“I thought you were taking a more hands-on approach with this story?”
“I don’t need to.” He shrugs. “Camden and co have it covered.”
Or maybe he’s just trying to hide his annoyance at being forced to rely on press conferences. He can be hard to read—deliberately so. Aeron will force people to analyze him just to buy himself some time.
“I’m going to run a bath,” I decide out loud. It will soak my dressing off, which should irritate him, but…nothing.
He just stares ahead at the television, at the endless cycle of nothing new.
“Your cell’s ringing,” he says after what feels like an hour.
Crap. So it is. And at this time of the morning, it must be important—Finn’s under strict instructions only to call me if there’s something major.
I hurry back into my room, trying not to trip over the sheet. The approaching bleat of my cell phone does nothing to balm my frayed nerves…and nor does the private number announced on the screen.
“Hello?” I croak.
“Miss Reeves?” says a deep, formal voice.
“Speaking.”
“Excellent.” A pause. “I apologize for waking you.”
“You didn’t. I’m sorry—who’s this?”
“My name is Agent Chen. I’m with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”
My hand goes numb around the phone.
“Is this—is this about the new victim?” I choke out. “Do I know her…?”
“I’m not at liberty to explain our case, ma’am. But I understand that you’re head of the SilenWitn3ss program, and we need to get a hold of some of your footage ASAP. I was told I’d need to speak with you personally. Your assistant passed on your number. I hope that’s okay.” He has that weary tone, like he’s trying to sound warm but can’t really be bothered. “How soon can you get to your office?”
“How soon are we talking?”
“This is an issue of a very time-sensitive nature.”
I squint toward the alarm clock. Nearly 5:30 a.m, “I can be there in an hour.”
“We’ll be waiting.”
Dial tone.
No thank you, notice. Great. Just what I need in my life right now—another ungrateful alpha. I am so not in the fucking mood for this.
“Aeron?” I call, dropping the phone on the bed and heading back to the doorway. “Aeron…?”
“What?”
“Phone call was from the FBI.”
A second later, the TV chatter cuts out and Aeron’s heavy footsteps grow louder as he approaches. His brow is furrowed, his mouth set in a thin line.
“What the fuck do they want?”
“They want some SilentWitn3ss footage. They wouldn’t say what it was for,” I explain, still grasping at the sheet wrapped around me. “I need to go meet them at the office.”
He blinks several times in quick succession. “Fuck.”
“What is it?”
“It’s about Blood Honey. We’ve never had them on our doorstep before.”
“You think he might be on one of our clips?”
“Or one of his victims, maybe.” He rubs a hand through his hair. “They’ve got a suspect, Leo. A fucking suspect. Let’s mince this out of them before we hand over anything.” He grabs a handful of my sheet and begins tugging it toward the bathroom, utterly unbothered that he’s unravelling me in more ways than one. “I’ll come in with you. Shower, now.”
“Aeron.” I stand rigid. “You don’t think they could be here about other stuff?”
He turns to me slowly. Bites his bottom lip. “I guess we’ll find out when we get there, huh?”
***