Page 23 of Hayes (Alpha Daddies #7)

“You know that Olivia has the ability to sense you before the rest of us in addition to being able to communicate telepathically with your people. That second power could prove invaluable at some point in the future. When shifted, our people do not have any method of communication. Olivia would have to operate as a liaison between our two societies, though she also can’t impart details to any of us except verbally. ”

The two bears nodded.

Surge glanced at Khloe. “Your clairvoyance will come in handy. How reliable is it? I assume you knew we were coming both today and last night.”

Khloe nodded. “Yes. I can’t promise I will always know what others are planning, but I assume the universe sees fit to keep me informed of movements that are important. I hope she doesn’t find it necessary to let me know when someone is going to the bathroom,” she joked.

Hayes cleared his throat. “The truth is both Molly and Rylee will know when everyone uses the toilet.”

The bears flinched in tandem.

Thorn cocked his head to the side. “Why?”

Molly sat taller on Gavin’s lap. “I will hear it.”

“And I will smell it,” Rylee added.

Surge’s brows shot to his head. “From what distance?”

Hayes stiffened. This information needed to be shared, but it still made him uncomfortable revealing all their cards. “Farther than where you live.”

Thorn blinked, his gaze shifting back and forth between the two women. “You can hear and scent that far away?”

Rylee nodded. “Yes. It’s not interesting enough for me to pay attention to scents for miles around. It gets overwhelming. I have to ignore them, but I can tell if either of you is on the move and headed this way. Your scent grows closer. That change catches my attention.”

Surge glanced toward the door. “That’s why you have the back door open and the windows lifted.”

“Yes.”

Thorn frowned. “You have the same experience with sound?” he asked Molly.

“Yes, but hearing everything all around me is debilitating. I can’t tolerate it.

My head would explode. Gavin insulated the house to block out sounds.

I have to step outside to focus on things.

I’m getting better at controlling the onslaught, but it’s never going to be less annoying, so I’m hindered by the fact that I have to keep the volume to a minimum. ”

Surge ran a hand down his face. “Wow. That’s powerful. Guess I better curtail my cussing,” he joked.

Everyone chuckled with not much humor. They needed to keep things light, but the situation was anything but.

Thorn cleared his throat and looked toward Hayes and then the other men. “Will any of you consider letting your mates join the task force?”

Hayes cringed because he hated the idea, but he knew it might be necessary. “We’ll discuss it.”

Rylee wrapped her arm around his neck. She had to know how difficult it was going to be for Hayes to let her roam the fucking forest in search of lions. It was preposterous, and yet…

It went against all of their instincts to entertain the idea of bringing women along for any sort of patrol. For decades, the mates of Alpha Protectors had been coddled and protected from everything. That was the nature of their existence.

But times were changing, and it would be foolish to ignore the signs. A task force that left out these powerful women would be hamstrung.

After a few moments, Surge asked, “Any sign of lions since last night?”

All of them shook their heads.

Hayes had some thoughts to toss around. “If we assume they are more powerful than all of us, it’s possible they can block even their scent. Perhaps they did so when they snuck up on your women last night. They may have been testing us to see if anyone among the wolves could scent them.”

Hayes shuddered before continuing, “I hate to point this out, but they could have gone to every one of our homes last night. Perhaps they even split up and visited dozens of houses in a short amount of time. Rylee would be the only one who could scent a lion if he was blocking. He might have realized that before he fled.”

Felix sighed. “I agree. I’d say that’s pretty likely.

When Rylee bolted awake and you turned your lights on, the lion figured out he’d found someone who could detect him.

If our house was also being surveilled at the time, it’s possible we fell for the same trap when Khloe woke up gasping, causing me to turn the lights on also.

However, what they don’t know is that she can’t smell them. She had a vision.”

“I couldn’t hear any of them,” Molly added, “but if they were all alone and not communicating with each other, there might not have been anything to hear.”

Damon rubbed his chin. “Fuck, this is complicated. I hate it with every fiber of my being.”

Thorn leaned back in his chair. “Agreed.” He stood.

So did Surge. “Let’s reconvene tomorrow. That will give us all time to choose who will join the task force. Shall we meet here? Noon?”

