Hunted by the Wolf, Claimed by Three Bears

Chapter23

Aiden POV

I folded my arms across my chest as I watched Olivia working away, smiling at customers and treating them all well, as if she hadn’t been through a horrible trauma earlier on in the week. I couldn’t believe how brave she was. She didn’t have to be back, but she was. That just showed how resilient she was. I was impressed with Olivia, but worried about her as well. I didn’t want her to be so brave she fell into danger.

Of course, I blamed myself for everything. If I had been more alert, I would have noticed that the man wasn’t acting normally. If I had been watching better, if I had noticed the change in her body language, if I had been more like Hudson, nothing bad would have happened. That was why I was determined not to make the same mistake again.

I jumped when my cell phone’s ringtone blasted out, shocking me because it was so loud. I yanked the device out of my pocket and quickly hit the answer button. The sound was a distraction, and that was the last thing I wanted right now.

“Hey, Owain, how’s it going?”

I didn’t take my eyes off of Olivia as I spoke to the police chief. I wouldn’t, no matter what he told me.

“I have some news for you, Aiden.”

His grim tone struck me hard, like he had something bad to tell me. I didn’t know if I was fully ready for that.

“About the burglaries?”

I gulped, preparing for the worst, whatever that might be.

“And the murder.”

I held my breath. I kind of knew what was coming, but it didn’t sting any less when the chief spoke next.

“The fingerprints are a match. So, as you suspected, the perpetrator is the same.”

I gripped my phone so hard to my face I was pretty sure I would leave a mark behind. This was what we had all put together, wasn’t it? That the scent at the vacation homes and Olivia’s work matched because it was a serial thief. The wolf who had been removed from his pack was also this criminal, here in Twin Lakes.

“And what about Brady Clover?”

I asked. “Have you been looking into him?”

“We are following all the leads that come our way, Aiden, but we don’t want to zero in on just one person at the moment. We need to cast a wide net. We have to cover every angle to make sure nothing is missed. You know that’s how investigations work.”

I furrowed my eyebrows, trying my hardest not to lose my mind with Owain. He was just trying to do his job, and I did respect that, but I had a very important agenda, and that was keeping Olivia safe. Nothing else mattered but her.

While I wanted the case solved and Twin Lakes back to normal, with its residents no longer in this weird state of worry because of the crime spree, Olivia was the most important person in the world. I would do anything to keep her safe.

“You need to bring that guy in and at least get his fingerprints, Owain. We can’t let someone else be killed. Especially when we know what he did to her.”

The details were more gruesome than people really knew. The s****l assault, the way her face had been ripped apart, the damage done to her insides… it was horrible.

“We are going to put Twin Lakes into lockdown as much as we can to keep everyone safe until we have more information,” Owain said, mostly ignoring my suggestion. “This crime spree does not seem to be stopping. It’s getting out of hand.”

I silently groaned to myself. “Okay, so what do you want me to do?”

“You have been spending a lot of time with Olivia, right? Since she seems to be a target of this, you just need to keep an eye on her.”

“Fine, I can do that,” I replied, but it didn’t feel like enough. “But I really do think you need to take my advice and really look into her ex-fiancé. Because there is no way it isn’t him.”

I wanted to actually catch Brady to make sure he couldn’t do anything to harm Olivia again. But if Owain insisted that they were on it, and that whoever was committing these crimes would be stopped, then I was going to have to take a step back and let them do what they needed to do. Just because the Twin Lakes Police Department didn’t normally have to deal with a crime spree like this and weren’t used to murders either, didn’t mean they couldn’t deal with it.

I ended the call, then fired off a quick text to Hudson so he could know what was going on. Funny how Hudson and I had actually gotten a bit better at communicating over the last few days. The competitive edge to our relationship had taken a back seat because we both had the same goal — caring for Olivia and Timothy. I didn’t think it would ever feel this easy, but Olivia had managed to bring that out of us.

I glanced up as soon as the message was sent to see Olivia staring at me with confusion. Even through the window, she could tell something was off. I didn’t want to go in the store and update her while she was at work, especially when she was already tense. It could wait until she was back home. I had a bomb in my hand that, unfortunately, would be dropped on her

lap.

*I’m sorry, Olivia. Don’t shoot the messenger.*