“You spoke to Mason?”
“Not yet…but I did talk to Mom,” Jackson said, smiling broadly. “It actually was Mac’s idea a while back, but I was hesitant because I wasn’t sure my mother would be up to it. After he told me about Theo, I knew we had to come up with a more permanent solution—one that wouldn’t make Dakota and Theo feel like I was replacing them.
“So I went to see Mom and asked her what she thought about doing some cooking for the Blackwood Pack during Dakota and Theo’s pregnancies. Babe, you should have seen her face light up when I asked her. Mac was right. Mom needs to feel useful and there’s nothing more useful than cooking for us.”
Frowning slightly, Steel asked, “Are you sure Dakota won’t mind? He’s very…I don’t know…he just doesn’t like anyone messing with his kitchen.”
Jackson chuckled. “Not to worry. I already checked with him and it’s fine. I’m sure it’ll be okay with Theo, too.” Catching his mate’s frown, he continued, “I didn’t mean to step on your toes, babe, but after Mac told me how much it would help my mother, I…”
“You didn’t,mo chroí, besides, I have steel toes,” he laughed. Wrapping his arms around Jackson, he purred, “I think it’s the perfect solution…and besides, how can I object when it frees me up to have more time with you?”
“Nope, you certainly can’t,” Jackson said softly, before giving his mate a kiss.
Chapter 21
“Boss? What do you wanna do with the humans?” asked Hawkeye.
Shifting his eyes from the swirling dust left by Elliot’s truck, Ghost looked skeptically at the bound humans, wondering if the explosives were actually gone. It would help if he knew what kind of creature the man was, but without a scent, he was only positive that Elliot wasn’t human. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough for him to feel safe enough to load his prisoners back into the SUV. He needed more information before risking the lives of his men. Pulling his phone from his pocket, he dialed the only man he knew who could help him.
“Why didja hang up?” Riley asked.
Ghost smiled at the crunching sound in the background. “Someone showed up. I need you to drop everything and run a background check on him.”
Moving to another computer, Riley asked, “Who?”
“Sgt. Elliot Farren. He’s a Fish and Wildlife game warden.” Ghost waited, listening to Riley talk to himself as he searched. It was one of his quirks that Ghost found amusing.
“He’s not human,” Riley confirmed. “No record of his birth.”
“I figured that out myself,” muttered Ghost.
Ignoring the sarcastic comment, Riley continued, coming up empty in each database he searched. “Well, he’s not a shifter, dragon, magic user…strange.”
“What is he?”
“Huh…” Riley’s fingers flew over the keyboard as he tried one search after another only to be met with failure each time.
“Riley,” Ghost growled. “A little information would be greatly appreciated.”
“Oh…right. The only thing I found was an encrypted file that might pertain to Elliot.”
“Might?” Ghost snorted. “Itmighthelp if you open it, doncha think?”
After several different attempts to open the concealed file failed, Riley threw up his hands in frustration. “That’s just it…I can’t. Whoever wrote this program is a fucking genius.”
Ghost was speechless at Riley’s comment because it wasn’t like him to give up. The man was brilliant when it came to breaking into encrypted computer files which is why he was so valuable to them. Finally, gathering his thoughts, he asked, “Where did you find the file?”
“It’s hidden in a folder in an old database. I almost didn’t check it at first since it hasn’t been used by the agency in quite a while.”
“I don’t understand…if you can access that database, why can’t you open it?”
“It has its own encryption,” Riley muttered, as he tried again to access the file. “This is unlike any I’ve ever seen before.”
“Did you try some old encryption methods?” asked Ghost. “If it’s in that database, maybe it was…”
“I tried them all,” Riley said, tersely.
“Then it’s new,” Ghost mused.
