Page 144 of Their Knotty Pack
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Chapter 56
Bethany
Hunter directs me to sit in a chair while he wraps up everything, which takes hours.
Georgia approaches me to let me know they gave Maverick the green light to extract Gina from the Hansen Pack House, and she's currently safe and sound, waiting at the police station for…Jeremiah Kane to pick her up?
Totally called it.
I'm busy fielding messages on my phone from the guys, telling me how proud they are of me, but my attention keeps being drawn back to Hunter.
The way all the officers who've shown up, and even Titus and his operatives, look at him with respect and admiration, fills me with pride. This ismyalpha.
He's in business mode as the freaking police captain shows up, and Hunter has to tell him all about Carlson and that Sergeant Wilks is his uncle and he didn't know who he could trust.
I watch as the captain reaches out and shakes his hand, and I'm no lip reader, but I'm pretty sure he says, "Good work, detective."
But Hunter doesn't look happy. He doesn't look proud, he doesn't even look relieved that this is all over. In fact…he looks kind of pissed.
Once we're free to go, he takes my keys from me without a word, and gets in the driver's seat of my car. It's almost comical to see the huge alpha hunched over in my four door sedan…but I can't bring myself to laugh.
He's silent the entire drive, his jaw tense, and then suddenly, we're on the freeway.
"Where are we going?" I ask, breaking the quiet.
"We had a plan." He ignores my question, his voice hard.
"I know, but—"
"No, Bethany. We. Had. A. Plan. That was the only reason I even felt remotely okay with you doing this. And you made it about thirty seconds before you threw the plan in the trash and went rogue."
"Our plan wouldn't have worked," I argue, needing him to see that I only did what I had to.
"I know." He eyes close for a second, and he huffs a breath out of his nose. We turn off the freeway, and then we're pulling into a parking lot, overlooking the dark ocean. The regrouping after the arrest is what took the most time, and it's close to midnight now. We're the only two here.
He gets out of the car, and I watch as he walks to the hood, leaning against it.
I have no idea what he's doing, but…I guess we're hanging out at the beach.
Huffing a breath, I grab the blanket I keep in the backseat and get out of the car, marching past him. I kick off my heels, letting my toes sink into the cool sand, and wrap the blanket around my shoulders. It may be a June night in California, but it's still chilly this time of night, especially by the ocean.
Then I plop down in the sand, staring out into the abyss before me. The roaring of the waves fills my senses, the salty sea air a balm to my soul after the craziness of the night.
The soundof his footsteps in the sand alert me to his presence before he drops down next to me, the moonlight the only thing illuminating his features.
I can hear a text go off on his phone, but he ignores it.
"I am a man who needs planning, and order." He continues to stare out at the ocean. "But just like this operation, you threw that out the window. You came flying into my life, bit one of my packmates, and threw my entire existence into chaos."
My stomach sinks with each word he speaks. Have I just undone however much progress we've made?
Hunter shifts his body, angling to face me. "But Iamcoming to find," his voice softens, and his hand comes up to cup my cheek, "that chaos, especially when it comes to you, isn't necessarily a bad thing. You make me take a step back, and look at things differently. Without you, I may have been stuck on this case another three years. Without you and Miles, our pack would have never been complete."
I stare up at his deep brown eyes as he looks down at me with such…warmth. His phone buzzes again, and he ignores it. Again.
"Bethany…these last few hours have been the most terrifying of my life. It didn't matter that I had armed guards at the ready, or that I knew exactly where you were, or that I was right outside. All I could think about was how I woulddieif something happened to you."
