Chapter 32
“You need to eat something as soon as you can. You must be starving,” Jamie said.
Aiden grinned to himself. His mate was a caretaker, that was for sure. “Yes, sir.” Aiden drove the truck through the dark toward Tessa’s Treats. Iris wasn’t due in for another hour. As he turned into the parking lot, he was making a mental list of what he had to do before they opened for customers.
Jamie laughed, but said, “Don’t ‘yes, sir’ me. Wait, what’s going on?”
There was a police car and a black SUV parked side by side in front of the bakery, blue lights flashing.
“Let’s find out,” Aiden said.
“What the hell?” Jamie muttered.
Deacon and Jasper were standing together by their vehicles. Aiden stopped his truck next to the men and rolled down his window. They approached.
“What’s going on?” Aiden asked.
“Someone tried to break in about an hour ago,” Deacon said.
Instinctively Aiden reached out and grabbed Jamie’s hand. He could feel the phoenix inside of him on edge. Alert.
“Protect mate,” the phoenix demanded.
“Planning on it. Now, settle down,” Aiden replied silently.
“What? How?” Jamie asked. “Did the alarm go off?”
“No. Looks like the perp or perps cut the alarm,” Deacon said.
“Shit,” Aiden said. “Wait, how’d you guys…?”
Jasper lowered his voice and leaned closer to the open car window even though there was no one else in sight. “My mate put a protection spell on the bakery. Seems like she woke up when they tried to pick the lock to the back door. We were in bed sleeping and, suddenly, she sat bolt upright. Her eyes were all white. Kind of like when May goes into one of her trances. Scared the hell out of me. Told me to check on the bakery right away. Then she shook her head, and she was back to normal. She told me about the spell.”
Aiden felt a tingle run down his spine.
Jasper continued. “I knew Deacon was on duty because I spoke to him earlier, so I called him.”
Aiden and Jamie both looked at Deacon.
“I came over with the sirens on. Got here before Jasper. They must have taken off as soon as they heard me coming. I didn’t see anyone, but the lock to the back door shows evidence of tampering.”
“You guys’ll have to stay closed today while we gather evidence,” Jasper said.
Aiden nodded. “Does Iris know?” he asked.
“Not yet,” Deacon said. He glanced at his watch. “She’s probably still asleep. I was going to let her sleep as long as possible before I called.”
“OK, should we put up a sign or something?” Jamie asked.
“I was just about to put up some police tape. We’re going to be inside for a bit, seeing what evidence we can gather. We’ll have the pack leaders send out a message to the wolves that the shop will be closed for the rest of the day,” Deacon said. “May can let Beau know, too. He’ll spread the word to the bears in town. It’ll cut down on the usual traffic of Lakers at least.”
Jamie chuckled.
“What?” Deacon asked.
“I was just thinking of Frankie, you know, Finn’s mother. She’ll have every senior citizen in town knowing in less than an hour, I’d bet.”
Deacon smiled. “I wouldn’t bet against that.”
“Do you think we’ll be closed tomorrow, too?” Aiden asked.
Jasper bit the inside of his cheek. “Nah, I don’t think we’ll be more than a few hours here,” Jasper said.
Deacon added, “Then we’ll have to get a new lock put in, but we’ll probably finish before tomorrow.”
“No, no. Take your time. In fact, we can use this as the reason to keep it closed. This is the perfect excuse,” Aiden said.
He heard Jamie suck in a breath and turned to see him frowning at him. “No, it’s not that I’m happy about an attempted break-in. It’s just that I need to train,” Aiden said. His phoenix was close—his eyesight was sharper, his need to shift more palpable. “I feel like I’m jumping out of my skin. My beast wants out.”
Deacon and Jasper shared a look. Deacon then screwed up his face as if thinking. “OK, why don’t you two head to my house. Let Iris know what’s going on. Keep an eye on her, too. I hope these guys aren’t specifically targeting the Guardians.”
“It could just be a random crime,” Jamie offered with a wince.
Jasper and Deacon gave Jamie a look of disbelief. Aiden felt the same but loved Jamie’s optimism. He squeezed his mate’s hand. “I wish you were right, but we know that’s probably not the case.”
Jamie nodded and sighed. “I know,” he said under his breath.
Deacon slapped a hand on the hood of Aiden’s truck. “Well, tell your sister I’ll be home when I can. As soon as you guys get going, I’ll call Heath and figure out a plan for training.”
“No, no more planning. We’re running out of time.” Aiden clenched the hand that wasn’t holding Jamie’s into a fist. He hoped he could keep his phoenix in check a little longer.
Jamie edged a tiny bit closer to Aiden in the truck. He pulled his hand from Aiden’s and clutched his forearm. He addressed Deacon and Jasper but stared at Aiden. “It’ll be alright. My mate will stay calm so we don’t attract unwanted attention.”
Aiden felt his monster’s angst slowly dissipate.
“Calm down, firebird. You’ll be training this morning. Just give me an hour,” Deacon said.
“C’mon, let’s go see your sister. Make sure she’s safe,” Jamie said. “Then, in about an hour or so, we’ll be able to let you shift and get some flight time.”
Aiden sighed. He patted Jamie’s hand and then turned to the two men. “An hour. Then I fly.”
Deacon’s eyes flashed the ice blue of his wolf and then back to his human blue. He nodded once, then he and Jasper took a step back from the truck.
Aiden put the truck in drive and drove back out of the parking lot in the direction of Iris and Deacon’s house.