“Why is he coming after you?”Matthew asked.“Because whoever was driving that car wanted to hurt you.”
“I don’t know what he was trying to do.I heard a conversation between him and someone else, and he doesn’t want me to tell anyone about it.”
“What kind of conversation?”
Alan hesitated again.Matthew wished he could move closer, but he didn’t want to scare his mate or make him uncomfortable.He didn’t know what Alan was willing to accept from him, but they hadn’t talked yet.He wasn’t going to risk pushing his mate away because he was impatient.
“I know we can promise you that you’ll be safe here as many times as we want, and it doesn’t make it true,” Matthew said.“But if you can trust me on one thing, it’s that I’m going to keep you safe, no matter what.”
“Because I’m your mate.”
It wasn’t a question, but Matthew nodded anyway.“Because it’s the right thing to do since you’re not our enemy, but yes, mainly because you’re my mate.I won’t let anything happen to you, and I definitely won’t let anyone hurt you.”
“I don’t think that you can stop that from happening.You saw what Victor did yesterday.”
“And I’ll make sure that he can never do that again.”
Matthew would do whatever he had to in order to make sure he wasn’t lying.He didn’t care who Alan’s boss was.If someone was trying to hurt his mate, he’d stop them.
“You know who my boss is,” Alan said with a sigh.“I’ve been working for him for almost a year.I thought we were doing something good.”
“He is,” Hayes interjected.“We’ve all seen the news.”
“After what happened last night, I don’t know how much of what he does is real,” Alan told him.“I stayed late at work yesterday.I lost track of the time.When I realized how late it was, the office was empty.I turned off the lights, went to the bathroom, and when I came out, I realized that Victor was back.I didn’t think anything of it.We sometimes work late, although he tends to grumble when he finds me at my desk past seven in the evening.”
Matthew made a mental note that he’d have to check on his mate when he worked.He wasn’t going to stop Alan from doing what he felt he needed to do, but he could at least bring him food and make sure he slept enough.
He wrinkled his nose.He was already thinking of a future together, but he and Alan had barely even talked.Matthew didn’t know what Alan thought of the bond they shared or if he wanted to explore it.Maybe Alan would reject him.Maybe he would tell him he didn’t need a mate.
That wasn’t a possibility Matthew was willing to consider right now.He didn’t have time to do so, anyway.His full focus needed to be on Alan and the mess he was in.
“I heard that he wasn’t alone,” Alan continued.“That’s nothing new.Victor has meetings all the time.I didn’t think anything of it until I heard what they were talking about.The second man wanted more names from Victor.Initially, I didn’t get it, but the other man said that the hunters weren’t providing enough people anymore.Victor asked for five thousand dollars for every name he would provide, and I got it.”Alan looked straight at Matthew.“Victor is selling the names of supernatural beings he knows are vulnerable.”
“Who’s he selling those names to?”Matthew asked quietly, even though he was pretty sure he could guess.
“The Glass Research Company,” Alan murmured.“He mentioned the labs.”He looked around the room.“I know what the company did in the past, but they’re not still doing it, are they?”
Matthew wished he could lie to his mate.He wasn’t going to start a possible relationship with Alan by doing that, though.“They are,” he confirmed.“They never fully stopped.”
“I thought that was happening because of the person in charge of the company.Haven’t they changed that several years ago?”
“They did.The man’s son is in charge now.”And either he was as rotten as his father, or he didn’t know what was happening in his company.
“We were never able to connect the company with the labs we raid,” Rikar explained.“We knew it was a possibility, but none of the documents we found in the labs pointed us in that direction.”
“You raid the labs?”Alan asked him.
“We do.The tribe has been doing so for years.We raid any lab we find, rescue the people we find there, and destroy the facility.”
“Foryears?You really weren’t joking when you said that the labs never stopped working?”
“I wouldn’t joke about something like that.The labs are very much a thing of the present, unfortunately.”
“And my boss, a person who’s promised to protect shifters, has been helping them,” Alan murmured.“If I didn’t hate him before, I would definitely hate him now.”
“What happened after you heard that conversation?”Matthew asked.
“I bumped into something and made noise, and they realized I was there.I knew I couldn’t stay, so I ran to my car.I didn’t expect Victor to follow me.I certainly didn’t expect him to try to kill me.”
