Page 6

Chapter

Six

Monday morning, Brick met up with the pack members who’d volunteered to be part of the security team throughout Cinder’s pregnancy. While he was overseeing the new additions, he was relying on Solan and Leo to help keep an eye on the recruits and assist with training.

“All of you new recruits will be shadowing one of the current security team members in groups of two or more,” Brick said as he stood on the back patio of the alphas’ home.

“Today, you’re learning the ropes of our patrols, and tomorrow you’ll receive your assignments.

I will take into account those of you who requested particular shifts due to family or work constraints and will do my best. If you have any issues, check in with Solan, Leo, or me, and we’ll do what we can. Questions?”

He waited and then smiled when no one responded.

“Great,” he said, putting his phone in his back pocket. “Security team, grab one or two recruits and get going.”

He waited until everyone had been chosen, save for one pack member: Uncle Carl.

“Hey,” he said, grinning. “You’re stuck with me.”

“Nice,” Carl said. “This is neat. I’m glad I could be part of things to help.”

“We definitely need someone who can work nights and weekends.”

“Your Aunt Janie is on a cooking show kick, and I don’t mind getting out of the house so I don’t have to try her creations.”

Brick laughed. “We’re going to start in the security office. I’ll show you how to check in and get your assignment, and then we’ll head to the edge of the territory to show you the cameras and motion detectors, and then we’ll walk the perimeter.”

“You got it.”

They walked toward the shed that had been turned into a security office a few years ago. Adam also had access to all the security feeds in his office, but the security office was manned twenty-four-seven by team members. Currently, Stewart sat at the U-shaped desk that was lined with monitors.

After showing Carl how to check in and get his assignment, he let Stewart show him the monitors and what each one was looking at.

Someone opened the door to the shed hard enough that it cracked against the wall with a loud bang.

“He’s missing!”

Brick’s instincts went on high alert as he saw Benjamin, wild-eyed and frantic, in the doorway.

“Who’s missing?” Brick asked.

“My son! Caleb was playing in the backyard. I went inside to grab something, and when I came out, he was gone!”

Brick put his hand on Ben’s shoulder, looked at Stewart, and said, “Send out an alert, and we’ll do a grid search immediately, starting at Ben’s house. Also, check the cameras to see if you see Caleb anywhere.” Brick then turned to Ben and asked, “Where’s Julia?”

“She’s out shopping with her mom. She’s on the way back, but she’s an hour out, and she’s going to kill me! Oh shit, I never should have left him alone.”

Brick said, “Uncle Carl? Let’s get to Ben’s.”

“On it.”

Brick led Ben out of the shed and said, “We’ll find him. You should shift and try to locate his scent. He couldn’t have gone far since he’s only four. And also, your house is pretty far from the edge of the territory, so I doubt he made it out of our town.”

They ran to Ben’s, and by the time they got there, half the security team had arrived and started a grid search from the house into the woods. Ben stripped and shifted, putting his nose to the ground and snuffling.

Solan came over. “We can start a grid search in this other direction too. You know what’s over there.” He gestured away from the house in the opposite direction of the grid search. Brick frowned. The creek that wove through the territory.

Even though it had been a dry summer so far, the creek was deep in places, with areas of wide, rushing water and slippery banks, and there were rocky outcroppings all over that could be treacherous even to experienced climbers.

Carl said, “I’ll stay with Ben and text if he finds him.”

Brick texted Stewart to see if he located the child on the monitors. There weren’t a lot of security cameras near the homes, so he wasn’t hopeful anything would show up. Most of the security measures were near the perimeter and the alphas’ house.

“Thanks, Uncle Carl, we’ll head this way,” Brick said. He whistled and the remaining team members and recruits joined him and Solan, spreading out to make a long line. “We’re going to follow the creek. Keep your eyes peeled.”

A few pack members shifted to utilize their heightened sense of smell. He and the others walked slowly, calling for Caleb and scanning the ground and trees as they moved away from the house.

Ten minutes later, they were in the thickest part of the woods and walking along the creek. Solan was on the other side with a severe frown on his face.

“How the hell far could a four-year-old walk?”

“If he was chasing something? I don’t know, probably pretty far,” Brick said. “He must have gotten into the water because no one can pick up his scent and we should have if he had remained on the ground.”

He paused as something caught his attention. The sound of rocks falling.

“Did you hear that?” he asked.

“I only hear the water in the creek.”

Brick turned slowly and tilted his head, focusing his hearing. As the sound of rocks sliding against rocks happened again, he suddenly knew exactly where little Caleb was. “The bend of the creek, where we used to hang out when we were kids. The ledge. Remember?”

“Oh shit,” Solan said.

They called for the others to follow as they took off toward the ledge.

When Brick and Solan were young, they would hang out with Adam and a few others in their age group at the creek in the summer, at a place they called “the ledge.” It had a shallow cave where they stashed girly mags and snacks and a ledge that leaned way out over the center of one of the widest points of the creek.

