Page 117 of Forbidden Moon
At times like this, Nolan appreciated his Alpha even more, perfectly happy as a plain old Beta and serving as Second. He shuddered to think how close Ben came to death—again.
“What happened after the sheriff got here?”
Scooter fielded this one.
“He listened to the story and then hauled the militia off to jail. Hook’s gonna end up in a padded cell, which is better than he deserves. I came close to ripping his guts out a couple of times. Jack and Evan were amazing! I don’t understand how they do that mind control thingy, but they had Russell’s men playing along, and the sheriff never disputed our version of things. I’m sure glad we have True Elders here, or things would have turned out badly for us.”
Both Ash and Nolan agreed with Scooter’s summary of events. Nolan asked one more question before they got back to work.
“Do either of you know if Jack and Robyn have left yet?”
Ash gave him a satisfied growl.
“They were leaving as we came in. Once Jack finishes with Dominic, things should return to normal. I, for one, can’t wait!”
Nolan felt exactly the same way, though it was too early to celebrate.
“I’ll let you two go. Ash, see what you can do about cleaning up the attack site. Scooter, make sure our overnight guests have a place to sleep. I shouldn’t be tied down here much longer, so let me know if either of you needs help.”
As Ash and Scooter left the room, Nolan picked up his phone for a call to Duluth. Alpha Sheppard would undoubtedly be anxious to hear what happened today, and it was his job to deliver both the bad news and the good.
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DELTA AVENUE APARTMENTS
After lunch, Dominic cleaned up the kitchen and did a few other chores. It felt strange not reporting to work for two days in a row, but the bug he’d picked up left him drained of energy. By and by, he settled in the lumpy chair by the living room windows with one of his library books. While he didn’t usually read romances, this one caught his eye. He wouldn’t mind a love of his own but feared his opportunity for a serious relationship might be slipping away. Thirty-one wasn’t ancient by any means, though his non-existent social life and criminal record stood in the way of meeting anyone special.
In the middle of chapter two, a knock on the door startled him. Something told him he should be expecting a visitor, but he couldn’t remember who or why. He marked his place and cautiously opened the door a few inches. Jack stood there smiling at him, along with a pretty young woman he didn’t know. Two other men stood behind—one of the guys from the construction crew and another man he’d never seen before.
“Hello, Jack! What are you doing here?”
“I came to check on you, of course, and I always keep my promises. May we come in?”
As they passed over the threshold, Jack and his female companion made themselves at home while the other two stood quietly on either side of the closed door. Jack cleared his throat, making direct eye contact, and Dominic felt suddenly at ease.
“This is Robyn, a dear friend of mine. She has volunteered to fix your computer while we have a nice chat.”
A bit confused, Dominic reasoned that a broken computer explained why he been avoiding it since yesterday.
Robyn flashed him a warm smile. Dominic wanted nothing more than to please her and do whatever Jack asked of him. He brought them over to the office setup in the corner.
“The laptop is kind of old and slow. I hope you can get it working again. I don’t have the money to buy a new one.”
Robyn seated herself and turned it on, asking Dominic to log in when the prompt popped up. In no time, she navigated to the BlogPress site and requested his username and password. After a slight hesitation, he gladly gave them to her. When the Strange Things page appeared, Dominic’s stomach clenched, and he began to shake. Jack put an arm around his shoulder and spoke softly.
“No need to worry, my friend. Robyn will take it all away. Why don’t we sit down over here?”
Dominic’s fear abated quickly, and by the time he’d taken a seat, he couldn’t remember what bothered him so. Jack pulled a dining room chair over and sat facing him.
“I hope you are feeling better today. Food poisoning can be serious.”
Dominic’s mysterious illness now had a name, and everything clicked into place.
“It must have been something I ate at the bar the other night. I do feel better today, except for being tired. Thank you for checking on me.”
“Certainly! Will you be returning to work tomorrow?”
Dominic nodded.
