The Alpha’s Guardian

Chapter 18

The next morning, I am surprised when I come out of my room see Jordon standing there surveying two shirts. He strong back has muscles rippling down his spin and his tone muscled arms are flex with a shirt in each hand. He finally decides on a long sleeve button-up. He turns and smiles at me as he is tucking the shirt into his pants.

“Good morning Beautiful.”

I look down at my feet shyly. I do not know why he has this effect on me, but he does. I hear him chuckle as he strolls over to me and lifts my head with his finger.

“So, what are your plans for today?”

 I shrug, “Nothing much, watch Tv, study, stay out of the investigation.” I add the last part sarcastically.

Jordon kisses my lips softly and leans his forehead on my forehead, “Thanks goodness.”

I pull back a smack him in the chest. He steps back as well and fanes injury. He then turns and grabs his bag.

“I probably be late tonight,” he tells me. “We are going to stack out the club and see if we can ID the car.”

“Alright, be safe.”

“Always am.” He gives my sharp salute and leaves the room.

As I am watching him leave, I realize I have seen him wear that shirt earlier this week. Then I recall he only planned to be here a few days and it has been nearly a week. I groan. I also have not seen him do any laundry at all. I gather his clothes and my own and head down the to the laundry room. Since I can’t be a part of the investigation than I can at least do his laundry. 

I spend the next couple of hours washing and drying our clothes. I brought down my textbooks and situated myself at a small table in the laundry area and study as I wait on the dyer. The dyer finally beeps, and I go over and fold the clothes placing them in a basket. I drop my books on top of the clean clothes and head back up to my room.

I have emptied the basket of my clothes and left Jordon’s neatly folded in the basket. I set it by his duffle bag and got to study some more when my phone beeps with a text.

B: Can we meet for lunch? I have something to tell you.

Me: Sure, there is a small deli just off campus, north of the administration building.

B: I know the place. 11?

Me: ‘thumbs up emoji’

 I change clothes and throw my phone and wallet into my purse and head out to meet Brian. The deli is a short walk from campus and is a popular place for student to go to get a quick bite of food. I walk in and order my food and sit at a table in the rear of the restaurant. A few minutes later Brain walks in. He stops and orders as well before he heads back to me. We sit quietly as we eat our sandwiches, finally I can’t take the quiet anymore.

“What did you need to tell me?” I ask him.

“I found out that there has been this sketchy man hanging around the club asking questions about Beth.”

“Do the police know?”

“No, the staff member did not want to get involved.”

“How did you find out?”

He smiles at me and waves his fingers around and I see little sparks flick off them. “Magic.”

I roll my eyes. “So?”

“I located where he is staying. I was wondering if you would like to join me for a stake out?”

“Yes!” I about bounce out of my seat. 

We finish up and I follow Brian to his car. It is plain four door sedan.

“I expected something flasher from you.”

He smiles, “If you are watching someone, you need to blend in. College car.” He waves his hand over the beat-up sedan. He is right every other student drives a similar car. No wonder Jordon was so defeated when he realized the car, they were looking for matched every other car in this town.

We climbed in the car and head off to the dodgy part of town. This is not the area you want to be caught broken down in. We pull up to a brown two-story house. It looks like a strong wind could blow it down with peeling paint on the wall and more junk than grass in the front yard.

Brian groans, “He is here.”

“How can you tell?”

“See that beat-up pickup truck. That is what he drives. I guess we need to settle in and wait till he leaves.”

We sit quietly watching the house for about an hour. Then Brian gets a devilish grin.

“So?” he asks.

“What?” 

“You and the Mounty?”

“Me and the Mounty what?”

“Are you two together? Because Beth told me you were seeing some alpha prick.”

“Jordon and I are just friends.”

“That is not what it looks like to me.”

“What do mean by that.”

“He looks at you like I looked at Beth. Like you are some forbidden fruits he desperately wants to pick, and you have stars in your eyes when you look at him.”

“You’re crazy. I am just his best friend little sister.”

“If you say so.” Brian pauses and then asks, “What about you and the alpha pup?”