They would jump off the ledge into the water, sometimes slipping on the moss or rocks. He hadn’t thought about it in years.

As the ledge came into view, he saw young Caleb standing on the edge of it, crying and pointing. Rocks fell into the water below as he swayed back and forth on his bare feet.

“Caleb!” Brick called up to him. “Hey, kiddo! What’s the matter?”

He approached slowly, not wanting to scare the pup. Solan motioned that he was going to move to the other side of the rock and disappeared with a few team members.

“Bunny,” he said with a sniffle, pointing to the water that rushed by.

“Bunny?” Brick asked.

“It’s his stuffed animal, I think,” Reba, one of the recruits, said. “I’ve seen him in the deli with his parents with it. Maybe it fell in?”

“What if he dropped it in the water back where the creek is near his house and walked all this way?” Mark, a team member, asked. He pointed to the bank of the creek where small footprints led to the ledge. “He walked on the wet bank of the creek, which probably masked his scent.”

“Shit, he could have slipped in at any point,” Brick said. It was a miracle the kid hadn’t fallen in. “We’ll find Bunny,” he called up to him.

Caleb let out a little wail and took a step toward the ledge as Solan appeared on the top.

“Whoa, hold on, kiddo,” Brick said. “Don’t move!”

He was so damn close to the edge. Solan backed up. “It’s okay, little dude, we’ll go find Bunny together.”

Caleb smiled in relief and took a step toward Solan with his hand outstretched, but his bare feet slipped on the loose rocks and he pinwheeled his arms as he tottered backward.

The whole world slowed down as Brick shouted for the boy and raced toward him.

As Caleb tumbled over the edge, Brick leaped for him, catching his arm and pulling him into his body as he hit the far bank of the creek, half in the water and half in the mud.

He rolled on the bank, protecting Caleb from the impact, and exhaled sharply as he came to a rest on his back with the young boy on his chest.

Caleb, in shock, stared at Brick for a quiet moment, then he wailed.

The team members rushed over, and Reba lifted Caleb into her arms after checking him for injury. “You’re okay, kiddo. Brick just took you for a ride.”

“I’ve got it!” Marcy, one of the recruits, said, holding a soaking wet stuffed rabbit in one hand. She wrung it out and gave it to Caleb, whose tears dried up immediately.

Solan offered his hand to Brick. “Quick thinking, man. That was a superhero-esque leap.”

Brick groaned as he stood, his bones feeling like they’d taken quite the jostling with the impact. But better him than the kid. “Just doing my job.”

“I texted Carl and he and Ben will meet us at Ben’s house.”

“Let’s get the kiddo home,” Brick said.

“Yeah, and maybe suggest they put a tracker on him,” Solan said.

“Or definitely never let him out of their sight.”

As they made their way back to the house, they saw where Caleb’s footprints started along the bank of the river. Brick suspected he was playing, and his bunny got caught in the creek’s current and he just walked away without realizing where he was going.

Julia was at the house when they arrived and rushed to take Caleb into her arms. She thanked everyone, and Ben, still in his wolf form, howled happily.

“He must have climbed up the ledge to look for the bunny and then got scared,” Brick said.

“Who knows how far he would have wandered if he hadn’t gotten stuck. ”

“Thank you, guys, so much,” Julia said. “We’ll make sure this doesn’t happen again if we have to fence in the whole yard.”

“It’s our job,” Brick said, “And we’re always thankful for happy endings.”

He called the team and recruits away from the house and the rejoicing parents, and said, “Okay, that was a great way to show how our team just jumps right in to help in emergencies. For anyone who shifted, keep up your patrols with your team member, and the rest of you get back to it.”

Carl stood next to him as the others left. “That was damn exciting.”

“Yeah, it was,” he said. “It’s been a long time since something like that happened. Thankfully it had a good resolution. It could have been a lot worse.”

“For sure. So we’re going to get back to checking out the security cameras and motion detectors?”

“Yep. Then we’ll hit the perimeter and walk around the entire territory.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Brick glanced over his shoulder at the house where a young family could have experienced a terrible tragedy. He was thankful the child was being returned safely.

He saw Julia and Ben together with their son, and knew that in the future, his own family would be like that.

He’d have his truemate by his side and they’d have children they would love and protect.

His wolf felt an unshakable certainty about the future, that his mate would make him an even better protector than he already was because he’d be protecting the most precious thing in the world: his family.

His wolf let out a curious sound in his head as he and his uncle walked away, and Brick had the strangest feeling that something good was going to happen.

And soon. He didn’t think his wolf was psychic, but Cinder’s prophecy yesterday had stayed with him, and he could definitely feel that a change was coming.

Maybe, just maybe, he’d be meeting his truemate soon, and then he could get the next chapter of his life going.

The chapter where he found the other half of his heart.