14. Graeme #2
I could see that about them. Avery was made to nurture others, and Wade was a knight. They probably got in a lot of trouble.
“All right,” I announced, and both men turned to me. “Are we to adjourn to Bridget’s home to meet Detectives Peck and Ness?”
“No,” Avery told me. “We’re done for the night.”
My heart leapt. “We’re going home?”
Avery smiled at me and nodded. “Yeah, we’re going home.”
“I’m gonna take a cab,” Wade told us, yawning. “Marcie’s place is––”
“Meggie,” Avery corrected him sharply.
“Hah, I was just testing you.”
Avery scowled at him. “You were not. You’ve said it wrong enough times now it’s stuck in your head like that.”
Wade grimaced as though, yes, perhaps. I liked watching their interaction quite a bit.
“Shit,” Wade groused, “I think my phone is in the back seat of the Jeep.”
“I’ll go get the car and drive back and pick you up.” Avery leaned up for a kiss, which I gladly gave him; then I passed him the keys and he bolted down the street, turning the corner a moment later.
“I sincerely do appreciate you explaining the omega thing to me,” Wade admitted, putting a hand on my arm.
“And for the record, I know he’s an omega.
I’m not stupid. All the parties he’s gotta go to, I know what that’s about.
I just didn’t want him to think I thought any less of him because of it.
He’s kinda weird about anything having to do with being a wolf. ”
I nodded. “He is, but I hope to work on that with him.”
Then we talked about real estate and how he wanted to buy a house, but his apartment was so easy to take care of, and centrally located. We talked about a couple restaurants I wanted to try, and a Korean place that he and Avery loved.
“Can I ask you a question?”
“Certainly.”
“You’re a cyne , and that’s above an ordinary alpha, right?”
“Correct.”
“But what does that mean?”
“It means I lead a holt .”
“Which isn’t a wolf pack.”
I nodded. “Natural wolves have packs; lupines do not.”
“You have families, like Avery’s dad is the alpha of his family.”
I nodded.
“And holts , which is several families, right?”
“Exactly.”
“But how does that work?”
“It’s like a vassal system. I take care of large numbers of people who, collectively, make small payments to me that I then disperse at my discretion, based on need.”
“So like, if my kid needs college tuition.”
“Yes.”
“But what if one family doesn’t have kids?”
“There are other factors. Consider medical bills, retirement, buying a home,” I replied, and then smiled. “Buying a home in Paris or Tahiti.”
Wade grinned at me then, and I liked that we were getting along. He was important to Avery and so to me as well.
“There are businesses that might need a bailout: farms, law firms, restaurants. Or a doctor who wants to open their own practice, a mechanic who wants their own garage. There are a million things people need, but instead of going to a bank, or some other financial institution, I take care of it. Or, I should say, my brother, my sister-in-law, and I, along with a whole team of talented, qualified people, take care of that.”
“You are like a lord in a castle taking care of all your vassals, all your people,” he agreed, ruminating on everything I’d just said. “That’s impressive.”
“That’s what a degree in contract law and finance gets you,” I conceded, smiling at him. “I’m the CEO of Davenport Limited, and I’m the Earl of Wakefield and Muir, and I own land that, combined, is bigger than the state of Alaska. I’m telling you this not to brag but to answer your question.”
“Can people leave the holt ?”
“Most certainly.”
He grunted. “But why would they?”
“Why indeed,” I agreed, knowing I sounded smug, but I was a good leader, and I took excellent care of all the people who put their faith in me.
We were quiet for a moment, both of us realizing that we’d been talking for a bit.
“What the hell?” Wade grumbled, rubbing his arms. “Did he take a detour to a pet store for more cat toys?”
“Does he do that?” I was beyond amused by the mere suggestion.
“Hell yeah. I can’t tell you how many stakeouts we’ve been on that by the time he gets back with my coffee, it’s ice cold because he saw a special spider toy that can climb up walls.”
I chuckled, imagining Avery’s face lighting up with happiness over the discovery of something for his beloved feline. “Let’s walk toward the car and see what he might have diverted for.”
But there were no open stores on our way to the Jeep, only dark streets, and when we turned the last corner, we both saw the Jeep where we’d left it, parked in front of a closed dry cleaner. I jogged toward the car and then stopped suddenly.
“Graeme?”
“Wade, I––” Turning, I inhaled deeply, spun around and faced him. “He never even got this far.”
