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"So you haven't decided yet?" Emilie asked. It had been about a week since Carter's job offer. Emilie knew some basics about wolf packs and over dinner one night, he filled her in on how a pack worked. Bears were simple. They kept to themselves, claimed land and protected what was theirs. Wolves made it complicated, but if you were raised in it then it might not seem so bad.

Carter picked her up after her morning shift at the library and drove her to Andora. He wanted to show her around. Or at least, that's what he said. Emilie thought what he really wanted was her opinion.

"I haven't. The last two enforcers had bad endings. It's a hard job and can take a toll."

They were walking down the street enjoying the unseasonably warm day. He had taken to holding her hand when they were out. The simple act always made her chest pound wildly. She liked the small claim it laid on them.

"What are you really afraid of because you've told me about those enforcers. The one was demented. That had nothing to do with the job and everything to do with the fact that he was a psychopath."

He couldn’t argue on that. "And what about Tyson? He had done the job for ten years."

Emilie leaned into his shoulder. "He was put in a hard spot. But he didn't have your training. I'm sure you are much more prepared than he was for the job. Owen is right, you do it every day."

"Yeah, maybe."

What he wanted from her, she couldn't give. Carter wanted someone to just tell him what to do. But this was his life and his choice.

"So," she prompted again. "What are you afraid of?"

He looked down at her, his mouth a hard line. Men never liked admitting to fear. She doubted he would tell her but maybe it would get him thinking.

Something changed in his eyes. Some understanding. Clarity. What he said next surprised her.

"Failure. I'm afraid of failing."

Her brows rose in surprise, not because of his answer, that was a perfectly normal response but because he actually told her. It meant he felt safe with her.

Emilie smiled. His trust was intoxicating. They were steadily growing closer. The last week was the best kind of whirlwind. Everything she learned about him made her want to know more. He was a “what you see is what you get” kind of man. Unlike Emilie, who hid away only letting bits of herself out for the world to see, Carter laid it all out.

"Failing is always a possibility, but Carter, what if you fly? What if this is the push you need to be your best self? I'm not saying you should do it, that is your decision, I just think you should look at this from all angles. Yes, you could fail but you could also fly."

His face softened into a smile. "You're really good at that," he said leaning in toward her and kissing the top of her head.

"What?" she asked with a grin.

"Advice with just a hint of a compliment. I'm feeling pretty invincible right now."

Emilie didn't have a chance to respond. Her phone began buzzing wildly in her pocket. The interruption completely ruined the moment. Carter moved backed and dropped her hand so she could fish out her phone.

It was Dean. She had half a mind to ignore the call but then she noticed the dozen or so texts he had sent her.

"Hello?"

"Where the hell are you?" he barked.

Her eyebrows shot up, Dean rarely got upset. "Uh, out with Carter."

She looked to him and he was frowning at her. "Everything ok?" he asked quietly. She shrugged.

"You need to get home now."

"Why?"

He sighed. "Just get home. I'll explain then. Oh, and bring your guy. We're going to need his help."

Dean hung up on her and she looked at her phone like it stung her. Her brother was calm, cool and collected. Nothing frazzled him. Whatever this was, was serious.

"Did you hear all that?"

Carter nodded. "Yes, I think our day is finished here. Let's head home."

They walked back to the car, Carter asking a few questions about what Dean had said. Neither of them could figure out what had him so worked up.

He was waiting for them outside, pacing the length of the porch. Emilie got out of the truck before Carter could come around. There was a time for chivalry, now was not it. He didn't seem to mind, though. His interested had been peaked by the vagueness of it all and had already started up the steps.

"What's going on?" he asked Dean.

"Inside," Dean snapped and went in the door she had locked before she left.

That mental note to collect her keys made an appearance again.

She turned once inside and faced him. Dean pointed to her couch as she opened her mouth and told her to sit.

Yeah, that wasn’t going to fly.

"Dean, what the hell is it? You are stomping all around here like a menstruating Godzilla."

Carter took a seat on her couch and patted the spot beside him. Dean was still agitated and wouldn't start until she sat. With an eye roll, Emilie walked to her couch and dropped onto the couch.

"Ok, fine. I'm sitting. Now spill."

With a deep breath he dropped the bomb. "Bobby is being arrested for your murder."

"WHAT?" she yelled and stood up.

Carter pulled her back down with a hand on her shoulder. "Let him explain."

