Chapter 14 Theodore #2
“What?” Rory’s eyes widened innocently. “Come on, this is exactly what I’d expect from Ezra.
He’s so dramatic.” Rory shrugged. “Besides, I’m sure Ezra and Dev will merrily get back together after we deliver Dev safely back to London.
” The bitterness I expected from that statement was glaringly missing.
Interesting. Was he finally getting over Dev?
Felix scrolled further up through the conversation, revealing a nauseating parade of selfies—Dev and Ezra sending kissy faces, heart emojis, and… intimate photos back and forth.
Rory made an exaggerated retching sound. “Oh my god, make it stop.”
“I take it you weren’t this sickening with him?” Priya asked, eyebrow raised.
“Absolutely not,” Rory declared, though the slight flush on his cheeks suggested otherwise.
That little bubble of jealousy grew inside me again. Jesus, what was I, a pathetic, lovesick teenager? “Let’s look at his other conversations,” I found myself snapping. “You guys are so easily distracted. I don’t know how you get anything done.”
“Who put you in charge?” said Rory, with a smile.
…but I like it…
I deliberately sighed loudly and moved my gaze to the screen.
“Look, this one is about a missing persons case,” said Priya.
And as Felix methodically scrolled through conversation after conversation, a disturbing pattern emerged.
We read in silence as the full scope of Dev’s investigation materialised before us.
Dev had reached out to shifter connections across major cities, using subtle, coded language.
Manchester, Liverpool, Cardiff, Glasgow.
He never directly mentioned “shifters” or “wolves,” instead referring to “one of us” or “people like your brother.”
“Bloody hell.” Priya pointed to a message from a contact named Morgan in Cardiff. “Three gone without a trace since February.”
“And here.” Rory jabbed at another exchange. “Two more in Manchester just last month.”
My stomach tightened as the evidence mounted. By my count, at least fifteen shifters had vanished across the UK in the past six months—and these were just the ones Dev had managed to document.
“I can’t believe he didn’t bring this to Killigrew Street,” Rory said suddenly, his voice tight with frustration. “All this time, he was building this case, and he never once thought to…”
…probably didn’t want any more interaction with me…my fault, as usual…
The thought was so loud and raw that my hand instantly flew to his shoulder, squeezing it gently. “I’m sure he was just about to come to you. He was gathering evidence before presenting his findings.”
Privately, I harboured less charitable thoughts about Dev.
The journalist struck me as an arrogant asshole who likely believed he didn’t need professional support for his little “investigation.” It wasn’t like he could even publish all this as a story.
The fool should have brought this to Seb months ago.
“Wait—stop scrolling!” Rory lunged forward, nearly knocking Felix’s laptop sideways. “I know her! Carrie MacGregor—shifter woman, slightly older. She helped me out when I was sleeping rough in Glasgow. Lives there in one of the city packs.”
Felix clicked on the thread, and immediately I could see this conversation was substantially longer than the others. The timestamps stretched back over four months, leading right up to Dev’s disappearance.
The story unfolded piece by piece: Carrie’s second cousin Ewan, who’d struggled with alcohol dependency, had vanished without a trace.
She’d filed an official missing persons report, but when the police investigation stalled—unsurprisingly, given the chronic underfunding of Scottish police forces—she’d taken matters into her own hands.
Carrie MacGregor
The more people I talk to, the more I realise how much bigger this is than Ewan. How is it possible our kind have been disappearing for years, and nobody has ever noticed?
Just few enough, I suppose. And it’s the same picture across the country - they know exactly who to target to remain undetected.
This systematic targeting suggested organisation, resources, planning—a level of sophistication far beyond random opportunistic abductions.
Just what exactly was going on here?
Felix continued scrolling until we reached messages from just days before Dev’s phone went dark. Carrie had sent an audio file with a brief message: “From the friend I told you about on the phone. Listen immediately.”
“Play it!” Rory demanded, practically vibrating with tension beside me.
Felix clicked on the file.
The audio began with a jumble of muffled sounds—paper rustling, fabric brushing against what must have been a hidden recording device, indistinct voices weaving in and out of audible range:
“…don’t understand why we need to…”
“…facility nearly ready…”
Static swallowed several seconds before the audio suddenly cleared.
“Look, we have acquisition quotas to meet here.” The voice was male, authoritative, with a clipped London accent. “As per our agreement.”
“But this isn’t like the earlier batches! Those were lowlifes we could pick up from street corners.” This voice was deeper, rougher, defensive. “This is a completely different ballgame.”
“We’re only asking for five. And we’re paying Meridian handsomely. With due respect—”
“With due respect, have you seen your specification list? Finding shifters that meet your criteria is hard enough, let alone—” The audio deteriorated into crackling static as footsteps approached.
