Page 21 of Alpha Wolf Bodyguard

“Oh, look at that, I was heading there in a few minutes anyway.”

An hour later, we were settled in our room with bags of junk food, questionable sandwiches, and a case of crappy beer. It was far from the Ritz, but it would do.

“Is it me, or was that really hot the way Nate handled our check in?” Watching him take charge like that made me want to drag him straight into our room where we could be alone.

“It’s not you,” Trig said. “It was hot as hell.”

“I figured it was the least I could do. I might not have connections to a cabin for us to hide in, or a beast as fierce as your wolf, but I do have money. Sometimes in the human world, that’s enough.”

We put things away the best we could and enjoyed our meal of ham or maybe it was bologna… or possibly turkey sandwiches out of little plastic triangles. They didn’t taste horrible, and they filled our bellies.

As we ate, we discussed what our next move should be. Nate was gonna call his co-worker Ash, but aside from that, our plan basically involved a whole lot of waiting. This place was nowhere near as nice as the cabin, but it was close to a national park if our beasts demanded some time to run, and it was empty so we didn’t have to worry about anyone but the owner who was at the moment quite happy with us.

We spent the next few days in bed, watching cheesy soaps on the crappy 19-inch television along with some old game shows. It wasn’t the most comfortable setting, but I was with my mates and they were safe, and that was all that mattered.

Nate had connected with Ash, one of his co-workers, one he thought really highly of. He promised to look into things for us and get back to us when he did. Waiting for him to call back was stressful, the fear that we had inadvertently put him in danger very close to the surface. But a few days later, he got back in touch with us.

Ash was a wolf, or at least Nate assumed he was a wolf. They’d not had a conversation about it, but the scent was there. That made him uniquely qualified for our cases. Because now that there was a body, it was no longer just protecting Nate.

Not only did he have to help us with the situation of the criminal case that Nate was a witness to, but potentially with legal support because of the dead guy. Filling out the forms as an animal attack was the only way to get us out of there quickly. If we had been upfront in the paperwork, the officer would’ve had no choice but to bring us in for questioning. That would make later more complicated if anyone put two and two together, which was highly likely.

We hadn’t quite brought that up to him yet. We figured it was a need-to-know basis, and I wasn’t sure he needed to know that just yet.

By the end of day four, Ash called with another update. Things were moving forward with the criminal case. He was out on bail because money buys freedoms, even if only temporarily, but the dates were not only set, but rushed thanks to some favors Ash called in.

I appreciated that so much because living life at a standstill wasn’t really living life at all, even if it was nestled with my mates binge watching television.

Chapter 18

Nate

The day had finally come for us to leave our room. I had mixed feelings. It would be great to get out for some fresh air and a change of scenery, but also, it meant we were out in the open and an easier target. Had it not been necessary for us to go, I’d have erred on the side of caution, but it was. We had no choice.

I gave the owner of the motels a few more hundreds. “We’ll be back with more,” I assured him.

He made no secret of his love for our money, and that worked for me. I was getting low on cash, but what I gave him was enough to hold our spot for us. I’d need to get some more while we were in the city.

More important than holding our room was preventing him from talking if anybody happened to show up and ask questions. We didn’t think they would, but we hadn’t thought they’d find the cabin either. So you never know. It was a case of better safe than sorry.

Today was the day Ash set up for us to meet with the prosecutors to get ready for the trial. I didn’t love the idea of going back to the city where this all began, but we really didn’t have a choice. This was necessary if we were ever going to be truly safe.

We pulled into the back of the courthouse, which was more of a city hall-courthouse combination. The prosecutors had their offices there. And at least when we were inside, no one would see us and there wouldn’t be any armed criminals. At least that was the theory. They did have metal detectors, so that was something.

My mates and I came in, working our way through security with ease. I’d been to court far more than I’d have liked thanks to work. But with contract law, I wasn’t here enough for the guards to know me and was relieved that everything went so smoothly.

We wove our way to where my meeting was scheduled, my hand gripping Trig’s, Garin taking up the rear, making sure that we were safe. He might not have had any training in being a bodyguard, but it came easily to him. Maybe that was because he was one of my alphas and it came naturally, but I had a feeling it was instinctual with him.

The lawyer, Anders, greeted us at the conference room door and told my mates where to wait for me. I hated that they couldn’t be with me, but hadn’t expected otherwise.

I sat down at the conference table, and Anders introduced me to the others in the room and we began. It was exactly as I suspected it to be. I was in the fortunate position of not knowing much more than the incident at hand. It wasn’t a case where I knew the victim or the suspect, and all questions related to that were off the table.

They did ask where I’d been and if the suspect had been in contact with me. I refused to give them our location, citing safety, and they respected my wishes. Not that they had a choice. I wouldn’t budge. It wasn’t only me who was in danger now.

“I think that’s all for today.” Anders stood up and dismissed everyone, but as they were leaving, he told me to wait a second so he could give me his card. Instantly, I knew something was up. Of course I already had his contact information or I wouldn’t have been here.

Once the room was cleared, he whispered low, “I can get you witness protection.”

I knew this. He’d offered before. But there was something different about this one, like he was saying it because something had changed.

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