Missing Mate (O'Neil Pack Series)

by Roxanne Witherell

  “Thanks.”

  “Oh, no problem.” She pulled a bottle of water from the fridge. “See my pack-rat skills come in handy.”

  Alexander laughed as Chloe bounced her way back to her movie. He had to grab the cell phones they collected, and decided to bring his laptop with him. By the time he had finished collecting everything he needed, including a small tool set, Logan was pulling up. Flipping the light switch for the main light in the dining room, he killed Chloe’s movie atmosphere.

  “Hey!” Chloe objected. “I can’t watch this with the light on.”

  Satisfying her wishes he turned the big light off and turned the smaller light on at the bar in the kitchen. He didn’t care where he worked as long as he can get it done. Chloe, being like a little sister, always got her way. Mostly because no one wanted to argue with her.

  “Jackpot!” Logan calls out coming in the door.

  “Bring it in here.” Alexander said. “I’ll work on the phone at the bar. We’ll set my laptop up on the table for the security footage.”

  “Do you even know how to fix a broken phone?” Logan set the box on the bar in front of Alexander.

  Logan opened the box and pulled out a bag of old phone chargers. Alexander let him dig for the right charger while he set up his laptop. Hopefully this goes as smoothly for him as it did in the past. Everything went right on the first try. Alexander breathed a sigh of relief, and began clicking on files from the hard drive. He had hoped there would be something on the drive other than just the footage, but he was disappointed. Finding the saved footage, he set it to play going back a month. There’s plenty of footage and they can go further back if need be.

  “There you go. Enjoy your movie.” Alexander stood.

  “This is going to be boring, isn’t it?” Logan asks, moving into the chair Alexander just vacated.

  Alexander laughed, the kid had no idea how boring it’s about to get. Leaving Logan to his entertainment or lack thereof, Alexander sat at the bar, and started digging through the box for old phones. She had at least a dozen phones. He separated them into piles of ones that may work, and ones that won’t. The only problem is there’s no two the same so it won’t be as easy as just attaching a working screen. He set to work finding the best match, and taking them apart.

  It took two hours to get all the wires soldered to the Frankenstein phone. It now has a new outer shell. Hopefully he didn’t damage any of the data from the main board. After putting the battery in the back, Alexander tried to turn it on. It turned on for a second, then shut itself down.

  “Damn it!” Alexander said getting up from the stool.

  “What is it, man?” Logan asked still watching the security footage.

  “Battery is dead. I hope Chloe has a charger for this one too.” Alexander started rummaging through the box, pulling out all the chargers to compare.

  “By the looks of it, I say it’s a good possibility.” Logan watched as Alexander pulled out charger after charger.

  Once he found one that fit, he put the rest back. Crossing his fingers that it doesn’t blow up in his hand, Alexander put the charger into the socket then into the phone. The red charging light came on, and Alexander let out a deep breath. They will have to wait for a little while until it has enough charge to cut on again. In the meantime, Alexander checked on the other phone that has been charging since they started. It cut on easily, but it has a lock screen activated. It’s one of the locks that has the dots you connect in the right order. Taking the phone off the charger he sat down beside Logan. Passing the phone back and forth, they tried different combinations with no success. Not much was going on in the video either. Alexander checked the time it’s already four in the morning.

  “You want to cut this off?” Alexander asks Logan. “We can start back in the morning. Maybe we will have better luck then.”

  “Yeah, my eyes are tired from watching nothing. These guys were barely even at this cabin that much. At least not during the day.” Logan commented.

  “At least tomorrow you won’t be the only one on rotation to watching it.”

  “Good cause I don’t know how much more of this excitement I can take.” Logan got up, and stretched.

  “I will let you do the honors.” Logan said motioning at the laptop. “I’m off to bed.”

  “See ya.” Alexander shut down the laptop but left everything where it was.

