Chapter 8
Gunnolf
T he warehouse looms ahead of us. Tucked away in a quiet part of Memphis. I wouldn’t have known it existed had I not received this address. The building itself is exactly like every other warehouse I’ve seen. A hulking mass of brick, steel-framed windows, and oversized doors.
There is no security fence around the building or anything else that would flash the warning ‘stay away.’ According to the company that owns the building, it’s been standing empty for the past five years.
Even still, my wolf senses are on high alert. Scanning the shadows for any sign of movement.
“This place has been cold for a while. I don’t sense anything here,” Kato mutters, his eyes scanning the perimeter as we approach the entrance.
I grunt in agreement, “We might as well still check the inside.” I push open the rusted door, and it creaks loudly, echoing through the cavernous space inside. The air is stale, with dust hanging in the beams of moonlight coming in through the windows.
Moving deeper into the warehouse, it’s obvious that there is nothing here. There are a few empty containers, scuff marks on the floor, and the occasional squeaking of rats.
“So this is a sort of double-blind, just somewhere to ship packages to that can’t track back to Crowe.”
“He covered his tracks well,” Kato nods. “This place hasn’t seen action in weeks. Maybe longer.”
I lean against one of the crates and scowl. “He might use it again. He’s set off several bombs since the last package arrived. There’s a chance that he’ll need more supplies. This could be useful later.”
“We’ll put a few undercover officers on it and have them keep an eye on this place to see if there are any new deliveries. If Crowe or anyone from his crew makes a move, we will know about it.”
“Let’s get out of here.”
Once we are back at the office, Kato makes arrangements with local officers. I try to keep my focus, but what has been gnawing at the back of my mind has taken over, and once again, Val dominates my thoughts.
What am I going to do? Do I tell her? Do I reject her? The more time I spend around her, the harder it becomes to ignore the fact that I can’t keep going like I have been.
“Damn, we should have seen this coming, but I let myself get my hopes up. Maybe the others are doing better than we did.” Kato says, breaking me from my thoughts.
“Yeah, he’s smart. Maybe too smart to leave an obvious trail, but we are getting closer.” I say half-heartedly, but I’m still distracted.
Kato gives me a sharp look. “You good?”
I bristle at the question, but he knows me too well. “I’m fine.”
“You need to get it together. Don’t think that I don’t know what’s happening here just because I haven’t said anything. You’re thinking about her.”
I glare at him. “It’s the job.”
“Sure,” he says, smirking as he tucks his phone away. “Whatever you say, man. I need your head in this case. Understood?”
I ignore him and head toward the bathroom. I need a moment away from Kato. The problem is that he’s right. I won’t be any good to this case if I can’t focus. But I’m right too, we may not have found anything tonight, but we’re getting closer. It’s only a matter of time before we catch him.
I catch my reflection in the bathroom mirror, but it’s not pretty. Dark circles under my eyes, and my hair is a mess, sticking up in every direction like I’ve been through a windstorm. Get it together, Gunnolf. I think shaking my head. I look like hell, and I’m starting to feel like it, too.
Leaning over the sink, I twist the cold-water spigot on full blast. The icy stream hits my hand, and I splash it onto my face. The shock of it steals the breath from my lungs. For a second, it feels like everything stops, like the cold is chasing away the exhaustion clinging to my skin. Gasping, I grip the sink, staring at the drops of water trailing down my face.
Time to get back to it.
I yank a towel from the dispenser and dry my hands as I push the door open. As I approach the conference room the muffled voices of the team filter through the door. They are back. Callie, Bruce, and Hati are seated around the conference table, slumped in their chairs.
From the look of it, the trip to the gas station didn’t give them any more answers than the trip to the warehouse gave us. “Got anything?” I ask.
Bruce lets out a low grunt, his foot impatiently taps against the floor, “not a damn thing.”
“The attendant only saw Crowe once. The same day of the security footage. No one in town knows him either and if they do know him, they were lying through their teeth.” Hati adds.
