Page 82 of Crossed Fates

Happy to, baby.

Shh.I threw a glare in his direction as he settled at the counter on the other side of his dad.

Does this mean I’m stuck with him for life?I wondered, still thinking about the immortality problem. Like, what happened when he died?

Ouch. That was harsh.Alaric’s mental tone held a wealth of amusement.

Mine did not.Cut it out.

I didn’t find it the least bit funny that he could die tomorrow. He was going to grow old.

And holy shitballs.Will I be fucking a grandpa wolf someday?My gaze floated to Hawk, and I couldn’t help thinking,At least he’ll look like his dad.

I heard that.

Stop!I growled again.

And Hawk cleared his throat. “Yeah, so, as I said… Neo files?” he prompted, gesturing at the documents on the counter.

Distraction, I remembered.Yes. Distractions are good.“Show me,” I said, giving him my undivided attention. And not at all thinking about how Alaric would look like him in a few decades.Sexy daddy wolf.

Alaric

Makayla found Neo right away.One look at his photo, and I understood why. “He’s a scrawny little guy,” I said, eyeing his details. “Only five foot five?”

“I know,” Makayla replied. “I wasn’t surprised at all to learn he was the gofer of the organization.”

I grinned, amused. Then I stuck his details on our board. I’d totally need to repaint this wall when we were done, but whatever. We needed the space, and the blank white area functioned as a much more vast surface than a standard corkboard.

“All right. So he’s from Elk Neck Pack.” I palmed the back of my neck and blew out a breath. “Well, that explains the silver poisoning at Alpha Warren’s funeral.”

“I just sent a text to the Elk Neck Beta,” my father said, sliding his phone back into his pocket. “Hopefully, he can track the scrawny shit down.”

Makayla nodded, her brow pinched. “That’ll be a good lead. However, I’m still trying to figure out how the McKenzie Pack fits in to all this. It’s like a road map to my first case in this realm, except the McKenzie Pack Alpha—Landon, right?”

I nodded. “Yeah, he took over for Alpha Bortex.”

“Right. Okay, so then technically, I suppose, that pack was involved in that ring several years ago. Except Bortex had been the leader. So I originally thought that maybe someone wanted revenge on those who punished him for his involvement in all that. But now, with Kristen’s death, and her being from McKenzie Pack, it doesn’t fit. And the whole invitation thing for you, specifically, completely demolishes my theory, too. You had nothing to do with that incident. So why issue you an invitation to come out and play?”

I growled low in my throat, the scene shooting through my mind and overlapping with that of Valaria Crimson. “They want me to come back to the city.”

“Yes, but why?” Makayla pressed, her attention on the board. “Is it a trap? Or is it a way to distract you from something else?” She tapped her jaw. “In my experience, it’s never a good idea to follow the predator’s path. I prefer to create my own.”

“Do the unexpected, go at it from another angle,” my father agreed with a nod.

“It feels like a trap, but if I don’t go and someone else is hurt...” I exhaled harshly as my eyes rose to the ceiling.

“Jude can handle what’s happening in the city,” he said.

“I think the real answers are here,” Makayla added.

A knock on the door interrupted our conversation. I shared a glance with my dad, then walked over to answer it, the smell on the other side unfamiliar.

“Mister Calder?” a short man with a dusting of light brown hair asked as I opened the door.

“Which one?” I demanded, not in the mood to play another twisted game.

“Uh.” Shorty checked his documents. “Alaric Calder. It’s a package from Jude Reyes.”