Chapter Twenty-One

Nolan was pacing in front of his computer while he watched the insanity unfold in front of him. There was nothing else he could do for the time being. His hands were tied. He wouldn’t interrupt Reid and Adriana again. For one thing, they deserved a private moment without him interfering in their binding. For another thing, they needed to concentrate on the danger without adding anything else to their plate.

It hurt. The pain was deep and powerful. Nolan closed his eyes several times. It was a wonder he didn’t go insane from helplessness and worry and the deep, profound loss of his mate. He assumed eventually he wouldn’t feel the connection to her anymore, but he had no idea when that would occur. Would he sense the break from her immediately?

He hoped not because if that were to be the case, it would mean they didn’t bind when he hung up. Because so far he felt no change. He still held her close to his heart.

What if he always did and he had to watch his best friend live his life with the woman Nolan needed more than his next breath?

It was overwhelming. He shook the thoughts from his head and watched the screen again as the men surrounding Reid’s house crept closer. When would they be given the go-ahead to break into the house?

Thank God whoever was surrounding them was human. It made all the difference in the world. They had no idea the occupants were onto them.

Nolan nearly jumped out of his skin when a voice sounded in his head. “Nolan.” He didn’t recognize the tone, but he thought the speaker was older. “George here. I’m outside your hotel.”

Thank God.

“Your dad contacted us, but Henry and I were already watching. I’m just outside your range.” He meant scent range, and indeed after a long inhale, Nolan realized he couldn’t scent George nearby.

“You were already outside? How long have you been there?”

“About an hour. We’ve been following your stalker.”

“For how long?”

“Two days.”

Shit. “Why didn’t anyone tell me?” He hated to sound accusatory, but if the council had filled him in earlier, maybe… He shook the thought from his head. The Arcadian Council was very powerful. They had their reasons.

“When we found him, we weren’t sure there was a connection to you yet. The man trying to lure you outside was already on our radar for other offenses. He doesn’t know we’re watching.”

“Shit. Other offenses?” That meant whoever was after Nolan was undoubtedly a shifter. Perhaps the man who’d been hanging around the hotel.

“Yes. From last year. Don’t worry about that now. Let’s get you safe.”

“Reid and Adriana. They—”

“Laurence and Charles are watching them.”

That was a relief. “What’s happening?”

“Eight men have your friends surrounded. But they must be waiting for the all clear to break into the house. If they have an ounce of sense, which I highly doubt, they would know Reid is a private bodyguard and realize he isn’t stupid enough to not have his house overly protected with the finest alarm system.”

“Do you suppose whoever is trying to kill me is that stupid?”

“Let’s hope.”

Nolan couldn’t scent any shifters inside the hotel or even nearby, which meant whoever was after him was either human or smart enough to keep his distance. If it was the same man he’d scented several times in the last hotel he’d hidden in, at least Nolan would recognize that smell as soon as it grew closer again. But what good would that do?

“Are Reid and Adriana safe?” What were the council members waiting on?

“So far. We’re monitoring the situation while we wait on additional manpower. If we have to move in, we will. For now, it’s better to keep tabs. The man we need to pick off is your stalker. The kingpin. We think he’s in charge of all the others. If we can grab him, we might be able to keep him from issuing further orders.”

“It’s been thirteen minutes since he slid his demand under my door. He’s going to be expecting me in two.”

“Henry’s at the park now, watching from a short distance.”

Nolan took a breath. The council members could easily sneak up on whoever was waiting for Nolan since they had the power to block any shifter from scenting their approach.

“I don’t think the man will be there to meet me himself. He wouldn’t take that risk.”

“You’re right. He’s actually in the car that just pulled up. Showtime. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”

Nolan couldn’t catch his breath when George cut the connection. For several moments, he stood rooted to his spot, unable to move or make a decision. And then he jumped into action. If the council had two representatives at the meeting point, he wanted to be there too.

Maybe it wasn’t the brightest decision he’d ever made, but sitting in his hotel room waiting for the all clear sucked as an option too. So, he grabbed his jacket and raced from the room.

»»•««

Vinny sat in his car a safe enough distance from the park, intending to watch Nolan arrive through his long-distance lens but still keep his identity a secret. Nolan didn’t need to know a shifter worked for Stephen Rimouski. Besides, Nolan would be dead before too long and then it wouldn’t matter.

Still, Vinny preferred to keep his hands clean and let the humans take the rap and go down if things went south.

Vinny’s only job here was to confirm Osborn was dead and call off the men surrounding his friends. There was a small gamble. Vinny had to hope Osborn gave enough fucks about his friends to trade his life for theirs. He was counting on it. After all, whoever Reid Terrance and his girlfriend were, they cared enough to pick Nolan up Friday night when he was on the run.

Vinny knew Reid was a shifter. He’d looked him up. He had no idea if the woman was also a shifter or if she was even a permanent part of Reid’s life. She could simply be someone he was currently fucking. Judging from the pictures Vinny had seen of the two of them wrapped around each other in Reid’s condo, he had to assume they were at least fucking. Perhaps they were also bound together. Didn’t matter. He had never approached close enough to find out in order to avoid detection, and Vinny’s informant wouldn’t have a clue. The man was human.

