Chapter 8
It wasn’t like Groose to be late, but he was in the middle of reading Tito’s report when Jackson summoned him.
Quickly scanning the rest of the document and satisfied that the security system was working correctly, he headed for the Blackwood Pack house.
After entering, he crossed the empty great room and hurried down the hallway leading to the Alpha’s study.
Pausing in the doorway, he rapped his knuckles against the wood frame.
Glancing up, Jackson smiled. “Hey…have a seat.” He waited until Groose claimed the chair facing him before continuing.
“I reviewed your report of the confrontation Tristan had with Rudy and his men, and I need additional clarification on something.” Picking up Groose’s report from the top of a stack of papers, Jackson flipped through it until he reached the page he was looking for.
“Here it is…you said Rudy’s men surrendered without a fight. ”
“They did…after they realized their guns weren’t working.”
“Yeah…Remy handled that. But I can’t figure out why Rudy’s men didn’t fight back when they were surrounded. Even without weapons, they could have shifted.”
Shrugging, Groose replied, “I expected them to, but Tristan assured us they wouldn’t.”
“Did he tell you how he knew that?”
“No…but I can tell you I haven’t ever seen anything like it in all my years as an enforcer.
It looked like their will to fight just gave out…
all of them at the same time. From that point on, there wasn’t a bit of resistance from any of them…
even when Reeve handcuffed and loaded them onto the buses to take them to the High Council holding facility.
It was weird…especially since most of them were convicted murderers. ”
“That is strange…especially since Rudy expected them to fight.”
“Yeah…his men surrendering really pissed him off.”
“Hmmm…but Tristan expected it,” Jackson muttered.
“I’m glad he was right because none of my men got hurt,” Groose said.
Jackson nodded in agreement but made a mental note to ask Tristan how he’d known what would happen. Setting aside Groose’s report, he pulled up the video of Ollie at the front gate. Swiveling his screen so they could both see it, he asked, “Have you seen this yet?”
“Tito showed it to me last night,” Groose said, watching the screen. “I don’t know who that is, but…”
“That is Oliver…Theo’s cousin,” Jackson replied. “He turned up at our front door.”
Groose’s eyes widened. “No way! I checked the camera feeds from the driveway myself, and I can assure you he wasn’t on any of them.”
“Well, somehow he got through the gate and made it to the front door without being detected.”
“That can’t be,” Groose insisted. “I had Tito do a complete check of each camera last night, and they’re all operating properly.”
“Good to know. I sent the tape to Zane and asked him to check to see if someone had tempered with it.”
Shaking his head, Groose said, “He won’t find anything…the security system has a built-in alarm if someone tampers with it.”
“I know…but before I talk to Oliver, I wanted to make sure there wasn’t any malfunction that could explain how he disappeared and then reappeared at the front door.”
“There has to be another…”
Before Groose could finish, Zane barged into the room and exclaimed, “Wait till you see what I found!” Then, seeing Groose, he added, “Oops…sorry…I didn’t know you were in a meeting, bro.”
“Clearly,” Jackson said, smiling at his brother’s exuberance. “Take a seat and tell us what you discovered.”
“It’s about the video you sent,” Zane began. “I couldn’t find any evidence that it had been messed with…”
“Good,” interjected Jackson.
“Right,” Zane said. “So given that the image of Ollie disappearing is real and, as far as anyone knows, he isn’t a magic user, I decided to slow down the tape using a program I wrote. And that’s when I saw Ollie become a blur before disappearing completely.”
Frowning, Jackson said, “I don’t get it…what’s so important about that?”
“Well, it proves he isn’t using magic to disappear, so after doing a quick bit of research, I think he used the power of invisible speed,” Zane said. “I can’t be certain, but it would explain the blur and why he disappeared from view…at least from our view.”
Groose glanced at Jackson. “Have you ever heard of that? It sounds pretty far-fetched.”
“No…I haven’t,” Jackson replied, before asking his brother, “Exactly how does it work?”
“I’m not totally sure, but supposedly he can move faster than our eye can see and, of course, that would also mean a camera couldn’t capture his image,” Zane said.
Raising a brow, Jackson replied, “Well, that would make sense, then.”
“I agree…and if true, it takes a load off my mind,” Groose said.
“Me too…but without proof…” Jackson murmured, his voice trailing off as he thought about how he could get the information.
“You could ask Theo,” Zane suggested. “They’re cousins, so maybe he knows.”
