Page 99 of Knot A Chance

I let Bennett guide me inside the bar and sat down at a table against the far wall. Reid and Bennett sat with me while Ally disappeared into the back. A few minutes later she appeared behind the bar in human form wearing a pair of jeans and a white tank top.

“I’m sorry, Felix,” she said.

“Thanks,” I said, wiping my eyes and settling back against Bennett’s chest. “I feel like such an asshole. I left him to get sober, came back and begged him to break our bond, and all the while I had no idea what was going on with him or what he was mixed up in.”

“You couldn’t have known,” Bennett said before kissing my temple. “And you couldn’t have done anything about it if he didn’t want your help.”

Donovan came through the front door as Ally slid into the booth next to Reid and passed each of us a beer.

“I’m going to have to take your statements individually,” Donovan said, looking exhausted. He’d been parked outside our house so many nights lately that Bennett and I had often wondered when he was sleeping.

“Sit down and have a drink with us first,” Reid said.

Donovan shook his head. “I’m on duty.”

“You just killed a man, bro. Sit down,” Reid said, offering Donovan his beer.

Donovan nodded and sat down next to Ally, taking a long swig of the beer. “Wyatt said there was no sign of Calvin? Just Ryder tonight.”

“Just Ryder,” Bennett said, pulling me closer. “No sign of Calvin anywhere yet?”

Donovan shook his head. “Nope. He’s just vanished.” His eyes met mine. “I’m sorry about your friend.”

“Thank you,” I said, “It might make me sound awful, but I’m grateful you shot him when you did. You might have saved Bennett’s life.”

Bennett tipped his chin at Donovan. “Thanks, man.”

“What’s going to happen next?” I asked, nuzzling back into Bennett’s shoulder. All I really wanted to do now was go home and sleep for days.

“Wyatt said he wants to talk to the police in the surrounding towns. Put our information together and see if we might be able to start piecing things together. It’s safe to say there is more going on than we thought,” Donovan said.

“Guess your job just got a lot more interesting,” Ally said.

“Yeah.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Wyatt’s not going to let this one go.”

“No,” Ally chuckled, pressing her beer bottle to her lips. “He’s not.”

Reid sighed. “Whatever is going on is clearly a lot bigger than just your ex-boyfriend feeling jealous, Felix. Don’t be too hard on yourself.”

He was right. There was something far bigger than just the history between Ryder and me happening in Mirror Lake, and the thought terrified me.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Bennett

July

Although it had been weeks since Ryder’s death, Wyatt and Donovan were still working round-the-clock trying to find Calvin or Julia. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a single lead for them to follow.

Felix had gotten his walking boot off yesterday—far ahead of schedule.

Apparently there really is something to the argument that true mates have a positive impact on their partner’s healing.

There were still moments when I could feel his guilt over Ryder’s demise coming through the bond, but he was doing as well as possible. He knew what happened wasn’t his fault, and he did a good job of reminding himself of that whenever the doubt creeped in.

I smiled as he walked back into my new garage, unable to control the happiness that seeing him alive and well brought me. We’d had too many brushes with death in our short time together, and I wanted nothing more than to live happily ever after in mated bliss for as long as possible.

“I think you should move Benny’s bed over there.” He pointed to the corner of the garage opposite where I’d set up his bed.