Repercussions (Evie Cortez Book 2.5)

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Caleb sighed with relief when he fell into bed with no more inquiries from Evangeline. The day had been long and she agreed with no more fuss. After showing her around the cabin and placing her in the room right next to his, it was bed time.

The morning came with no crisis, now all they had to do was make it to this afternoon when Rebecca could try to get inside Evangeline’s memories. Caleb wasn’t a man people called optimistic, but this morning he was trying his damnedest to be positive. After washing up and dressing in some fresh clothing, it was time to leave the room and face his guest.

He walked at a pace considered too slow for a man of his status. The alpha shouldn’t be pacing slowly out of fear of a woman that made his heart race too fast, a woman that was considered an outsider for every race, she was a complication in every sense of the word.

With a chastising groan, he picked up his pace and entered the kitchen to set a pot of coffee to go. As the pot brewed he reached for his cell phone, putting in a call to Jake Thompson. The point of the call was to ask about the rumors around town surrounds witchcraft. If something big was brewing Jake and his brother, Chase, would hear about it. Pointing the finger at the coven didn’t feel right. The coven would’ve taken her back to the compound to await a trial or torture her for answers. Erasing her memory was too petty for their usual abrasive style. That in his book that ruled them out, or at least put them to the bottom of the list of suspects.

“No.” Jake answered. “Bess has been asking around and put Zoe on it too. There hasn’t been a case involving magic to pass through the SCF in a month. I’ll ask around town just in case we missed something.”

Caleb asked next, “Is Thomas in town?”

“Uh, let me ask.” Jake put the phone down, hollering the question to whomever was around him.

Caleb wasn’t sure what he was looking for when it came to Thomas; blind hope he’d have some form of an answer? If Evangeline trusted anyone when it came to working something under the radar, it’d be Thomas. It was a grasp at straws, but nonetheless a lead worth looking into.

Jake came back on the line, “I went to Bess directly and she said Thomas has been staying at the Moonrise Inn for the last few days. You think he might know something?”

“It can’t hurt to pay him a visit.” Caleb caught his second up with the plan to stick at the cabin, where it was easier to spot an outsider until farther notice. While Caleb was focused on Evangeline, it was Jake’s job to keep an eye out on the rest of the pack.

By the time Caleb hung up, the coffee was ready and his guest of honor was joining him. “Morning.” She greeted, a nervous smile back on her face.

“Good morning.” Caleb nodded. “I was talking to Jake and got the address of where Thomas is staying.” He had already explained to her who Thomas was and their working relationship.

“Great.” She tried to seem positive but the half smile on her lips was forced at best, any hope for answers over her predicament was crashing quickly. With no more words to exchange, she went right for the coffee pot and the nearby empty mugs.

Caleb stared at her every movement, from the motion of her hand as she stirred sugar into the cup, to the shifting of her feet as she stood with her back facing him. “We’re going to figure this out.” It felt like a good time to remind her of that promise.

“I know you believe that. I can’t imagine you being scared about a single thing.”

“I wish that were true.”

She turned away from the counter to face him. It was plain as day she didn’t believe his simple declaration. “What scares you?”

“The same things that scare many people, I’m sure. I worry for Jamie and my pack, if I’m making the right choice for their wellbeing.”

“That’s a generic answer if I’ve ever heard one.”  Evangeline flashed him a grim smile before titling the cup to her lips. This had to be one of her many ways of trying to get inside his head; he wasn’t going to let that happen. It was much safer if they stayed on the generic impersonal road.

Caleb said nothing more on the subject and chose to leave his seat. It was just past nine o’clock that morning and Thomas should be up. Caleb wasn’t in the mood to waste time and if they hung around the cabin, that’s what they’d end up doing. In the living room, he checked the stack of mail left yesterday to find nothing of importance. The tension created from the vampire exposure was easing and as far as he knew, Michael was dropping his conspiracy theory about the wolves trying to create their own exposure to the public. It was the farthest thing from the truth; no alpha wanted the public watching their every move and rebelling against them. The humans and the vampires were in the middle of a war nightly, and the werewolves wanted no part in it, period.

When Evangeline joined him, it was time to go. They kept their words to themselves and drove in silence to the motel.

When they reached Thomas, the human was quickly caught up on the situation. “Bess called me last night.” He explained and motioned them into the room. “I might be able to help.”

Evangeline’s eyes lit up. There it was again; hope. “What do you know?”

Thomas was the first to take a seat around the room. “You got a hinky feeling at the last scene we visited. I told you to stay away from it until we brought Bess in and she went through the correct channels for us to investigate, but you’re pretty persistent.”

“What was the case about?” Evangeline was anxious as finally some questions were being answered. Caleb stood back and watched all the emotions running across her face and the anxiousness she was trying to swallow back. His eyes were solely on her, his ears listened to every detail given by Thomas about what he knew. The faster they learned the truth, they could catch the bastard harming her.

Thomas grabbed a file off the bed and opened it. “We got a complaint about a new magic store opening up in the downtown square. It was nothing major but the SCF always checks into any complaint filed. We checked it out because the other officers weren’t in yet and we were free. There was nothing illegal found for sale and it seemed open and shut, but you said the woman behind the counter got under your skin. You couldn’t put into words what she made you feel, just that she was hiding something. That was the last time we spoke.”

Evangeline nodded, absorbing the best lead they’ve been able to find in the last two days. “When was that?”

“Three days ago.”

Evangeline’s colorful eyes turned and looked at Caleb. “What do you think?”

Caleb already said every lead was worth checking out, no matter how big or small, but this one felt like their best shot. One they couldn’t blow by rushing too soon. “Do you have anything on the woman?”

Thomas pulled another page from the folder. “The basic stuff. Her name is Alexandra Martin, in her forties, and one of the owners of the new shop. She’s in business with her siblings who weren’t at the shop during our visit. I cant tell you anything else about them.”

“A family of witches?” Evangeline scoffed. “That spells trouble.” She rolled her eyes as the pun hit her. “We need to talk to all of the Martin family.”