The man hired to pick off Osborn arrived, setting up about a block from the meeting place exactly where Vinny had instructed him to go for the best aim. All he needed was a good shot with a silencer, and Nolan’s life would officially be over. Without their key witness, the cops wouldn’t have enough intel to put Rimouski on trial.

Vinny assumed Osborn must have alerted the police to something that didn’t add up in Rimouski’s books. In fact, in the last few days, Vinny had scoured every ledger Rimouski had with a variety of accountants under multiple aliases. Each ledger had inconsistencies, which meant Stephen had never been careful enough with his books. The accounting Osborn was in charge of had been a bit too far off. Apparently, Nolan was sharp and decided to call the police instead of questioning his client.

Eliminating Osborn was paramount. As soon as he was out of the picture, Vinny would find a way to easily explain away the inconsistencies in the ledger. Typos. Errors. There would likely be other messes to clean up. It had only been a week. The police were probably looking for other accountants to question, but the job would be difficult since Rimouski used so many different aliases.

Nevertheless, Vinny could only handle one problem at a time. Osborn today. Someone else tomorrow.

Vinny glanced at his watch. Nolan was late. It had been sixteen minutes. Fuck. Vinny had a lot riding on this play. He was counting on Osborn caring more about keeping his friends alive than his own life.

“Get out of the car, Vinson.”

Vinny jerked his gaze to the driver’s side window, shocked to realize a member of the Arcadian Council was standing by his door. He knew the council members could block themselves thoroughly enough to sneak up on people, but he’d never experienced it firsthand.

Another older man who was also on the council stood at the hood of the car, both men casually staring down at Vinny.

Fuck. How the hell did Osborn manage to contact these guys and mobilize them in just a few minutes? The cops he had counted on at any moment and frankly didn’t care about. His hired hit man was good. The presence of police wouldn’t thwart him. But the Arcadians? He hadn’t thought that possible. Fuck.

He considered hitting the gas and either running over the man in front of him or backing up at a high rate of speed and peeling away. But that would draw too much attention to the situation and ruin his chances of picking off Nolan. Osborn was his top priority. He was better off pretending to cooperate with these council members and shaking them later than preventing his hit man from finishing the job.

With a fake sigh, Vinny let his shoulders fall, turned off his engine, and opened the car door. “How did you find me?” he asked as he stepped outside.

“Been tracking you for a while, Tarben. You’re not very smart. After you took off from the brewery incident earlier this year, we figured you were long gone. I was guessing Asia.”

Vinny recognized this man as George. “I didn’t do anything illegal last year.”

“Nope,” George agreed. “That’s why we didn’t search too hard for you. But you’re sloppy and stupid. Why the hell would you stay so close to home?”

Vinny leaned against the car door as he shut it behind him, still aiming for casual. He shrugged. “Didn’t think it mattered. There’s no law that says a man can’t share pictures of beer with his girlfriend or leave town whenever he wants.”

That was essentially what he’d done several months ago when he fled Silvertip after helping his family’s brewery beat the competition at the creation of a new product. The weird bitch from the Arthur pack who happily and ignorantly fed him information had proven invaluable. But that didn’t mean Vinny intended to bind to her. Just remembering the time he’d spent pretending to care about her gave him the chills.

Vinny decided to play stupid. “What can I do for you fellows tonight?”

George lifted a brow. “Sharing company secrets and getting yourself banished from your pack isn’t a crime, but hiring a hit man to pick off the key witness to your boss’s crimes is certainly punishable.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I was simply enjoying the evening.”

George chuckled sardonically. “It’s about two in the morning, and I wasn’t born yesterday.”

“You have no proof.”

“You’re stupid and funny. Let me suggest you come with us willingly or suffer the consequences.”

Vinny had no choice but to continue to go along and hope nothing these guys had on him would stick later. Or better yet, he could possibly get away from them without much fuss in no time if they thought he was cooperating. So he quietly followed them toward their SUV parked only a block away.

It wasn’t ideal, and it meant he had no way to call off the men guarding Reid and his bitch, but who cared? The two of them might end up casualties in this war. Vinny didn’t give a single fuck at this point.

George opened the rear passenger door to the black, nondescript SUV and swept a hand to indicate Vinny should get inside.

He did, surveying his surroundings. For now, there was nothing he could do. He couldn’t contact the man stationed to take out Nolan, and he had no way to reach the men surrounding Reid. As long as everyone did their job, they didn’t need contact from him anyway.

Surprising Vinny, George leaned in to speak as the other man got in the driver’s seat. “I’ll leave you in Henry’s hands. Don’t fuck with me, Vinson. You’ll regret it.”

“Why would I do that?” Vinny asked.

George didn’t respond. He simply shut the door and nodded at Henry, who pulled the SUV away from the curb.

