Chapter Eight

The following morning started way too early for Gavin’s taste. After a night of great sex in the arms of the best lover he’d ever had, he was dragging ass. Of course, it didn’t help any that he hated the plan he was listening to as he paced behind the couch in Wyatt’s home.

The house was filled with people. No. Shifters. Everyone in the room was capable of turning into a grizzly bear except Gavin.

As expected, two members of the Arcadian Council had arrived even before Gavin and Dale. They were ominous in Gavin’s eyes. George and Henry. Tall, distinguished men in their mid-sixties. George seemed to have seniority if that was a thing. He was about six-eight with graying hair. He loomed over everyone with an air of authority.

He made Gavin shudder several times even though he had paid little attention to Gavin past introductions.

So, Gavin paced while he watched Dale stand across the room with his feet planted wide, his arms crossed under his chest, and his brow furrowed. He didn’t like this scheme any more than Gavin.

Neither did Wyatt, who was trying to reason with Paige and convince her not to follow the plan seemingly constructed by George and Henry.

As far as Gavin was concerned, Paige had gone mad if she thought it was a good idea to make plans with Kelly for the morning and then go pick the woman up. But Gavin had already thrown his two cents in and then stepped back to let Wyatt have at her.

Wyatt faired not one bit better than Gavin. Paige was determined.

It wasn’t as though Gavin truly believed Kelly was dangerous. But the woman gave him the creeps.

“It’s only a car ride,” Paige insisted. “I pick her up, tell her we’re going to interview the Arthurs and drive her to Wyatt’s parents’ house. What can go wrong?”

Apparently, everything because thirty minutes after they split up, all hell broke loose.

Within minutes of the rest of them arriving at the Arthur’s, Paige texted Wyatt that she’d gotten an email from her professor telling her there was no student registered at U of C by the name of Kelly Smith. And that was the last time they’d heard from Paige.

Wyatt stomped around sending one text after another and calling Paige’s phone.

Gavin sat on the edge of the couch and leaned over his knees, afraid he might vomit.

The only people not about to lose their shit were George and Henry, who organized everyone to head over to the apartment complex. Before Gavin could gather enough brain cells to form a thought, they were in two cars careening down the road. Dale had taken Wyatt’s keys and was driving his truck while Wyatt continued to call Paige to no avail.

Gavin couldn’t breathe, let alone speak. He sat in the backseat, holding on to the handle and staring out the window, seeing nothing. The world went by him in a blur while snapshots of his life filtered through his mind.

It was true that his relationship with Paige was fake, but only as far as them being a couple was concerned. She was his best friend in the world. The best friend he’d had for his entire life. He’d never had a close relationship even with his parents, though that wasn’t shocking.

He realized she meant the world to Wyatt in only a few short days, and the two of them were meant to be together in some sort of binding for life, but that didn’t take away from the feelings Gavin had. His ears were ringing, blocking out whatever Dale and Wyatt were saying in the front seat. He could hear their voices, and once he caught Dale looking at him with concern in the rearview mirror, but Gavin was inside his own head.

Freaking the fuck out.

Not Paige. She didn’t deserve this. She was the sweetest woman he knew. She’d been through hell and lived. Please, God. Please let her be okay. Why wouldn’t she answer the phone?

When they came to a stop and saw that her white Nissan Versa was nowhere in sight, Gavin knew the situation was serious. Who was this bitch Kelly?

He raced with the others into the building, leading them to apartment 4C. Thank God he’d listened and remembered which place belonged to Kelly. Minutes later, after Gavin stupidly banged on Kelly’s door, George calmed him with a hand to his forearm and picked the lot. It took a moment for Gavin to realize that everyone else could scent that no one was inside. Of course.

A sense of uselessness swept over him. Wyatt, Bernard, George, Henry, and Dale—all of them scrambled around the apartment at warp speed.