Jackson conceded his brother might be right, but he’d prefer not to reveal to anyone what was still just speculation, so that meant he would have to ask Ollie—preferably without Mac in the room.
But that would have to wait for the time being.
The threat against Theo and Norm came before anything else. “What did you find out…”
“About the asshole who targeted Theo and Norm? Nothing for now,” Zane said. “The ad has been removed, so now I’m looking to see if I can access the deleted page.”
“What threat…?” Groose began, but stopped when Jackson handed him a copy of the email Smokey had received.
“This is the other matter I wanted to talk to you about,” Jackson said. “Apparently, Theo and Norm’s former Alpha is searching for them. He’s trying to find out who posted it on the dark web.”
After reading the email, Groose asked, “Did you ask the sender of the email if he saved the page containing the ad?”
“Not yet,” Zane said. “If I can’t find it, that was gonna be my next step.”
Handing the email back to Jackson, Groose said, “In the meantime I’ll increase the patrols around the pack house and alert the men to be on the lookout for any attempted breaches of the property.”
Nodding, Jackson said, “That should do for now. Dylon is working on a plan in case Theo and Norm are in danger, but I don’t want to implement it unless we know for sure.” Then, looking down at his phone, he smiled when he read a text from Steel.
“Oh-oh, I know that look,” Zane said, chuckling.
Glancing up at his brother and Groose, Jackson asked, “Do either of you have anything more to say?” When only silence ensued, Jackson gave them a wry grin as he rose and headed for the door. “Meeting’s over,” he announced. “Keep me informed of any new developments, guys.”
Zane smirked at Groose. “Wanna bet on why my brother rushed off?”
Snorting, Groose got up. “No way! See you later.”
Zane sat alone in Jackson’s study for a moment, then grinning to himself, he sent a text to David, asking him to meet him in his computer room.
It would take a while for his program to find the page with the ad on it, and he couldn’t think of a better way to spend it than with his mate.
Getting up, he turned and headed out of the room, whistling a cheery tune as sexy images of David danced through his head.
~/~/~/~/~
Turning over in his sleep, Ollie snuggled closer to the delicious scent that had invaded his dreams. It was the best thing he’d ever smelled.
Pressing his nose against the pillow, he sniffed, smiling as the scent filled every part of him.
While he had dreamt in color, never had any of his dreams included scent.
It was amazing, and it drove him to plunge his nose into the pillow, inhaling deeply before a contented sigh left him.
Craving more, the urge to taste the source of the smell forced him to open his mouth and bite…
“oh shit!” Ollie’s eyes shot open and he found himself staring at Mac’s neck and the purple hickey that was forming.
“Good morning, babe,” Mac murmured.
“Oh my god!” Ollie exclaimed. “I thought you were my pillow…well, not that, but I thought that…but my dream thought that…I mean I dreamt you weren’t you but a pillow…oh my god…so sorry…” Mortified at what he had done, Ollie tried to move away but Mac’s arms refused to let him go.
“Hey, it’s fine,” Mac said softly. “That was the best wake-up call I ever had. Feel free to do it every morning.”
Ollie raised his gaze until it met Mac’s twinkling eyes. “You want me to bite you every morning?” he asked, grinning. “And if I do, how are you gonna explain away so many hickeys?”
“I prefer to think of them as love bites,” Mac replied. “And trust me, around here…no one’s gonna say a thing.”
“Theo will.”
“No, he won’t.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because I have seen them on Theo more times that I can count. The first time I found one on his neck, Theo was embarrassed until I told him they were called love bites in medicine.” Then leaning forward, Mac pressed a soft kiss against Ollie’s lips before continuing, “Speaking of your cousin, we should get up and talk to Jackson before we head down to breakfast…or do you want to wait until later?”
“What about our claiming?”
“As much as I would love to do that, I got the impression last night that Theo’s parents don’t have a lot of time left.”
Shaking his head, Ollie said mournfully, “They don’t…not from what I saw.”
“Then, that has to be our first priority…agree?”
“Yes…but promise you will claim me as soon as they are safe?”
Cupping Ollie’s cheek, Mac lovingly gazed at his mate. “Promise…wild animals won’t stop me from making you mine.”
“Nor you, mine,” Ollie murmured before kissing Mac softly. Then, sitting up, he asked, “What about your twin? Shouldn’t you see if he will come with us, first…before the Alpha?”
“I will, but Jackson should be first.”
“Another Alpha thing?”