Chapter Fourteen
When I finished telling him everything his jaw dropped.
“She was wearing what?”
“Dude, seriously? That’s the part you’re sticking on?” I shook my head.
“Sorry.”
I shook my head again. “I don’t think this guy is her true mate. I think he’s using her for his kinks and whatever it is they’re doing with the missing shifters.”
“What you’re saying makes sense, but you’re also saying Stella is so screwed up with finding a mate that she believes this guy’s bullshit?”
“Yeah, that’s what I’m saying.”
His eyes went distant as he thought it over. “I guess it’s possible. She was pretty adamant about finding him. But think about it. She’s doing things, acting in ways, and wearing things completely out of character. Would she do all this if it weren’t for her true mate?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know anything anymore. I’m so confused. You said she was wearing lingerie when she seduced you. What did it look like?”
“Lacey, see through, barely there. Nothing like what you described today.”
“I just don’t know. Maybe she’s always been this way with men and just never shared it with us. All I do know is I want to help her if she needs it. I still find it hard to believe she’d be willing to hurt people.”
He gave me a solemn look. “I know.”
“I’m going to follow her.”
“What? Follow her where?”
“Anywhere. Everywhere. Wherever she goes. I need to know what’s really going on. It’s driving me crazy.”
“No,” he said in his ‘Alpha voice.’
“Excuse me?”
He crossed his arms over his chest and stood tall. “You heard me. I will not let you do that. It’s way too dangerous.”
“Do not go Alpha on me. You cannot order me around.”
“Actually, that’s exactly what an Alpha can do.” I glared at him until his demeanor changed, softened. “Em, if you do this and they see you, they may hurt you or worse.”
“I’m stronger than both of them combined. I’m not worried.”
He gripped my upper arms and shook me a little. “You may be stronger than them, but you’re not stronger than Bane. They’ve knocked you out twice already.”
“Once,” I said as I tried to remember if that was right. “And I don’t care. If she’s in trouble, and I don’t even try to help her, I won’t be able to live with myself.”
He let go of me. “Fine,” he said softly, “but if anything happens to you, I’ll kick your ass.”
“As if you could.” I cupped his face in my hands. “I will be okay. I’m not going right now anyway, so relax.”
“Let me know when you do go?”
“Promise.”
Back at Isaac’s I reread all my notes on following someone. I write mystery novels, so of course I’d researched it extensively. Does that mean I remember what I read? No.
I slid off the stool to grab another beer when my phone dinged. I picked it up and then threw it back down when I saw who it was from.