Page 162 of Rejected By the Alpha King

Watched.

Immediately, I stilled as my wolf’s voice came through loud and clear. Without looking up, I took stock of my surroundings. There had only been three people in the store when I’d walked in. One person behind the cash register, one person stocking, and one person shopping.

Now there were six people in the store, and three of them were fanning around me.

Surrounding me.

I texted Anna a warning and glanced up. Both of my exits were blocked, and there was a man walking toward me. “Jax Bishop?” He asked as he pulled out a badge. “I’m Detective Warnos.”

“Detective,” I greeted. “Since you seem to know my name, that must mean that you were looking for me.”

Had he gone by the motel first? I hadn’t received any texts. I searched my bonds with Kenzi and Anna. They were upset but not panicked.

“As a matter of fact, I am. Do you have any weapons on you?”

I was a weapon. “I don’t generally shop with weapons on me,” I said dryly. “Is this about those missing women again? I let the officers in to look around. I didn’t kidnap anyone.”

“This is about those women. How about you come with me to the station, and we can talk about it a little further?” He moved his jacket out of the way to show me that he was armed.

I glanced at the gun and then back at him. “Do I have a choice?”

“You can go voluntarily, or I can put you in handcuffs and take you down. Your choice.”

My wolf growled, but I didn’t let it out. Instead, I pocketed my phone. “Then I guess I’m going voluntarily. Lead the way, detective.”

The other two men immediately flanked me as I followed the man out of the store. Looking over my shoulder, I saw Amelia standing at the corner, a look of concern on her face.

As subtly as I could, I shook my head. There was no need to rescue me. I wasn’t in any danger. These men were humans. Even if Emerson paid them off to try and kill me, I could still take them.

Instead, she pulled out her keys and slipped into our rental car.

When they opened the back of the police car, I didn’t budge. “I’m not riding back there.”

“Mr. Bishop…”

“I’m voluntarily coming with you. I’m not going to ride behind a cage like some criminal. I ride in the front or you can tell me what the hell you’re charging me with and put me in handcuffs.”

The detective took a look at the officer and nodded his head. They opened the passenger side, and I slipped in. No way was I getting into a caged car with no way of opening the door from the inside.

The ride was a short and quiet one. I was relieved to see that we were actually going to the police station. At least this wasn’t going to be an attempted execution.

As we drove past the motel, I glanced at it and wondered what the hell Emerson was up to now.

The station was small. There were six desks at the front and two rooms in the front. “I’m guessing you’re the only detective,” I said as we walked in. Everyone inside stopped and stared at me.

“That I am,” he sighed and opened one of the doors. “I know it says interrogation, but the other room is currently being used.”

I doubted that very much.

Sitting on one side of the table, I glanced at the camera in the corner. Blinking red. That meant it was recording. So far, this seemed to be legitimate.

Detective Warnos was a tall and slender man with salt and pepper hair and round wire-ripped glasses. In his tan-colored suit, he somehow just looked like he followed the letter of the law.

“So, Mr. Bishop, what exactly are you doing visiting our little town? We don’t exactly get a lot of tourists. Your identification says you live in one of the communities closer to the peak.”

So he was going to try and make this a friendly conversation. I could play along. “I’m looking to expand my distribution route this year, and I wanted to see what you guys had to offer. As I’m sure you can imagine, we don’t exactly get Amazon this far up. I didn’t know if anyone here traveled up the mountain or if we could establish a designated holding area for goods.”

“I’m sure our stores would be delighted in your business,” the detective said without batting an eye. “The motel clerk said you bought out all the rooms. Any particular reason for that?”

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