21. Chapter 21 - Chayce
Chapter 21 - Chayce
M y brothers are happy for me, to the point of being annoying. One thing became clear last night—whatever or whoever is leaving these prints around town, it isn’t Regina. When the realization hit me, my shoulders sagged in relief.
The prints found on pride land were fresh. Considering Regina was either at the bar or with me, it couldn’t have been her. This leaves us back to square one with no suspects.
It was late last night when I scheduled a meeting with all of the alphas for first thing in the morning. My dragon fought me all night, wanting to go and claim his mate now that we found her. He didn’t care that I had work to do. I could tell Regina was apprehensive, and the uncertainty was killing me.
Trudging through the front door of my house last night, I looked around, trying to see it through Regina’s eyes. It is still a surreal feeling that she is my mate. Shaking off my spiraling thoughts, I strip out of my clothes and climb into bed, praying that sleep takes me quickly.
The blaring of my alarm clock has me groaning. Climbing from my warm bed and stepping into the spray of the shower has me wide awake as the cold water hits me. It doesn’t take me long to finish washing and then get dressed. Grabbing a coffee to take with me, knowing it’s the first of many today, I head to the office.
Walking in, a smile crosses my lips when I spot Nora sitting at the reception desk.
“Good morning, Sheriff,” she says with a pleasant smile.
“Good morning, Nora,” I say, returning the greeting. “The alphas are coming in this morning for a meeting,” I tell her since it isn’t on my schedule. “Can you please show them to my office when they get here?”
“Sure thing, Sheriff,” she says in reply as the phone rings.
“Thank you,” I quickly say before she picks up the receiver.
Booting up my computer, it isn’t long before all three of my brothers walk in. Crispin and Kyle are with them. As they get comfortable, I quickly email the triplets with the official employment proposal. Hitting send on the message just in time as Arek, Crispin, and Guri enter. Rising to my feet, I clap my hands together in order to get everyone’s attention and start the meeting.
“Good morning, gentlemen. Thank you all for coming. I will do my best to keep this brief,” I start, taking a deep breath as my speech continues. “We have had strange tracks on pack land, at both the den and the pride, not to mention the various break-ins at multiple businesses around town,” I pause to check my notes before continuing, “This includes the Hamilton’s grocery store. We have confirmed that the prints found are all the same, making it safe to assume this is the same individual.” Rubbing my hand over the back of my neck, I hesitate to say the next words. “My primary suspect was cleared last night.”
“Who was it?” They all ask at the same time, but not quite in unison. My brothers wear shit-eating-grins, already knowing the answer.
“That individual’s name is irrelevant at the moment,” I say sternly, hoping to move the conversation to a different topic. “As I said, she has been proven innocent.”
It takes a moment before the men in my office catch my slip of the tongue. This time, they all, minus my brothers, do speak in unison.
“ She? ” they ask in shock and surprise.
Fuck. These guys are too damn smart. This is going to come back and bite me in the ass, I just know it.
“Wait a minute,” Crispin, the cheeky bastard, says with a smirk on his face. “You wouldn’t happen to be referring to the redhead that just happens to be your mate, are you?”
My only reaction to his question is the narrowing of my eyes. The rest of the men mull over Crispin’s words before breaking into raucous laughter. My brothers even get in on the action, the traitorous assholes. Arek holds up his hand in a stop motion as I lean against my desk, arms crossed over my chest as I wait them out.
“Hold on…you…you mean to say…you thought that your mate, your one and only, was a thief and had been trespassing?” Arek manages to get out between bouts of laughter.
The entire room starts laughing even harder at my expense.
“Does she know?” Crispin asks as he wipes the tears of laughter from his eyes.
“Fuck no!” I bark out. “She barely believes me as it is. I assume she knows about paranormals, but who’s to say she knows any. The last thing I want to do is scare her off.” My volume raises with each word, my tone indignant.
My outrage at the simple question seems to set them off again. Pinching the bridge of my nose in frustration, I give them a few minutes to settle down.
“Are you done yet?” I ask in a droll tone.
Several more minutes go by before the laughter finally stops.
