“He said he was new in town,” Reed says. He shakes his head, the tension leaving his shoulders. A faint, dry smile touches his mouth. “Well, I’ll talk to Bram about getting real cameras set up.” He taps the bills against his palm. “Maybe we can use this to buy some better coffee.”
He steps closer, wrapping his arm around my waist to pull me against his side. The warmth of his body cuts through the afternoon breeze, his woodsmoke scent folding over me again.
“For now,” he murmurs against my hair. “Very good job, Inspector Luna.”
I lean into his side, my body still warm and slightly tender from where we were locked just minutes ago. From the way his arm tightens around me, he isn’t ready to let go of the quiet we found in the shed either.
“By the way, what we did was just round one,” he whispers against my ear.
“I’m holding you to it,” I murmur.
29
Bram
You can’t outwork a bad market.
For years I’ve believed otherwise—that if I got up earlier, worked more, the orchard would hold. But the numbers on the spreadsheet in front of me don’t care how early I got up. Three columns of expenses. One column of projected revenue, and I padded that one to be kind to myself. They still don’t meet. Not close.
I rub the back of my neck, right where the muscle ropes up into the skull. Mom and Dad worked this land into their sixties and never once looked as wrung-out as I feel at this desk. Or if they did, they never let me catch it.
In the end, maybe it’s just better not to let the family watch you sweat.
My phone buzzes against the desk and rattles the cold mug beside it. I drag it over.
Reed.
Reed:We might need more cameras.
I sigh through my nose. Hurray, more problems.
Bram:More? We put up half a dozen after the Luna’s bag incident.
The three dots pulse. Stop. Pulse again.
Reed:Yeah, but we should probably expand the reach to cover more of the property. We just caught a teenager sabotaging the staging bay. He says someone paid him to do it. Doubt he’ll be back, but I still want better coverage out there.
The mug stops halfway to my mouth. I set it down, my jaw going tight.
Bram:Tell me what happened.
Reed:Relax. Thanks to Luna we caught him clean. She built a whole trap for it, Bram. I wish you’d seen her work...
And just like that, the tension leaves my jaw, replaced by a sudden, steady swell of pride.
Ours,my Alpha rumbles, sounding incredibly smug.Capable.
I indulge in the feeling for a beat or two, but the reality of the situation quickly settles back in.
Bram:You didn’t put her in the middle of anything dangerous though, right?
Reed:Wouldn’t dream of it. Though if anything, she’s the dangerous one.
The breath goes out of me, and a couple inches of tension go with it off the tops of my shoulders.
Bram:Did the kid say who paid him?
Reed:Some alpha in town. Thirties, brown hair. He’d never seen him around.
