Page 3 of Brutal Mate

“Less than forty-eight hours,” Jack admitted, and his expression mirrored exactly what Kane was thinking. Missing persons weren't usually taken seriously until after the forty-eight-hour mark unless they were children.

“And the others?” Kane asked.

“A couple of teenagers,” Jack said, looking at the paper again. “Deneen Mathews and Tommy Lewis. Apparently, their parents weren't too happy about the two of them spending time together. Seems like a pair of runaways to me, but either way, we need to look into them all and see if they can be located.”

Kane nodded. If they were to live peacefully in Nightstar, they had the play the part of the mayor and his team. Protection, law and order were all things that fell under their jurisdiction now.

“Do you want me to take a patrol out and see if I can track them down?” Kane asked, rising from his seat.

Jack shook his head. “I've already got Will and Eddie on that. I want you and Hanson to head into town and see if anyone has any information on any of the missing persons that might help us locate them if we can't pick up a scent.”

Kane bit back a groan. He wasn't much of a talker, especially when it came to talking to humans. He was never comfortable around them, especially with his packmates around. He had worked hard to make himself unquestionable when it came to his being a werewolf. It might have been irrational to believe that any old human might expose him, but it was a fear nonetheless.

“What's the matter?” Jack asked, as if he had sensed Kane's hesitation.

Kane quickly straightened up. Clearing his throat, he said, “Nothing, Alpha.”

Jack furrowed his brow at that but said nothing.

Shit, Kane cursed silently, knowing he had only encouraged suspicion.

Chapter 2 - Miley

Sitting behind the counter with her nose in her favorite book, Miley didn’t look up when the bell above the door jingled. The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland were much more exciting than whoever had wandered into the hardware store.

But the minute the book was snatched from her hand, losing her place, she realized the mistake she had made.

“What the fuck is this?” her father snarled at her, lifting the book in the air before he brought it down with a hard thud on the counter that made both Miley and her mother shudder. “You're supposed to be looking after the store.”

“I am,” Miley protested, jumping off her stool, her head dipping. “I've put out all the stock and cleaned up. I even mopped the floor.”

At that, her father sucked a great hacking glob of phlegm into his mouth and spat it at her feet. “Don't look very clean to me.”

Miley cringed, wishing not for the first time that she could be as brave as the women she read about in her fantasy novels. At only nineteen, she had imagined a thousand times what it might be like to run away from Nightstar, from her parents, from her abusive father and her dead-end life.

Once she saved up enough money, she might just do it. Until then, she had to bite her tongue and pray that the next beating wouldn’t be the one that killed her.

“Clean it up,” her father ordered. Miley glanced at her mother, standing behind him like a cowering shadow. She would be no help. She never was.

“Yes, Daddy,” Miley said through gritted teeth, and she moved to grab the bucket and mop.

Maybe if I fail to drain the mop well enough, he'll slip, Miley thought hopefully, but it would be just her luck that he would suffer only minor injuries and give her far worse.

Her hand barely gripped the bucket handle before she heard her father growl, “What the fuck is this mess?”

Wishing she could run away through the back office and down the alley, Miley instead turned to face her father.

She saw no mess, only the shelf of nails, screws and other bits and bobs she had tidied up while he had been out.

Working in a hardware store was boring as hell, and there were only so many things to do. Reorganization was practically the only thing that took her mind off how bored she was.

“I…I just straightened up a little,” she said, bringing the mop and bucket to clean up the floor.

Too late, she realized she was within reach, and no sooner had she realized that than her father lashed out. The bucket went flying, water spraying all over the place before the bucket and mop clattered to the floor in a puddle.

“How dare you rearrange everything? I won't be able to find shit now!”

Miley dipped her head, making herself small, praying the next blow wouldn't be aimed right at her.

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