The Alpha’s Guardian

Chapter 12

I am woken from a deep sleep by someone banging on my door. How in the world are all these people making it up here? We have security measures that do not seem to be working for anyone except me, when I forget my damn keycard. I yell that I am coming, and I sit up in the bed. I grab my cell phone and see multiple texts from Brian. I close my eyes and groan. I will deal with him later.

I stumble to the door and open it without even looking out the peep hole. The person standing on the other side of the door is not anyone I would expect to see here. It has been nearly a year since I last saw him. He is broad, muscled, and looking very annoyed.

His brown hair is cut close to his head and his green eyes are surveying the room around me. The tight tee-shirt does nothing to hide his strength and his jeans and boots look hot on him.

“You going to invite me in or are you just going to stand there and gawk,” he says.

Yep, the attitude has not gotten any better since the last time I saw him. That is enough to bring me out of my trace and I step aside waving him into the room. He steps in and drops his duffle bag by my door. I close the door kicking the duffle bag out of the way.

“Hey, watch it. My camera equipment is in there.” I shrug and walk into my living room. He follows me and leans on the door frame of Beth’s room as I sit on the coach.

“Why are you here, Jordon?”

“You asked your brother for help and here I am.”

“My brother sent you to babysit me?!” I am more than a little pissed right now.

He shrugs. “He said your roommate is missing and that knowing you even though he told you to stay out of it, you will be in the middle of it and asked if I would come and make sure you didn’t get yourself killed.”

“If he is so worried, why didn’t he come himself.”

“Something about if he came down here your father would find out and start World War 3.”

Well, that is a valid point. If my father showed up here making a fuss that could cause the pack in charge of this territory to get all bent out of shape and start some issues that would bring the council thundering down on all of us. 

Jordon is human and my brother’s roommate and partner in the Mounties unit they are a part of. He knows about us; it is the only way for him to help protect my brother’s secret. He covers from him, creatively rewriting some reports to hide my brother using his wolfy talent to capture the fugitives they are hunting. ‘No Mr. Supervisor, we got lucky.  Some random big dog jumped out of the alley and tackled the suspect. Have no idea where it came from or ran off too. Also, Mountie Black needs a new uniform because he fell down a hill and ripped it.’ True story. The supervisor supposedly just rolled his eye, approved the report, and told my brother to watch it.  

I have met Jordon when I went to see my brother last year for a week. I needed to get away from my parents and their smothering love. They agreed I could go ‘if I stayed out of trouble.’ Tulugaak at the time was worse than my father about being overprotective. Jordon on the other hand was aloof and arrogant. Barely paying attention to his best friend’s little sister. The only time he relaxed was on my last day there. My brother finally took me to a bar. After a few drinks Jordan was fun to be around. But now he is standing in my dorm, taking up way too much space up and making me feel claustrophobic.

“So, what do you have so far?” He nods his head to my laptop on the living room table.

“Not much. Her last timeline.”

“Can I see it?”

I scoot over and open my laptop pulling open the picture of the timeline. Jordon pushes off the wall and sits next to me pulling the laptop to him.

“Who made this?”

“Her best friends that were out with her that night.”

“Can you trust them?”

“Um they are her friends.”

“That doesn’t mean anything, Nan. People lie all the time.”

“I think they were telling the truth.”

“Okay. This happened Friday night?”

“Yes.”

“Hum, 3 days ago. Are your senses as good as your brother?”

I nearly laugh. My senses are better, but it is something we never discuss because the less people who know I am special the safer it is for everyone. “I can hold my own.”

“We can follow this timeline, see if you can ‘sense’ anything. You know what fear smells like?”

“Yes, my father and mother taught me to scent all the emotions.”

He nods. “We follow the timeline. We will not worry about asking any questions. Just see the people there and see if you can ‘read’ anything off them. I will meet with the Officer in Charge tomorrow. I already called him and set up a meeting.”

“Can I go too?”

“No, I think he will talk freer with another cop.”

I nod my head. I am disappointed, but at least I am doing more than staring at my computer. “Do we need to stop at your hotel?” I ask as I am looking over at his duffle.

