A/N: Did you know that the first chapter of my April Camp NaNo project is available online? I'll link that in the comments.
PS: I have a little surprise for you so make sure you read the A/N at the bottom ;)
*****
We are still alright. He seems to be too interested in the crimes, not the Bullets
I sent my second text to Riley, getting 'That's good to know. Don't forget to text' in reply.
"I won't," I muttered and pocketed my phone, but not before I made sure to set the alarm to only vibrate.
"What did Riley say?" Keri asked, taking a sip of her water and then placing the glass back on the polished surface of the coffee table.
"He's glad that Ace isn't after us."
"You can never decide which you feel stronger when your mate worries about you: guilt that you made them anxious or happiness that they care." Conrad sighed.
"Both," Anthony, who sat next to the bar owner on the couch, concluded. "It's always both for me. The only thing that changes is the degree: if they are really alarmed, then it's mostly guilt."
"It could be flattering when the women worry, but it gets tiresome quickly. They make a fuss over the smallest things," Jasper butted in from the sofa furthest from us and closest to the two wooden chairs the Sentinels had occupied.
"Are we waiting for anyone but your cousin?" Sasha inquired of Keri, playing with a lengthy strand of her red hair.
"Her and her boss," my best friend replied. "They are on shift, but Callum told his colleagues he needs Kelly to help him research something so they are both coming. Everett, Olivia and Galen can't get off work though so I'll fill them in later."
"I see." The Dayer Sentinel didn't seem particularly interested whether the number of attendees would include the whole Council or not.
I took out my phone and looked at the time: twenty-six minutes before I had to text Riley again.
Maybe I should call him now?
I didn't get to pounder on whether that was a good idea or not as Kelly and Callum walked into Keri's living room and I had to put my mobile down next to my glass of water.
"So who is this guy that you are so worried about?" Callum's gruff voice was what started the meeting even before he and Kelly had taken a seat.
"May I?" Adrian turned to Keri, then, after receiving a nod, to the Detective: "Name: Ace Darrel; age: forty-five; background and origin: Texan, born to human parents, no supernatural gifts, Hunter license issued at the age of eighteen..."
"You sound like a rap sheet again, Ian." His partner chuckled, but the male Sentinel went on unperturbed.
"... Weapons of choice: two Beretta Nano, hunting knives and a Barrett .50 for long-range. He has an experience in hand-to-hand combat and an affinity to take cases where the criminal is wanted dead or alive."
"And he usually delivers them in the former state." Sasha stretched and leaned back in her chair, crossing one long leg over the other. "What Ian's robot-like report didn't mention is that Ace is also one superbly trained, sadistic son of a bitch."
"I was getting to that," Adrian said.
"But I bet you were going to skip the son of a bitch part." Sasha pretended to yawn. "Ian gets all serious and boring during meetings. See the way he clamped his jaw right now? It's because he wants to tell me something along the lines of 'I have to be serious to make up for your lack of professionalism', but he'll wait for when it's just the two of us to reprimand me about not taking our job as seriously as he does."
"I'm here to find out why you had me pull my men out from the crime scene, not to listen to how one Sentinel is babysitting another," Callum grumble.
"My, my, Detective, is that a vein popping on your forehead?" Sasha teased.
"Enough," her partner silenced her, then turned to Callum: "You were asked to pull your man out as we couldn't risk them running into Ace while he was checking the crime scene."
"I was not asked; your people pulled strings and my superior threatened to remove me from the case if I didn't listen to him and order my man away from that house."
I could now see the skin covering the vain Sasha had mentioned trembling.
"And," the Detective continued, "that still doesn't explain why not only aren't you kicking this Ace guy out of town, but you are allowing him on my crime scene."
"Believe us, Detective, we don't want him there either, but he has a Hunter's permit and therefore he has the right to a private investigation," Adrian explained.
"It's got to do with the bureaucracy in the two Orders," Sasha added with an annoyed expression and Callum's grunt left no doubt he shared her feelings on how things were run.
"The bureaucracy is needed so the Order of the Sentinels and the Order of the Hunters could work together or at least not get into each other's way," her partner commented.
"Even though none trusts the other and the Hunters keep getting in our way." The redhead snorted without mirth.
"Sasha, concentrate on the issue at hand," Adrian insisted.
"But I am. Ace is getting in our way and since he has a permit that our Order issued him, there's nothing we can do about it unless he exceeds the powers of that permit. Although, I guess, it is better than letting the Hunters run amok," she added as an afterthought.
"Who on Earth paired you two as partners?" Callum shook his head.
"I did." Sasha grinned. Receiving several raised eyebrows - one of them from me - she continued proudly: "I used to have a huge crush on Ian so I joined the Sentinels and blackmailed one of our superiors to assign me as Ian's new partner."
