Page 117 of Knot The Only Onee
But I knew Jonathan and the others would be here any minute now. I'd have to restrain my passion for my mates until we returned to Montana.
"What about me?" Lucas pouted as he placed his hand on his hip. He'd thrown on a pair of plaid pajama pants but didn't bother with a shirt. My eyes raked over his chest, savoring the smooth skin. Why did the three of them have to be so damn hot? All I wanted to do was jump them, tackle them into bed, and make them keep me there for the next week.
Where did this voracious appetite come from? I had a healthy sex drive since we'd gotten together, but this clawing need was new.
"Okay. I approve of the hungry look as an apology." Lucas crossed the room and poured two glasses of wine from the bottle he'd procured when he got up from our nap.
"Are you okay, little one?" James asked as he knelt before me. He was dressed similarly to Lucas, but he'd thrown on a tank top style undershirt with his gray sweatpants.
And yes, I approved of the pants. Everything they said about gray sweatpants was one hundred percent true. Here we go again with my extremely sexy thoughts.
"Yep," I squeaked when I remembered James asking me a question.
Noah finished brushing my hair and returned the comb to the bathroom.
James didn't move from his position. His hands splayed out over my thighs, squeezed imperceptibly as his nostrils flared. He opened his mouth to speak, but a knock on the door didn't allow him to speak.
Lucas handed me the glass of wine before going to open the door.
Alena barreled through, almost knocking Lucas and James over as she rushed over to pull me into a tight embrace. "I was so worried."
I hugged her even tighter, returning her gesture with the fervor of a bestie. Because she was my best friend in the entire world, and after the events of the last couple of days, I knew she was the sister I'd always wanted.
Between her, her mates, and mine, they'd cracked through the walls I'd erected around my heart, and they crumbled to the ground, never to be reconstructed again.
"I'm okay. Thanks to everyone."
Alena leaned back, swiping at the tears from the corners of her eyes. Julian came in to stand beside her and take her into his arms. "Glad you're okay, Bridget."
I smiled shyly at the beta and nodded my thanks. The rest of Alena's mates came into the room, along with Jonathan. The detective looked—for lack of a better term—like complete and utter shit. Deep, dark circles stood out from beneath his eyes, which were bloodshot. His lips curled down into a severe frown, and his clothes were rumbled and wrinkled.
This was a man who had experienced severe pain, and it reflected on his face.
Noah helped me to my feet and led me to one of the couches in the living room area. James stood behind me, and Lucas took the spot next to me, his head resting against my shoulder.
"I know you are all tired, and Bridget, you've been through a lot today," Jonathan began and cleared his throat. "I wanted to talk to you a bit more and see if you could recall anything else that your brother may have said or you can recall from earlier in your life?"
I tilted my head to the side and regarded him. "Why do you ask? Not that I want to be rude, but I don't see what that has to do with what happened today."
Jonathan ran his hand through his messy hair. "The reason I have a big stake in this case is that my sister was taken almost a year ago." His eyes were downcast, and he coughed to disguise the emotions lingering in his voice. "The clues we could find led us to AOE, the same shell corporation Michael Aldridge has been hiding behind in the months since his—your—father died."
"Oh, I'm so sorry." My hand lifted to cover my mouth, my heart breaking at the pain radiating from him. "Mike went on about the organization being bigger than him, and that it was like a hydra. I thought he was just crazy and watching too many Marvel movies."
"There are several more shell corporations they've been funneling money through." This time it was Elias who spoke. "We've been trying to track them but hitting more dead ends."
"I came up with a few more names when hacking through their files." Xavier's dark eyes sparkled as he regarded me. Noah told me he didn't listen and let them know what I was doing while we were in the air. I couldn't blame him. I was thankful he'd done it. It was probably the reason I was still alive. "Do any of these names sound familiar, Bridget? We know one of the names is Alena's ex-fiance."
He handed me a slip of paper, and I looked down to see four names written down, and my blood ran cold.
Timothy Engel
Raphael Mercer
Karl Meyer Jr.
Dylan Andersen
"Timothy and Karl were my brother's best friends growing up. I'm sure they were all in business together." I shuddered at the memories of their relentless teasing, even when I was a child. "I don't know who Raphael is."
