Page 17 of Broken By Her Mate

He prided himself on having a handle on his emotions. His valued control had no chance around Laila, it seemed. Kissing her had been reckless. He’d told himself he’d treat protecting her like any other job. However, that was proving impossible since he wanted her with every fiber of his being. He wanted to kiss her again and go much further. However, it appeared Laila didn’t want what he wanted.

Her panicked expression before she bolted still haunted him. It cut him deeper than anything she could have said. She had looked at him as if he were the enemy. Laila didn’t trust him and maybe she never would again. He was furious with himself for losing focus. Because of that, he’d missed the threat to her. When he followed her into the woods, he hadn’t even sensed the danger to her until the shifter was much too close.

The shifter had taken off when Tolliver appeared, so he wasn’t sure if it was the same man stalking Laila. He thought he’d gotten her out of the path of danger, but the criminals were still closing in. He needed to get his head screwed on straight and stop getting distracted.

I shouldn’t have kissed her, he thought.

“Idiot,” he hissed.

“You’re being a bit hard on yourself,” he heard Ryder say. “What did you do?”

Tolliver looked up to see Ryder and Alpha Zach at the door. Both men studied him with raised eyebrows.

“Yeah, what did you do, Tolliver?” Zach asked.

“Nothing,” Tolliver grumbled. “Come in, guys.”

Ryder and Zach exchanged glances and then stepped into the office.

Zach got straight to business. “We have some interesting news,” he announced. “While you were at the cabin with your…” His eyes shifted to Tolliver, who had swiveled his chair around to face them. “Laila.” He’d almost slipped up and called Laila Tolliver’s mate, and he guessed that was a sore point for his friend.

Tolliver lifted an eyebrow in amusement.

“We got news about another woman being taken,” Zach continued.

Tolliver sat taller, his heart sinking with disappointment. Although he’d been the one tracking that shifter for weeks, and he’d seen evidence of treachery, a part of him hoped it had all been a misunderstanding. But three missing women… something was definitely not right.

“Three women…” Tolliver mused.

“Maybe more,” Ryder said. “There could be victims we don’t know about. There’s no telling how long this has been going on before we noticed.

Zach let out a slow breath. His blue eyes darkened with worry. As the mayor of Bellefleur and the alpha of their werewolf pack, the pressure to keep their people and everyone else safe weighed on him.

“There’s something you need to see,” Ryder said, stepping forward and holding up a file.

Tolliver’s chest tightened as he took it.

“The woman who was taken is a werewolf shifter,” Ryder said.

“Of course,” Tolliver sighed. He flipped the file open. Inside was a photo of a woman, her face frozen in a cheerful smile. His heart dropped. The brunette woman in the photo looked eerily similar to Laila—the same dark hair, similar facial features, and the same petite but curvy frame. This wasn’t a coincidence. Of course, they had gathered that the rogue werewolves were targeting female shifters with a certain look.

“That woman was taken from Cedar Ridge, Tolliver,” Zach shared.

Tolliver’s stomach twisted. That meant he’d gotten Laila away from danger by a hair’s breadth. The shifter targeted the next woman when Laila disappeared from Cedar Ridge. “She can’t go back there anytime soon,” he said, rubbing his forehead. Laila was going to blow a gasket when he told her she had to stay in Bellefleur even longer. He dreaded the conversation because he knew she itched to get back to her life.

“We have enough evidence to identify this as a threat,” Zach decided. “We need to up our efforts to find out who the hell these guys are and put a stop to whatever they’re doing.”

“Yeah.” Tolliver glanced at Zach and Ryder. “These shifters are getting bolder. I think one of them was here.”

“The hell you say?” Ryder scoffed. “Right here in Bellefleur?”

Tolliver nodded. “Last night…” He decided to skip over what led to him and Laila being in the woods. “I sensed a shifterin the woods near Laila’s cabin. I think he was watching her. However, he was gone the moment he sensed my presence, so I’m not sure if he was one of the rogue shifters. For all I know, it could have been one of our own from town on a late-night stroll.” Frustration burned in his gut as he cursed himself for the hundredth time for letting his guard down last night. If anything had happened to Laila, he’d never forgive himself.

“So maybe they’re still after Laila despite missing their chance in Cedar Ridge,” Zach said, stroking his jaw thoughtfully.

“Maybe.” Zach sighed. “I told Laila to stay locked in the cabin until I get back. I think after the uncertainty of who or what was in the woods last night, she’ll actually listen to me.”

“Trouble in paradise?” Ryder asked with raised eyebrows.