  After a quick shower, Alexander climb into bed thinking about spending the day with Jessica, and the twins. That night he had dreams of them being a family together in the same house. It was a good dream, one that he wants to come true more than anything.

  Alexander didn’t sleep long. All he needed was a few hours to rest up so he could get back to work. Although he won’t be expecting Logan to be up anytime soon. When Alexander came into the kitchen, he saw Chloe sitting at the bar with a cup of coffee, and the locked phone in her hands.

  “Is this what y’all were stuck on last night?” Chloe asks waving the phone at him.

  “Yeah, it has a lock on it.” Alexander explained.

  “Not anymore.” She placed the phone on the bar, and took a sip of her coffee.

  “How’d you figure it out?” He asked picking up the now unlocked phone.

  “It wasn’t that hard. It only took me three tries.” Chloe laughed. “I went ahead, and removed the lock all together.”

  “Nice.” He complimented.

  “Y’all have fun.” Chloe said grabbing her keys. “I’m off to work. Let me know if you need anything else.”

  “I will, thanks.” He said as she walked out the door.

  Now he can see what’s on the phone. After fixing a cup of coffee he sat down at the table with both phones, and started his laptop up. Might as well keep an eye on the video footage too. Pulling the footage up, he resumed it from where they had stopped. Once the video was playing he picked up the unlocked phone.

  First, he checks the messages. There’s only one conversation in the message folder, so either they are erased or these guys didn’t have many friends. Clicking on the conversation, he read through. It’s a one-sided conversation. According to the dates, these were all sent after the alpha fight. Ryan and his second died during the fight. Alexander needs to call Sebastian. Changing his mind, he shut down his laptop, and grabbed his keys. It would be easier for him to just go over to Sebastian’s cabin. That way they can look at it together. Putting both phones in his pockets, he left without waking Logan up.

  Twenty minutes later, he was pulling into Sebastian’s driveway. No one is on the front porch. They must have already finished their morning coffee, which they drink out on the porch every morning. Alexander didn’t bother knocking before he went in. They probably knew he was here already.

  “Hey, Alexander!” Makenna called out from the kitchen. “We weren’t expecting you. Thought you would be with Jessica and the kids.”

  “I go to pick them up in a couple hours.” He answered.

  “Did you get stuff figured out with her last night?” Sebastian asked coming into the living room with a file folder in his hand.

  “Not everything, no, but we will work out the details.” He turned to Sebastian.

  “You should tell her to stay. If she loves you, she’ll stay.” Sebastian suggested.

  “I can’t just order her to stay. She has a life back home.”

  “I’m not saying order her.” Sebastian recanted. “I’m saying suggest she stay. I’m sure we can fix up a place for them, until you two marry.”

  “Slow down.” Alexander said holding up his hands."No one said anything about marriage."

  “It’ll happen.” Makenna butted in. “How can you not see that?”

  “It’s not me that has a hard time of seeing things.” Alexander thought about how Jessica avoided looking at him. It was like she couldn’t wait for him to leave. How can she see when she has a wall up?

  “Give her time, my boy.” Sebastian patted Alexander’s shoulder. “She’ll come aroun
d.”

  Alexander fixed himself a cup of coffee and joined Sebastian at the kitchen table. Sebastian was going through the file folder until Alexander sat down. Then he closed the folder and looked at Alexander.

  “You didn’t come here to talk about Jessica, did you?” Sebastian asked.

  “No, we finally have both phones working.” Alexander pulled the phones out of his pocket, and set them on the table. “I haven’t gone through both. Chloe unlocked this one earlier.” He went through the phone to pull up the messages.

  “There’s only messages from one number, but whoever it is will be at the other mountain tomorrow for whatever the samples are.” He told Sebastian.

  “Let me see.” Sebastian held out his hand. Alexander gave him the phone for him to see the messages. “It’s a North Carolina number, but these days that doesn’t mean much. Anything show up on the security footage?”

  “Not much. Mostly just Ryan coming and going with one of those temperature capsules. Other than the guys we already knew about, no one else has shown up.”

