Sixteen
“What’s on the hard drive that both the cougars and the vampires want?” Jaxon asked as he sipped the coffee Rylee had prepared. Now that they were around the kitchen table, the Alpha was all business.
“No idea. I’m a retrieval specialist, not an analyst. It’s not my job to know what’s on there. I get the location and logistics needed to get the item. I go in, and I get out—preferably unseen. I doubt that’ll happen in this case since there are so many people involved. It’s not just the cougars and vamps looking for it, though. The Wolfes are, as well.”
Jaxon straightened. She could almost see him in his canine form sitting with his ears perked straight up. It wasn’t that he hadn’t been paying attention before, but his focus sharpened. Rylee licked her lips and her gaze flicked over to Niko. His posture wasn’t nearly as rigid, but he leaned closer, his brows knitted. Luca rested against the kitchen counter and picked at something on his fingernail.
“The wolves, too?” Jaxon asked.
“No. Well, I guess, technically, yes, but I meant the Wolfe family. As in Aric Wolfe. He’s the one who hired me. Once I get the hard drive, I’m to deliver it to Blue Creek.”
“They hired me, too. All I was told was that the retriever they’d hired was going to contact me once they got here,” Niko added.
Jaxon narrowed his eyes and tapped his finger on the rim of his cup in a steady rhythm. “What the hell? Why didn’t Aric tell me he had something going down in my territory? That vampires might come into my town and potentially terrorize my people?”
“He probably didn’t know. None of the research I did before accepting the job pointed toward the vampires wanting anything to do with this. They had to have been tipped off later and joined in the fray. I didn’t have a tail until I was almost here,” Rylee said. It was the only thing that made sense. She absently released the bun she’d pulled her hair into earlier and re-secured it as she gave it more thought. “No, he wasn’t there until I hit the state line. I would have known if he had been.”
“Aric never mentioned anything about the contents of the drive?” Jaxon asked again.
Rylee gave her head a hard shake and resisted the very real urge to roll her eyes at the man. Had she not answered this question already? “No. He didn’t say, and I didn’t ask.” She pulled her cell from her back pocket and shot off a message.
When she looked up again, all three men had their eyebrows raised, though none dared ask. “No point in speculating. I sent Aric a text.”
A second later, her phone pinged. “He wants to know if I’ve contacted the Wassookeag pack yet. Didn’t answer my question about what was on the drive.”
She was about to shoot off another message when Jaxon sighed. “And here I thought I’d get to see my wife tonight.” He yanked his phone from his back pocket, swiping his thumb across the screen as he stood and crossed the room. In seconds, he had it to his ear, waiting for someone to pick up at the other end.
“Hey, Aric. Care to tell me why I’ve got vamps and cougars converging on my town and threatening Niko’s mate?” he asked. Jaxon listened to whatever was being said on the line as he went outside, closing the door behind him and leaving them in the dark.
“Think I should head into town?” Luca asked. Even though he’d looked relaxed and hadn’t said a word, she doubted he’d missed a single thing.
Niko shrugged and reached for her hand, entwining their fingers like they’d been together forever and it was the most natural thing in the world. “Nah. Let’s see what Jaxon says first. If Emmet needs us, he’ll send word.”
With the tension swirling around them, thick and heavy, she needed to focus on something—anything—that would get things moving in the right direction. “What’s the plan for tomorrow?” she asked. The sooner they found the hard drive, the quicker she could retrieve it and take it out of Dexter. This was one job she’d be glad to see the end of. Just the thought of any of them getting hurt because of her had her heart racing and dread settling into her bones.
“I doubt we’ll find anything more in the forest, but we might be able to pick up the cougar’s scent and follow it. We’ll start there and see where it leads.” When Niko stroked the pad of his thumb across her inner wrist, she had to swallow her moan. Who knew that spot was so sensitive? “We’ll figure this out.”
“Maybe I need to flush them out?” She didn’t have to be clairvoyant to guess that Niko’s reaction wouldn’t be great, but when both he and Luca growled out an instant—and almost vicious—“no”, she squashed her second idea. No point in suggesting they split up in the morning to try and cover more ground. She wasn’t a tracker, but she wasn’t without resources, either. She’d checked out every lead she’d found on Manchester—his old haunts and favorite camping spots among them. There was a cabin on Great Moose Lake where he could have gone to. As long as she could get the GPS signal out there, she’d be able to find it.
Niko’s hand held hers just a little tighter. “We’re not going to try to stop you from doing your job, but we have to be smart about this. If you’re in danger, I won’t be able to focus on what I need to do. Neither will Luca. That would put us all at a disadvantage.”
“Jason Manchester and an old college buddy used to rent a cottage on the Narrows of Great Moose Lake to do some fishing. I’ll send the coordinates if you want to widen the search. I was hoping he wouldn’t stray that far. From what I could see on the satellite view, there isn’t much out there, but if he’s not on Wassookeag land, then that’s the next likely location we should be looking at,” she supplied.
Before she could forward the information, Jaxon came crashing into the room, his fury barely contained as he speared his fingers through his hair. “The vampire got a hold of Bonnie. Emmet’s at the church, and he’s losing his shit. I’m going to need you both to contain him,” he ordered the brothers.
Niko and Luca were moving before the man had finished talking. The power and aggression in the air had the hairs on her arms standing on end.
“I don’t want Rylee to stay out here alone. I’ll drop her off at your place on the way. She can stay with Maple,” Niko said as he reached for his keys on the hook by the door.
“No time,” the Alpha barked over his shoulder as he rushed back out.
“Fuck. Come on,” Niko said. “You’ll have to stay out of sight. Better yet, remain in the truck with the doors locked.”
Luca hopped in with Jaxon, who peeled out of the driveway seconds after the passenger door closed. Rylee ran to the barn, barely keeping up with Niko. She forced a breath past the fist-sized lump in her throat. If anything happened to Bonnie, she’d never forgive herself for bringing that monster to their doorsteps.
The truck roared to life, and within seconds, they were bouncing down the road leading back to town. The headlights bobbed up and down with every rut and hole they hit, but Niko didn’t slow down.
“She’ll be fine,” Niko said, his voice rougher than she’d ever heard it. “We won’t let Bonnie or Emmet down.”