“All right,” I say, a little louder than necessary, my annoyance obvious. “We need to figure out a plan to catch whoever, or whatever, this is running loose in the town.”
Each of us tosses out different ideas on how to catch this person, ranging from setting traps, putting up trail cameras, or just ordinary surveillance. Catching them in the middle of committing a crime would be preferable but not likely.
“We need to get with the mayor and see about getting cameras installed around town,” Guri says adamantly. “It is obvious that just having a town full of paranormal beings is not enough of a deterrent anymore. Not to mention, with the baseball season and pending casino opening, we might need them for something else.”
His words make sense.
“Guri, do you have cameras in the store?” I question, hoping that if he does, we might get lucky and have the face of our thief.
“Well,” Guri states, rubbing the back of his neck in frustration. “We do, but something happened. The cameras went offline for a twenty-minute period. After contacting the security company, they said the cause was on our end. We have nothing to help,” he finishes with a defeated tone.
“That means whoever is doing this has the capability to disable cameras, possibly bypass security systems,” Deakon says before I can.
Each of us groans in frustration, hitting another dead end.
The intercom on my desk buzzes, interrupting our meeting. Nora knows not to disturb us, as this is an important meeting.
“Excuse me, gentlemen,” I say, slightly annoyed at the interruption. Picking up the receiver of my phone, I speak with Nora, my tone terse.
“Nora, we are in the middle of something.”
“Sorry, Sheriff,” she says nervously. “I have a Sergeant Chaney from the Boston Police Department on the line for you. He insisted on speaking with you now.”
All eyes are focused on me. As I ignore them, Nora gets my full attention as my dragon starts to huff smoke from his nose.
“Put him through, Nora,” I say a bit insistently.
“Sheriff Galloway here. How can I help you, Sergeant Chaney?” I purposely announce who I am speaking to and notice all three of my brothers’ postures stiffen.
“Please,” he says with a bit of humor. “We are pretty much family now, right?” he asks, catching me off guard. My dragon’s pacing pauses and my chest heats for a different reason. If Regina mentioned our mating to her brother, does this mean she is accepting us? “Call me Rafferty,” he says, focusing my attention back to him.
“Okay, Rafferty,” I respond as every man in the room listens in, already aware of the fact this man is my mate’s relation. “This can’t be the reason you are calling me,” I say shortly, concern starting to overwhelm me on the real reason.
“No,” he says, blowing out a frustrated breath. “Has Gina told you about Jay yet?” he questions.
“Yes,” I bite out at the mention of Regina’s ex-boyfriend. Although, to a point I should thank him. If his treatment of her hadn’t been so abhorrent, she wouldn’t have made it here after fleeing Boston. “Can I put you on speakerphone?” I ask, as my thoughts spin to the possibility of Jay being our trespasser. “There are some gentlemen in my office that might need to hear what you have to say,” I explain.
“Sure,” he says in response. “Is it safe to assume they are also paranormal?” he questions, catching me off-guard.
Not answering his question right away, I hit the button on the phone so everyone can hear Rafferty, adding in any questions they might have.
“Is it safe to assume Regina discussed our situation with you?” I ask Rafferty instead of answering his question.
He chuckles in response before answering. “Yeah, you could say that. My partner is paranormal,” he informs us, catching me off guard. “I was able to help fill in some gaps and am already starting to pack up Regina’s apartment.” My dragon sitting up straighter as my chest heats in anticipation of our mating. “You’re welcome,” Rafferty says flatly, causing the room to chuckle.
“Okay,” I respond, drawing out the word, unsure of what else he wants me to say. “Why have you called?” I ask, trying to get back to the reason he called me. My tone is a little sharp at his blase attitude.
“Right,” Rafferty says seriously before pausing. “We can’t find Jaygon,” he pauses again, letting that statement hang in the air. It takes a moment for his words to permeate my mating-induced brain fog. When it does, smoke billows from my nose at the implication. “My partner and I went to his apartment to talk to him. When we got there, the place was trashed. Our forensics lab was able to piece together some ripped-up documents and found several contracts Jaygon had signed.”
“What does that have to do with Regina?” I ask, confused about what this asshole’s business dealings have to do with my mate.
