Page 21 of Feral Alphas

“I guess you know everything then.” I shrug and grin. Running some accounts is easy enough, and it gives us a starting place.

Colt’s eyes narrow and pulls his keys out of his pocket. “Not everything by a long shot.”

Shit, it was a throwaway comment, but it seems like I’ve pissed him off again. “Going somewhere?” I ask, an odd, ruffled sensation running through my chest. I’ve been in the Bureau longer than Colt, yet he still manages to make me feel inexperienced.

“Yeah, I’ve got to talk to a bird about this.”

It shouldn’t surprise me that Colt has his own informants, but I don’t like the idea of him heading off in the middle of the case. I hook my thumbs in my belt loops and hope I don’t sound like I’m whining. “We’re supposed to be solving this together, aren’t we?”

Colt grunts under his breath. “We are. You’re following the money, and I’m out there following the bodies. Still working on the case.” He spins on his heel. Prickly bastard.

“I’m the senior agent,” I call after him. “I could order you back here.”

“Just try it, Liam. Just try it.”

I can’t help chuckling at the dark tone in his voice. He’s as cool as a cucumber with everyone else, so it’s kinda fun to get under his skin. Felina throws me a dirty look before trailing after her partner.

Russell shakes his head. “One of these days you’re going to push him too far, and then you’ll regret it.”

I shrug. “Huh, what’s to regret? Colt already hates me.” Although I’m not sure why. Pushing his buttons seems to be the only way to get him to acknowledge my existence.

After joining the Bureau, Colt rose up through the ranks from junior agent to special agent within a few years. The only reason I outrank the older man is because I’ve been working here longer, but in another year, Colt will hit his fifteen years of service and be promoted to senior special agent like me.

By all rights we could be good friends; we’re both top agents and alphas without packs. Well, Colt kind of has a pack with the killer alpha he took in and tamed. How many agents could boast about something like that?

I shrug it off. “Come on, we’ve got a money trail to follow.”

We head back to the Bureau and dive into the club’s finances. It’s a bit like looking for a needle in a haystack, but Russell and I get the transactions down to a hundred accounts, and Felina sends over timestamped photos of women at the club so we can add that information to our search.

By the time Colt’s back, we have ten accounts on screen. “Let me see.” As the senior agent, I should be leading this case, but he’s already leaning on my shoulder and bringing his alpha scent up close. It coils through my lungs, like I’m standing next to the in-season mandarins in the fruit aisle. I shove that thought away and drag my attention back to the screen.

I’ll let the hierarchy slide this once.

“My snitch said there’s been activity coming out of Kelsey Heights. Were any of the club entrances paid for on business cards or by people living there?”

I narrow the search terms and click my fingers at one of them. “Firestorm Noodle Bar, Kelsey Heights. That’s the damn center of town.”

Colt’s grip on my shoulder tightens momentarily, both of us quivering with the thrill of falling down a rabbit hole. I type in the address and get the closest feed from a street camera, skipping back through the recordings to the night the dealer was supposedly at the club.

“There!” Colt says, leaning even closer.

I find the spot and pause on a tall woman in heels with a hoodie dangling over her arm opening up the morning after. When I zoom in, there are two ringed smudges on the back of her hand.

“Bingo!” Felina say with a whoop.

“We’ll need a warrant to dig deeper,” I mutter.

“Yeah.” Colt steps back, freeing me from his alpha presence. “Let’s go see Minstrom.”

Our boss looks up as I knock on the glass window in his door. “Got something for me?” Minstrom asks.

I sling my arm around Colt’s big shoulders, but he shrugs me off. “We’re following a good trail, chief! This is going to be a big one, but we need a warrant.”

The Special Agent in Charge leans on his elbows. “Tell me the details.”

Colt doesn’t seem inclined to speak, so I jump right in, handing over the warrant request form with our evidence and explaining how we processed the lead.

When I’m done, Minstrom glances at Colt, then eyeballs me. “You think the lead is good, Liam?”

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