Page 24

Chapter twenty-four

Callan

I stare at the police that have come out and watch as they look through the evidence. It’s officer Brady again, and the first thing he did when he walked in was make a quip about how good Kit looked.

He was hit with four furious growls and went a pretty pale colour that did not go with his uniform.

“The only thing we could get him on is breaking and entering, and you can’t even prove this is him.” The other police officer’s name is Ferrara, and he’s younger, much more pleasant, but I can tell by his expression that this isn’t going to go well for us.

I can’t believe what I’m hearing, she’d warned us, but I still thought they would help.

“There’s a man who has been stalking her since she was fifteen, and you’re not going to help her?”

“What can we do?” The shorter cop narrows his eyes on Raider. “By the way, I thought you said you didn’t have a woman here, Raider?”

“At that time, it was true.” Raider shrugs carelessly, but I can see the absolute raging inferno of fury in his eyes.

“So,” Brady turns his uncaring gaze back to Ryann. “You heard some bumps in the night, and you thought someone was following you. Your boyfriend caught you cheating-”

I let out a growl and stand up. He does the same, putting his hand on his gun. I freeze, looking at him silently threatening me. I can’t do anything. They are the police. He’s threatening to shoot me for standing up .

What is the point? What even is the fucking point? I had no idea things would be this bad. We have evidence, so much evidence, but it’s all circumstantial according to these jackasses. Nothing proves anyone did anything, and we don’t even have a suspect.

No one was hurt.

No one was murdered.

No crime was committed.

Which is a ridiculous argument because he’s a damn stalker. He’s terrorized her. He’s inflicted so much suffering it’s changed her entire life.

I turn away from him and move to the window and stare out of it. Is this the world we live in? Ryann slumps in the seat, staring blindly at the carpet in the reflection of the window. She’s completely checked out, but she warned us this would happen. She used very plain English, with lots of simple words.

I didn’t believe her.

They’re the police, they help people.

But these asses aren’t even worried. They’re just implying it’s in her head and she’s making it up for attention. It’s horrendous.

“The fact is, there’s no suspect and nobody. He hasn’t done anything wrong,” Ferrara says and takes a bite of a biscuit I put down.

I wish I could shove it down his throat and strangle him with it. I turn back around, no longer content to watch this shit show through a reflection.

No wonder Ryann had trouble trusting us.

No wonder she had trouble trusting anyone.

“There has to be something you can do!” I snarl.

“We don’t have the resources-”

“So, you won’t do anything until he injures her or kills her.”

“Or you call us while he’s here so we can catch him,” Brady says and chortles like it’s hilarious.

I nod my head, emphatically pretending I am seriously considering his words. “I see, I see. So, when we do your job for you, then you’ll come out and actually do something about it? Just clarifying.”

The two uniformed betas still, suddenly reading the room.

“I’m sorry that you feel it’s not good enough, but these are the laws that protect everyone.” Brady looks down his nose at me. “Besides, Ryann Smith has a very long history of calling the cops about this so-called stalker, and no one has a shred of evidence he exists. So, if you were to paint a painting here, the only person who seems to be committing a crime is her.”

“Except for all the evidence we just showed you, have you forgotten already? ”

Brady shakes his head slightly. “One home intruder does not a stalker make.”

I see red and seethe, but Wren wraps an arm around my waist and leans his head against mine.

“Calm, Callan. We can’t help her if we’re locked up.”

I force myself to keep my mouth shut while they stand up and say their goodbyes, but all my focus turns to her.

With a snarl at Kit, who flinches, I crouch down in front of her and grip her hands.

“Ryann? They’re gone now.”

She blinks slowly, but her face is an expressionless mask. Devoid of emotion and life.

“Fuck!” I curse and spring up, lifting her into my arms and taking her up the stairs and into our bedroom.

I lay her on the bed and get on beside her, wrapping my legs and arms around her. Kit joins me from the other side.

“Wren and Raider have to go to practice, but I’ve armed the alarms and all the motion detectors, and we’re safe,” Kit murmurs.

