Page 9 of Petals & Promises

Before I could answer, Warrick jumped in. “I’ve already addressed that. He came into my bar, grabbed Bailey-Rose, and tried to drag her out of the place. You already know he believed they were still together but was giving her space. There is no need to rehash something when I was a witness.”

Vogal’s jaw muscle twitched at Warrick’s intervention. “It is helpful to hear about situations from other perspectives. There might be some information Miss Thatcher remembers that you didn’t hear. Eyewitness accounts are deeply unreliable.”

Hearing the dismissive tone in Detective Vogal’s words had my blood boiling. “Detective, if you would like my continued cooperation, then I suggest you watch how you speak to my pack. We are the victims here, or have you forgotten that?”

Vogal seemed taken aback by my outburst, but Detective Kelsen just smirked and gave me a wink of approval. It would seem not many people called Detective Vogal out on his shitty attitude.

“My apologies, Miss Thatcher, I didn’t mean to come across too callous,” Vogal said, backpedaling like the best of them. “I’ll be honest, it doesn’t make sense why we can’t find him. Nothing in what we’ve learned or discovered in his home or place of work suggests he would be capable of hiding from the cops this effectively. Do you know anything else that might help us get this guy?”

I chewed on my lip, replaying that moment over in my head, then I remembered something. “This isn’t the first time he’s done this,” I blurted. “The first time I met Randall was at the hospital while I was recovering from a chest cold. He told me back then he was there visiting his brother who’d been hurt, but that was a lie.”

My hands began to shake as I thought back to that day and how lucky I felt to have found someone who understood. Little did I know I played right into the hands of a madman.

“He’d had a pack, one he was scent matched to, but got rejected when his Omega wouldn’t let him mark her. I guess the reasoning she gave the Scent Matchers was he scared her. This made him angry enough that he beat her to the point she ended up in the hospital. Claimed she was telling lies and needed to be honest and speak the truth,” I explained. “The brother he claimed to be visiting was actually the Omega he beat up. When one of the other Alphas in his previous pack got pissed at Randall for being there, Randall beat him up too.”

Ulysses stood with a snarl as he began to pace behind the couch. “Tell me, how is an animal like that not put in jail? The laws about abusing Omegas are clear and enforced no matter what, or so I thought.”

“There is no mention of this altercation or the fact Mr. Steele ever had a pack on file. We are going to need to dig a little deeper into this new information. It’s possible he might be using a different name to keep that off his record. Either that, or he has family and friends in some high places to keep this sort of thing quiet,” Vogal admitted, tucking away his notepad. “Thank you for your time, Miss Thatcher. Is it okay with you if I reach out with any further questions?”

“Absolutely, if there is anything I can do to help put Randall behind bars, I will,” I said, shaking both the detectives’ hands. “Although, since I need to get a new phone and number, it might be best to call Yun if you need to get in touch.”

Yun-Sun had made it known he was the point person with this matter. Anything to do with Randall or the Scent Matchers was to be directed to him. I was more than happy to hand that responsibility over to the most qualified member of our pack. Plus, it seemed to give Yun purpose and something to focus on besides me.

“Not a problem,” Detective Vogal assured me before following Yun, who showed them out of the house.

The guys were quiet as Vili handed me my pain medication, which I took, gulping down the rest of my tea. Vili let his fingers glide through my hair, brushing it back and out of my face. “Are you okay, kitten?”

With a half-hearted smile, I nodded, then sank against Gareth’s warm, comforting body, allowing myself to be enveloped by his sweet tea and lemon scent. “I just can’t believe I didn’t see it before now. We dated for six months, so shouldn’t that have been long enough to know if someone is batshit crazy?”

Warrick shifted to sit on the ottoman so he could see my face. “Have you heard about the three-month rule?” I scrunched up my face in confusion. “All right, I’ll take that as a no. Well, there is a theory that it takes a person three months before they start showing their true colors to someone they are dating. At that point in your relationship, you left for three months to finish school. So it’s possible you didn’t know because he could still hide the crazy.”

I rolled that thought over in my mind, trying to see if it made me feel any better. While I was at school, we mostly talked in short bursts on the phone, over video chat, or through text messages. Anyone can fake their personality for such a short time, even after three months have passed. This knowledge didn’t make me feel better, but it did keep me from beating myself up.

“What do you say we watch a movie until your meds kick in?” Gareth suggested. “I believe next on our list of Disney movies is Peter Pan. Personally, I think it’s one that if you fall asleep during the middle, you won’t miss much.”

During my time in the hospital, Crew told the guys about my hobby of picking some tangent to turn into a movie marathon. I’ve done it by director, theme, word in the title, anything to give me a goal to accomplish while I was stuck in bed. This time, I let the guys pick since they would be subjected to the choice as well. In a surprising turn of events, they chose Disney movies in order by release date, and they weren’t talking about just the animated files. They truly meant anything created by Disney.

“You also said that about Treasure Island, but you were glued to the screen the entire time,” I reminded him.

He nipped at the shell of my ear, making me gasp as a pleasant tingle ran through my body. They’d taken me off my suppressants and put me on birth control since I agreed I was in no shape to risk the chance of becoming pregnant. Not that I was getting any action with how sore I still was, even with the special treatments Dr. Arbour had me on to speed up healing the past few days.

“It’s dangerous to tease me, Gareth,” I warned. “You heard the doc. The accelerator will help me heal but also removes medications lingering in my system. There are no suppressants left to keep my heat at bay, and that has left me incredibly sensitive.”

Gareth nuzzled my neck, pressing a soft kiss there. “So you’re telling me I could get you off with a flick of my tongue?”

Instantly, my mouth went dry, and my pussy was soaked from hearing the offer. “Gareth,” I whimpered.

Sitting up, he looked down at me, realizing I was not kidding about how horny I was. For the first time since I was thirteen, I haven’t been on suppressants. Dr. Arbour warned me I might feel like a randy teenager since my body hasn’t had to regulate my hormones until now. All of us were under strict instructions that sex wasn’t allowed to happen until Dr. Arbour gave the all clear.

“Holy shit,” Gareth swore. “I’m so sorry, baby girl. You were being serious, and I clearly wasn’t listening.”

“Fuck, do you smell that? Is she perfuming?” Ulysses asked. “This absolutely can’t happen right now. Gareth, why don’t you give her a little space, and I’ll message Doc.”

“Good idea. I’ll grab the neutralizing salts,” Warrick announced.

Neutralizing salts were used mainly by Alphas who needed to get a scent out of their head. It was meant to be used during rut if they had to interact with others outside their pack. Warrick returned with a small glass jar and held it under my nose so I could take in a few deep breaths. To my surprise, it cleared my body’s fixation on Gareth’s scent and the promise of what he offered.

“Wow, that stuff is impressive. His scent is totally gone, wiped from my memory,” I said as I let my head flop back onto the couch. “That was close, a little too close. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing I would like more than to get lost in the lust-filled fog of a heat and let you guys ravage me. Yet somehow, I don’t think it’s a wise choice now.”