Keri and Kelly covered their mouths to hide their giggles, but the rest of us - all, except for a reddened Adrian - stared at the Dayer in disbelief.
"That's all in the past now though." She shrugged. "It obviously didn't work out the way I wanted it to between us, but I've always thought that being so different from Ian is what makes us such a successful team. Is that not so, Ian?"
She nudged Adrian's knee with her own and he pulled his leg away from her.
"My, my, looks like I'll get reprimanded for this as well later, but the Detective asked."
"It was a rhetorical question." Callum rubbed his temples.
"Oops... My bad." Sasha shrugged again, nonchalant.
Her partner cleared his throat.
"Do you have any other questions about Ace Darrel, Detective?"
"You still haven't given me an answer to my previous one," Callum pointed out.
"He did, you just didn't like it," Keri interfered.
"All I got from his previous answer, Miss Greer, is that I should do as you tell me simply because you think your laws trump the human ones."
"I might have supernatural abilities, but I am human." It was Aiden who spoke, his voice firm and steady. "The Order of the Sentinels consists mostly of humans and we have sworn to protect everyone - humans and supernatural beings. The reason why our judgment trumps yours, Detective, is because this case involves supernatural beings and we are better equipped to handle the situation. Or would you rather tell your people about us, have them panic and lay the foundation for an interspecies war?"
If Adrian hadn't won my respect before, he would've done so now. It was the first time I'd seen someone successfully make Callum shut up while he was complaining about shifters, vampires and Gifteds or how we had no place in his investigation. I looked at Keri and saw her forlorn attempt not to gloat while probably taking a mental note of this situation to use later in her arguments with the Detective.
"Now that we all know who Ace Darrel is, we should discuss..."
My Alpha was interrupted by a drumming - the result of my phone vibrating on her coffee table.
"I'm sorry," I excused myself and ignoring the annoyed glances from Jasper and Callum, I turned off the alarm and typed 'We are fine. Don't worry. I miss you' and hit send.
And I'd much rather be with you than here, Riley, I thought.
Only after I received his reply - 'I miss you too. Don't forget to text' - did I put my mobile in my pocket.
"Are you done yet?" Jasper asked in the most irritating inflection.
"Was that important?" Callum inquired next.
"Yes." Keri turned to me and smiled. "Very important."
I returned her smile, relieved that there was at least one person who understood my need not to add to the stress my mate had accumulated; Callum seemed unconvinced, but nodded and didn't ask any more questions. Jasper on the other hand huffed, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Well, if the Beta thinks there's something more important than what we've gathered here for, he should..."
"What we should do," Keri cut her cousin off, "is try and figure out how Ace knew where to find Rhys, why he made sure they met at the Milk & Cream and think of a way to keep that Hunter away from this case and this town."
"I agree." Callum nodded once again.
"You do?" My best friend's jaw went slack.
"Yes, Miss Greer, I do."
"Oh..."
Keri shook her head to distract herself from her astonishment, then tilted it sideways, examining Callum's features, looking even for the smallest sign that he was messing with her. When she didn't find it, she went on:
"Okay. Let's start with the first of those: how did Ace Darrel know where to find Rhys."
"He could have inside information," I suggested.
"If Ace contacted someone close to you, it might be difficult to find out who the informant is as Darrel knows better than to leave clues behind," Adrian said. "However, if someone reached out to the Hunter and summoned them here, it is more likely for us to find the connection between these two people as the informant probably isn't as savvy as Ace on how to cover their tracks."
Jasper shifted to edge of his seat.
"What about the Beta's mongrel nephew?" He spat out. "The boy likes to cause trouble. I'd say he's your guy; go look for him."
"Aleksei Maksimoff, right?" Adrian asked thoughtfully. "He's been brought to our attention before," he added, looking at Anthony.
"Indeed, it's the same boy," Anthony confirmed.
"We've looked into him. So far, there are no signs that he's involved in the murders, but even so, he could still be the one who called Ace here. Rhys," the male Sentinel turned in his seat to face me, "do you think your nephew is somehow responsible for this?"
Did I?
*****
A/N: Do YOU think Alec is the one who called Ace? If so, why?
We are the Answer is nearing 20K reads so I thought about giving you another bonus to celebrate. The bonus will once again be a new POV and this is what we'll do: I'll start the next chapter with Rhys' POV and end it with... Sasha's or Adrian's?
IT'S YOUR CHOICE: DO YOU WANT SASHA'S OR ADRIAN'S POV?
Why pick between these two? Because they are going to have a private conversation (so obviously Rhys can't narrate it) that will be important later on ;)
So, tell me in whose head you want to get into and please support this chapter with a VOTE if you enjoyed it! ♥