Gavin felt like he was in quicksand. He didn’t have the extra abilities of a shifter. He didn’t have their scent. He was just a human. And at the moment, he was brought to his knees with fear.

He was one step behind every discovery, his jaw dropping as he stood at the entrance to a bedroom, taking in the dozens of pictures hanging all over the room. The scene reminded him of a serial killer and did nothing to assuage his fears. Pictures of not just Paige, but many other shifters living in Silvertip. Some of them were of bears. “How did she get these?” he muttered to himself.

Dale tried to provide an explanation, but Wyatt had already pieced it together. That crazy woman had set up cameras on people’s properties. All over town. Trying to catch them shifting. And succeeding.

As George issued orders, speaking both to people in the room and—when his eyes glazed over—to shifters not at this location, Gavin focused his attention on Wyatt.

Wyatt had plopped down at the kitchen table to open the laptop that sat perfectly positioned in front of the chair at the end. His fingers moved quickly as Gavin glanced at Dale. His hair stood on end watching Dale’s expression.

The enormous alpha shifter who’d shown Gavin nothing but extreme confidence from the moment they met, had his hands on his head, his fingers threaded in his long, disheveled hair. His gaze was on Wyatt, and his skin was pale. Gavin had never seen him look vulnerable, but at the moment he would swear the man was about to pass out.

Wyatt suddenly glanced up, his attention focusing on Dale. “Need you, man.”

Dale looked stunned. Eyes wide. Swallowing.

Wyatt jumped to his feet and came directly to Dale. “I need you.” He touched Dale’s arm. “Please.”

Dale sucked in a breath and nodded, seeming to snap out of it. “Of course.” He rushed forward and pulled out the chair. “I’m on it.”

Gavin’s head was spinning. What the hell was happening? It wasn’t as though they were communicating silently in a manner that always gave Gavin the chills. It was more than that. They had a history. Wyatt knew things about Dale that Gavin had no knowledge of.

Whatever the case, there was no doubt this was not only important but a monumental moment in Dale’s life. Gavin watched as he honed in on the computer, his fingers flying across the keyboard. Nothing existed around him.

He was in his own world. His element. Whatever he was doing, he’d done it before. Done what? Hacked into a computer? Gavin had a head full of questions he would have to ask later. Not now.

Everyone continued to rush around. George gave more orders. Dale paused from his task only long enough to lift his hip and extract Wyatt’s car keys. Wyatt and his father left to go search the streets for any sign of Paige.

Gavin found himself faced with the task of helping George and Henry scour the apartment while Dale did whatever it was that Dale did.

One thing was for sure. Dale was much more than a construction worker. He might be building a deck for his friend Wyatt, but that room full of computers in his home did not exist for the pleasure of playing video games.

There was much more to Dale Gerben than Gavin had ever imagined.

»»•««

Gavin was initially glad for the distraction. For the next two hours, he helped George and Henry do a cleanup job that was unprecedented. Like a scene from a movie, these two council members worked meticulously to eliminate all evidence that anyone living in this apartment knew anything about shifters.

As the clocked ticked, Gavin grew more nervous by the second. What was the Arcadian Council intending to do to eliminate the threat of exposure?

Granted, his rational self argued that Kelly was in a shit-ton of trouble. The woman had spent several days spying on half the town and collecting information to support her theory that grizzly shifters existed. She was a threat to the entire species.

But no one had told Gavin what the council would do to stop the threat. Were they going to erase her existence and remove her from society? Could they do that? Did they have laws that permitted them to interfere in the lives of humans?

The questions kept piling up in Gavin’s mind. Would they kill her? Incarcerate her? Were there possibly dozens of unsolved missing persons’ reports that could be traced back to this Arcadian Council removing humans from society?

Gavin’s nerves were getting to him as he worried himself to death over the possibility that he too could be removed from society at any given moment if he pissed these people off.

Gavin could do nothing but watch Dale work. He remained quiet, not moving, not wanting to upset Dale’s concentration.