“Same story everywhere,” Callie nods, arms crossed over her chest. “No leads, no whispers, not even a hint of where he went.”
Hati’s brows furrow in concentration. “If Crowe was just passing through, he’s smart. The gas station was old. He probably figured there weren’t any security cameras. And if anyone in town does know him, they’re too loyal to give us anything. No cracks, no slips. Either way, we’re left with nothing.”
My hand tightens on the towel still in my grip as I toss it onto the nearest chair. “So, we’ve got a blurry photo and a dead end.”
“Pretty much,” Bruce mutters.
“He’s good, but he’s not invincible. Let’s regroup. There’s got to be something we missed.” Kato says, “Let’s take two hours and come back fresh.”
After two hours of restless pacing and scattered thoughts, I head back into the conference room pushing the door open a little harder than necessary. I’m the last one here, my eyes flicker around the room and my heart drops when I see Minna and Val both seated around the table.
Their heads are bent close together whispering quietly to one another with their laptops open before them. Val looks good. No, she looks amazing.
Her hair is down, which I’ve only ever seen when I surprised her at her house. She’s not wearing a suit but a cozy oversized knitted sweater and a pair of vintage Levi’s. Her cheeks are pink, and her lips are red once again. Her half-undone look with the red lips and the comfy clothes instantly sends me into hyperdrive. Goddess, this is not going to be good for my focus.
My jaw clenches as she looks up, and her blue eyes meet mine. A half smile lifts her lips for a moment before she returns her attention to Minna. It’s the little things that get to me. The way her brows furrow just slightly when she’s concentrating. She makes it all look so damn effortless like she’s immune to the tension that’s slowly unraveling the rest of us. But I know better. Val never lets anyone see when she’s struggling.
And that pull…that gnawing bond I’ve been trying to shove down since the moment I met her is stronger than ever. Distracting. Dangerous.
I tear my gaze away from her, ignoring Kato’s sideways glance as I head toward the table. Val’s too close to this and too deep into the investigation. If I don’t get her out soon, she’s going to be swallowed whole, and I don’t know if I can protect her from what’s coming.
“So,” I say, my voice cutting through the low hum of conversation, “what exactly are we getting from all of this? Anything concrete, or are we just running in circles?”
Val doesn’t look up. Her fingers now typing steadily on her keyboard. “We are closing in on Crowe. Even the smallest of crumbs can lead us to something that can break the case wide open. It’s only a matter of time before we get a solid lead.”
We. I hate how invested she is in this case. Crossing my arms, I lean back in my chair, “Closing in on what exactly? We’ve got a cold warehouse, a useless gas station sighting, and a bunch of dead ends. Maybe it’s time to step aside and let the people who actually know what they’re doing handle it.”
Her fingers stop. Slowly, she raises her gaze to meet mine, eyes narrowing. “What did you just say?”
“You heard me.” The words come out before I can stop them, sharper than I intended, but I don’t care. “You’ve done enough, Val. It’s time to step back and let the professionals handle it.”
The room goes deathly silent, “Interesting because the only real leads you have come from me and Minna’s efforts. You wouldn’t know where he was getting supplies if it weren’t for me.”
I meet her glare, heat rises up my neck, and my chest tightens. “You’ve done what you can. You’re a CEO, not an investigator. This isn’t your fight.”
Her eyes flash dangerously, but she doesn’t raise her voice. Instead, she steps closer, each word more cutting than the last. “You think you can just shove me out of the way because you’re frustrated? Because you don’t like the way things are going?” Her voice drops, cold and sharp. “What’s the real problem here, Gunnolf? That I’m in over my head? Or that I’m making you feel like you are?”
My teeth clench together, but she keeps going before I can get a word out. “You love control, don’t you? It’s what makes you feel safe. It gives you a false sense of empowerment. If you can just stay in control, then the bad guys aren’t all that scary after all, right? You can’t stand not having all the answers all the time. And this case is really slipping out of your grip. What have you brought to the table, Gunnolf? Aside from that fucked up attitude?”