“Each of the contracts indicates Jaygon selling Regina to various men,” he states angrily. “G told me that the last time she saw him, they were at some corporate dinner. Jay was trying to pimp her out. She got pissed and took a cab home. The next morning, she packed up and ended up with you,” Rafferty explains.
Someone is threatening my mate, is the first thought that runs through my mind. The second is that this Jaygon guy thinks he has rights over her. Other men wanting to get their hands on her has both me and my dragon pissed. My hands partially shift as my dragon surges forward. As fingers turn into claws and scales transpose over the skin of my forearms, a growl seeps from my chest.
“All right, so we need to make sure Regina stays off their radar,” one of my brothers says. “That shouldn’t be too difficult, right?”
“Actually, no,” Rafferty says. “We found tracking software on Jaygon’s computer. From what we see, he installed something on Regina’s phone and added a tracker on her car,” he adds. My eyes meet Kyle’s, and he immediately pulls out his phone, presumably texting his father to start checking over her car since it’s still at their garage. “Either way, Jay might be on his way there. Given your circumstances,” Rafferty says, clearing his throat as he references my paranormal side. “I believe you have the ability to keep Regina safe and well-protected. This is a courtesy call to make you aware of what might be headed your way,” he tacks on.
Every man rises to his feet, waiting for my orders—our trespasser problem put on hold, for now.
“Thank you, Rafferty,” I say sincerely. “I appreciate you letting me know the situation. If you find anything else out, please let me know.”
“Absolutely,” he responds, as his voice turns soft. “She is more to me than just my sister,” he adds, cementing my respect for him. “I am making sure he didn’t plant anything in her belongings or in her apartment,” Rafferty mentions after clearing the clogging emotion from his throat. “You might want to check her stuff. Make sure there aren’t any extra trackers, especially her computer,” he adds, causing my belly to clench at the thought.
“Got it,” I say flatly, “thanks. Let’s keep in touch.”
Rafferty and I exchange cellphone numbers so we have direct contact with each other. Hanging up the phone, it takes me a moment to collect my thoughts. Turning to face the room, I address the alphas and my friends.
“Gentlemen, let’s table our trespasser issue for the moment,” I say, stating the obvious. “Kyle, please check over her car with a fine-tooth comb.” He nods, shaking his phone back and forth.
“Dad is already starting the process,” Kyle confirms, pocketing his phone.
“Thanks,” I tell him. “If there is a tracking device, please bring it here,” I request. “Oh, and if you can, try not to handle it too much. We might be able to get a fingerprint or two,” I add as an afterthought.
Kyle nods before leaving the office, hopefully going to help his father check Regina’s car.
“Crispin, can we get your wolves to expand their patrols to the entire city?” I question, thankful that at the moment, neither of our new businesses are open. He pulls his phone out, texting his pack, no doubt, or at least his betas.
“Can the three of you take to the air?” I ask, addressing my brothers. “Monitor the town and surrounding area.”
The three of them immediately respond, Adyr leaving the room, unbuttoning his shirt as he goes.
Scrubbing my hands over my face, I speak to the men in front of me.
“Thank you for your patience and understanding,” I state as an apology. “I understand that this is an unprecedented occurrence; hopefully, this is the last one, not the first one. If you will excuse me,” I request, gathering my cell and keys off the desk. “Regina should hear this information from me, assuming Rafferty hasn’t already called her. I also need to move Regina out of the apartment above the Whiskey Genie and into my house,” I explain.
“My wolves are already out,” Crispin interrupts. “If you could possibly release Madox and Tennyson? They can assist,” he adds in the last part, playing on my concerns for Regina’s safety.
“Yeah,” I state absently. “They still need to face the judge,” I tack on as a reminder.
Deakon moves to the door, keys to the cells in hand. Calling out to his retreating form, he waves his acknowledgment to my statement.
“Deakon, let them all out. We will figure out the charges later,” I state, pushback from the mayor the least of my concerns at the moment.
Making my way to the door, I speak over my shoulder, not waiting around for a response.
“Call me if you find anything.”
Thankful that the Whiskey Genie is close, it takes no time before I stand at Regina’s door.