Page 39 of Pack and Forth

“For me too,” Kira whispered, her throat tight. “You make me feel cherished. Protected. Like I’m finally home.”

They each pressed a tender kiss to her forehead before slipping out, leaving Kira to drift off with a smile on her face and a lightness in her heart.

The next morning, Kira woke refreshed and ready to tackle the case with renewed determination. Over coffee and muffins (which Nash had snuck out at dawn to get from her favorite bakery), the trio poured over the new intel Nash had gathered overnight.

“I managed to trace the SUV’s plates to a shell corporation with ties to none other than Franklin Dupont,” Nash revealed triumphantly.

“Dupont... Why does that name sound familiar?” Kira mused, racking her brain.

“He’s a real estate mogul with a reputation for ruthless business practices,” Rex supplied, his lip curled in distaste. “Rumor has it he’s got some kind of grudge against Gerri, but no one knows why.”

“Wait. He’s the one name on my client list. I hadn’t looked into him yet because I was trying to figure out what was up with Jonson. Looks like it’s time to dig deeper into Mr. Dupont’s dirty laundry,” Kira said.

Rex nodded, pride and admiration shining in his gaze. “Nash will work on hacking his records while you and I hit the streets to question his associates. Together, we’ll unravel his scheme and bring him down.”

“Hell, yeah, we will,” Nash agreed, holding out a fist. “Dream team for the win!”

With a grin, Kira bumped her fist against his, then turned to Rex with a smirk. “What do you say, partner? Ready to go catch some bad guys?”

“With you by my side, baby? Always.”

As they headed out to face the day’s challenges together, Kira felt a bone-deep certainty this was where she was meant to be - part of a pack, part of something bigger than herself.

She spared a moment to send up a silent prayer of thanks to Gerri for bringing these incredible men into her life. Then she squared her shoulders, ready to prove herself worthy of their faith and partnership.

The impersonator had messed with the wrong team and the wrong lioness. It was time to show them exactly what Kira was made of, and heaven help anyone who stood in their way.

TWENTY-TWO

Nash’s fingers flew across the keyboard, his eyes locked on the glowing screen as lines of code scrolled past. The first rays of dawn painted the safe house in a soft, golden light, but Nash hardly noticed. He’d been up for hours, his mind consumed with a single purpose: finding the digital breadcrumbs that would lead them to the Paranormal Dating Agency impersonator.

With a final keystroke, Nash leaned back in his chair, a triumphant grin spreading across his face. “Gotcha,” he muttered, his green eyes sparkling with satisfaction.

He’d spent the better part of the night sifting through a labyrinth of data - client lists, financial records, communication logs - anything that might shed light on their mysterious fraudster. It had been tedious work, combing through countless gigabytes of information, but Nash’s persistence had paid off.

Buried deep within the agency’s digital archives, he’d stumbled upon a series of inconsistencies. Certain IP addresses kept popping up, always linked to the most disastrous matches and the angriest clients. At first glance, they seemed random, scattered across various locations. But Nash knew better.

He’d used every trick in his extensive playbook to trace those IP addresses back to their source. It had been a challenge - whoever was behind this clearly knew their way around a computer. But they were no match for Nash Jeter.

After hours of digital sleuthing, he’d finally hit pay dirt. The trail led back to a single name: Franklin Dupont. He dug deeper, pulling up everything he could find on the man.

What he discovered made his blood boil.

Franklin Dupont was a former client of Gerri’s, a wealthy businessman with a reputation for being as charming as he was ruthless. He’d come to the Paranormal Dating Agency seeking a match, but Gerri had refused him service. The notes in his file painted a picture of a man with manipulative, aggressive tendencies - not the kind of person Gerri felt comfortable pairing with anyone.

Dupont, it seemed, had not taken the rejection well.

Nash leaned forward, his brow furrowed in concentration as he pieced together the timeline. Shortly after Gerri turned Dupont away, the first of the sabotaged matches had occurred. The frequency and severity of the incidents escalated from there, each one chipping away at the agency’s previously sterling reputation.

It was all starting to make sense. Dupont was orchestrating a campaign of revenge, deliberately undermining Gerri’s life’s work. The thought made Nash’s stomach churn with anger.

Just as he was about to dig deeper into Dupont’s digital footprint, Nash’s computer pinged with an alert. Someone was trying to hack into his system, probing for weaknesses. Nash’s lips curled into a smirk.

“Not today, buddy,” he murmured, his fingers already flying across the keys. He’d built his system himself, fortifying it with layers upon layers of security. Whoever was trying to breach his defenses was good - but Nash was better.

He traced the attempted intrusion back to its source, not surprised to find it originating from one of Dupont’s known associates. So, the man had hackers on his payroll. Interesting.

Nash made quick work of booting the would-be intruder out of his system, leaving a cheeky little message in their code as a parting gift. With that taken care of, he sat back and surveyed his findings.

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