Wade made a call, and the streets were swarming with police officers no more than ten minutes later. I was somewhat comforted by the fact that whichever way I looked there were flashing lights, men and women questioning bystanders, entering buildings, and searching alleys, all in pursuit of Avery.
I was worried, yes, but I also had great faith in Avery. He’d been a police detective for quite some time, he was both capable and smart, and more than anything, me succumbing to fear, wouldn’t help matters in the least.
No one wanted me to move, not understanding that I was the best person to look for my mate, but there was protocol, and even with Wade arguing on my behalf with someone downtown, I was to either go home and wait for word or remain with Wade at the staging area.
If I moved, they would restrain me. As Avery was a police officer, that superseded him being lupine, meaning I had no more rights than an average person, cyne or not.
I called Kat to let her know what was going on and alert her to the possibility that, as Wade eventually informed me, I would be able to shift once the scene was transferred from the district we were currently in to the eighteenth, where Wade and Avery worked.
“It’s not necessary for you to wait. I––”
“Kat,” I stopped her, my voice breaking, “I’ll do anything to find my––”
“Your mate, yes. But I put GPS trackers in all his shoes before Iz informed me you can’t do that with a police officer. I’ll take the others out tomorrow, but at the moment––”
“You know where he is,” I gasped.
“Yes, I know where he is,” she informed me.
I really needed to stop interrupting her when she was talking.
After explaining to Wade the brilliance of my assistant, and before he could tell me the trackers had to be removed, I assured him she would do so the following day.
Wade couldn’t tell the site commander that Avery had an illegal tracking device on him, but he didn’t want to waste the time of his fellow officers by having them continue to search for him either, so he lied and told the commander he’d heard from Avery, and that he had seen something sketchy and left to check it out.
The commander was annoyed, but pleased Avery was in no danger, and shut down the search.
On our way back to the Jeep, Peck and Ness showed up, and Wade and I got in the back of their Chevy Suburban.
I explained about the GPS, and Ness, who was driving, hit the gas as I directed him.
“You know you can’t put tracking devices in his shoes, Mr. Davenport,” Peck explained, being diplomatic but adamant at the same time. “That’s against our department policies, and––”
“I’m well aware, Detective, and they will be removed tomorrow, but in the interim—” I directed his partner to take a left at the end of the street, “—let’s find him.”
“Hey, listen,” Ness began, “we got the surveillance footage from Mr. Mills’ cloud, but turns out it was exactly like Bridget Mills said. No one went back out after they all got home.”
With the flashing light coming from the grill of the car and the siren blaring, people were pulling over to get out of our way. I liked his driving much better than Avery’s. It was fast, but without the cornering and lane switching that made me nauseous.
“I’m surprised,” Wade stated. “I was sure Saoirse was involved.”
I suspected that we all had.
Once I told Ness we were a block away from where Avery was, he turned off the lights and siren, and we pulled over.
“You should stay back,” Wade cautioned me, concerned, I was certain, about my safety. “We can take it from here.”
“I think not,” I assured him, striding forward quickly.
When we reached the Pilsen neighborhood and what appeared to be an abandoned house, given the boarded-up windows, Peck and Ness went around the back while Wade and I took the front door.
“I know I’m probably wasting my breath, but I’m going to insist again that you stay here,” he whispered, lifting his gun in both hands, the weapon light illuminating the way. “The three of us are armed; you’re not. I’d rather not lose my job because you caught a bullet.”
There was protocol to follow, and I knew Avery would want me to respect his partner.
“I’ll give you five minutes to call me, and then I’m coming in.”
“Ten,” he countered. We’d already exchanged numbers earlier in the night, so without another word, he slipped into the shadows of the house.
A man of my word, I waited eleven minutes before I followed in Wade’s footsteps and slipped inside.
The cloying scents of damp mold, stale cigarette smoke, and old blood seeped from every pore of the place, assaulting my enhanced sense of smell, so I breathed through my mouth as I got my bearings and waited for my wolf’s eyes to adjust to the dark.
There was a crash then, like shattering glass, and I heard gunshots, and then Avery yelled, “No!” So I made my way toward the back of the house, following the sound of my mate’s voice, quiet, as only a predator could be, as I crept down the hallway toward a door at the end, where I could see light shining through the gaps around its frame.
And then the assaulting scent of fresh blood and something else, something familiar, hit me.
Roses.