Aaron sat nervously in the back of Isaac’s car, fingers tapping a fast rhythm on his thigh until Harry’s hand stilled them. “Sorry,” he whispered and made a conscious effort not to fidget. But it was hard.
“You okay?” Isaac met his eyes in the rear-view mirror, concern obvious. Ever since Sam had assigned Isaac as their temporary beta, his whole demeanour towards them had altered. Not that he hadn’t been worried about them before—they were pack after all—but now it was different…more.
The change might have been subtle, but Aaron felt it down to his core, and so did his wolf. They’d been without a beta for too long, and the comfort of having one again—even temporarily—was almost enough to calm his nerves about what might happen next.
Almost.
When Harry nudged him, Aaron realised he’d yet to answer Isaac’s question, and he hastily replied with, “Yeah. Just a bit nervous.”
Their alpha sat in the passenger seat, and he shuffled around to face them both. Sam Thomas was what Aaron had heard humans describe as a typical alpha—tall, broad-shouldered, and well-muscled. But his light brown hair and deep brown eyes gave him a gentle-looking appearance that a lot of people—some shifters included—mistook for softness. They thought he was a pushover because, when he smiled, his cheeks dimpled. Apparently, that meant he wasn’t as tough as other alphas.
Which was so wrong, it was laughable.
Sam was gentle when he needed to be, and he had a great sense of humour, but as far as the welfare of his pack was concerned, he was as loyal and as fierce as any alpha Aaron knew. He commanded the respect of the whole pack without question, and anyone who thought otherwise only made that mistake once.
He met Aaron’s gaze. “Are you nervous about what we might find there?”
Aaron sighed. Honestly, he hadn’t given much thought to where they were going. “Not really. I’d be happy if we found a scent we could identify. Whoever it is, they’re doing us no favours, and they need stopping.”
Sam hummed in agreement. “What then?”
“I don’t know what the detectives are going to do about the other stuff,” he confessed. “They could charge me with more than one crime and report me to the council. And that’ll reflect badly on the pack, on you, and—”
“Aaron.” The slight alpha tone in Sam’s voice settled him. “If that’s the route they decide to take, then we’ll deal with it when it happens. And let me worry about the council.”
“If?” Aaron frowned in confusion. “You don’t think they will?”
Far from looking happy, Sam appeared resigned. “I suspect Detective Archer has something else in mind.” He sighed and shook his head. “But let’s try not to think about that for now.” He pointed to where the two detectives rode in the car in front. “We’re almost there. One thing at a time.”
When Sam faced forwards again, Aaron closed his eyes and let his head rest back against the seat. They were about to pass the building where he’d fought Charlie, and he had no wish to see it again. Everything had been going fine—coming clean to Sam had been liberating in a way he’d not expected. His and Harry’s activities had been weighing on his mind more than he’d realised. Being on probation was the best outcome they could have hoped for, and Aaron had been so relieved. He hadn’t expected to find himself driving towards a crime scene, following two SCTF detectives the very next day.
The detectives parked on the road next to what looked to be an alleyway or narrow road between buildings, and Isaac pulled up just behind them, the police crime scene tape clearly visible from their position.
Along with his nerves, Aaron felt a frisson of excitement.
Ignoring everything else going on and the fact that Aaron had kind of known the victim, they were about to visit an actualactivecrime scene—a dead body had been found a little over forty-eight hours before in that exact spot. It was probably in poor taste to feel that way, but he couldn’t help it. Judging from the way Harry craned his neck to get a better view, he wasn’t the only one itching to get out and take a look.
“Might as well get this over with.” Isaac turned off the engine and followed Sam out of the car.
Aaron reached for the door handle, but Harry stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. “I didn’t get the chance to tell you before, but thank you for trying to keep me out of all this.”
“Didn’t do any good though, did it?” Aaron reached for Harry’s hand and squeezed it. “Thanks for telling them you were at the club.”
“Of course. I couldn’t sit there and listen to them doubt you.” He smiled, and Aaron returned it.
“Come on. Let’s see if we can get this whole thing wrapped up and sorted.”
Aaron got out of the car and joined Sam and Isaac on the pavement.
Immediately the stench of rubbish hit him, and he grimaced as he spotted the two bins further behind the tape.
Archer was on the phone, talking to someone about the alleyway by the sounds of it. When he was finished, he waved them over. “They’re done with the crime scene. Deliveries are due early tomorrow morning, and Miller’s keen to get things back to normal as quickly as possible. We can get rid of it.” He waved at the tape behind him, indicating whatitwas.
“Miller?” Sam asked, following Archer as he headed towards the tape. Everyone else trooped after them.
“Ian Miller. He’s the Senior Investigating Officer. It’s his crime scene.”
“I thought this was an SCTF case?”
