Page 24 of Rugged

I kissed the top of Lyssa’s head–even though it was more boyfriend-y than hot date-y gesture and followed Rob into his office.

“Shut the door.” He settled into his desk chair.

I did, then I took the seat across from him.

“Chapman’s in the wind. None of the enforcers found any sign of him,” Rob told me.

I scratched my head. “Can we get Levi to look into him from a law enforcement perspective? Checking flight records, things like that. If the guy’s on vacation in Greece or something, it’d be a waste of time continuing our search.”

Rob leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. “Or you can try to get it out of that girlfriend–or hot date–of yours.”

I swallowed. “Yeah, I know, but I hate the idea of violating Lyssa’s trust by putting her in the middle of this.”

“She’s already in the middle of this. How long’s she been at her job?”

I thought back to what she said. “A few months.”

“And what happened to the previous caretaker?”

I’d considered the same question the day before but not so closely. My wolf growled, and I clenched the arms of the chair until they cracked. I swallowed then asked, “You think the job is a…a feeder for his trafficking?”

Meaning Chapman hired women to work on the ranch, isolated them from family and friends, maybe even hired women based on a lack of those things then made them disappear. Holy shit.

“It’s a possibility,” Rob admitted.

“But Lyssa’s human.”

“The Council hasn’t worked with human law enforcement on this. It’s possible human females have disappeared as well. The Council jurisdiction only covers shifters.”

“Fuck,” I muttered, then flung to my feet. Paced.

“So about this mate of yours.”

“Yes,” I replied, but warily. I had never once since I came to Wolf Ranch five years ago gone against my alpha. Not only because he was, well, the alpha, but because I was afraid I’d be banished again if I did anything wrong.

But Lyssa was my mate, and I would cross him for her.

“Does she know about us?”

“Of course not. I just met her yesterday.”

“Are you sure she doesn’t know about our kind?”

“No.” I spread my hands. “What do you want me to do–ask if she knows her boss turns into a wolf when he’s not selling females?”

“I don’t know. You’re a smart guy. I’m sure you’ll figure out some way to find out everything she knows and doesn’t know.”

A stone sank into the pit of my stomach.

My wolf didn’t like this. Manipulating or using my mate didn’t feel right.

But I was an enforcer now. Like an alpha, my job was to protect and defend the weak. Finding Chapman was the utmost priority, even if I had a mate.

Hell, especially because I had a mate. Because the sooner I eliminated any and all threats to her, the better.

“Listen, take a couple of days off from the ranch to focus on her. Get her to bond with you and find out everything you can about her, Chapman, and his ranch.”

I nodded. “Okay.”

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