Chapter 240

Asher

I had to stay calm. Cynthia was safe. She couldn’t handle stress. She needed me to keep a level head. Getting wolfy was the opposite of what she needed.

That was the only thing that kept me from losing myself to my wolf and flying out of this room to hunt down Joseph once and for all. That bastard had been terrorizing her for far too long.

“I’m okay,” Cynthia said. She was able to tell how close I was to losing control. I had to be better for her. I had to calm down.

“I know.” I led her to the bed and had her sit down. Then I started pacing. I just needed to get it out of my system. Check the windows, check the doors, check the vents. Secure the room.

I scented the air. It smelled like Cynthia’s gentle floral scent and my own more forest one, with a hint of our lovemaking from the night before. I inhaled deeply, allowing the scents to calm me.

If a stranger had been in here, I would have known it. We were safe. We were secure.

No one could hurt Cynthia here. But that was a temporary situation. She couldn’t stay trapped in here the rest of her life. And once the baby was born, they’d both face even more danger and trouble.

I had to stop Joseph once and for all. Before Cynthia had her baby.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and scrolled through my contacts. Many of them were keeping me appraised of the whereabouts and happenings of Joseph’s old friends, like those on the soccer team. Joseph himself was much harder to pin down.

I’d missed a message early this morning, somewhere between the march and the rush back home. I clicked it open now.

We caught one of those assholes from the website, wrote one of my friends from the hockey team. You want to talk to him before we take him to the cops?

I responded immediately. I’ll be there in ten.

Then I called Chase and asked him to come over to watch Cynthia. With Aimee and Nicole busy, there was no one I trusted more to stay with her and protect her than my brother. He knew how much she meant to me, and how much I would lose if I lost her.

True soulmates were unbelievably rare, especially for an Alpha. Not much was known anymore, many stories lost to time, but rumors said for any Alpha to lose his true soulmate, was to also lose himself. Their grief would be all encompassing. It would be like ripping out half of my soul.

“You’re going out?” A worry line creased Cynthia’s brow. It wasn’t my intention to cause her more fear.

“Chase will watch over you while I’m gone. You can talk about the article.”

“But where are you going?”

“I’ll be safe, I promise,” I said. “I just have a few things to take care of.”

As much as I wanted to confide in her, I knew the truth would only stress her further. She needed calm. I had to be calm. I was having trouble slowing my heartrate.

Cynthia stood from the bed. She approached me where I’d stopped pacing near the edge of my desk. She draped her arms around my neck and pressed her body to mine.

With her closeness, our bond thrummed between us. Gradually, my heartrate slowed to match hers. My breathing evened out.

I wrapped my arms around her waist and lowered my forehead to her shoulder. For a long moment, I just stood there and breathed the same air as her, enjoying her closeness, letting it center me again.

I was grateful. If I had gone to see Joseph’s accomplice in the state I had been in, I’d likely have torn his throat out with my sharp wolf teeth.

We stayed like that, holding each other, until Chase knocked on the door and I had to let go.

“I’ll be back soon,” I promised, after letting Chase inside. I stood in the doorway, about to walk out of it. I didn’t want to leave her. Last time I had, I had to chase down an SUV and stand against silver bullets to get her back.

I’d do it again in an instant, but I didn’t want her to go through that.

“I’ll protect her in your stead, brother,” Chase said, without his usual smirk. He was saying, I will die for her as you would.

Only with that assurance, I nodded and left the dorm.

I moved across campus like a man possessed, with large and purposeful strides. I must have looked as angry as I felt, because people actively darted from my path, giving me a wide berth.

Some of the hockey team had the accomplice cornered in the away team’s locker room, abandoned now without any games lined up for a few days. After brief greetings, they ushered me inside, where the coward was tied to one of the benches. He hunched over, as if ashamed.

He should be ashamed. He’d have plenty of time for self-reflection after we would give him over to the police.

But not before.

I walked to him, then stood over him. I would have been taller even with him standing – he was a thin, short man – but I was massive compared to him now. I glared at him with my most intimidating expression. He looked up at me and immediately cowered further into himself.

“Tell me what I want to know,” I growled, letting my wolf come out just enough to add some bite to my words.

He whimpered, a pathetic little sound. “W-what do you want to know?”

I leaned down. “Everything.”

“The bottles today weren’t actually meant to hurt Cynthia,” the man said a few minutes later, after Asher had made clear what he really wanted was info about Joseph and Cynthia, and not this whimpering man’s entire life story.

This coward was ready to bare his entire soul. Asher had to direct him to parts that mattered.

“Joseph just wanted to scare her,” he continued.

“Scare her? Why?” I demanded.

“That’s his ultimate plan. He doesn’t want to hurt Cynthia himself, at least, not directly. He hopes to make her so stressed that she loses the baby.”

I froze, even as hot molten lead flooded my veins. “He what?” My wolf pounced closer to the surface, ramming itself against the confines of my mine.

“Must protect our mate!”

I agreed wholeheartedly. I snatched the front of the man’s shirt and yanked him upright as far as the bindings would allow.

His eyes went wide with fear.

Good.

“Where is he?” I growled right in his face.

The man nodded and nodded more. “I don’t know for sure… he’s been moving around… But I can tell you some of the places he might be.”

I dropped him back onto the bench and nodded to one of my hockey teammates who whipped out a notepad and pencil. He gave them both to the coward.

“Write clearly,” my teammate said, voice low and threatening.

My teammates like Cynthia. They had rallied around her many times, and were impressed by her courage and her strength, and her willingness to put up with me.

They knew she was my mate, and would therefore defend her as they would one of their own.

No one was pleased with this asshole or any of the things he said. I imagined, like me, any one of them would be happy to be alone with him for a few minutes to punch him through the wall.

True justice would only come with him behind bars, however.

I point I made clear to my team before leaving them with their captor.

I had a list of addresses in my pocket. It was the closest I’ve ever been to catching Joseph since this manhunt began.

Now to find him, bring him to justice, and keep Cynthia in the dark until it was over.