Mated to the Alpha Who Wants Me Market

Chapter4

Ryland’s POV

I used to be a fan of yours. That was before I met you.

Ryland’s words echoed in his mind, and each repetition burned with shame. How could he admit that he was a fan? Hopefully, Caroline had thought it was a jab. A lie.

The truth was hewasa fan of Caroline Knight.

But that was before he learned that she was his mate.

Now, he didn’t want her around.

Impossibly and ironically, he also didn’t want her away from him.

It was all very confusing, and he couldn’t make any sense of it.This, he thought,is exactly why mates are dangerous.

Ryland didn’t want to be with Caroline, but that didn’t mean he wanted her dead. Or worse.

He made his way to the kitchen and poured himself a generous amount of scotch. It wasn’t noon yet, and he didn’t like to drink during the day, but he had to do something to get Caroline’s smell out of his nostrils.

A stiff drink was the only solution he could think of. It would definitely wash away her scent.

The sting helped, but only for a second. He had to get back in there and get more information from her. After giving himself a pep talk, he knocked on the bedroom door.

“Please open the door,” he said with his best charming voice.

She opened the door, but she glared at him. “Yes?”

“We got off on the wrong foot.”

“You said that before,” she snapped.

“Yeah, well, you’ve got two feet.”

“Which one is the right one if you’ve f****d up twice already?” she asked, tilting her head to the side as she assessed him.

The sassy minx.

He chuckled as he thought of his wolf. He had four paws, but sharing that information with the human was hardly a good idea. It sure wouldn’t endear him to her.

“Look, this kind of case isn’t what I usually work. I don’t like it when my brother delegates tasks that aren’t up to my usual …” He paused, searching for the word.

“That aren’t as important as you’d like.”

Ryland chuckled. She was a feisty one. Just the flavor he liked. It would be difficult to ignore her if she kept this up.

“I wouldn’t say that two murders aren’t important,” he quickly replied. “Obviously, it’s a real tragedy that those lives were cut short and that two families must mourn a loved one.

Usually, I oversee things that have more scope.”

“Maybe your brother wants you to find the vases.”

He snorted. “My brother doesn’t need to be immortal.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’m not saying that. Maybe he wants the vases so that people stop dying because of them.”

“Hmm.”

Caroline arched a brow at him.

“Hmm? That’s all you have to say? These vases are ancient artifacts.

They’re worth millions of dollars. It would be a huge deal if the missing three vases were found.

Museums would be falling over each other to get all six in their collections. Not to mention the number of rich freaks who will try to keep these artifacts locked up in their homes where no one can enjoy them.”

“Or,” he offered, “someone is out there looking to become immortal.”

“You’re joking,” she laughed.

“No. I’m not joking. Some people believe in all that stuff. And why shouldn’t they? There is a lot of unexplainable stuff out there.”

Like how my mate ended up in my life.

Ryland blamed Wilder. If his brother didn’t live in London, there would have been no one to send Caroline to him.

But then she could’ve been killed by the man in black.

He didn’t like that thought either.

This was what mates did to good wolves. It turned their heads and worlds upside down until nothing made sense. The least he could do now was focus on the case and get Caroline out of his life as soon as possible.

“What happened to the vases that belonged to the two murder victims?” he asked.

“They vanished.”

“Then how do we know they even had them to begin with?”

“Because they were stolen.”

“Ah. So. Maybe someone is out there stealing these things, and the victims were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Walked in on the theft, and boom. Murder.”

“Doubtful. Both were tied to chairs and strangled with a silk rope.”

Ryland shook his head. “A silk rope?”

She nodded. “Fibers were found in the wound in both cases. If it weren’t for the missing vases, no one would’ve connected these murders. One happened in Rome, the other in Paris.”

“And who is the owner of the third vase?”

“The third isn’t owned by anyone. It’s in a museum.”

He stilled. “Which museum?”

“Right here,” she answered. “In New York City.”

And there it was. The reason Wilder had sent him this case. “My brother wants me to stop the theft of the third vase.”

“You think so?”

Ryland laughed. “It’s Wilder. It’s hard to say.”

“Well, how do we stop this theft, then?”

“We?” he shook his head. “Sorry, love. There’s nowein this.”

Her eyes darkened, and he wanted to drown in them. God, she was so beautiful when she was angry with him. “Don’t call melove. My name is Caroline.”

A shiver of need crossed his body. He always loved it when she said her name at the start of a podcast, and now, here she was, saying it right before his eyes.

Ryland would never recover from such a sight. Yet he had to. He couldn’t show her just how irresistible she was to him.

“Well,Caroline…” He stopped short.Fuuuck!Speaking her name made his whole body tense with desire. He’d never wanted anyone more than he wanted her at that moment. He cleared his throat.

“There is nowe,” he growled.

“I won’t be sidelined.”

“Did you miss the part where you were threatened? Twice?”

“Of course I didn’t miss that part. That’s what brought me to your grumpy ass.”

He snickered. “Well, this grumpy ass won’t let anything bad happen to you.”

“I don’t know whether to thank you or to take my chances with the man in black and his dead pet rat.”

Ryland didn’t mean to chuckle, but the laugh ripped out of him before he could stop himself. Caroline was funny. Even when she was furious with him, she was funny.

“I’m going to get to the bottom of this. Just write down all the information you have.” He pointed to the laptop on the bedside table. “I’ve got a call to make.”

As he returned to the living room, Ryland pulled out his phone and called his mother. She answered on the first ring. “Who died?”

“What?” he asked.

“Who died? Surely, someone must’ve died for my son to call me. Your older brother is the only one who calls, and even then, it’s usually to give me an order.”

“Wilder is good at giving orders.”

“His orders are usually about keeping you in hand.”

Ryland grinned. “I’m not that bad.” “Then why are you calling me?”

“I need to get into the art museum.

Are you on that board?”

“Of course. But why do you need to get into the museum?”

“Someone is after an important artifact. I’ve got to make sure the place is secured.”

“Oh, all right. You can call Arabella Price. She’ll tell you what to do. Don’t forget to ask about her mother. The poor woman’s health has taken a turn again.”

“Yeah.” His mother was always up on the newest gossip, but it wasn’t news that Mrs. Price’s health was failing her. She’d been sick for as long as Ryland had known Arabella.

“Thanks for the information, Mom.”

“Before you go, you are joining me for dinner tomorrow night.”

He groaned. “I don’t have time.”

“Ryland Wolverton, you will make time for your mother. You’re my only son in the city, and that means you have to make up for your brothers’ absences.”

“Fine. Send me the details.”

“Kisses, darling.” She hung up the phone before he could say anything else. Wilder got his terrible phone etiquette from their mother.

Ryland scrolled through the lists of properties his family owned. Any one of them had to be a fine safe house for Caroline.

Yet, he remembered a flaw every time he decided on one location.

The ancestral home would put Caroline in contact with his mother.

That was an unholy alliance he didn’t want to make. With his luck, his mother would guess Caroline was his mate.

He could send her off to his twin sister Rylee, but she’d just announced her first pregnancy, and since then, she’d turned into a bigger, scarier version of herself.

Canaan’s compound was another good choice, but his little brother was newly mated, and that would only put Caroline in an awkward position of hearing wild s*x twenty-four-seven.

There were other options, of course, but none fit.

That’s because you want to keep her close to you. Because she’s your mate. Why fight it?

Ryland hated it when his wolf talked to him like that.