When Dale lifted his hands to run them through his hair, mumbling, “shit”, everyone turned their attention to him. He didn’t take his eyes off the screen as he continued, “Kelly Smith isn’t her real name. It’s Kelly Sharply. She changed it two years ago when she moved to Calgary.” He resumed clicking on the keyboard. “Twenty-nine. Computer science degree from the University of Toronto.”

Gavin doubted Dale even realized he was still speaking out loud. He kept mumbling, as if to himself. “Jesus… She graduated at nineteen. Her fucking IQ is higher than mine.” His voice trailed off.

Gavin stiffened. What the hell did that mean? He didn’t interrupt to ask.

Dale called to give Wyatt a brief update, but otherwise, he never took his eyes off the screen or his hands off the keyboard. He was so focused, Gavin doubted he was even aware anyone else was in the room.

The council had just finished their cleanup job and were setting several trash bags full of evidence next to the door when Dale suddenly shouted, “Got it. Found her.” He grabbed his phone and called Wyatt, his eyes still pinned to the computer screen.

Gavin sank to his knees in the middle of the room, unable to hold himself upright while he listened to Dale rattle off details to Wyatt. When Dale finally shut the computer and stood, he seemed startled to find Gavin several feet from him. He raced forward and kneeled in front of Gavin. “I found her. She’s going to be fine.” He set a shaky hand on Gavin’s shoulder. His voice sounded awkwardly uncertain, not matching his words.

“You don’t know that,” Gavin countered, lifting his gaze.

“We have to believe it. Let’s go.” He grabbed both Gavin’s biceps to help him off the floor.

George swept the computer off the table and tucked it under his arm. He and Henry both took a trash bag, and all four of them raced for the elevator.

“How?” Gavin asked.

“How what?” Dale responded while they waited for the elevator.

George and Henry both looked away as if they didn’t want to get involved in the conversation. As if they already knew the answers…

“How did you find her? What were you doing?”

Dale shrugged. “Dug around in her computer until I figured out where she rented another place.”

Gavin stared at Dale’s profile as the man rocked back and forth on his feet, watching the elevator doors, not meeting Gavin’s gaze.

Hiding something.

Gavin shook his confusion from his head as the elevator arrived. Later. Right now he needed to worry about Paige.

George had the only vehicle, a black SUV. He drove. Henry rode in front with him. Gavin sat in back next to Dale who took his hand and threaded their fingers together.

Gavin didn’t give a fuck what the two council members thought about the outward display of affection or if they even noticed. It didn’t matter. It would seem nothing would get past their attention anyway. Gavin’s sexuality was not private in this town or among these people. He didn’t have the option of living in the closet in Silvertip, Alberta. That wasn’t how things worked in a world where most of the citizens had powers that far exceeded regular human abilities.

This realization was both a relief and a source of stress, but Gavin needed to focus on Paige now. Later he would ask the questions bubbling in his mind. Questions that had piled up in the last two hours.

Who was the man next to him holding his hand?

And what was the Arcadian Council going to do about Gavin’s knowledge of shifters when the smoke settled?

»»•««

Dale was scared to death. His attention was pulled in multiple directions, but everywhere he turned he faced another source of stress.

He wanted to close his eyes and concentrate on the most important thing—saving Paige. If they didn’t reach her in time, he would lose his mind. His heart was beating wildly, and he couldn’t stop the constant agitation that made him fidget in his seat.

The only thing remotely grounding him was the grasp he had on Gavin’s hand. But Gavin was in his own world, ruled by his own pain. Dale knew his top priority was also saving Paige, but there was more, and Dale suspected it had to do with a nearly debilitating fear that the council members were going to remove him from society.

His fear wasn’t unfounded. Anyone in his position would be nervous. Dale couldn’t blame him, but he also couldn’t say any more than he already had to take away the terror. He’d held him close last night, brushing locks of his hair from his forehead while trying to soothe him, but Gavin persisted in questioning the council’s methods.

