She had that option now.
Losing her was a very real scenario. Neither he nor his wolf were happy about it.
Carter had gone to his place so he could make some calls regarding Bobby and his situation. Emilie and Dean were trying to formulate a story for her. She'd need something to explain why she had disappeared and why she never came back.
His first call was to Owen. Not only did he need to be informed but he could help.
"Carter, is this call informing me of a decision?" Owen said in lieu of hello.
"Uh." Shit. He hadn't made up his mind yet. Hadn’t had a chance to think of it since Dean’s call earlier. "No, actually, it’s something else. There's a problem."
"Always is," he said, with a sigh. "Hit me."
He explained what happened and then had to explain what happened to cause the situation they were in now. Owen listened, only interrupting for clarification every now and then. When Carter had it all laid out, he jumped in.
"Alright, this is a mess but we've dealt with worse. At least no one is dead.” The irony of that statement was not lost to him. “Lately, I swear that is the only problem we do have so this is good news so far. I'll make a call up to St. Lawrence and see what they know. Being that it's with a human and a bear, they might not care. But because a shifter is involved, they will be required to care. In the meantime, you’re going to need a story. I can probably help with that as well. Let me work some things through and call you back."
"Thanks, Owen."
"I'll talk to you soon."
Carter wanted to wallow a bit, just allow himself to feel the jealousy and hurt that Emilie leaving would cause. They had just begun to date and already he was so protective over her, so engrossed with her. Usually this was the fun part, the getting to know them and exploring part. From day one with Emilie, all it had ever been was serious. Carter was half in love with her already. Tests like this shouldn't come so early. He needed to make her love him so he knew she would come back. But just because Carter held her in his heart didn't mean she was there yet.
He stood, rubbing a hand on the tension building behind his neck and went back next door. He had little time left with her. Wasting it alone would do no good for either of them.
She was upstairs packing. Dean was making hotel arrangements for them and directed him to her bedroom. Emilie was folding clothes and laying them on her bed. An empty suitcase laid open beside it. That more than anything depressed him. As long as the suitcase was empty she'd be his.
"Hey," she said with a small smile as he came in the room. "What did Owen say?"
Carter would tell her, right after he kissed her. He walked across the room and around the bed, she dropped a folded pair of jeans into the suitcase when he reached for her. He fully embraced her. Arms held her, eyes caressed her, lips devoured her. He wanted her to feel what he felt when he thought of her when he looked at her.
Emilie's hands wrapped around his back and pulled up his shirt so she could touch his skin. There was a desperation to the kiss. It came from her as much as him. The way she pulled him to her, calmed his anxiety more than anything else.
"You kiss me like you’re never going to see me again," she said, a spark of understanding in her eyes. She always did know how he was feeling, sometimes before even he had figured it out.
"You never know."
"I'm coming home, Carter. I'm doing this purely out of obligation. If Bobby wasn't in danger of life in prison, I wouldn't but I can't let that happen to him."
He touched her face, his fingertips gliding over around the curve of her jaw. "I know. I want you to go. I just want you to come home as well. You-" His phone began to ring. That would be Owen.
Emilie stepped out of their space and went back to folding. He sat on the bed and answered his phone.
"Hello?"
"Alright, so we have good news," Owen began. Carter put him on speaker and laid the phone on the bed beside him. "St. Lawrence has a cop in Malone. The wolf knows all about this case and had wondered if the bear Bobby had seen was Emilie. No one had ever met her so they didn't know if that was their resident bear or not. She kept to herself so they never felt the need to reach out. He's going to meet up with your bear tomorrow and go over what happened. I gave a Cliff Notes version to the alpha. He sends his sympathies. We all know someone who's been in her place. Relationships with humans who don't know are tough."
Carter grunted. "That's why you told yours practically right away."
"Damn straight. As for your other problem, I think I have a story. I'm working on the paperwork now. Thankfully Lee already had a file for her going so I'm just expanding on it a bit."
"You're on speaker and Emilie can hear."
"Hi, Owen," she squeaked out when Carter looked at her. Owen intimidated her.
"Perfect! Now I don't have to go over it twice. Now Darlin' I'm going to apologize right now, it's going to get a little complicated. See, you fell and hit your head on something, be even better if you had stairs in your old place so you fall down them. When you woke, you couldn't remember anything. The house was unfamiliar; you didn't recognize anyone but yourself in the pictures around you. You were scared so you went to your brother, who you did remember. See, you were sick, right? And you had accidentally taken a double dose of medication. Cold medicine always makes you loopy and after the fall it affected your memory. Following?"
"Yes."
"So you go to your brother but you don't remember much about the trip. Your short term memory wasn't doing its job. You couldn't remember much of anything, which is why you don't know how you ended up shot. Lee has all of this documented, so you'll have medical paperwork to go along with everything."
"This is ridiculous; you know that right?" Carter said. Of all the stories he could have imagined...
"I know but it's the best I could do right now,” Owen said in agitation. “Let me finish. Now Emilie, you didn't go home sooner because you were healing."
