Chapter 66
Chapter
Sixty-Six
“Idon’t know how much more of this I can watch.” Sabrina sank into the oversized chair they had in their living room. “I’ve almost thrown up multiple times.”
Mike scoffed, shaking his head. “Colton has actually thrown up. So, maybe get on his level before you complain.”
Rolling my shoulders, I stretched my back, and it cracked in multiple places. “Did Kayla go down?”
“She did. She’s so good, Colt. Like, I know the sleep schedule has been hard, but she is really such a wonderful baby.”
“Yeah, if you feed her.” I turned back to the laptop I was sitting in front of. “If not, you end up with a dinosaur.”
Sabrina chuckled, grabbing her own laptop and putting it on her lap. “I don’t know how you’re dealing with all of this.”
I shrugged. “I’m losing hope, honestly. I don’t know if we are just grasping at imaginary straws and if I’m wrong…”
“We still have a bit more time after Marcus moved back to the lair. Manipulating dates is easier than you think. Especially with pregnancies. Don’t lose hope yet.” Mike, somehow, was my voice of reason through all of this.
He was sitting behind me on the sofa. There was a laptop in his lap while he had two other ones running simultaneously on either side of him.
Currently, my laptop and one of his were running through security footage from the cabin that the Dark Night pack gave to Ebony and Marcus to use.
There hadn’t been security cameras in it when they got in, but when they were out one day, his team installed an entire set in every room.
Mike had given me everywhere but the bathroom and the bedroom.
Though it didn’t save me from having to watch Ebony and Marcus fuck.
It took me off guard the first time, and I ended up throwing up.
I was more prepared for the three other times it happened.
Sabrina was looking through some of the footage too, trying to get through not just the week they were together, but also after to track her movements.
He’d kept a cursory tab on her, but pretty much once we had Marcus, his focus was making sure that Dylan didn’t make a move for the lair.
So now we had to go back and go through everything.
We were now on day two of this, and we got past the time Marcus had left, but it had slowed down significantly as we had to follow her movements every time she left the cabin.
Marcus had brushed up against me yesterday, but I didn’t feel him actually reach out until the evening. All he asked through our link was that I didn’t leave him. It broke my heart, and I told him I wouldn’t, but I needed some time. Now, he just checked in every few hours to check on me and Kayla.
My stomach growled, and I groaned. Mike chuckled and patted my head. Sabrina shook her head.
“We just had lunch, Colt! How are you still hungry?”
“I’ve been working out and actually being active regularly! Plus breastfeeding? I end up burning through a lot of calories. I’m trying to keep up lately, but it’s difficult.”
She chuckled, putting the laptop aside. “I need a drink anyway.”
“Thank you.”
“I mean, someone needs to eat this healthy stuff. I’m not.”
Chuckling, I turned my attention back to the laptop screen.
I had eight different cameras I was watching.
There hadn’t been movement for hours since it was overnight.
Suddenly, the bedroom door opened, and Ebony stepped out, fully dressed.
She grabbed her keys and purse, appearing in the outdoor video as she got into her car.
“Mike, I’ve got movement.”
He leaned over my shoulder, looking at my screen. We watched as she pulled out and down the road. It wasn’t into the main pack territory, but out onto the main road. Mike went back to his laptop and started typing.
“That was at…”
“9:43 a.m. on the twenty-fifth.”
He hummed, still typing. “Okay. I’ve got the GPS tracking on the car going…she’s not headed to the university. It’s the opposite direction. Following now.”
Getting up off the floor, I moved one of his laptops into my lap as I leaned over and watched his screen. It was going through the GPS location data fast, but she was driving down the main road for a couple of hours according to the time. My eyes narrowed as we watched the map on the screen.
Sabrina came over, looking over our shoulders as she handed me a bowl of kale chips tossed in some parmesan cheese I had made earlier. Placing them down next to me, I took a bite as Mike slowed the time down. She wove her way through Pelton, which was three cities over from where we were.
It stopped near the southern edge of the city and didn’t move for over an hour.
Mike reversed the time and took down the time she arrived.
He was typing furiously on a black screen for a while before camera images popped up on his laptop.
There were about six different cameras from the street, a couple from the local buildings, and even a traffic camera.
He pulled up just before the time we saw her car stop.
All three of us watched as Sabrina pointed out Ebony’s car.
We watched it as it turned into the parking lot for one of a building that had small shops below with more offices on multiple floors above.
Mike switched cameras to the parking lot one, and we watched her pull in.
She got out, grabbed her purse and keys, walking back to the front of the building.
He switched cameras again. Ebony disappeared into a coffee shop, and I watched as Mike started typing again on the laptop to the right of him. I sucked in a breath as I paused the footage that was still running in front of him.
“Colt?”
“The woman entering the coffee shop on the screen now. That’s Queen. That’s Keith’s mate.”
Sabrina sucked in a breath. “They are meeting at a coffee shop? For what?”
“The coffee shop has cameras, but they don’t have sound. We wouldn’t be able to tell what they are saying.”