Hayes stood to see them to the door. “Yes. Thank you for coming. We really appreciate your help.”

Rylee gasped as soon as Hayes opened the front door. She ducked under his arm and inhaled deeply.

No one spoke as the bears joined her on the front porch.

“I think your friend Drow is up to something.”

“What’s that, Little one?” Surge asked her.

Hayes gripped her shoulders from behind, waiting as she closed her eyes and slowly drew oxygen into her lungs over and over. When she was done, she turned toward him and buried her face in his chest.

Hayes bent to lift her into his arms, being careful to keep her dress over her panties. He rubbed her back, confused by her reaction. “Can you tell us, Baby girl?”

She shrugged, not meeting anyone’s gaze.

Hayes held up a finger before stepping back into the house and aiming directly for their bedroom. As soon as they were alone—relatively speaking—he sat on the edge of the bed and leaned her back. “Talk to Daddy, Little one,” he whispered.

There was no way to keep their communication from Molly, but that wasn’t important. What mattered was giving Rylee a chance to collect her thoughts and not have to worry about the emotions on her face while she explained herself.

She sniffled, not meeting his gaze. “He smells like death, Daddy,” she whispered so softly it was possible no one heard her. If Molly did, hopefully she didn’t flinch.

Hayes stiffened. “What does that mean to you, Baby girl?” he murmured in response.

“I don’t know.”

He stood, set her on the bed, and squatted in front of her. He wanted to understand what she meant, but he wasn’t sure even she did. It’s not like she was used to scenting so many weird things. He’d encouraged her to smell orange and glass. What was she supposed to do with death and evil?

“Do you think he killed someone? Or he’s going to get killed?” Hayes said as softly as possible.

She shrugged. “I don’t know, Daddy,” she hissed. “Maybe he’s dying.” She threw up her arms. “I don’t know what it means,” she sobbed.

He gathered her in his arms and held her close. “Okay, Little one. It’s okay. It’s not your responsibility to figure this out. I don’t want you to stress. How about if you lie down? I’ll go talk to everyone for a minute and be right back.”

She nodded and let him help her onto her side. He pulled off her shoes, dragged a blanket over her, and kissed her temple. “I’ll be right back. Don’t move.”

He hated leaving her there nearly in tears, but he had to make excuses, at least to Thorn and Surge. Once the bears were gone, he would talk this over with his own pack members.

Hayes slipped out of the bedroom and found everyone exactly where they’d been standing five minutes ago. The bears were still on the porch, and he joined them.

“Everything okay?” Thorn asked.

Hayes sighed. “I think she’s just shaken from so much happening in such a short time.”

Surge frowned. “Was she scenting something about Drow?”

“Yes, but she doesn’t understand it. It’s only been a few hours since she realized she can smell things that don’t have a scent.”

“What kinds of things?”

“Colors and materials. Probably emotions like fear and danger. It’s confusing to her, but also to me.”

Thorn nodded. “I get that. She probably needs time to process it.” He handed Hayes a card. “Both my number and Surge’s are on there. Call us if you think there’s something we need to know.”

Hayes smirked. “You have phones?” Never once in all the time they’d known these two guys had anyone exchanged numbers with them. When they needed to know something, the bears simply showed up. They couldn’t even arrive unannounced anymore.

Surge laughed. “Yeah. We don’t have a need to use them often, but we own them.

You can call or text. I know you have plenty of people on your end who know our every move, so we don’t exactly need to let you know when we’re coming, but we have no other way to get messages from you if you need to reach out.

I don’t want our communications to be a one-way street any longer. We should lean on each other.”

Hayes smiled.

“And, Hayes,” Thorn said, “I know your mate smelled something that upset her. We get it. I’m sure it was unnerving. Drow is not a good person, so don’t feel bad about whatever she thinks she knows.”

“Thank you. I’ll text you if it becomes clearer to her. But, meanwhile…” Hayes glanced past the bears in the direction he knew Drow had been pacing. “Just…be careful. I don’t trust him.”

“We will. Thanks.” Surge waved as the two of them took off for the tree line. Seconds later, they were shifted and gone.