  “Do we know what they are shipping yet?” Sebastian began looking through the phone.

  “Not yet. Every time they come or go they have one of those containers. Wherever they are getting them they are putting them straight in the containers.”

  “The only pictures on here are of scenery.” Sebastian said handing the phone to Alexander. “Do you know where these are taken?”

  Alexander looked through the photos. Sebastian’s right, it’s all scenery. What’s so important that they had to take so many pictures? From the looks of the photos, they are of three different locations. Many pictures are taken of each location. Alexander isn’t sure what’s special about them.

  “I’m not sure exactly. This one location looks like an area just on the other side of the old dried creek bed.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “I’m not 100%, but look at this tree. It looks like a woman with her legs in the air. I’ve seen that tree before. Michael ran off yesterday, when I went to cut him off I know I saw a tree just like.”

  “Who all is going to the lunch today?” Sebastian asked.

  “It’s just Caleb, Jayden, and the girls. I think Bri and Abby cooked this up for Jessica.”

  “Alright, I’ll take Liam, and Logan to check out some spots. See if we can find this tree, and what they were doing out there.” Sebastian said.

  Alexander began looking through the phone in his other hand. There isn’t much on there, other than a few pictures. Most of them were of the same place as the ones on the other phone. There must be an importance to these places. Pictures on one phone, they may be nature lover, but on two phones? That means they want to know where they are going or to remember a location. When Alexander flipped to the next photo, he saw something that he recognized. It’s a picture of an arm with a tattoo. He knows he has seen that tattoo before, but he isn’t sure where he has seen it.

  Alexander stuck the phone in his pocket. Maybe it will come to him later. Sebastian handed the other phone back to Alexander. He put it in his pocket with the other one. Sebastian was flipping through the papers in the folder. By the look on his face he wasn’t seeing anything of interest. He flipped through the pages quickly before finally closing the folder altogether, pushing it away from him.

  “I haven’t had any luck with the files. There’s a couple of things I need to look into but nothing concrete. A company from North Carolina leases the property for its employee’s vacations.” Sebastian told him.

  “We still have plenty of footage to go through. Maybe we can yield more results.” Alexander stated then looked at his watch. It’s time to go pick up Jessica and the twins.

  Chapter 19

  Jessica

  Jessica woke up feeling refreshed. The twins slept through the night with no bathroom breaks, or wanting a sip of water. They were probably exhausted from playing yesterday. Regardless, Jessica was glad for the sleep. After the nights she has had with Michael, a good night sleep is what she needed. After breakfast, the twins were watching cartoons when they fell asleep on the couch.

  Jessica’s surprised they are taking a nap this early. She will take advantage of it while she can. She had plenty of time to take a shower, and get ready before Alexander comes over. Taking the baby monitor from the twin’s room, she placed it in the living room, and turned it on. Bringing the receiver with her, Jessica went to take a shower.

  She isn’t one to wear a bunch of makeup. When you work with animals, some of the friendlier ones tend to lick your face. Better to hardly wear any than have a bare spot half the day. Today is different; she wants to look nice for Alexander. He had told her to get some rest that means he could tell she was tired. Even with a good night sleep, the dark circles are still under her eyes.

  After her shower, Jessica checked on the twins before going to her room. She began going through her clothes trying to find the cleanest one. When you have twins, clothes tend to get stains. Finally settling for a green t-shirt, she slipped it on, along with a pair of good fitting jeans. Grabbing everything in her hair and makeup arsenal she headed back to the bathroom.

  Thirty minutes later there was a knock on the front door. She knew Alexander was at the door. She applied a small amount of hairspray just to keep the stray hairs down. Another knock sounded, not wanting to wake the kids to that, Jessica took off for the front door.

  “Shh,” Jessica mouthed holding her finger to her lips, and pointed at the couch.

