Stanley Curdle, the only person who could tell Malcolm what for in the firm, stood by the windows of his office, silently trying to pick his words for Malcolm. “Malcolm, I know it’s been hard working on the project without Melody. She would have been your perfect match. Your yin to your yang. But you need help with her gone. Your work is suffering. Please, I gave you a list of candidates, pick one. If you can tell me what happened between you and Melody. Then when we find her, we’ll try to repair the damage. You’re both too good to lose.” Stanley pointed to the files on his desk he left there for Malcolm to study before he decided. They were all good, not as good as Melody. But he could pick one blindly and they’d do the job. Malcolm heard the words perfectly together, and Stanley was correct. They had been perfect together, and that’s what kept him up at night, watching the video and remembering every detail of how perfect they were together. He’d hired Edward Toulouchi
Ellie had to make another run for the post office. To avoid too many eyes on her, she packed the trunk of her old Buick after most people were asleep and hit the road early so she could miss the elder foxes snooping on the den looking for someone to disapprove of and to avoid line ups at the post office. Today Melody and she had to make house calls to several foxes. Several kits were down with a common virus. Miserable, but they would be fine in a week. Then there were the Elder foxes, who expected to be catered to at what Ellie believed was everyone else’s inconvenience and at times detriment. But honour thy elder was firmly planted in their den in life. She then wondered if this was the case with other dens. Just like why didn’t they move to a location more friendly to fox shifters? Though Ellie had a theory on that, and Melody agreed. Once they settled, they’d search for another den and find out if Ellie’s theory was correct. She suspected the elders were desperate to hold
Jordan worked every day trying to keep his Alpha going. He wanted to find Melody and her sexy little friend for so many reasons. He could give Edward only part of what he wanted in the information he’d need to search for her. The firm opened up their records to them, but there were so many dead ends of there too. Edward was a shifter who used both modern and traditional tracking methods. When he entered her office, we met him in a peculiar situation, one neither Malcolm nor Jordan noticed before. Beyond the smell of her perfume, there was no scent of her. Somehow, she restricted her scent. Jordan entered the restaurant and was escorted to the table where Malcolm and Edward sat. “Sorry, I’m late” Jordan sat down, they ordered, and Edward started his report. “I was trying to find that information. I found it, but you aren’t going to like it.” Edward clearly didn’t want to tell Malcolm something. “Here, you can read it yourself in greater detail later.
It took Ellie several months to get Melody on the mend, and she worried constantly. Mel took too many of the scent blockers for too long and Ellie was sure it didn’t help her health wise. She’d found an email from the pharmaceutical manufacturer of the pills. The letter stated that they’d like to remind the users of the drug signed a waiver releasing the company of their legal responsibilities for any ill effects caused by the drug or unforeseen drug interactions. After that, they warned that women on certain types of birth control could expect their birth control to fail, and possible pregnancies could occur with long-term use of their product. Normally, Ellie would wonder who would use such a drug for a long period of time. However, she knew someone and the why. “Hey, you’re out of bed. How are you feeling?” Ellie looked up from her laptop on the table to see Melody entering from the bedroom. “Yeah, I’m feeling better, like a truck ran me over, but
Melody felt huge as a house, and it didn’t help her mood any with everyone commenting on it. Her kit was just a large boy. That was all. When the men of the den found out she was having a boy, several single men flocked to her side to pressure her into mating with them. Their sudden change of heart had nothing to do with science and everything to do with old folklore. If a female birthed a male, then she’d keep doing it. They currently outnumbered the men of the den three to one. They wanted control of the den again from the women. This made Melody and Ellie want to leave faster than ever before. There was no way she would stay. There was already talk of forced mating and the arguments were getting violent in some households. She was in the courtyard trying to get some air and to avoid Thomas Addlewood when she finally went into labour. It was all she could do to get inside before her water broke. Twenty minutes passed before she stumbled into the apartment she shared wi
Malcolm, weeks later, had his meetings, with everything in his life a mess. It wasn’t his fault this time, though. His client was having issues with a virus running rampant through their shops and facilities. It forced everyone to postpone several inspections and face-to-face meetings until the virus ran its course. He tried to go over his files and notes on the client he’d met today, but he was restless. Nothing would stick in his mind. This wasn’t him. Malcolm was distracted from everything. Jordan kept warning him he was acting like a shifter who’d lost his mate. Now he wondered if he was like this still. Did he risk losing a mate? Humans and other shifters sometimes could become mate. But he was an Alpha and a mate like that wasn’t acceptable. His mind kept drifting to tan curves and a string bikini. That purple dildo and the feel of her around him. Malcolm put his laptop down and looked at the heated state of his lap. Jordan, among others, star
Ellie was the first to admit she panicked and rushed from the post office. She’d finished sending the packages, but hadn’t checked the PO Box. When she got off the phone with Melody, her heart was pounding, and she was talking like a madwoman. She had an emergency, and she’d pick up her packages tomorrow or the next day. Ellie prayed the clerk understood what she said. It was so humiliating. It took Ellie a bit to find her way to the back parking lot of the building. The one-way streets were killer on your mileage and time-consuming. It’s supposed to lower the traffic on the streets. In a pig’s eye, it did. It just made things worse for everyone. She texted Mel that she was waiting, and the coast was clear. Ellie drove right by him to get there. But he’d not seen her or her car because he was too busy looking into shop windows for Mel. Ellie guessed he didn’t think they’d have a key to the building. A week and a half, that’s what time they had to wait for the apartm
Malcolm picked up his phone and answered the call. It was Eddie, the investigator. He wasn’t supposed to report yet. He had to have found something. “Alright, Malcolm, now listen to me. I may have found something. A charge on her credit card and an apartment building address for her. But they aren’t there yet. They move in a few days from now. The charge on her credit card maybe because it was stolen or something. It’s for a seedy motel. The charge is for the same number of days as there is between now and the move in date with one extra day.”Malcolm heard him. It seemed too easy. After all this time. Where had she been at that time? “Do we know if she’s a human or a shifter?” “That’s something I need to find out. I’ll stake out the motel. She doesn’t know me. I can get close and find out. But I suspect you should give her time to move into the apartment and settle before you contact her. That will ensure your pup is comfortable while you work this out.” Eddie was tryin