Rollo let Zoe go for one reason only. He needed to see what she would do next. Rollo was the chief of police and had almost fifteen years of law enforcement and investigation experience. He was no fool. He had seen Dimitri Ivanov walk into the lodge. He’d smelled Zoe’s fear at the sight of him. Rollo had let her pull him away from the dining room window as soon as he realized that Ivanov was the central problem.

He returned to his SUV and immediately called Damien. Tech Bear answered the phone on the third ring with and anxious hello.

“Damien, I need you to do some research for me. I have new information on the jewel theft case. Find out if there is any connection between Zoe Bright and Dimitri Ivanov.”

“You suspect Zoe in this case?”

“I have a theory about what is going on here, and Zoe is part of it. I don’t have anything concrete yet. Just get me the information I need. And keep it quiet for now, Tech Bear,” Rollo said.

“On it, sir,” Damien said before he hung up the phone.

While he waited for Damien to return his call, he pulled out his cell phone and began researching Zoe himself. He looked up social media pages and scrolled through her feeds. He wanted to know what she had been doing before she arrived on Fate Mountain. Zoe had obviously been traveling for a long time, but where exactly had she been, just before arriving at the Bright Institute?

Rollo was disappointed to find that Zoe really wasn’t very active on social media and had only posted intermittently at best on her one social media page. In the timeframe he was most interested in, there was one picture of her in a bikini on what looked like a Mediterranean beach. He growled to himself, appreciating the sight of her curves under the bright blue sky. It only redoubled his determination to get to the bottom of her connection to Ivanov. Several minutes later, Damien called and Rollo answered.

“I’ve looked into Zoe Bright’s connection to Dimitri Ivanov. What I can find is that they were definitely in the south of France at the same time in the last three years. I’ve been able to trace several images of them together in what appears to be a romantic relationship.”

Rollo bristled at the thought of Zoe with a man like Ivanov. Or any man but him. He clenched his teeth and asked Damien to go on.

“It is unclear if Zoe Bright was ever involved with any criminal activity connected to Ivanov. I can’t find any criminal charges or any suggestion of criminal dealings in her past.”

“Thank you, Damien, that was exactly what I needed to know,” Rollo said.

“Anytime, sir,” Damien said.

Rollo was more convinced than ever that Zoe was the one who had broken into Caitlin Somerset’s mansion and stolen her jewels. What Rollo wasn’t convinced of was that Zoe was doing it on her own. He knew there had to be some other reason for his mate to be stealing jewels for a notorious mobster. She didn’t need the money because her brother had been financing her for years. Zoe might be a thrill seeker, but she wasn’t a bad person. She was not a thief at heart, and Rollo could feel that in his gut as clearly as any other thing he had ever known by instinct.

He had to protect her from Ivanov and from herself.

Rollo pulled out of the parking lot in front of the dormitory and circled around the back of the Bright Institute, parking on a ridge above the grounds. He took his binoculars out of his glove compartment. He knew something was up, and he doubted she’d be sleeping tonight. With Ivanov in town, she had to make a move. He was counting on it.

An hour later, his instinct proved to be correct. A dark figure emerged from the glass doors of the dormitory building and hurried down the steps into the parking lot. The tiny figure disappeared into the forest, but Rollo knew exactly who it was. He got back in his car, determined to cut her off at the pass.

Rollo drove down the road and turned onto the highway where he knew Zoe would soon emerge from the forest. He parked the car, turned off the headlights, and waited for long minutes, watching the stretch of highway in front of the Institute. Sure enough, a small figure crept from the woods not too long after.

Rollo turned on his SUV and flipped on his siren, catching her in his headlights. She stood up straight, her mouth dropping open. She abruptly turned and darted into the woods. Rollo jumped out of the car and took chase. He wasn’t going to let her get away. His strong legs heaved as he sprinted down the highway and dove into the forest. His heightened shifter eyesight could make out the form of her body darting between the tree trunks. Zoe was lithe and quick, but could not outrun him.

He caught up with her, grabbing her arm as she screamed to be let go. He forcefully twisted her around to face him in the darkness. His animal senses allowing him to see an infrared like picture of her face. She was panting and the waves of anxiety were rolling off of her as her heart crashed in her chest.

“Why are you chasing me, Rollo?” she said, feigning innocence.

“Zoe Bright, you are under arrest for grand theft and breaking and entering,” Rollo stated, turning her around and pressing her chest against a tree trunk.

“There has to be a mistake,” she whimpered.

He pulled her hands behind her back and cinched the metal handcuffs around her wrists.

“There’s no mistake, little kitty,” he said patting her down.

He felt a bulge in her jacket pocket and unzipped it, pulling out a velvet bag. It was tied with a drawstring which he quickly opened before dipping his hand inside. He felt the cool smooth surface of diamonds, pearls, and gold. It was exactly the same as the jewelry that had been taken from Caitlin Somerset.

“What do we have here?” Rollo said, shaking the bag of jewels near her ear.

“It’s not what you think,” she insisted.

“So why do you have Caitlin Somerset’s jewelry?” he asked.

“Please, you have to let me go. You don’t understand what you’re doing.”

“Enlighten me,” he said, gripping her arm to pull her away from the tree trunk.

“I’m dead. Don’t you get it? I’m dead.”

“I’m not going to let anything happen to you, Zoe,” he growled into the top of her head.

“Please don’t do this.”

“Tell me why you took the jewels.”

“Just let me go, Rollo. If you feel anything for me at all, just let me go.”

“Tell me what’s going on, Zoe,” Rollo demanded.

“I can’t tell you. I’m sorry.”

“Then you are going to have to come with me.”

“Where are you taking me?”

He led her through the dark, dense forest, gripping her bicep. He wasn’t about to let her go and deal with Ivanov on her own. But he wasn’t going to take her down to the jailhouse either until she had come clean with him. They were mates and they needed to be on the same side. Zoe was being stubborn and refused to trust him. The only solution was to take her somewhere safe and get her to spill the beans for her own sake.

“Wherever I damn well please, little kitty,” he said.

He chuckled inwardly as she gasped at his words. One way or another, he would have to hold her against her will. But at least if he kept it private, he would have a chance to help her. If he took her down to the station and booked her, then she’d be in the system. She’d have a much worse chance of getting out of this situation without serving jail time. If he could get her to confess to him before they got the system involved, then he could book her with a lesser charge.

But right now, he needed Zoe to believe that she was in trouble. If he was too soft on her, she would continue to hold back, and he would never be able to help her. He led her by the arm down the highway, helped her into the front seat of the SUV, and buckled her seatbelt.

Leaving her alone inside the car, he pulled out his cell phone and called Deputy Bear. Thankfully, Knox answered the phone.

“Knox, I’m going to be gone for a few days on urgent business. I need you to take over for me at the station.”

“What’s going on, commander?” Knox asked.

“I’m in the middle of an undercover investigation, I can’t divulge any further information.”

“Understood,” Knox said. “You can count on me, sir.”

Rollo hung up the phone, got behind the wheel, and he turned on the car before making a U-turn on the empty highway.

“This is a mistake,” Zoe whimpered, stamping her foot.

“I don’t make mistakes, darlin’,” Rollo said, speeding through the dark night.