25. Chapter 25 - Chayce
Chapter 25 - Chayce
A rriving at the station, Crispin, Kyle, Arek, Guri, and all three of my brothers greet me. Not bothering to say a word, I continue to move to my office. I assume they are all following me, at the moment, I don’t really care either way.
Throwing myself into the chair behind my desk, I cross my arms over my chest, glaring at each man as they enter the room. All of them give me strange looks due to my behavior.
“What is your problem?” Crispin asks, an eyebrow raised in question.
“Cockblocking asshole, what do you want?” I grind out. They are all old enough—they can fill in the blanks of what I am not telling them.
It doesn’t take them long to do so either, as almost immediately, every one of these assholes starts laughing uproariously.
“You’re pouting?” Arek asks.
Glaring at him, speaking through gritted teeth, I grind out. “When you meet your mate and start getting down to business for the first time and get interrupted, let me know how it feels.”
The laughter stops abruptly.
“All right, what happened?” I snap. Regina was right—no matter how bad my dick hurts, my job comes first.
“We have more tracks. One of the other stores in town is missing general home items, blankets, flashlights, lanterns, that sort of stuff,” Brady states.
“We have merchandise missing as well,” Guri adds.
Leaning forward, I lay my arms on the desk and fold my hands together, my mind spinning.
“All right, so whoever this is coming into and around town, taking items for them to survive on,” I say.
“Are there any caves or some type of natural shelter in the area?” I question, my eyes moving from man to man. “They have to be somewhat close, but where did they come from?” My flurry of questions has each man looking pensive, contemplating the area of land around their homes.
“What about the game lands? That is a lot of ground to cover,” Kyle mentions.
“Deakon, do your computer thing,” I say. “Start charting around town; we will take small sections at a time, as many of us from each clan as possible,” I continue as my mind spins at the possibilities. “We will start around town, working our way out. If we find where they are hiding, we can always wait for them if they aren’t there.”
“Are you talking about a system rescue teams often use where they space themselves out, all moving in a line?” Kyle asks.
“Yes, to a degree,” I answer, rubbing my chin. “Instead of hit or miss searches, we will throw all of our resources into a concentrated area and move on. Every other person will be shifted since senses are better in shifted form, and we will use a radial pattern, using this office as the center point,” I explain.
“That might work,” Crispin says in agreement. “Then again, if our trespasser is watching us, they might move.”
“That is a chance we might need to take. Hopefully, we will get lucky. If we do chase them out of their current hiding space, we can find a fresher scent to track them better,” I argue. “Let’s meet here at eight tomorrow morning and get started.”
After agreeing, our small crowd breaks up, each of the other alphas going their own way. My brothers lag behind and as soon as the office is empty, they turn to me.
“Regina’s phone is finished if you want to take it with you. She left her computer here as well,” Deakon says. “How large do you want the areas set up for the search?”
Scrubbing my hands over my face, my words are muffled. Moving them, I start over with my answer. “We will have at least twenty people. Set it up like pie slices, figuring there are three-ish, maybe, feet between each person? Go from there,” I tell him. “We can adjust if we have more or less if you want to add that in your calculation somehow.”
“Okay, I will work on that now so we are ready for tomorrow morning,” Deakon says before leaving my office.
“It should be a quiet night tonight. We only need one of you on duty. Whoever is going to sleep can run and any calls we get tomorrow while everyone else searches for our trespasser,” I say to Brady and Adyr, letting them choose who works.
“I’ll stay, Brady can go home,” Adyr says.
Jumping to my feet, I address the pair. “All right, I am heading back home. Unless the town is on fire, don’t call me,” I state emphatically, causing the two morons to laugh as I head to my truck.
Once home, I am disappointed to find Regina fast asleep in my bed. Letting out a soft groan of frustration, I strip down to my boxers and climb into bed behind her. Pulling her sleeping form into my body, my arm bands tightly around her waist.
It takes a minute for me to realize she wasn’t teasing me before I left—she is naked.