CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“S o you’re telling me that someone knocked her damn door in and nobody saw or heard anything?!” I resist the urge to throw my phone across the room as I pinch the bridge of my nose and close my eyes.
“That’s right, sir. I don’t know how they did it, but they managed to get in and out without anyone noticing.” Sawyer’s voice is tinny through the phone. He’s one of my most trusted guys — we served in the marines together for four years beforeworking at the same security company. Then I nabbed him when I started my business.
I’m in my office onsite today, which is not typical for me, but Cady’s case has me feeling antsy. What would have happened if she wasn’t at lunch with us when those bastards came knocking? My alpha instincts are screaming at me to protect, but how can I do that when I don’t even know what the threat is?
The OMS refused to release the name of the pack Cady met with citing "confidentiality", and the police won't divulge the information either. I need to get Archie on his sister to see if she can look it up.
“Fuck. Okay. Have Jameson see if he can get anything from the traffic cams. There has to be something .”
“Sir, we don’t have clearance to do that yet—”
“I don’t care. Have him use the skills we hired him for to get into the cams and scrub the footage. If we find something, we’ll worry about making the way we obtain information look legitimate later.”
“Yes sir.”
I tap the end button on the call, and toss the phone on the desk.
Shit.
How the hell am I supposed to get any work done when I can’t get her out of my mind? The way she felt sitting in my lap yesterday, like the spot was made just for her…I need to take a step back. This whole situation is clouding my judgement.
Of course, her being in danger would send my protective alpha instincts into overdrive. I keep forgetting that just because she’s our scent match doesn’t mean she’ll stay. I know that first hand. Hudson still isn’t the same since his scent matched omega left and destroyed their pack.
I’d always looked up to my older brother, doing whatever I could to be just like him. When his pack found their true scent match, they were over the moon. But it only lasted a few months before she left them. I still don’t know what happened, only that she said she “couldn’t do it anymore”. Her departure ripped their pack apart, and my brother has never been able to pull himself out of his depression.
I’ll die before I let that happen to my pack.
All I need to do is not give her a reason to leave.
I’m not so far up my ass that I don’t realize I’m the weakest link in this pack when it comes to attracting an omega. I don’t have Oliver’s easy-going personality or Matt's calm demeanor. Hell, I don’t even have Archie’s level-headedness. Simon might be just as quiet as I am, but his is a careful quietness. A studying one. If anyone in this pack causes her to leave, it’ll be me.
I won’t do that to my brothers.
I’d rather be the only one left out than have my whole pack suffer because of me. I’ll have to pull back, and if I do speak to her, I’ll have to be extra careful about my words.
She doesn’t seem like a delicate thing but I doubt my rough edges are appealing to her.And she's already skittish about joining our pack.
I’ll hang back until she’s so enamoured with the rest of my pack, nothing, not even me, could make her leave.
Sighing, I stand from my desk and grab my phone, shoving it back into my pocket. I’ll do my own recon on the apartment, maybe someone will speak up while I’m there.
By the time I get to her apartment building, my skin is prickling with anxiety. I need to put this threat to rest before it drives me mad. It’s taking everything in me to not drive straight back to the pack house and wrap her up in my arms in an attempt to protect her from the rest of the world.
My footsteps echo in the hallway as I walk up the stairs, and when I come to Cady’s door, I move to slip around the police tape criss-crossing the doorway. The actual door is still broken in, a sight that makes my blood boil. If I ever get my hands on those bastards—
“Um, excuse me?” A small, elderly sounding voice rings out behind me.
Turning with a raised brow, I see a tiny old lady slightly hunched over in the hallway. She definitely was not there a minute ago, I think I would have noticed a caricature of a grandma complete with rollers in her hair and a bathrobe and bunny slippers hanging out in the hallway.
“Yes?” I ask, relaxing my shoulders and trying to make myself look as unimposing as possible.
“Are you one of the alphas Cady is staying with?”
“I am,” I give a curt nod, and the old woman sighs in relief.
“Oh thank goodness. I'm Jody Heisman, and I've had the cat the last two days. Can you please take Reggie back with you?”
“Reggie?” Oh fuck. The cat.
I’ve never been much of a cat person, hell, my family only owned dogs when I was growing up, but if this little guy is important to Cady, I’ll have to figure it out.
The old lady nods primly. “Yes, he’s quite the little asshole. He’s been trying to trip me up any chance he gets and I’m about two minutes from kicking the bastard.”
The language out of this woman is so shocking I have to suppress a snort as I nod. “Yeah, I can take him. He has a cat carrier right?”
“Oh, I don’t know dear, you’ll have to check her apartment.” With that, Mrs. Heisman turns and goes a little bit down the hall before disappearing into her apartment.
Well, I guess I’m not getting any recon done today. I find a cat carrier in Cady’s laundry room, and by the time the old lady comes back, I decide on buying a whole new litter box and having it delivered because I am not dealing with that mess right now.
The relatively large black and white cat snarls and hisses at the old lady as she holds him under his front legs facing away from her, approaching me slowly.
I’m ready to get scratched to hell, but the weirdest thing is, as soon as the cat’s nose twitches and he smells me, he calms right the fuck down, allowing me to scoop him up. He’s as docile as a little lamb laying cradled in my arm, and the old lady gives him a murderous stare.
“Well you’re not so bad, are you, little guy?” I ask him, scratching under his chin.
He gives a rolling “ Mrow! ” and I shake my head, chuckling. Maybe Reggie and I will have more in common than I thought.
"You'll take care of her, won't you?" Mrs. Heisman asks suddenly, looking at me carefully. "She's a good girl. Always helped me carry my groceries up the stairs."
"We will, I promise," I tell her solemnly.
"Good." She nods. "Let me know if there's anything I can do to help."
***
“Reggie!” Cady gasps as I walk into the house with the little asshole perched on my shoulders. He definitely has an attitude, but he seems to like me well enough so he’s okay in my book.
“I went to your apartment, and your neighbor was rather eager to pass him off to me,” I explain as Reggie hops from my shoulder, circling Cady’s legs once before bounding off to explore his new home.
She watches after him with raised brows. “Wow. I can’t believe he’s not hissing in a corner right now.” She laughs almost nervously, before biting her lip. “I’m surprised you went back. Was there a specific reason that I should know about?”
Fuck, does she think I’m some kind of creep who likes to look at crime scenes of apartment break-ins? What do I tell her? That the need to make her safe again is taking over every instinct I have? That I want to find whoever threatened her so I can string them up and watch the terror in their eyes so I can have some semblance of satisfaction that they experienced a fraction of what they caused her to feel? That I’m half tempted to bond her right this fucking second just so I can feel if she’s ever in danger again?
“It’s my job,” I grunt and then want to kick myself for the way her face falls ever so slightly before she catches it.
“Right. Well, thanks anyway, I guess.” She gives me a forced smile before heading upstairs and I sigh, heading towards my home office. It’s better this way anyway. I can’t disappoint her if she doesn’t expect anything from me.