She wriggles, just a bit, but it’s the first sign of movement in a long time.

“Ryann?”

“I’m sorry.” The whisper comes from deep against my chest, and I’m not okay with it.

“What do you have to be sorry for? It’s not your fault the laws are stupid or that those two lazy ass cops are the ones who answered the call.”

She sniffles. “It’s always like that.”

I wish we hadn’t subjected her to it, but Raider is right. We need a paper trail. Because if I catch him, I’m liable to go to prison for murder.

“They always make it sound like it’s my fault, like I’m getting upset over something tiny. They think I’m exaggerating, that it’s not that bad.”

“Ryann,” I murmur. “We believe you.”

“They always do this. I don’t blame them. It sounds crazy.”

“It’s not crazy. It’s real and happening, and people should believe you. I’m sorry they don’t.”

She starts to cry then, soft, broken sobs that tear my heart to pieces.

How many people brushed her off, ignored her? Friends? Family? Acquaintances? The people who were supposed to protect her and love her?

Kit stares at me, and I stare back. No matter what happens, Ryann comes first.

We’re in agreement.

Kit is at home with Wren, but I’m driving back to the stadium. Something is up with Raider, and he won’t talk to Wren, the concerned alpha sent us a frantic text message, so I reluctantly got up and made my way here. Wren should be home in a few minutes anyway.

I’m not sure what to expect when I get in there, but finding him lying in the middle of the ice is certainly not on my bingo list.

“Raider, get up.”

He ignores me.

I hiss and then push open the tiny door and step out gingerly onto the ice. I’m going to fall on my ass. It’s not a matter of if but when. Still, it takes everything in me to let go of the boards and take the next step.

My shoes slip on the ice, and I curse and hiss, suddenly going down hard. Luckily, it was on my knees, so my head is okay. I look back. I’ve barely gone a couple of feet, but Raider is in the center.

Damn it.

I crawl on my hands and knees, but it’s cold, and soon, my hands are burning under the bitter chill.

Raider flops his head towards me and watches my progress.

“Get up! Get up! Get up! Get Up!” I shout at him.

He doesn’t move.

I finally reach him and drag myself up his body. I’m shivering now, my hands all red, and I’m cursing the idiotic game my alpha loves and his damn brain cells.

“Get up before you freeze!”

Raider simply smiles. It doesn’t reach his eyes.

“What is wrong with you? Get up!”

Raider turns his face away. I have never been so close to hitting him before, but I ball my hands and grab his top, dragging him up, but it’s like trying to move a boulder.

“Why are you doing this?”

“Does it occur to you that we’re not going to be able to protect her?” Raider asks quietly. “I mean, no one else could. Her parents couldn’t. Her uncle couldn’t. The police couldn’t. What makes you think we’re going to be able to keep her?”

I stare down at him. “So, you're giving up?”

Raider shoves my hands off his jumper. “I’m not giving up, I’m thinking.”

I stare at him. “What?”

“I’m thinking. I’m going over every detail that I know in a place that is comfortable, and I’m thinking over everything and trying to find a way to keep her.”

I blink .

“You know he has to have been in her life, close enough but far enough away. I just can’t figure out how. Was it the man at the coffee shop, the neighbour? Perhaps he is a cop. Someone close but that you don’t pay attention to.”

“Raider, get up and get off the ice.”

“We’re going to have to protect her alone. The police aren’t going to do anything. So we need to investigate. I was never good at puzzles, Callan. I like strategy and games. But clues and small details. Those are the things I miss even when they are right in front of my face.”

Raider gets up in a rush and drags me with him. In his skates, he towers over me.

“You have a game on the weekend, don’t you?”

“Yes, and it's never meant less to me than it does right now.”

Raider pulls me up against him, lifting me off my feet, and skates us back to the side of the ice. He walks us through the doors and then sits his ass down on the seat, pensively staring at the ocean of empty plastic chairs.

“What now?”

