I place my palm flat on the table, and he falls silent, his breathing ragged.
“Slower.” I pull out the chair opposite him and sit. “Start from the beginning.”
He takes a deep, shuddering breath. “This was my first solo run as captain. There were four passengers, a couple and two single hikers. The woman, Mia, was acting strange, but I thought she was seasick.”
His cuffed hand twists in the restraint, metal clinking against metal.
“The other two hikers kept watching her, and her boyfriend got protective. They started arguing and then fighting. I left the wheel to break it up.” He gestures to his nose. “A wave hit the boat, and she almost fell. When I reached out to steady her, the boyfriend thought I was going after her and punched me.”
“And you didn’t realize she was in Heat?”
Shame washes over his features, and he drops his gaze. “I can’t smell pheromones.”
Shock rocks through me, followed by sympathy, and a painful tug comes from my chest. A scent-blind Alpha will struggle to find a pack. No wonder he can’t regulate his own pheromones. He has no way of knowing what they’re telling everyone around him about his emotions.
His shoulders hunch. “Everyone else knew she was going into Heat. They were reacting to it. But Ihad no idea until I touched her skin and felt how hot she was.”
I study the genuine fear in his expression and the way he curls inward. Nothing about him reads like a predator caught in the act. Everything about him screams confusion and terror.
“What are they charging you with?”
“They haven’t decided.” His shoulders curl inward. “They’re taking statements from the boyfriend and the people on the dock who saw the end of it. Nobody’s listening to me.”
“They think you left the wheel because you were targeting her.” The pieces click into place.
“Yeah,” he says, jaw tight and red rimming his sea-glass green eyes, making them even more vibrant. “They think I was in on it with the other two, engineering the whole thing to get her alone on the boat where she couldn’t escape.”
The thought turns my stomach. Such a thing happens too often, Alphas abusing positions of power to isolate vulnerable Omegas. But nothing about Jared fits the profile, from his awkward honesty to his genuine bewilderment about what’s happening right now.
“Have you told them you’re scent-blind?”
“They don’t believe me.” Tears well up. “They think it’s an excuse.”
I drum my fingers on the table, considering options. If they decide to press charges, his life is effectively over. Even if he’s cleared later, the accusation alone will follow him everywhere. No job will hire him, and no pack will accept him.
“Who threw the first punch in the fight?”
“The boyfriend, Derek. But he was defending her.” Jared winces as he touches his nose. “I get why he did it.”
“And the other two passengers?”
“They ran as soon as we neared the dock.”
That detail catches my attention. “They fled the scene?”
“Yeah. Jumped off before we were docked.”
As I process this information, the pieces realign. Two unattached Alphas who recognized an Omega in Heat, pursued her despite her boyfriend’s presence, then disappeared when things got complicated.
“Have they taken your statement?”
He shakes his head. “They said they’d get to it. But they keep talking to everyone else first.”
The door opens, and the officer leans in. “Time’s up.”
I hold up a hand. “Two more minutes.”
The Beta hesitates before withdrawing.