? Can you track it? Is he using it right now? Is he near us? Fuck, Dev might actually be okay!”
…Dev might be okay, he might be okay…
As I watched Rory crowd around Felix, continuing to bombard him with excited questions, I felt a sharp, unexpected twinge in my chest. Jealousy.
This was exactly why you didn’t get involved with colleagues.
Especially if it involved having sex with the person you were helping to find the missing ex-boyfriend of.
Another series of electronic beeps punctuated the tense silence. Felix’s expression fell, his fingers dancing frantically across the keyboard.
“Annnnd it’s gone again,” he announced, not looking up from his screen.
Rory shuffled closer, practically hanging over Felix’s shoulder. “But do we have the precise location this time?”
Felix didn’t respond, his face bathed in the blue glow of his laptop, eyes narrowed in concentration as he tapped away with almost manic intensity.