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“No.” He didn’t need her to finish that sentence to know where she was going with it, and he refused to allow those words to even be uttered out loud. “She did something to him.”
“There’s no proof of that in the footage.”
“I don’t give a shit what you were able to see,” he snapped. “You missed something. Period. End of story.”
“Sir—”
He stopped just before the door and turned on her with a growl. “Keep pushing. I’m warning you. Even you.”
She took a step back and bowed.
Odin entered the room, slamming the door open, and walking straight to the nearest computer.
There was a single row of them, five in all, with an employee seated in front of each, viewing various holo-screens. Since the club was massive, they didn’t view live footage from the hundred cameras set up at once but bounced around them. Each room had Brumal guards whose job it was to prevent any type of scuffle or incident, so there was never really a reason for tightened security to be watching the cameras like a hawk.
Though clearly, that had been a mistake, since somehow Hunter had managed to slip past the notice of both Loni and any of the guards currently stationed in the room he’d been in last.
Without waiting for the employee, a smaller man who cowered before him, to make way, Odin shoved his chair, the seat rolling a good few feet before coming to a stop when it bumped up against Loni.
She’d followed him in, but Corbi had smartly waited in the hall.
“Where?” he asked.
“Bar One. Not long after you left.”
Odin typed in the information and pulled up the footage from a few hours ago. It didn’t take him long to locate the right camera, aimed just above the bar so that it faced out over the crowd.
Hunter was seated, scowling as he sipped lightly at his drink. Loni was with him for a time, and then Sun arrived and she said something he couldn’t hear and left. Not long after that, Sun was called away as well, leaving Hunter unattended.
Odin sped up the footage, frowning as he watched. There was no sign that Hunter intended to leave so why—
A hooded figure approached him, settling into the empty seat at his right. He almost didn’t notice until the person spoke. There was no audio on the security cameras since this club dealt with some high-standing members of society who didn’t want their secrets, even ones whispered in the dark in the ears of potential lovers, out in the world. But it was obvious whatever the person said—female, he could tell—startled Hunter out of his internal musings.
A range of emotions passed over his face, from surprise to fear to doubt to elation, but then settled finally on confusion. The woman did something below the table, something the camera couldn’t see, and then stood.
“We believe this was when she removed his bracelet,” Loni said.
Sure enough, a moment later the woman went to step away, only for Hunter to pull her back. She didn’t appear to be pleased, saying something harshly to him before she left, walking toward the exit of the bar.
Hunter hesitated, and even though it had already happened and logically he knew it was too late to stop him, Odin held his breath and silently pleaded with the other man not to follow anyway.
“This is important,” Loni told him.
Hunter turned back and looked directly at the camera as if trying to silently convey a message. He lifted the bracelet into view, sure that it could be captured on the footage, and then slipped it into his pocket.
“Corbi believes he was trying to taunt you,” Loni tentatively began. “But I have a different opinion, sir.”
“Tell me.” Out of the twins, Loni had been the one at Hunter’s side the most. The two of them had even developed a sort of friendship, one that Odin was a little bit jealous of at times. If he was going to trust someone where Hunter was concerned, it would be her over her sister.
“I think he kept the bracelet on purpose,” she explained. “He may have hoped you could trace it even though it’s been disconnected.”
“Have you tried?”
“I have someone on it,” she said, “but it could take a while. There’s no off switch so it’s technically not powered down, but because it’s no longer attached to his wrist the device is no longer connected directly to our software. I have our best tracker on it.”
Odin kept watching the video, the tension inside of him coiling until he thought his chest was going to explode. He switched cameras to watch as Hunter trailed after the woman, still unsure of his movements. At the exit door, he stopped a second time, tipping his head back to stare at the camera there as he had with the one at the bar.
It was dark in the hallway, almost hard to make him out at all, but Odin caught the movement of his mouth as he said something. He rewound and zoomed in, trying harder to see. It took three tries but he finally got it in the end.
