Cole
Flint jumped away from Cole then dropped into a defensive stance, holding his arms up in front of his face.
“What are you doing?” Cole asked, his brow creased.
“Oh, I thought you were going to punch me for talking to your mate.”
“You’re a real comedian, you know that?”
Flint chuckled. “I’m here all week. What do you need?”
“Just to let you know that I’ve talked to Maya’s brother and his friends. They confirmed she had nothing to do with the kidnapping.” He tried to stay professional and keep the relief from his voice when he said that, but he suspected he was failing. Oh well, that ship had sailed when he punched Ice, anyway. He continued.
“It seems she followed Noah to the warehouse when she overheard him talking about the kidnap and tried to talk him out of it. The vic has corroborated their stories. He said she tried to free him, but the brother’s friends got angry, and they all got into an argument.”
“Well hell, I bet you were relieved to hear that.”
“Like you wouldn’t believe.” A grin tugged at the corners of his mouth. Relieved was an understatement.
“You talked to Stein yet?”
Cole nodded. “Yeah. He said after we’ve got Maya’s statement, she’s free to go.”
“Sounds good.”
Daniel Stein, the supervisory special agent in charge of Cole’s team, had been just as surprised as everyone else to discover that Maya Danvers was Cole’s mate. His wolf seemed to thrum with joy as he thought the word.Mate. Our mate.
Fortunately, Stein was an honorable man and when he’d learned that Maya had tried to talk her brother and his friends into releasing Nicholas Arnell, he’d been quick to offer her unconditional release. She was lucky. A less reasonable man might have brought her up on accessory or obstruction charges.
“So,” Flint said, nodding to the room. “Your mate, huh?”
Cole huffed out a laugh, then scrubbed a hand over the stubble on his chin. “It’s crazy, right?”
“Batshit. You okay with it?”
“I guess so. I mean, it’ll probably take me a while until I can wrap my head around it, but yeah. I’m good with it.” Another understatement. His heart was doing something weird at the very thought of her sitting in that room, so close to him. But he didn’t need his teammate thinking he’d gone soft.
“Are you gonna tell her right away?”
“Christ, I haven’t even thought that far in advance. I don’t know. I suppose I should, but she’s been through a lot today already and I don’t know if it’s something you can just spring on someone.”
“I don’t think there’s an easy way to do it. She might be human, but she’ll be feeling the pull of the bond, too.”
“Yeah, I suppose so.”
“Best to just do it. Quickly, you know? Like ripping off a bandaid.”
“You think?”
“Well, it’s not like I have any experience with mates. Although my dad told my mom as soon as he met her.”
“Yeah? How did your mom react?”
“She refused to talk to him for a month—thought he was crazy.”
“Really? What did your father do?”
“Dad basically stalked her for a couple of weeks until he could get her alone then he shifted in front of her. But hey, it worked out in the end.”
