Cleo

Liam

When I woke up this morning Cleo was gone, I heard her leave when she thought I was sleep but a part of me still wished she would have come back. I could smell her scent on me and my bed but as much as I wanted the smell to cling to me, I knew that I had to shower and get some s**t done. I took a nice long hot shower, put some mousse in my hair, shaved my five o’clock shadow, and threw on some casual clothes and went to my office to do my Alpha job before I go to my day job. After I filled out some paperwork gave my beta some orders on how I wanted training and patrols to go I decided to work on fulfilling my promise to my future Luna and life mate. I logged onto my computer and started researching the Sin Pride so that I won’t be blinded by anything that comes up because even though I promised Cleo that I would get her fathers alpha to make him talk to her I really have no idea if that is going to happen especially considering I have only heard about the Sin Pride in passing and I can’t risk my packs safety. After about three hours of research I discovered that Alexander Angelos is the Alpha and Maya Angelos is the Luna they have four children three boys and a little girl. The former beta was Ezekiel (Cleo’s dad) but due to his relationship with a succubus who was trying to destroy his pride he was removed from his position. Now the current beta’s name is Michael Peterson. I got the number to contact them because now I need to get information on who Cleo’s mom is. As much as prides and packs hate succubus I love Cleo so if she is half succubus I am going to have a little bit of a difficult time getting everyone in my pack to except her as there Luna even though she did an amazing job with the Brittney situation she hasn’t bothered me since the club incident. I picked up my phone and I called them. After the fourth ring somebody finally picked up.

 A woman answered, “Hello thank you for calling the Sin pack this is Angel speaking how can I help you?”

I replied, “Hello this is Alpha Liam Leishman of the Amaris Pack and I would like to speak to your Alpha.”

 “What would this be regarding?”

 “Ezekiel Gibson.”

 “Can I put you on a brief hold?”

 “Yes.”

 After about maybe three or five minutes she got back on the phone and transferred me over to the Alpha’s phone.

Once he answered he immediately got to the point and said, “What does the alpha of a pack of wolfs want with a former beta and a cheetah shifter?”

“Well since we are skipping the pleasantries my mate is suspected to be the daughter of Ezekiel and she wants information from him that he refuses to give. I was wondering if you could persuade him to talk to her.”

 “Why would I do that?”

“Because your curious about her. You wouldn’t have had your assistant transfer me otherwise.”

“You got me there but before I give you a definite answer can I ask you some questions about her?”

 “As long as I can ask my own questions.”

 “How old is she?”

 “Twenty-six”

 “Does Ezekiel know about her?”

 “Yes she has contacted him and had asked questions about who her mother was or is and he refused to tell her anything and actually told her that the time she was born was a time that he regretted and would rather forget happened which in my opinion is kind of cruel to tell your own daughter who is searching for who she is and craving the love of her mother.”

“Can she shift?”

“Yes, she shifts into a cheetah, but she can also do other things I’m told but haven’t yet witnessed.”

 “How was her life?”

 “She was dropped off when she was only two days old at the shifter orphanage and that is where she grew up and was never adopted out. She met some other shifters they became her family and they have survived together.”

 “Where has she been all this time?”

 “She has been here she is the best hacker in the United States. She is living well.”

 “What is her name?”

 “Cleo Wilson.”

 “Wilson?”

 “Don’t ask her and her friends legally changed their last names to Wilson when they turned eighteen and it suits her. I would like to ask you about the incident with the succubus.”

“What do you want to know?”

 “Why did you only demote Ezekiel and not exile him?”

“Have you ever met a succubus that is in full control of her power?”

 “No.”

“Well if you ever see one run the other way. Succubus are extremely power they feed on your chi and scream s*x. When you become under their control you cannot help but do whatever they tell you to do even when you know it is wrong. So, taking that under consideration I concluded that he didn’t deserve to be exiled but I also couldn’t trust him as my beta.”

“Given all the information I have given you are you going to help my with your former beta.”

“I will help you, but I have a few conditions.”

“What are they?”

“If we are doing this it has to be in person.”

 “I would have to check with Cleo about that but I’m sure I could persuade her. What else?”

“Her mother is not allowed in my territory or I will kill her.”

“Ok.”

“And she is not to touch him if she is anything like her mother her touch can be deadly.”

“Deal. I will talk to her about your conditions and I will call you to let you know what her decision is regarding it. Also, if you could not tell her father prior to us showing up that would be great.”

“Did you forget that I’m the alpha of this pride I don’t have to tell anyone anything that I don’t feel that they need to know.”

 “Thank you.”

After we said our good-byes, I hung up the phone. I sat in my chair for a few minutes to think about how I was going to bring up my conversation with Alpha Alexander to Cleo. Ten minutes passed and I still did not have the answer, but I also needed to get to work trying to solve these robbery cases. I hopped into my car and drove to the station when I got inside my office there I went back to examining the photos of the falcon sitting on top of the bank building at the suspected start of the robbery and leaves four minutes later just like the others before this one. I looked over the list of the falcon shifters and one name seems to pop out to me over the rest and not because I know the person or even know of the person but it pops out to me because her last name is Wilson. I typed Jade Wilson into my search engine and my suspicions were correct because she has the same address as Cleo. I really hope that Cleo is not involved in these robberies and that this is some weird coincidence that I am going to laugh about later in life. Then again there are nine more falcon shifters on my list so I should not just go assuming the worst-case scenario. I ran the rest of the names through the database and I eliminated five of the other names. The other five names I kept was because four of the people were spotted in the area the days of the crimes but even though jade wasn’t in the area on the days I just had a gut feeling that I still needed to dig deeper when it came to her. I figured that I should use my time wisely so I grabbed my badge, my colt M1911 and Smith & Wesson M&P 9, and my notepad and pen so that I can take notes and decided to go interview the youngest member on my list which is Jolie Kyra Potts. I hoped in my car and the first thing I did was turn on my radio. The song that was on was Cannot Help Falling in Love by Elvis Presley and The Jordanaires. It was just starting and seeing how it is a short song I leaned back in my chair and started singing,

‘Wise men say only fools rush in

But I can't help falling in love with you

Shall I stay

Would it be a sin?