  “Sorry, I didn’t realize they were taking a nap already.” Alexander said peeking in at the twins. “Shall I come back in a little while?”

  “Oh no, it’s time for them to wake up. I just didn’t want them scared awake. It takes a little time for Madison to calm down.” Jessica explained. “Please, come in.”

  “Thanks.” Alexander came in. “You look beautiful.”

  “Thanks. I figured if I’m going to be around adults I might as well look like one.” Jessica laughed, then immediately wanted to take her words back.

  “No one would think any less of you, even if you show up in sweats with curlers in your hair.”

  “Wouldn’t that be a sight?” Jessica turned and walked inside.

  Jessica isn’t sure if he realized her awkward moment, and was trying to make her feel better or what. It’s not really working either. It made her feel as though she isn’t attractive so why try. Damn insecurities. He looks at her in ways that make her tingle. His eyes say they like what they see, but that’s not what his mouth is saying.

  “Children it’s time to wake up!” Jessica said in an excited voice to get the twins moving a little faster.

  Madison walked straight out of the living room and to the bathroom without even noticing anyone is here. Michael on the other hand sat straight up and looked back at Alexander. Rubbing his eyes a couple of times, he focused in on Alexander.

  “Zan!” Michael shouted climbing off the couch. “You here.”

  “Hey buddy!” Alexander picked Michael up, throwing him in the air a little, and catching him.

  Jessica’s heart skipped a beat, even though she knew he wouldn’t drop Michael. She loved the way Michael’s face lit up. Madison came running in, she ran up to Alexander then shied away and latched onto Jessica’s leg.

  “Come on,” Michael waved at Madison to come up where he is. Madison shook her head. Although she did manage to let go of Jessica.

  “Kids come here. I want to talk to you, real quick.” Jessica says walking over to the couch.

  Alexander put Michael down but Michael didn’t want to let go. Instead, he took hold of one of Alexander’s fingers and pulled him to the couch too. When Michael had Alexander in front of the couch, Michael gave him a little push. Alexander dramatically sat down beside Jessica, making the twins start laughing. It was a good way of putting them in a happy mood, Jessica thought.

  “I know you met Mr. Alexander yesterday. Do you want to know who he really is?” Jessica asked.
<
br />   “Dad,” Michael said without missing a beat. That got Jessica’s attention.

  “How do you know that?” She asked him.

  Michael breathed in a deep breath. “Smell,” he said simply. “And wolfie.”

  “Wolfie?” Jessica doesn’t know wolfie.

  “My wolfie.”

  “Oh, your wolf?” Alexander clarified, and Michael nodded.

  “How did your wolf tell you?” Jessica asked, but Michael shrugged his shoulders so she looked to Alexander for answers.

  “Our wolves can talk to us in our minds. Sometimes you only catch a word or two, then sometimes they don’t shut up.” Alexander started laughing. “You should ask Bri about her wolf.”

  “Why?”

  “Bri didn’t get along with her wolf at first.” He explained.

  “And now?”

  “I’m not sure. She hasn’t been a shifter long.” Alexander shrugged. “You’ll have to ask her. Everyone is different. I think born shifters have it easier because our wolves have always been with us.”

  Jessica nodded in understanding while planning a little girls chat. It would be easier to talk to someone who doesn’t cloud your mind every time they are around. The closer Alexander is to her, the more intense the feeling is. Jessica couldn’t explain it, it’s like she couldn’t get close enough to him. She wants to close the distance between them, until Madison tapped her knee breaking her train of thought.

  “Billy has daddy.” Madison informed her. Billy is their friend from daycare. It was his party they went to a couple of days ago.

  “Yes, just like Billy. Mr. Roberts is Billy’s dad, and Mr. Alexander is your dad.” Jessica explained.

  You can see the concentration on Madison’s face as she takes in everything. Michael had apparently accepted it already, and is completely fine with it. Finally, Madison nodded slowly, and looked up at Alexander. Smiling, she went over to him and gave him a hug.