»»•««

The park was too quiet. As Nolan approached, adrenaline pumping through his veins, a chill raced down his spine. Where was the man he was supposed to meet? And where were the council members? Hell, the police should have arrived too.

He didn’t head for the slide as instructed. Instead, he found a large tree a safe distance away and hid behind it, scanning the area. There were human scents. Where were George and Henry? And what about the shifter who hired someone to kill him?

“You have a death wish, Osborn?”

Nolan spun around to find George standing behind him. Of course. He wouldn’t have scented George. The man was blocking. “I couldn’t just stand in that hotel room and wait.”

“So you thought it would be a good idea to come out here and get shot when we have things under control?” George hissed. He wasn’t pleased.

“Do you?”

George nodded. “Picked up your stalker already. If you don’t fuck this up by getting yourself killed, the police are going to have your hired hit man in custody any second.”

Thank God.

George tipped his head back and closed his eyes.

Nolan watched him, knowing he could sense things far more powerfully than regular shifters. The forty council members had amazing abilities.

Loud voices across the park drew Nolan’s attention.

“Hands in the air, asshole. Now.”

Someone screamed. A shot rang out.

Nolan flinched.

George took him by the arm and led him silently between the trees to a row of bushes that created a barrier on one side of the playground. He bent a few inches to peek through an opening and then stood back and motioned for Nolan to do the same.

Three officers surrounded a man who lay face down on the ground, not moving. One of the officers nudged the prone guy with his foot. He checked his pulse next. Nothing.

“Looks like your hit man tried to shoot at the police. Won’t be wasting any taxpayer dollars to prosecute him.”

Nolan’s eyes were wide. Holy shit. It was over. At least this part.

“What about Reid and Adriana?”

“They’re safe.”

For the first time in hours or perhaps days, Nolan blew out a breath. It was over. It was truly over.

He had no idea how he was going to pick up the pieces of his life and move forward, but at least he wouldn’t be doing so any more from a confined space. If he never saw the inside of a hotel room again, it would be too soon.

He silently followed George across the street, heading away from the commotion. “Do you have a car?”

“Yes. A few blocks away.”

He considered asking George to take him to Reid’s condo but swallowed the words. Reid and Adriana would need to be alone tonight. It hurt more than he would ever be able to process. When would he stop feeling the bond? Shouldn’t it have severed by now? He could ask George a few questions to see what insight the man might have in this strange circumstance, but he didn’t think he could bring it up without losing his man card along the way, so he pursed his lips and followed George down a side street.

George said nothing as he fished around in his pocket, pulled out a key ring that had a ridiculous number of keys on it, and opened the doors to the small compact car along the street. “Good. Wasn’t sure I had the keys to this one.”

Nolan slid inside as George climbed behind the wheel. “This one?” Nolan asked.

George shot him a small grin as he started the engine. “I like to keep several vehicles near any possible crime scene, just in case. Henry has custody of your stalker in my SUV.”

“I see.” Nolan shuddered. Fucking weird.

George drove Nolan back to the hotel in silence. When they pulled up, he turned to face Nolan. “I don’t scent your officer inside, but you should return to your room and contact him.” His look was serious.

Nolan stated the obvious as a light bulb went off in his head. “They don’t know about my stalker.”

“Right.”

“They need to believe it was the dead guy in the park.”

“Right.”

“Got it. And the men who were surrounding Reid and Adriana?”

“They were all human. They’ve been neutralized. Your stalker hired them just like he hired your hit man.”

“I assume he’s a shifter?”

“Yes,” George agreed but said nothing else. Apparently, he wasn’t going to divulge who yet.

What was that about? Was it someone Nolan knew? “So everyone’s in custody,” he said to change the subject. “I’m free to return to my regularly scheduled life.”

George stared at him and shook his head. “Not even close.”

“Why?” Nolan gasped.

George paused as if he were patiently waiting for Nolan to regain his senses.

Finally, he did, groaning. “I’m still alive.”

“Exactly.”

“Rimouski can just hire someone else to take me out.”

“Yes.” George’s voice was low. “I’m sorry.”

Son of a bitch.

“It will take Rimouski time to regroup. He lost a lot of men tonight, but don’t let your guard down. He still needs to pick you off. I need to handle this situation with your current stalker, and I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Nolan nodded. Without another word, mostly because he wanted to punch something and fought to keep that urge under control in front of George, he climbed from the car and shut the door.

His life was a fucking disaster. Not only was he still facing months of hiding, but he’d lost the only woman he would ever love to his best friend. And on top of everything else, he still felt a connection to her that worried him more than anything.

The window rolled down behind him, and George leaned over to speak. “Nolan.”

Nolan spun around to face the council member.

“Don’t give up. Things might not be as bleak as they seem. Have faith.”

Before Nolan could process George’s words or respond, the man pulled away from the curb. What was he referring to? The fucking court case? Did he know something about Rimouski that would put an end to this shitstorm sooner rather than later?

Anything was possible.

He was Arcadian Council after all.