The truth was that Dale hadn’t told Gavin what was going to happen to Kelly. It wasn’t that he didn’t know. He was perfectly aware. But he knew in Gavin’s agitated state of concern, he would completely lose his marbles if he heard the truth.

The truth was much more complex than anything Gavin could possibly conjure in his imagination. The truth was brutal. The truth was staggeringly sobering.

And at this point, there was no way to shield Gavin from reality for much longer. Perhaps if things had gone down differently, he never would have needed to know what he was about to find out. But no one had imagined Paige being abducted by a crazy reporter, so Dale needed to pull Plan B out of his ass and quick.

His own nerves aside, he concentrated on Gavin. “She’s going to be okay,” he repeated for the tenth time. He didn’t know who he was trying to convince, Gavin or himself.

The silence from the front of the car was not making things easier for Gavin. It wasn’t that George and Henry weren’t communicating. Dale had no doubt they were engaged in a full conversation, probably with several other council members and possibly even the ruler over all North American grizzly shifters, Eleanor. She would have ultimate authority in whatever decisions needed to be made today.

Gavin stared out the window. He still held Dale’s hand loosely as though he might have forgotten about the connection. “You’re not a construction worker,” he deadpanned, pointing out the information he’d gathered as if he were commenting on the weather.

“It’s a long story. Let’s get through one thing at a time.” Dale spoke as calmly as possible to keep Gavin from stressing out any more than he already was. Inside, Dale wanted to scream. He could have gone his entire life without ever discussing his previous profession or more importantly, his previous relationship.

Gavin shot him a look. It was hard to read, and for the first time since Dale had met the human man, he hated the fact that he couldn’t delve into his head to see what he was thinking and get a better read on his emotional state. Gavin looked lost. Scared. Frustrated. Desolate?

Dale swallowed. He leaned closer, putting his own personal freak-out moment on hold. The last few hours were going to creep up close and bite him on the ass eventually, but not now. Not in the car with two council members. Not while Gavin was staring at him with so much hope that Dale could somehow put his fears to rest.

Dale pulled Gavin into his embrace, his hand going to the back of Gavin’s head to cradle it against his shoulder. It was awkward at best from the back seat of a moving car, but it was something. He stroked Gavin’s cheek with his thumb, hoping to soothe him and calm his racing pulse. He kissed the top of Gavin’s head. There weren’t words.

He could lie and say all the things Gavin wanted to hear, but the words would be empty. It was time to face reality. There was no guarantee Paige was still alive. In the midst of this stressful time, there was no way to begin to explain to Gavin why Dale had a completely decked-out command center in his home. There was no way to artfully explain what the council was going to do to Kelly when they arrived either.

The SUV kept covering more miles.

All Dale could do was hold the man he had fallen for hard in such a short time and pray they came out of this as unscathed as possible. Gavin had a life he’d been leading before he came to Silvertip. He had a degree in Canadian Lit. He had hopes and dreams that didn’t include coming out of the closet in the near future and facing possible rejection from his parents.

Dale stuffed his feeling deep, swallowing the emotions he was experiencing toward this human man. He’d sworn to never again get involved with another man, especially not a human. He had no business letting himself picture a future with this guy.

Even if Dale did want to give their fledgling affair a more permanent shot, he couldn’t ask that of Gavin. This was the first proper relationship Gavin had been involved in. He couldn’t possibly know what he wanted from life. He didn’t have enough information to know his heart or give it to another man.

Dale held Gavin firmer, his heart hardening as he talked himself into the realization that after today, he probably needed to let Gavin go. If he had any sense at all, he would keep as many details to himself about the next few hours and send Gavin back to Calgary to figure out his place in society and find a regular human man who didn’t have nearly as much baggage to commit himself to.

Why did that plan hurt so damn bad?