A third voice joined the conversation, the words barely audible through the interference, something about “timelines” before the recording abruptly ended.
The cottage fell into stark silence. I could hear my own heartbeat, the weight of what we’d just heard settling over us like a dark shroud.
Priya was the first to break the silence. “It seems like Meridian might be acting as some sort of middleman.”
Felix nodded, fingers still poised over the keyboard. “And whoever is ‘ordering’ these wolves, has recently changed the rules of their game.”
He scrolled down, revealing more of the conversation between Dev and Carrie.
did your friend manage to get anything else to you?
just those maps I emailed you. I’ll ring you later to catch up properly.
“Maps? What maps? Let’s see them!” Rory pressed forward, pushing against Felix.
“Give him a chance to click, Rory,” I said, placing a restraining hand on his arm.
Rory made a frustrated noise in his throat, somewhere between a growl and a whine. “Sorry, Felix.”
Felix’s frantic fingers froze, and he turned to Rory with shock written all over his face, blinking owlishly. “That’s okay. I’m used to it now anyway.”
“That doesn’t mean you should put up with it,” I told him.
He stared at me as if I was speaking in alien.
“Okay, great talk, now let’s get on with it,” snapped Priya.
The tense silence hung in the cottage as Felix continued his work. After a few moments more, Dev’s emails appeared on the screen. It took Felix nanoseconds to bring up the right attachments. Aerial maps filled the screen, vast swathes of green space broken by scattered settlements.
“There,” Priya said, pointing at a red rectangle that encircled a cluster of buildings.
“That’s definitely the Highlands.” Rory leaned forward, his shoulder pressing against mine.
“Your family’s land?”
Rory shook his head, studying the map intently as Felix zoomed in. “No. And it’s not near where Dev’s phone was either. It’s northwest of here.”
The next map zoomed in on the red rectangle, a detailed view of a building complex made up of four separate structures.
“The email doesn’t have an elaboration of what exactly these maps are,” Felix said. “I guess they spoke about a lot of this over the phone? But I’ll be able to locate the buildings online. It’ll be listed as something.”
Priya tapped her nails against the wooden table. “The question is, did Dev come up here of his own accord to investigate all this in person, or was he taken and brought up here?”
“I’m going to ring Carrie,” Rory announced, already pulling out his phone as Felix pulled up the number for him.
We watched as he dialled, waited… frowned. “No answer—her phone is off.”
An uneasy feeling crept across my shoulders. “Hmm.”
“I wonder if I can get the number of her alpha,” said Rory before chewing on his lip. I barely resisted the urge to reach over and tug it free. “I think Kit might know the name. He might know someone who can help. I’ll message.”
While Rory typed furiously on his phone, Felix made a small noise of discovery. “I’ve found a text message Dev drafted to Rory but didn’t send.”
My eyes darted to Rory, who looked up sharply, shuffling back towards the screen.
Hey, I need to talk to you. Hopefully in person?
I know we haven’t seen each other in a while.
But it’s about everything at Meridian. This is wild, but I’ve found evidence that your family might be somehow connected?
Can we meet? I know I hurt you, and you probably don’t want to see me ever again, but this is really important.
Rory’s face paled, and his throat worked as he swallowed hard. “Well, I’m sure Carrie will have all the answers,” he said, his voice brittle with forced confidence.
His phone vibrated—Kit had already come through with a number. Rory immediately dialled, putting the phone on speaker.
“Hello? This is Rory Thorne. I’m looking for Carrie MacGregor? Sorry to bother you, but her phone is off, and it’s urgent.”
A gruff male voice responded. “Who’s asking?”
“I’m a friend. I’ve been trying to reach her.”
“Well, you’re out of luck. She hasn’t been seen for two weeks. Since the end of April.”
Rory’s eyes snapped to mine, wide with alarm. The date matched up almost perfectly with Dev’s disappearance.
“Two weeks? Is that normal for her?”
“No,” the voice said.
“Did you know that she was investigating missing shifters?” asked Rory.
A long pause stretched across the line. When the voice returned, it was sharper, more guarded. “Who exactly are you? And how do you know about that? Did you say you’re a Thorne?” There was an edge to the man’s tone now.
Rory paused before answering. “I’m not in the Glenmoriston pack. I left them years ago.”
Another stretched silence.
“Let me know if you find out where she is,” he said at last. Then hung up before I could interject and demand more information.
“Well, that was helpful.”
Knock, knock, knock.
Three sharp taps on the front door had all four of us jumping out of our skin.
A dark look crossed Rory’s face as he inhaled sharply through his nose. “Time’s up. They’re here.”