I sigh out, “What about him?”

“Are you two, you know, serious?”

“No, we are not.”

“Well, that is not what I heard. Apparently, he is bragging that he is going to make you, his queen.”

“Did Beth tell you that?”

“Nope,” he pops the P sound. “I heard a bunch of his buddies talking about it at the bar where I was looking for information on our mystery man here. If they represent the wolves of his pack, I would really reconsider being his Luna. They were a bunch of dicks.”

“Takes one to know one.” I tell him.

He chuckles under his breathe, “I have been called worst.”

“I am sure you have.”

Brian is quiet again and then he states “In all seriousness, I would be careful with him. Something seems off with him. I don’t want to see you hurt.”

I take a deep breath and blow it out, “I will.”

We are sitting in silence again for a couple more hours. I hear a wrapper next to me and I turn to see Brain munching on a candy bar. He pulls another one from a grocery bag he has in the back, “Want one?”

“No thank you. I am allergic to chocolate.”

“Really?” He laughs.

“What’s so funny?”

“I knew dogs could get sick from chocolate, but I have never heard it called an allergy.”

I look around his car and find a wadded up fast-food bag and I belt at his head.

“That is not funny.”

He laughs more after the bag hits his head. “Yes, it is, dogs are descended from wolves, and you are a wolf who can’t eat chocolate. It is hilarious.”

“No, it is not.”

“Well, I guess you don’t have a sense of humor.”

“Or you are not funny.”

“I am hilarious.”

I groan and turn back to watch the house. After another hour I am about to give up and let Brian handle this on his own. Then a scruffy man emerges from the house and goes toward the truck. He stamps out his cigarette before he climbs in and starts the truck. As he pulls out of the driveway Brian, and I scoot down in our seats so he can’t see us.   Once he is past us, we sit, and I look over at Brian.

“Are you going to follow him?”

“No.” He digs through the glove box in front of me and pulls out 2 sets of plastic gloves. “We are going to check out his place.”

“What? Why?”

“I need proof he has something to do with Beth murder.”’

I take the gloves and follow him to the front door. We are examining the front door and Brian lets out a frustrated sigh.

“I am going to go look for another way in?” He tells me.

“Why? Can’t you use your magic to open the door?”

“The lock is made from iron. My magic wouldn’t work.”

“Really, I thought that was just a fae thing.”

“Druids and fae are distantly related.”

I chuckle and kneel and pull a lock picking kit from my pocket.

“You pick locks?” He asks.

“I have since I was a kid.”

“You are full of surprises.”

A couple of seconds later I hear a click and the door opens. We walk into the dark hallway and look around the place. It is a dump. There are fast-food containers everywhere and beer bottle lined up along the counter. Brain snaps his fingers and a light orb flash above us lighting our way.

“Do you smell anything?” He asks.

I close my eyes and concentrate on Beth’s scent. It is faint but I follow it to a bedroom. We move to the closet and open the door and see a safe.

“f**k,” Brian hisses. “It’s iron too, it can’t be a coincidence. This man must know about us. Can you open it?”

“It’s a safe.” I look at Brian like he is crazy, “I have no idea how to break into a safe.”

He groans, “I guess we will have to get your Mounty involved. Damn it. You sure you don’t sense here anywhere else?”

“No, just here.”

Brian looks around the room like he is about to tear it to shreds. I grab his arm and drag him back out of the house. I lock the door, so the guy will have no idea we were there. Once back in the car Brian hits the steering wheel and couple of times before he takes a deep breath. 

“I’ll take you home.” He tells me defeated.

I walk up to my room feeling defeated. We spent the entire afternoon watching this guy only to find out he has something to do with Beth, but no idea what it was. I look at the piece of paper in my hand with the guy’s name and address on it. I convince Brian to give it to me before he dropped me off. Know I need to find a way to get Jordon to check him out with blowing a gasket.

My dreams of a peaceful evening vanished seconds after I walked into my room. I see an angry Jordon pacing the room. I freeze on the spot and look at him as his rage hits me full force.

“Where were you? I have been trying to call you for an hour and nothing.”