"I have a question," she interrupted. "What about Dean? He went to the funeral. If I came to him, then why didn't he tell Bobby I wasn't dead?"
Good catch. Carter hadn't thought of that.
"Ah, see he never liked Bobby. So when you came to him with this problem and didn't remember your fiancé, he saw a way to get you out of the relationship."
She snorted. "Well at least his part is true."
"See, it's not so bad."
"No, it will be just fine. Dean and I can work on the finer points on the way there. Thank you, Owen," Emilie said. Carter wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her into his lap.
"Anytime."
"Hey Owen?" Carter asked. "What about Lee's signature. She's not exactly stable yet."
"You think I don't know how to forge that shit?"
"Dude, I’m a cop. You can't tell me stuff like that." Shit, this was sticky enough as it was. His job could be in jeopardy if he became too involved in the cover up.
"Yeah, and I'm your alpha telling you that you aren't allowed to do anything about it."
Of course, there was always that.
"Don't worry about it, Carter. Everything will be legit. I'll have the papers dropped off later tonight."
Carter hung up and then hung onto Emilie. Every time she tried to stand, he tightened his arms a bit more. Eventually she gave up and started putting clothes in her suitcase from where they sat.
"Do you want me to come along?" he asked knowing the answer already.
She shook her head. "No. I think that would raise more questions."
She was right, of course she was, but he still wanted to do it.
"Come on," she said patting his arm that had locked her in place. "Let's go catch Dean up and then scavenge some food."
He sighed and rested his forehead between her shoulder blades. After they ate he would be rendered useless. His job having been done, he'd have the choice of watching her pack or going home. She planned to leave early in the morning and they hadn't gotten to the point where
they spent the night often. Only that one time, that first time. Carter would just have to be ok with right now, this moment. It'd have to hold him over till...whenever she came back.
"Yeah, ok." He loosened his arms and let her go.
Ten
Virgos think they can overcome any emotion with reason. And they do.
zodiacmind.tumbler.com
* * *
Three weeks, that's all it had been since she was last here. Three weeks and everything had changed.
They were meeting Detective Davis at his house. At this point, she still couldn't be seen out in the open. If anyone recognized her, everything would crumble down around them.
When he opened the door he snorted out a laugh. "Nice to see you alive, Ms. Williams."
She thought his reaction to seeing her was a bit odd but smiled anyway. "It's nice to be alive."
"Come in so we can get this straightened out."
He was prepared for them. All the photos and files of her case were laid out on the table. She knew it had happened, the investigation that is, Dean had said as much from his trips back here, but seeing the evidence laid in front of her, put the guilt train she was riding into over drive.
"Alright, now why don't you tell me what actually happened and then what we are going to pass off as what happened." Dean stayed standing so he could keep looking at the pictures while Emilie took a seat. Her eyes kept migrating toward the picture of her pile of clothes on the deck.
"Bobby was going hunting with his father. I waited until he was gone and then a little more because he has the habit of forgetting something. When I thought all was clear, I went to shift. He caught me on the tail end of it. I had no other choice but to run. He shot me," Emilie patted her leg. She'd strip if necessary. "Went straight through but got infected."
Davis narrowed his eyes. "You're the one who used the first aid kit out by the lake?"
She nodded. "Yeah, I'll replace anything that needs it."
He shook his head and waved her off. "Nah, just a mystery that has been solved, one of many apparently. We thought a wolf had gotten in trouble but couldn't account for anyone injured. The scent of your blood masked over your fur. We had no idea who it was."
"Well I appreciate your well placed kit but it didn't do me much good. Still got infected. The Adirondack Doctor had to step in to help once I got in town."
"I figured it was something like that. Guy says his fiancé was eaten by a bear and the resident bear disappears, coincidence? Doesn't take a detective to figure that one out. I was ready to write it off and bury it but the other detective downtown is new and is trying to prove himself.” There was a small snarl on his lips. “Thought there was more to it. I could hardly tell him the truth since he was human. He didn't tell me he was arresting the guy until it was already done."
Dean pulled out the chair beside her and sat. "So what happens now? She is fine to come forward but we don't want her accused of faking her own death or anything."
"My alpha said you had a story. So let me hear it. We'll do what we can to clear up any loop holes."
Emilie took a deep breath and explained the story that would be fed to the police. Dean produced the medical files that Owen had procured, which impressed Davis. It took twice as long to explain than the truth had but she had gone over it so many times in her head that Emilie said every word as if it were what happened.
"That is one crazy story," he said when she was done. "But you've got the proof to back it up." Davis tapped on the files. "It should work. As long as you can tell it just like that to the other guy, who is the actual detective on the case, I think you'll be fine. I've already talked to my alpha about lending you our lawyer."
"Thank you," she said. They were being incredibly generous considering she wasn't even a wolf.
"I think we should do this soon." Davis looked at his watch. "I'm going to get the lawyer over here and then I say we go get that fiancé of yours out of jail."
"Alright, Rose, that's enough for now,” Davis said stepping in. “You heard her story, she is obviously alive so that makes Robert Travitz innocent. We need to work on getting him released."
