Page 16 of Been There Dragon That
He put the squad vehicle in gear and took off. Mr. Berkley’s neighborhood was north of town. North of the river. Another neighborhood like this one. Bigger houses. Vacation homes. Wealthy people owned them, and they didn’t live in them very often.
The other break-ins had also targeted larger homes. Homes that should be emptying out for the winter.
He would have to go back and get her … or sit outside her house all night watching to make sure she was safe. She might think he was crazy, but he would protect her no matter what.
By the time he got over to the address Rachel had given him, the wind had picked up significantly. The storm was coming. He could smell the snow and ice in the air. He needed to get back to Rylee’s house, but honor wouldn’t let him leave Mr. Berkley. At least not until Aarav and Connie got here.
He parked the big SUV in the driveway and inhaled deeply. Nothing but storm. The wind was strong. Dirt was blowing everywhere. They weren’t going to get a scent from this crime scene either.
“Deputy?” A male voice called from the front porch of the house.
Wrath looked toward the man. “Mr. Berkley?”
The male nodded. “Ryan Berkley.” He was wearing an unbuttoned blue plaid shirt over a white tee. The sleeve of the plaid was dark and bloodstained. Smears of bright crimson were all over the white tee as well. He looked in good spirits, considering he’d recently dealt with home invaders and had been shot.
“How are you?”
“Fine. It’s not bad.” The male nodded his chin at his wounded shoulder.
“Anything you can tell me about the suspects? Aarav is on his way with Connie. She’ll be able to take a better look at your arm. Maybe you won’t have to go all the way up to see a doctor in Fairfield.”
“I’ve had worse scrapes than this before.”
“Soldier?” Wrath walked the front of the house, looking for signs of the crew they were hunting.
“Yep. Four tours before I finally retired to stay home with the wife and kid and then she decided I wasn’t good for her or him.”
Wrath’s very soul winced at the thought of a mate leaving. Though, unlike Mr. Berkley, he would’ve chased his mate to the ends of the earth. Not give up and let them go. Nothing could keep a Reylean male from his mate, except death. Humans seemed to not always have as deep of attachments.
“How long have they been gone?”
“She left with our son a few years ago. I let her have a few weeks, then I followed her to her mom’s place in Colorado, but I was too late. They’d died in a car accident the day before I got there.”
“Fuck.” Wrath’s voice embodied the pain he felt for the man. “I’m so sorry.” He knew the pain of loss. Neither of his parents had made it through the portal. They’d forced their alpha, Novik, to take him, and then they’d gone to fetch his sister and her mate from the mountains. They didn’t make it through before the portal closed. “I lost my parents and a sister. I can’t imagine the pain of losing a mate and a child.”
“This is all I have left.” Berkley waved behind him at the house. “All my memories are here. And these bastards think they can waltz in and take what they want. That’s not gonna happen. I clipped one of them good. He collapsed on the way out, but they picked him up and took him with them. Climbed into a big black SUV right over there.” He pointed to a small grove of pine trees a bit off the main road. This far from town, there were dirt roads crisscrossing the countryside leading to hunting cabins or fishing spots.
“Anything you can tell me about them?”
“They worked together pretty well. Not military style, though maybe some of them served. They didn’t move like a unit. Not like they would if they were all military.”
Wrath kept scanning the landscape and digging through the growing wind for any type of scent. “Any distinguishing features?”
“At least a couple of them are white, not sure about all. I saw flashes of skin here and there. I think the one I hit had blue eyes. They wore black ski masks. Gloves. Dark clothes. One of them did have long hair, I remember seeing from the back coming from under the material of his mask.”
“Weapons?”
“Small guns. Didn’t see anything big. No rifles. But the one that shot me had a pretty decent aim or got damn lucky.” Ryan walked down the porch steps, his shotgun held loosely in his hand, barrel pointed at the ground. His wounded arm hung at his side like he didn’t even care. Blood dripped slowly from the tips of his fingers. The bright metallic scent was strong and fresh.
“Can you show me where the one you hit collapsed?”
Ryan raised the shotgun and pointed toward the trees he’d indicated previously. “A bit this way. There’s some blood on the rocks.”
“Leave the shotgun on the porch. Connie will be here in a few minutes.”
Ryan hesitated for a few seconds, but then leaned the weapon against the porch railing and then led Wrath toward the trees.
Wrath smelled the blood before he saw it. Only a few drops, but it was enough to set the scent in his dragon’s mind. He squatted down and got closer.
