“He can come with us,” Smokey replied, “but the ultrasound comes first.”
“Fine…Ollie can help…he’s a nurse,” Theo replied, smiling at Mac.
“Perfect.” Grinning at the unexpected news, Mac picked up his medical bag and reached out, taking Ollie’s hand. Pulling him to his side, he murmured into his ear, “I’m so happy to have finally found you, my Fated Mate.” Then, after receiving a nod from Ollie, ushered him downstairs to the hospital, all the while marveling at the fact that his dream had finally come true. The only thing he saw that might be a problem was his brotherMason’s reaction when Mac told him Ollie was a bear. However, he knew his twin would have his back—especially since he was mated to both a dragon and a tiger.
~/~/~/~/~
It had been a long day, and all Groose wanted was to take a shower and climb into bed. They had finally neutralized the major threats facing the Blackwood Pack, and for now, at least, things were quiet. After leaving a skeleton crew of enforcers on duty, he headed for his suite in the new building built especially for all the Pack’s enforcers.
Entering the lobby, Groose walked to the elevator that would take him to the top floor. Normally, he avoided using the steel box, preferring to take the stairs, but not tonight. Ever since Jackson had discovered that his uncle Josiah had escaped from the High Council enforcers, he and his men had put in long hours and had logged little sleep. After days of high alert, it was finally a relief to stand down. His Alpha had ordered a week off for all the enforcers, so tomorrow he would create a rotation schedule. After pushing the elevator button, Groose slumped against the opposite wall, waiting for it to arrive.
“Groose, is that you?” The voice came from the control room next to the elevator.
“Yeah, Tito, what do you need?” asked Groose, trying to keep his exhaustion out of his voice.
“Can you come here for a moment? There’s something I think you should see on the security feed.”
Sighing quietly, Groose pushed off the wall, ignoring the beep of the elevator door opening. Walking into the control room, he headed over to where Tito was sitting in front of a bank ofscreens, reviewing earlier video feeds from cameras posted at various locations on the surrounding pack land. Groose carefully checked the monitors but found nothing unusual. Glancing down at Tito, he asked, “What’s the problem?”
“Here…” Tito murmured, hitting a key on his keyboard and pointing to the camera feed from the front gate.
Leaning down slightly, Groose watched as a man tried to slip through the bars of the gate but was unsuccessful. “I don’t see…”
“Just keep watching.”
Doing as Tito suggested, Groose saw the man look up at the camera before walking back over to the gate and then disappearing. “Where the hell did he go?” he muttered, sitting down next to Tito. Pulling the keyboard over to him, Groose rewound the video and played it again, muttering at it. Quickly switching from the front gate camera to the feeds from multiple cameras covering the driveway, he could see no evidence of the man getting inside the gate.
“What do you make of that?” Tito asked. “Do ya think the guy is a magic user who wanted to talk to Remy? And if so, why didn’t he just buzz us?”
“Don’t know,” Groose muttered, busy searching the logs for any sign that they might have missed an alarm alerting them to the man’s presence on Blackwood Pack’s land. When he found no evidence that the man had intruded, he sighed in relief.
Sliding the keyboard back to Tito, Groose said, “Alert the men on duty to an attempted illegal entry through the front gate and send two men to the gate to check for tracks showing which way the man went after leaving. And monitor all the exterior wallcameras tonight just in case he tries to scale one of them…and call me if he does.”
“I don’t think there’ll be any tracks,” Tito muttered.
Raising his eyebrow, Groose asked, “Why not?”
Shaking his head, Tito replied, “Because he fucking disappeared…you saw him vanish, too.”
“I did, but I also know electronics are not foolproof so I want you to run a full diagnostics check on each camera to make sure they’re working properly.”
“That’ll take me all night,” Tito replied.
“Get Neal in here to help you,” Groose ordered before leaving the control room. Tomorrow he’d check the front gate camera himself, but for now, his bed was calling to him.
~/~/~/~/~
The mere touch of his mate’s hand ignited a fiery heat that surged up Ollie’s arm and filled his body. Stunned by the ferociousness of it, he could only give a nod to Mac’s whispered words of happiness. Now, tagging along with his mate, Ollie tried to put all the pieces together that he had learned from the moment Theodore had opened the front door. Even though his source had told him his cousin lived with the Blackwood Pack, he’d had his doubts. A Ghost bear living in a wolf pack was hard to accept, but the disappearance of his cousin’s entire family was even harder. So, Ollie had decided to find his aunt and uncle first. But when he found them chained up in the loathsome Alpha’s cellar with no evidence that his cousin was with them, Ollie had no choice at that point except to head to the Blackwood Pack..
When he finally arrived at the locked gates of the Blackwood Pack, Ollie’s concern for his cousin had heightened; he feared Theo was being held captive. So he broke his own rule and used his power to get inside the gate. Thinking back at his decision, he realized he’d taken an enormous risk, but luckily for him, it seemed no one had seen him use it.
So consumed was he with his thoughts, it took a moment before Ollie realized everyone had stopped inside a room. Glancing quickly around, he saw an ultrasound machine alongside the examination table, and remembered why his mate had taken him there. Catching his cousin’s eyes, he grinned and asked, “So, you’re pregnant, huh?”
“Yup,” Theo smiled. “Want to see my cub?”
“Absolutely!” Ollie exclaimed. “When is it due?”
“Mac thinks in five months,” Theo replied, lying back on the table. Pulling his shirt up, he ran his hand lovingly over the small bulge. Then, looking up at his mates, he said, “I want Ollie to do the ultrasound.”