I take a step forward, my fists balling at my sides. “This isn’t about control, Val.” I do my best to ignore the amazed, almost amused, open, mouthed gapes from the rest of my team.
She laughs, but it’s a cold, biting sound. “Okay, sure. Let’s not forget that I’ve seen how you lose control and how, when you do, you always run.”
Her words hit harder than I want to admit, and I feel the sting deep in my chest. The room is suddenly way too small. Too suffocating, and the truth of her words makes my blood boil. I won’t let her see how much they cut. I grind my teeth, fighting the urge to shout, to do anything but stand here and let her tear me apart in front of the team.
“You done?” I say in such a condescending and dismissive tone that even I want to flinch.
“For now,” she says, her voice icy, before turning back to the computer like she didn’t just rip me to shreds. Great, all of that, and she still didn’t leave.
Minna frowns and mouths, “What the fuck, Gun?”
Kato clears his throat awkwardly. “Right, well, let’s keep working on what we can. I want all eyes on the security footage from SableTech during the breach. Can we cross reference employees from there with security footage near the warehouse and the gas station where Crowe was last spotted?”
“We can absolutely do that,” Minna nods, keying in data points in one of her systems.
Now Kato’s eyes are on me. He jerks his head toward the hallway, signaling me to follow him.
We step outside the main office, the door clicking shut behind us. Kato leans against the wall, arms crossed. “What the hell was that about?”
I run a hand through my hair, leaning back against the opposite wall. “It’s nothing.”
“Bullshit,” Kato says, his tone surprisingly calm. “You’ve been on edge since this whole thing started, and I know it’s not just the case. So, tell me what’s going on, or I’ll send you back to Indianapolis today.”
I open my mouth to argue, but the words don’t come. We aren’t far enough away from the rest of the team, apart from Minna, that they won’t be able to hear every word we say. I know they are all listening, just as sure as I’d be listening if I were in any one of their shoes. “It’s... complicated.”
Kato raises an eyebrow. “Complicated how?”
I stare down the hallway, avoiding his gaze. “It’s Val. It’s just that we are more connected than I let on.”
“You two are sleeping together. That’s obvious to all of us.” Kato says, “But I’ve never seen you like this before, so that can’t be all.”
“It’s... it’s more than I can handle right now.”
Kato’s eyes widen and he nods with recognition, “The bond?”
I nod, not trusting myself to speak. Shit, I guess the truth is all out there now. I can’t keep pretending this isn’t real anymore.
Kato sighs, rubbing the back of his neck. “Look, I get it. Mating bonds can be... intense. But pushing her away like that? It’s not going to solve anything. You’ve got to decide what you’re going to do, man, and you need to decide fast because we need you on this case.”
“That’s the problem,” I say, my voice low. “I don’t know what to do. I can’t focus. I can’t protect her if I’m...”
“If you’re what? In love with her?”
The words hit me like a punch in the gut, and I look away, unable to meet his eyes. “It’s not that simple.”
Kato pushes off the wall, walking over to stand beside me. “It never is. But you’ve got to figure it out. If you keep treating her like a liability, you’ll lose her. I hate to break it to you, but we need her. She was right when she said she brought us more solid leads than anyone else. The breach, the list of paranormal hunters, the warehouse. Let’s be real Gun.”
He’s right. Of course, he’s right. And I’m being a stubborn, emotionally repressed jackass. I let out a long breath. I still don’t know what to do or what to say.
Before I can respond, my phone buzzes in my pocket. I pull it out, frowning as I see the message.
“Shit,” I mutter. “We’ve got movement.”
Kato’s eyes darken. “Crowe?”
“There’s been a report of activity at the old warehouse. A delivery truck came by this morning, and someone has just arrived on sight,” I say, my pulse quickening.
“Let’s go,” Kato says, already moving down the hall, and without hesitation, I follow.