"Actually, that's about it. I was just notified an hour ago that he had been arrested. I didn't even know there was an investigation in place."

Immediately Carter slipped into cop mode. "I can do some digging on this and find out what's going on. Who was the closest pack to you up there? I can contact the alpha and see if he has any cops that can help," he asked her.

"Um," she rubbed her head still digesting what Dean had said. "Outskirts of Adirondack Pack but there was more of a population of St. Lawrence. I don't know the alpha. I was on land in between the two so I never introduced myself."

"Owen will know," he assured her.

"What can I do to stop this?" Emilie looked at Carter, he was the only one not shaken by the news. Dean may not have liked Bobby but he also wouldn't sit by and let this happen to him. Neither would she.

Carter sighed, his lips pressed together as he looked at her. "Two options. We either find your body to prove he didn't do it or you come out of hiding and set everything straight. I can't legally recommend the first since I am a cop."

"Will she be charged with faking her own death?" Dean asked.

"If we can get a hold of someone from the other pack and explain the situation, I think we can work it all out. If we are lucky, we'll handle it outside of the media's reach."

Emilie grabbed his hand and linked her fingers with his. She wasn't looking at Carter, it was easier to think when she stared at the coffee table, but his fingers tighten around hers giving her comfort as much as strength.

If she went up there, she'd have a fiancé again. She'd have another life to straighten out. But she couldn't, in good conscious leave Bobby in jail for a crime he didn't commit.

"I have to go," she said softly. Emilie turned her head and found Carter watching her, sadness filling his eyes. "I'm sorry."  

Carter was doing his best to stay professional but hiding his agitation was getting increasingly difficult. As a cop he knew what the ramifications were if she did not go. Not just the legal consequences but the mental ones. Emilie would never forgive herself.

As her boyfriend, he didn't want her to go. She'd be going back to her fiancé. Sure she said that they had been drifting apart towards the end but what if she was just saying that at the time because she had no option to go back to him?

She had that option now.

Losing her was a very real scenario. Neither he nor his wolf were happy about it.

Carter had gone to his place so he could make some calls regarding Bobby and his situation. Emilie and Dean were trying to formulate a story for her. She'd need something to explain why she had disappeared and why she never came back.

His first call was to Owen. Not only did he need to be informed but he could help.

"Carter, is this call informing me of a decision?" Owen said in lieu of hello.

"Uh." Shit. He hadn't made up his mind yet. Hadn’t had a chance to think of it since Dean’s call earlier. "No, actually, it’s something else. There's a problem."

"Always is," he said, with a sigh. "Hit me."

He explained what happened and then had to explain what happened to cause the situation they were in now. Owen listened, only interrupting for clarification every now and then. When Carter had it all laid out, he jumped in.

"Alright, this is a mess but we've dealt with worse. At least no one is dead.” The irony of that statement was not lost to him. “Lately, I swear that is the only problem we do have so this is good news so far. I'll make a call up to St. Lawrence and see what they know. Being that it's with a human and a bear, they might not care. But because a shifter is involved, they will be required to care. In the meantime, you’re going to need a story. I can probably help with that as well. Let me work some things through and call you back."

"Thanks, Owen."

"I'll talk to you soon."

Carter wanted to wallow a bit, just allow himself to feel the jealousy and hurt that Emilie leaving would cause. They had just begun to date and already he was so protective over her, so engrossed with her. Usually this was the fun part, the getting to know them and exploring part. From day one with Emilie, all it had ever been was serious. Carter was half in love with her already. Tests like this shouldn't come so early. He needed to make her love him so he knew she would come back. But just because Carter held her in his heart didn't mean she was there yet.

He stood, rubbing a hand on the tension building behind his neck and went back next door. He had little time left with her. Wasting it alone would do no good for either of them.

She was upstairs packing. Dean was making hotel arrangements for them and directed him to her bedroom. Emilie was folding clothes and laying them on her bed. An empty suitcase laid open beside it. That more than anything depressed him. As long as the suitcase was empty she'd be his.

"Hey," she said with a small smile as he came in the room. "What did Owen say?"

Carter would tell her, right after he kissed her. He walked across the room and around the bed, she dropped a folded pair of jeans into the suitcase when he reached for her. He fully embraced her. Arms held her, eyes caressed her, lips devoured her. He wanted her to feel what he felt when he thought of her when he looked at her.