Mike still typed on the screen, and the camera facing out at the customers from inside the coffee shop came up.
We watched as the two of them sat down together.
They shook hands, like meeting for the first time.
After getting coffee, they spoke for at least a half an hour before the two of them left.
However, it had been hours that we saw Ebony leave.
They went out of the coffee shop, but didn’t go in different directions.
Instead, they entered the office buildings above.
I opened my mouth, but Mike waved me off, already typing.
The screen changed, and we saw inside the building, but we didn’t see them for very long. They entered the elevator together.
“Do we know what floor?”
Mike growled. “The elevator has a camera…but…it’s not cooperating.”
“It’s okay. It’s not like it’s live. Take a second.” I munched on the chips, and even Sabrina reached down and took a handful.
“Damn it. Why are these good? They are healthy!”
I chuckled. “Don’t start with me.”
“Okay, I think I got it.”
The screen changed and three different cameras came up.
It was for all three elevators. Mike fast-forwarded to the time, and we all watched the two of them step into the elevator with the doors shutting.
They stood far apart, as though they didn’t actually like each other and were merely forced to be together.
On top of that, Queen was clutching her bag for dear life.
“The seventeenth floor.”
We watched as they both exited the elevator. Mike typed, but slammed his hand down on the keyboard.
“The entire floor doesn’t have cameras. There are eight different offices on that floor.”
Sabrina grabbed her laptop, and I opened a new page on mine. “Give us the names.”
We started researching each of the offices. Two of which were dental offices, one specific to oral surgery. One chiropractor office. One was an orthopedic office. Leaning back, I looked at Sabrina’s screen.
“I’ve got a medical insurance office, two plastic surgeons, and…an IVF clinic?”
For a moment, no one moved. That was what we were looking for. Mike swapped his laptop for Sabrina’s, looking at the office information. He was already typing and focused on the screen.
“Was I…right?”
Sabrina shook my shoulders. “You were! Colt, you were right! This is proof! You did it! You fucking did it!”
My shock wore off, and I buried my face in my hands. I didn’t break down, but the relief was so strong I felt physically lighter. Sabrina kissed the top of my head.
“Goddess above, we knew that there had to be something Dark Night got out of the deal with Queen. It didn’t make any sense. They got some of Keith’s sperm. I can’t believe that she actually sold her mate’s semen.”
Shaking my head, I dragged my hands down my face. “She’s cruel. I don’t think Keith has any idea. He would never have agreed to it. Ever. He loves her despite everything she has done. He would never just let her take his sperm to put into some other random shifter.”
Mike moved his laptop to show me. “I’ve got all the medical records. Since they take blood and everything, they can’t use fake names. Or at least Ebony didn’t. It says that they used donated sperm. There isn’t a name to it though in their records.”
“Can we request a DNA test against both Marcus and Keith? On top of all this?”
“Working on it now. They already have both their DNA in the system, so they can run it.”
I nodded, sitting back against the couch. “It’s not Marcus’ hatching.”
“It’s not. Your intuition was right.” Mike reached out and squeezed my hand. “Someone is going to have to break the news to Keith, though.”
My nose wrinkled. “Not me. We have a weird relationship right now. Especially after Ty made him Alpha-in-Training. I see him around the house more, and I don’t know if he feels more guilty or blames me. It might be a bit of both.”
“I’ll collect everything I can and put into a flash drive, email it, and then print out everything I can for you to have hard copies.”
Smiling, I nodded. “Thank you, Mike. I know that was crazy…”
“It wasn’t. This proves it. It was never crazy. I don’t think anyone would have reacted like that. They would have been angry, hateful, or even broken. You could have accepted or rejected the idea.”
“I did reject it.” I snorted.
Mike smiled. “But you didn’t reject him.”
I let out a long and heavy sigh. “I’m going to reach out to Marcus and have him come pick us up tomorrow.”
“Good. You’ve been gone from your family too long.”
Mike winked, and I slapped his chest. He laughed even more, and I growled at him.
Kayla broke up our laughter by making noises from the bedroom.
Pushing off the couch, I walked through their apartment, decked out in brightly colored pictures, and into the more subdued guest bedroom.
Reaching down, I pulled Kayla out of the crib Mike and Sabrina had bought for us.
She was excited and looked ready to conquer the apartment with her crawling. It wasn’t quite a full crawl yet, but she could get to different places now. I walked into the living room, and Sabrina moved the coffee table I had been working at against the window.
Putting Kayla on the carpet, she squealed and flipped onto her belly almost immediately. Sabrina got down and encouraged her to crawl to her. I sat next to Mike, who remained focused on the laptop. Closing my eyes, I reached out through the bond.
Mar?
Colt, is everything okay? Is Kayla okay?
I really had put him through too much over the past couple of days. Yeah. I was hoping you could come pick us up tomorrow.
Of course. I can take the car down. Did you…are you…? He wasn’t able to finish his questions.
Smiling, I leaned back on the couch. We can talk in the car. It’s going to be a long drive back.
Alright, I’ll see you tomorrow.
Yeah.