I reach into my purse and find my phone on silent. I have multiple calls and texts from Jordon as well as my brother and Brad.

“Am sorry. My pone was on silent I didn’t hear it ring.”

He lets out a deep sigh and texts someone. I hear a beep back on his phone and then one mine. It is a group text with Jordon and my brother.

Tul: Tell her I am going to kill her next time I see her for scaring the s**t out of me.

Jordon: I will.

“Really?” I look up at Jordon and hold the phone up.

“What do you expect? I came home and you weren’t here, and you are not answering your phone. Can you imagine all the horrible thoughts that went through my mind?”

“I am sorry. I met up with Brian and we checked out a lead.” I look down to the floor.

“Brian, Beth’s boyfriend?! What are you thinking?! You know he is a person on interest. He could be the killer and you go off to who know where with him!”

“He didn’t kill her.”

“How do you know?”

“I just do, okay. Anyway, he found a man who has been asking about Beth. We went to his house.”

“You did what?”

“We went to his house.”

“Did you break in?”

“Um, yes”

“How?”

“I picked the locks.”

“You picked the locks. Who in the world taught you to pick locks?”

“Tulugaak.”

Jordon growls, actually growls. “You two are going to be the death of me.” He paces away from me and takes a deep breath, “And?”

I smile up at him and he just scowls at me. “Her scent is in his house. It leads to a safe.”

“You didn’t break into the safe too?”

“No, I can’t open a safe.”

“Thank god for small miracles.”

“Well, here is his information.” I hand Jordon the piece of paper with the guy’s information on it.

He snatches the paper from my hand and walks to the other side of the room and pulls out his phone. He calls someone.

“Yeah, found her. She went with Brian Knightly. Yeah, I know. Yep. They followed some guy. I’ll forward you, his information. Seems like he is asking about Ms. George. Yes. It is worth checking out. I agree. I’ll let her know. Thanks man.”

The one side conversation does not make me feel any better. He takes a picture of the note I handed him and sends it to whoever he was talking too.

“Deputy Wayne will run a search on the guy and see if there is any connection between him and Beth. But you do know how stupid you were? You could have hurt or worst.”

“I am not stupid!”

My phone starts to ring. I look down and see it is Brian. I am relived to get a break from Jordon’s temper tantrum.

“I need to take this.” I turn and storm form the room slamming my door.

“Hello?”

“Hey baby, how are you doing?”

“I am as good as can be expected.”

“I know. But I was wondering if you want a break from your room tonight?”

“I can’t my yipping guard dog will not let me.”

I hear Jordon yell from the other room ‘I heard that’ and Brad growl on the phone.

“What about lunch tomorrow?”

“That I could be talked into.”

“I’ll pick you up at 11:30 and we can go to the wolf den.”

“Sounds great.”

I hang up the phone and look up and see Jordon leaning on my door frame.

“Who was that?” He asks.

“A friend.”

“A boyfriend?”

“It’s none of your business who it was.”

“It better not be Brian!”

“It doesn’t matter who it was! I am not some child you can order about.” I stand and walk up to him and stare him in the eyes and then push past him to go into the living room.

“Nan, you have to understand. I don’t know who the killer is, and I can’t protect you if I do not know where you are.”

“I don’t need you to protect me I am a wolf!”

“And Beth was a Druid and a fat lot of good that did her!”

We are both breathing hard and staring daggers. Finally, Jordon breaks eye contact. 

“Can you just humor me for the time being?”

“Fine.” I turn and stare out the window. My arms are crossed, and I am hugging myself willing the tears to not fall. I feel Jordon come up behind me and barely touch my shoulders. He leans his head into mine and feel his warm breath on the back of my neck.

“It would kill me if anything happened to you,” he whispers.

I swallow and look up at the ceiling, “Nothing is going to happen to me.”

“I know.” I feel his lip graze the back of my neck and he turns to leave.

“I am needed at the club. Please do not go anywhere?”

Still not looking at him, “I won’t.”

He sighs and states, “Thank You for doing my laundry.” With that he leaves, and I let myself fall to pieces.