“And you think that’s what happened to Jimmy.You think he was wounded and that the people he was with didn’t bother helping him.”
“It would make sense.That’s why he never came back.We can’t know exactly what happened, but I suspect that when he found out that you were a shifter, he decided to stick around, maybe so he could sell you off to a lab or kill you.The problem is that he started liking you.You mentioned that you’d never met his family.”
“No, but like I said, his father had been hurt on the job.”Ben gasped.“You think he’s a hunter, too?”If he was, he could’ve been hurt on a hunt.
“It’s possible.”
The more Ben thought about it, the more convinced he was that that was the case.How could he not have noticed any of this?How could he not have suspected what Jimmy was?
“But he never really cared about me,” Ben said.“Why would he have locked me up if he did?”
“Even if he didn’t have feelings for you, he wanted you to be his,” Taylor said softly, taking Ben’s hand and linking their fingers together.
“You’d think he’d have been happy when I broke up with him.”
“He was losing control.”
“I just have a hard time believing that he wanted me so badly that he dated me even though he didn’t believe I should have the same rights as he had or even be alive.”
“I don’t think we can make sense of all of it.”Taylor looked at Tony.“But we need to take this back to Gal.He’ll have to contact the Council.These journals have names of people Jimmy and his fellow hunters hurt, and maybe more.”
Tony nodded and squared his shoulders.“All right.Taylor, where did you find this?”
“In the basement.There are more boxes.I didn’t check what was inside those.”
“Peter, you go.Bring back anything you think has something to do with the hunters, any journals or personal notes.Jacob, check the rest of the house, just in case.Taylor, Ben, and I will stay in the office and poke around.We might find more.”
It would be a lot of work for Peter and Jacob, but neither of them argued.They left the office, and even though Ben wasn’t alone, he allowed himself to freak out for a moment.
He knew how lucky he’d been.If Jimmy hadn’t liked him the day they’d met, would he have killed him?Would he have captured him and sold him to a lab?How many times had he done just that to other people?
“Keep your eyes and ears open,” Tony said as he opened one of the desk drawers.“We don’t know what we might find.”
Ben had no intention of rooting around Jimmy’s stuff.Just being in the office and smelling him made Ben’s stomach turn.He told himself to be brave, but it was hard, even with his mate by his side.
Everything about this situation was hard.Ben hoped they were almost out of it, but considering what they’d just found out about Jimmy, he suspected it was only the beginning.
Chapter Six
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“YOU DO KNOW THAT YOUcan get both bags, right?”Taylor said, trying to keep his amusement out of his voice.
From the glare Ben shot him, he was pretty sure he’d failed.His mate was cute when he was grumpy, though, so as far as Taylor was concerned, he’d won anyway.
“I just want everything to be perfect,” Ben said.
“I get that, but we still have a few things to do before your family gets to the house.We can’t spend half the day choosing chips, and it’s okay if you grab both bags.”
Ben sighed and did just that, throwing them into their cart.He turned to go, but Taylor hooked an arm around his waist and pulled him close.Ben came easily, allowing Taylor to press their bodies together.Taylor looked around, but the grocery store was pretty much empty apart from them, so it wasn’t a problem.
“Your family is happy to have you back,” he told Ben.“I doubt they’d care even if we didn’t offer them anything to eat.They just want to see you.”
“I know.”Ben looked away.“But I feel guilty.”
Taylor knew that.They’d talked before Ben had decided to call his family.He hated that he hadn’t contacted them sooner, but his reasoning made sense.Even though he hadn’t known that Jimmy was a hunter, he’d known the man was dangerous.He’d been trying to protect his family, and he’d thought he was doing that by staying away from them.If Jimmy was alive, it would’ve been the right move, and Ben hadn’t known the man was dead.
Well, probably dead.They didn’t have any proof of it, and now that they knew that he’d been a hunter, they were sure that his family wasn’t going to go to the cops.Ben would probably never find out what had happened to Jimmy, which Taylor wasn’t happy about.He wanted his mate to be able to stop looking over his shoulder, and he didn’t know if Ben would be able to do that if he wasn’t sure that Jimmy was permanently gone.
