Chapter 171

Michael POV

"You know, I think we are done here. If you want to leave your number with us, we can call you if we get any further information to help your investigation," I tell Cedric.

"Was it something I said?" he asks as he takes a bite of his toast and glares at me.

"I don't appreciate your insinuation that I was involved in or knew anything about Alpha James and his dealings. My mate was abducted and tortured," I lower my voice. "The things that we discovered after her rescue were horrific. I'd never condone that shit."

"Very well," Cedric says. "I can see that. I do want to get to the bottom of what may have been happening there, although it sounds like that pack up in Montana assisted with the investigation into the whole operation, and the main culprit was brought to justice."

"No, I don't think he was in it alone. There had to have been others. I don't know who; I wasn't involved in the perusal of those journals or the findings from the Idaho pack either. You should be asking that of Beta Roger and maybe the council members who were present up in Montana," I tell him. I then turn and signal the waitress to bring our check. "If you don't mind, Shawna and I have to go check out and get on the road."

Cedric scribbles his number on a napkin and hands it to Shawna. "If you hear from your sister and she's willing to talk to me, she can call me. I won't surprise her like I did you. We can set up a meeting." Shawna stuffs the napkin in her handbag and stands.

"We will be in touch," she says. "Maybe." Then she walks off as I hand cash to the approaching waitress and turn and follow her.

"What do you think?" Shawna says as I come up beside her outside the elevator. "Can we trust him?"

"I don't think he has reason to lie. He just isn't a soft guy. He comes off abrasive. I suppose what happened to him has made him that way though. I know I'd be out of my mind if something like that happened to you," I grab her hand and lace our fingers today. I instantly feel better.

"I can understand his heartbreak for sure. I just hope he understands that even if his time with his mate was made short, it was still a gift." Shawna looks up at me with a smile. We make our way to our room, grab our packs and then go straight back down to the lobby to check out. As we pass the entrance to the restaurant, I look over but Cedric is already gone. We don't see him in the lobby or when we step out on the sidewalk to wait for valet to bring my truck. I'm not sure how I feel about his disappearance, but it makes me uneasy.

Once we are on the road, we both check our phones. There are no messages or missed calls. "Should I call Lynn?" Shawna finally asks. We've been driving for two hours and it was nearing eleven. I had to admit that I was getting concerned too.

"Probably not a bad idea," I say.

Shawna dials her sister and it rings and then goes to voicemail. "I don't like it," she says after she leaves her a message to call us. "What about Clint?"

I hand her my phone and she opens it and finds Clint's number. She dials him, his phone going to voicemail too. Shawna sighs and fidgets in her seat. I finally pull off at a rest area and we get out to stretch our legs. "Can we run?" she asks.

"Run?" I ask. I'm not catching her meaning until she tilts her head towards the woods.

"I need to burn off some nervous energy. We could walk into the woods a bit and then let our wolves out. It's been a few days, actually like a week, since mine ran," Shawna says quietly. I look around. There are very few cars in the rest stop. I can't find any reason we can't so I give her a smile and hold out my hand. She takes it and we walk very casually into the woods. We walk in about two hundred feet and then strip out of our clothes. We stack them neatly on top of our shoes and then shift. Our wolves take off at a dead run, like a race horse out of it's shute.

We are running, letting the wind blow through our fur. It feels good. Shawna's wolf nips at my heels and I slow down and let her catch me. She jumps on my back and I fall on purpose so that we roll around in the leaves, wrestling and nipping at each other. After about an hour of playing, our wolves trot back toward where we left our clothing. We shift back and get dressed. I laugh as I remove some leaves from Shawna's hair. She kisses me on the cheek and then swats my ass as she walks away. "I needed that," she says. "I feel better."

When we get back to the truck and get in, I see I have a missed call. From Clint. I open the voicemail and listen. He explains that when Shawna called, they had been pulled over on the side of the road. His trailer had a flat tire. He was changing the tire and while inspecting it, he realized it had been cut. They had to unload the horses to change the tire, so Lynn had been walking them around in a field nearby, and her phone was in the truck. He inspected all of the other tires and they loaded the horses in the trailer and got back on the road. I dialed him right away.

"The tire was cut? You're sure?" I ask as soon as he answers.

"It was pretty obvious," he replies.

"Where did you sleep last night?" I ask.

"The trailer has a small living quarter in the front of it, bed, small kitchen and toilet. Nothing fancy. It got late and we couldn't find a hotel. So we slept in the trailer," he replies.

"So it maybe happened while you were sleeping then? That's concering," I remark.

"I agree," he replies. "We won't do that again. The question is, who would go to the trouble to slash one tire and then disappear? What were they hoping for? They easily could have cut them all and then they'd have had us," he says.

"Sure," I say, thinking about that. "Maybe they were just trying to slow you down or scare you."

"Could be. But who and why?" he asks.

"I've got an idea about that. Let me make a call," I tell him. We hang up and I ask Shawna for the napkin Cedric scribbled his name and number on.

Dialing Cedric's number, he picks up on the third ring. "I don't suppose you would know anything about Lynn and Clint being followed?" I ask.

Cedric sighs on the other end of the phone. "Shit," he says. "I was hoping it didn't happen."

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"Turned out that the Alpha had some people in town, who were not on the packland. Our council thought he may have gotten word to one of them to follow Clint and Lynn. They were told not to do anything to hurt them, especially because Lynn is pregnant. Did something happen?" he asks.

"They had a tire slashed on the horse trailer. So far that's it," I reply.

"I need to meet up with them," Cedric says. "I have been ordered to protect them. Lynn is a witness, her safety is paramount. Can you make that happen Alpha Michael?"

Can I? Probably. Do I want to? I'm not entirely sure. I look over at Shawna and repeat the question to her. She pales and then calls Lynn, her hand held up to me to wait while she does so.

"I will call you back," I tell Cedric and then hang up before he can reply.