Emilie sat in Davis's office beside her newly appointed lawyer. Detective Rose had basically had a heart attack when she walked in. His hand had been twitching for his handcuffs when Davis told her to follow him.
Davis was right, though, Rose was looking for a big case to make a name for himself. Every question was asked, then reworded and asked again. He played bad cop with her from the start. Davis paced the office as she told her tale and let Rose ask his questions without interference. It was towards the end when his eyes darted toward the clock every few minutes that she knew Rose was wearing on Davis’s last nerve.
"Can I see him?" Emilie asked Davis. Rose opened his mouth ready to deny her request when Davis held up a hand that silenced him.
He considered it for a moment and then nodded. "Yeah, ok."
She was taken to a conference room and told to wait. As she did, she decided that she wasn't ready for this and wanted to leave. Because really, what had she been thinking? Bobby thought her to be dead. Seeing him hadn’t been part of the plan, in fact, Dean was adamant that she avoid it all together. But after pulling into town, she knew she wouldn’t be able to leave unless she saw him. Closure wasn’t something she knew she needed until now.
Her mind went to Carter. What would he think of this? She sighed knowing exactly what he would think.
She wrapped her hands around the Styrofoam cup of tea Davis has been nice enough to get her. Not that she had any plans to drink it, but the warmth was nice.
"I don't understand, what is going on?" she heard Bobby ask down the hall.
"Evidence has come forth that takes you off the suspect list. In fact, the case is being closed," Davis said. He nodded at her as he came in. Emilie wasn’t sure if she should stand or not. She was about to push her chair back when Bobby walked through the door.
He had lost weight. Already being a twig, it wasn't weight he had to lose. His skin was almost translucent, it was so pale. Bobby was scared and tired, and it was completely her fault.
He wasn’t looking at her but at Davis for answers to his questions. "I don't-"
"Bobby," Emilie interrupted. His head snapped to her.
"Emilie?" he asked in a hollow voice. What little color he had drained completely away. She was worried he might collapse. Death had more life than his face right now.
His eyes flicked rapidly across her face as he swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing. "How?"
"Come sit. Davis, can we have some water?" The detective glanced at Bobby noting his condition and nodded. When they were alone, Bobby cautiously came over and pulled the seat out beside her.
She found it hard to look at him but also couldn't convince herself to look away. He was so tortured and knowing it had been her "death" that put that look there, she owed him her attention. Emilie wouldn't be able to give much more than that.
"I buried you," he said looking at her. His brows were pulled together in a tight knot.
"I know."
"What happened?"
She dug the edge of her nail into the cup and began to make half-moon impressions. "I don't remember much. I know I had taken some cold medicine but I must have taken too much, you know how I get with that stuff."
He nodded.
"It’s all fuzzy after that. I fell, I know that much. My hip was bruised for days and I still have a tender spot on my head. I was in the woods, but I don't know where. Everything comes and goes.” She licked her lips and looked back down at her cup. “I was shot-"
"What?" he asked looking her over more intently now.
"In the leg." She patted her thigh. "It's a mystery to me. I showed up at Dean's house with a fever and this infected wound. They are saying it's some kind of short term memory loss. Some of it is coming back but..." Emilie dropped her head. Lying was a part of life when you were a shifter, but this was too much. Guilt made her r
each over and grab his hand. She wished she could tell him the truth but sometimes the truth was worse than the lie.
Bobby turned his hand over and linked their fingers. He stared at their hands for a long time before saying anything. "Why didn't you come back?"
God, she was going to break him. "I didn't remember who you were. Dean was trying to help but you know how he is."
His eyes cut her way and the corner of his mouth twitched up. "He doesn't like me."
She shook her head. "He doesn't."
Bobby shrugged and went back to looking at her hand. He cupped her one between both of his. "What else?"
She swallowed. "What do you mean?"
"What else are you not telling me?"
"Nothing, that's it. That's everything."
Bobby brought her hand to his lips and kissed the back of it before letting it go. "That's a lie. I've turned my head at a lot of oddities with you. But disappearing, and then I'm arrested for your murder and now your back?" He sighed. "You are lying to me about something and I deserve more."
He was right. Of course he was right. But she couldn't tell him the truth. Not without consequences. She swallowed. "Bobby, I-"
"Emilie?" Dean interrupted from the doorway. He was frowning at her. "Bobby's free to go and you need to rest."
She nodded. "Can we talk again later?"
Bobby wouldn't look at her but he agreed.
They walked out together. She made a point to limp pretty heavily while she was there. Bobby frowned seeing her struggle and put an arm around her waist to help her. "Don't you have crutches?" he asked.
She smiled and shook her head. "You know me. Why would I do something the easy way when I can do it the hard way instead?"
The joke was one he used to say about her all the time. It made him smile which was nice to see.
A bright flash went off as she was looking at him. Emilie frowned and found a camera in her face. Dean was already pushing the guy aside.
The Truth in Love: A Zodiac Shifters Paranormal Romance: Virgo Page 8