If I can't help falling in love with you

Like a river flows surely to the sea

Darling so it goes

Some things are meant to be

Take my hand, take my whole life too

For I can't help falling in love with you

Like a river flows surely to the sea

Darling so it goes

Some things are meant to be

Take my hand, take my whole life too

For I can't help falling in love with you

For I can't help falling in love with you’.

 After the song was over, I decided to listen to something else, so I started shuffling through the stations and I ended up leaving the radio on the eighties and nineties oldies station.

When I got to Jolie’s house I knocked on the door twice after about two mins she answered and I said, “Hi sorry to bother you but I am Chief Detective Liam Leishman of the shifter crimes division and I would like to ask you some questions regarding a string of robberies I am investigating. May I come in?”

She looked surprised and replied, “Sure.”

I walked in and started looking around as she led me to the living room. Her house did not look like she had millions of dollars’ worth of cash and jewels, but I proceeded to sit on the couch across from her.

She said, “So what do you want to know?”

 I replied, “Where were you during the last robbery two weeks ago? Did you shift in the area of the Bank of America?”

 “That is a little difficult to remember seeing how it was so long ago, but I think I was around there shopping, but I don’t think I went into the bank. As for shifting I did not shift then I waited to shift until I got to the woods its better hunting grounds. Oh, I’m sorry I’m a bad host would you like something to drink I have water, soda, coffee, and tea?”

 “Yes, I will take a cup of coffee thank you.”

“How do you take your coffee?”

 “Two creams and one sugar.”

 “I will be back in a flash.”

As she went to get me the cup of coffee I took another look around and I still don’t see her living here if she had access to millions and given her answers and the fact that I don’t sense that she is lying I know that she didn’t have anything to do with the robberies but maybe she saw something when she was in the area. When she got back, I took a sip of my drink and it tasted amazing especially compared to the coffee at the station.

I looked at her and said, “This is amazing. I just have two more questions so that I can understand falcon shifters a bit. Do you think a falcon would shift in the city? How is your hearing and sight like as a falcon? Do you hunt at night?”

 “Well if the falcon didn’t have a way to get to the woods they will shift anywhere just like any other shifter. As for our senses normal falcons can see eight time better than the human eye but I can see sixteen times better than the human eye when I shift. Our hearing is good too but not like yours with you being a wolf shifter same with our sense of smell. Normal falcons hunt during the day and I try to do the same thing to blend in better, but I could hunt at night if I wanted to.”

I finished my coffee and said, “Thank you. You have given me a lot to think about and I appreciate you taking the time out of your day to answer my questions.”

I walked to the door and let myself out. I continued my day doing more interviews and it pretty much went the same at Rory Jenkins’, Shaun Mars’, and Tia Brown’s place. I took all my notes to my office at home and was going over it until around eleven at night. I picked up my phone and tried to call Cleo to tell her about my discussion with her fathers Alpha but she didn’t pick up so I decided to hit the gym to burn off some of this s****l energy. I did jumping jacks, squats, lunges, crunches, dumbbell squats, standing leg curls, one leg calf raises, leg extensions, bent-over lateral raises, reverse pull downs, floor crunches, decline sit ups, cable crossover, hammer curls and close grip pushdowns. I finished my workout at around one o’clock in the morning and went to go take a shower. While I was in the shower, I heard my phone ringing, so I quickly finished and wrapped a towel around my waist and went to see who was calling me. I saw that it was Cleo I started to worry if she was okay because she was calling so late plus, she texted me telling me to call her, so I called her back.

She picked up the phone after two rings and said, “That was fast.”

I replied, “Yeah I was in the shower when you called. I was going to wait until morning to return your call but then I saw your text so what is up why are you calling so late. Is everything okay?” I asked the question knowing that if she really needed my help that it would be an actual extreme emergency because she was too prideful to come to me for bullshit. She replied, “Yeah everything is fine I have just been doing so thinking since I last saw you and I decided that I am going to see where this goes.” I was starting to get excited, but I did not want to get too excided without knowing if what I thought she was saying was correct. So, I asked, “What do you mean by that?”

“I mean that I am going to give us a chance to figure out what we have between us.”

I got a little angry by her saying that and replied, “We are mates that’s what we have between us.”

“But we also don’t know s**t about each other besides what we could find out on paper so I am willing to do the whole dating thing so that we can get to know each other but I am unwilling to do the whole biting mating thing until first you hold up your end of our deal and secondly we know each other better.”

I saw her point on that and responded, “I guess I can live with that.”

“Correct me if I’m wrong which I’m not wrong about this so just shut up, but your kind of don’t have a choice if you want to be with me.”

“I’m glad that you are going to give us a chance, but you should get some sleep its late.”

“Alright good night.”

I smiled and said, “Good night.”

I put on a pair of boxer shorts and I laid down in my bed and thought about Cleo as I drifted off into dream land for the night.