Emilie's hands wrapped around his back and pulled up his shirt so she could touch his skin. There was a desperation to the kiss. It came from her as much as him. The way she pulled him to her, calmed his anxiety more than anything else.

"You kiss me like you’re never going to see me again," she said, a spark of understanding in her eyes. She always did know how he was feeling, sometimes before even he had figured it out.

"You never know."

"I'm coming home, Carter. I'm doing this purely out of obligation. If Bobby wasn't in danger of life in prison, I wouldn't but I can't let that happen to him."

He touched her face, his fingertips gliding over around the curve of her jaw. "I know. I want you to go. I just want you to come home as well. You-" His phone began to ring. That would be Owen.

Emilie stepped out of their space and went back to folding. He sat on the bed and answered his phone.

"Hello?"

"Alright, so we have good news," Owen began. Carter put him on speaker and laid the phone on the bed beside him. "St. Lawrence has a cop in Malone. The wolf knows all about this case and had wondered if the bear Bobby had seen was Emilie. No one had ever met her so they didn't know if that was their resident bear or not. She kept to herself so they never felt the need to reach out. He's going to meet up with your bear tomorrow and go over what happened. I gave a Cliff Notes version to the alpha. He sends his sympathies. We all know someone who's been in her place. Relationships with humans who don't know are tough."

Carter grunted. "That's why you told yours practically right away."

"Damn straight. As for your other problem, I think I have a story. I'm working on the paperwork now. Thankfully Lee already had a file for her going so I'm just expanding on it a bit."

"You're on speaker and Emilie can hear."

"Hi, Owen," she squeaked out when Carter looked at her. Owen intimidated her.

"Perfect! Now I don't have to go over it twice. Now Darlin' I'm going to apologize right now, it's going to get a little complicated. See, you fell and hit your head on something, be even better if you had stairs in your old place so you fall down them. When you woke, you couldn't remember anything. The house was unfamiliar; you didn't recognize anyone but yourself in the pictures around you. You were scared so you went to your brother, who you did remember. See, you were sick, right? And you had accidentally taken a double dose of medication. Cold medicine always makes you loopy and after the fall it affected your memory. Following?"

"Yes."

"So you go to your brother but you don't remember much about the trip. Your short term memory wasn't doing its job. You couldn't remember much of anything, which is why you don't know how you ended up shot. Lee has all of this documented, so you'll have medical paperwork to go along with everything."

"This is ridiculous; you know that right?" Carter said. Of all the stories he could have imagined...

"I know but it's the best I could do right now,” Owen said in agitation. “Let me finish. Now Emilie, you didn't go home sooner because you were healing."

"I have a question," she interrupted. "What about Dean? He went to the funeral. If I came to him, then why didn't he tell Bobby I wasn't dead?"

Good catch. Carter hadn't thought of that.

"Ah, see he never liked Bobby. So when you came to him with this problem and didn't remember your fiancé, he saw a way to get you out of the relationship."

She snorted. "Well at least his part is true."

"See, it's not so bad."

"No, it will be just fine. Dean and I can work on the finer points on the way there. Thank you, Owen," Emilie said. Carter wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her into his lap.

"Anytime."

"Hey Owen?" Carter asked. "What about Lee's signature. She's not exactly stable yet."

"You think I don't know how to forge that shit?"

"Dude, I’m a cop. You can't tell me stuff like that." Shit, this was sticky enough as it was. His job could be in jeopardy if he became too involved in the cover up.

"Yeah, and I'm your alpha telling you that you aren't allowed to do anything about it."

Of course, there was always that.

"Don't worry about it, Carter. Everything will be legit. I'll have the papers dropped off later tonight."

Carter hung up and then hung onto Emilie. Every time she tried to stand, he tightened his arms a bit more. Eventually she gave up and started putting clothes in her suitcase from where they sat.

"Do you want me to come along?" he asked knowing the answer already.

She shook her head. "No. I think that would raise more questions."

She was right, of course she was, but he still wanted to do it.

"Come on," she said patting his arm that had locked her in place. "Let's go catch Dean up and then scavenge some food."

He sighed and rested his forehead between her shoulder blades. After they ate he would be rendered useless. His job having been done, he'd have the choice of watching her pack or going home. She planned to leave early in the morning and they hadn't gotten to the point where they spent the night often. Only that one time, that first time. Carter would just have to be ok with right now, this moment. It'd have to hold him over till...whenever she came back.

"Yeah, ok." He loosened his arms and let her go.