“I didn’t know the police were like that. Whenever they’ve been called around my family, they jump to help out. They always believed us.”

“We didn’t have much to do with them. Dad always stopped drinking one drink short of us calling the cops on him,” I admit slowly.

“I’ve never felt more helpless or angry in my life.”

“That’s why we need to go back, so she can see we’re a united front.”’

Raider’s already shaking his head before I get halfway through the sentence.

“Yeah, I don’t want her to see me like this. I don’t want her to think I’m upset with her.”

I pause, flummoxed by Raider’s strange insights.

“You’re acting weird.”

“Am I?”

“Where's the emotional, angry Raider?”

“Oh, I already did all that. This is the calm after the storm.”

“I see.”

“Do you?” Raider presses his lips together. “Just hear me out. Would it be better to pay to send her away? We could send her to Kelly.”

I stiffen, staring at him. I can’t believe he just suggested that. I don’t know whether to be furious with him or grateful.

“What happens if he follows her there? It’s the same problem.”

“We could make sure she had a clean slate. Make it impossible for anyone to know.”

“Raider…” I trial off, hating that it’s actually a reasonably go od option.

“We might fail, Callan. We’re making him angry, and we might fail to protect her. Then what happens? What will happen to her?”

I swallow hard, hearing the same fears I’ve been feeling. The one time things have felt like this was with Kit, and it destroyed all three of us.

“You think we should ask, then?”

“I think it has to be on the table, and it needs to be a backup. I don’t want to trust her life with Kelly, but I know my brother, and,” Raider catches his breath and pauses, “he wouldn’t have left without a really good reason. He wouldn’t have done that to the family. Kelly would protect her with his life and all the power he wields.”

“You have your own power, Raider.”

Raider gives me a tiny smile, but it doesn’t take the misery away. “Not enough. Kelly is the Raines in this family. I’m just a hockey player.”

“You’re not just an anything, Raider. You’re everything.”

Raider stands up and ushers for me to follow him. He leads me down to the locker room. I watch as he peels off his clothes and jumps in the shower.

I keep my eyes locked on him, scared that if I look away for even a second, he might vanish. This defeat is not like him.

When he’s dressed, Raider goes to his locker and looks at me with pain-filled eyes. My stomach jolts violently. I want to tell him not to say anything. To hold the words back.

But, to my surprise, he doesn’t say anything.

He just hands me an envelope.

When I open it, there’s a photo of Ryann sitting in the stands, cheering and wearing a Greene Demons jumper. My heart jumps and settles in my throat. I feel sick. It’s the Python game.

My hand shakes as I turn it over and look at the elegant and looping script.

“She’s mine.”

“It’s a warning,” Raider says unnecessarily. “He knows my locker, he knows she’s here, and now he’s claimed her.” Raiders’ cold eyes bore into mine. “Do you still want to keep her here?”

I stare down at her. She’s sleeping so peacefully in Wren’s arms that I almost hate to disturb her. I think of that message left in Raider’s locker, and my hands shake. I kneel beside the bed and gently stroke her face.

It doesn’t take very long before she wakes up .

“Call?”

I smile at her sleepy nickname. “I got you a present.”

She lifts her head, smiling. “You did?”

“I did.”

I lift her hand and gently slide the ring onto her index finger. It’s a delicate ring of twisted metals. There are five distinct colours, gold, bronze, silver, rose, and black.

“It’s so pretty, Callan.” She admires it for a second, and then pulls my face to hers, kissing me lightly. “Come and cuddle me, Alpha.”

I climb in beside her. Wren’s eyes are open, and when I wrap myself around her, his arms enclose us.

Ryann falls asleep quickly, but Wren continues to stroke my arm.

“You’re a good alpha, Callan.”

I stare at him, wondering what he’d think if he knew there was a tracking chip implanted in the ring.

Wren smiles and turns his head away. “Go to sleep, Callan, and stop thinking so hard. It will be okay.”

I try, but my mind won’t stop turning. The ring is peace of mind. But will it be enough?