“I planned on staying here. I brought an air mattress. That way I can also keep an eye on you.”

“Keep an eye on me! What are you supposed to do? You know I am a wolf too. I can protect myself.”

“Yep,” he pops the P. “And from what your brother told me that means you will be in more trouble not less.” He then leans down close to my face. “And for what I can do. I have been around shifters most of my life. I know how to handle myself and protect others.”

I shiver. I do not know if it is my crush coming back with a vengeance or if he meant something totally different there.  I cross my arms and state, “Fine. As long as you help me find Beth.”

“I will do everything I can to locate her.”

I turn and start to my bedroom to find my shoes and change my shirt. It is all wrinkled from my nap. A few minutes I emerge and see that Jordon has a jacket on now and is waiting by the door. 

“You ready?” he asks.

“Yes.”

Jordon looks me up and down and then states, “Wait.” He walks up to me and brushes his hand through my hair. I catch my breath and look deeply in his eyes. I think he is about to kiss me and then he pulls back, “You had some fluff in your hair.” He drops a piece of white cotton in my hand and turns to walk out the door. I follow him feeling completely embarrassed.

We start at the restaurant the girls had dinner at. It is nothing big, a small burger joint. Jordon looks around and ushers me to a booth along the side of the wall. He pulls out the menu and look over it.

“What’s good here?”

I stare at him in shock, “Aren’t you going to go ask questions or take pictures or whatever you do when trying to find someone?”

“No, why would I do that?”

“I don’t know because we need to find out if anyone remembers Beth?”

“I am sure the police have already done that, and I don’t have jurisdiction. We are here for you to get a feel for the place. Usually when Tul and I do something like this, it has been less than 48 hours, but I am hoping you can still sense something. Anyway, people emotions tend to change when they hear you are a police officer. It will mess with the results.”

I grind my teeth and pull the menu for the holder on the table. “All the burgers are good here.”

“You need to calm down. Your emotions will mask the people you are trying to read.”

I take a deep breath; he is right, and I hate that he knows so much about me. The waitress appears and takes our order. Once she is gone, I close my eyes and open myself to the emotions and energies around me. I can smell meat cooking and strong perfumes, sweat and grease. The normal smells you get in a burger joint. I can also faintly detect Beth and her friends. They were here. I do not sense any malice.

“So?” Jordon asks.

“The girls were here, But I am not sensing anything about them. For the people here today, the only anger I am feeling is from that table over there, but he appears to arguing with his girlfriend and she is just sad and resign. I am assuming they are breaking up or something like that.”

Jordan chuckles, “it is amazing that you guys can do that.”

I smile because that is the best complainant I have gotten from Jordon. We follow the remainder of Beth’s itinerary for the rest of the evening. Except for some guy’s creepy interest in me, I do not sense anything out of the normal.  We get back to my dorm and Jordon starts to pull out a small uninflated air mattress and a sleeping back. 

“You come prepared.” I tell him.

“Yes, the Mountie way.”

I look over his bag and realize I do not see a pump. “You are not planning to blow that thing up yourself.”

“I was hoping you had a hair dryer.”

I turn and go into the bathroom and emerge with a black standard hair dryer. Jordon nods and pulls out this funnel looking this. I hand him the dyer and he attach his funnel, plugs in the dryer, and the room fills with this hum of the dryer pushing air into the mattress. A few minutes later the mattress is filled. He unplugs the dryer and hands it back to me. He drops his funnel thing into his bag. 

“Do you have any clothes in there?”

He laughs, “I have enough for a couple of days. I am hoping we can find your friend quickly and I can be back on a plane by the end of the week.”

“Sounds good to me.” I turn to put the dryer away. “Um, Jordon,” I say without turning around. “Thank you for coming?”

“No problem. I owe your brother for saving my life more times than I can count. This is the least I could do for him.”

I put the dryer away and head into my room. The last thing I do before heading to bed is call my mother. She is more than relived that Tulugaak sent Jordon to watch me and keep me out of trouble. I am a little hurt that my family doesn’t trust me.