Carter leaned against the seat behind him and nodded slowly. She was right… but had she forgotten about the other things that had been mentioned? Or maybe they had just been so vague she hadn’t really caught on to what was being said.

  “Sure,” he said. “I mean, that would be great.”

  She smiled at him, and he rubbed his thumb over the top of her hand.

  She really was an incredible woman. And even though he knew he was getting in over his head and his inner voice was telling him to stay away, now he wasn’t going to be able to. They were together and they had a shared cause… and he was going to roll with the journey.

  8.

  Aubrey walked back to her apartment in what could have easily been described as a daze. She was so distracted that she didn’t even find herself staring at the streetlamps and the MISSING posters that were tethered to them. It was as if she had forgotten altogether about the strange happenings around her home, and the fact that a well-known member of the community had gone missing. She breezed through town with her head in the clouds and a spring in her step.

  She had just had the most amazing time with Carter. A surprise brunch and some truly wonderful company. It had been something she had never expected and even in its simplicity, it had captured her heart.

  She had never found someone she could sit and talk to, she had never been around a guy where she could totally be herself, where she wasn’t afraid of what he thought of her, where she just felt at ease and relaxed, knowing she could speak freely and not fear his reaction. It was almost as if they had a deeper connection running between them. Something that was fixed and stable; she didn’t find herself worrying about what may happen next. She was happy to just roll with it and see where the ride took them both.

  When she had said goodbye to him outside the diner, she had felt shy but grateful for the amazing day she had had with him. He had held her in his arms and kissed her softly on the lips, staring into her eyes and faltering when it was time for them to part. It was clear he didn’t want to go, but he had to go to the club, and she had to start on their investigation into Martin Hall.

  She slid her key into the lock and stepped inside her apartment. The blinds were open in the living area, letting strong afternoon sunlight beam in and she slinked over to the couch and found herself flopping down on it like a cat, stretching out in the sun. She smiled and reached her arms high over her head and sighed. It had been a great weekend and she had the feeling it wasn’t even over just yet.

  She closed her eyes and enjoyed the feeling of the sun on her face, warming through her skin and making her feel radiant from the inside out. Pure happiness. That was the way it felt. Like she had woken up from a long sleep and fallen into a life that was getting more exciting by the second.

  She wrapped her arms around herself and rolled onto her side. She had always thought nothing was missing with her life, but just in the past twenty-four hours, that had seemed to change. She had always been so successful with her career and hobbies, she had a place of her own and she was settled and stable, she had never felt as if there was room for anything else.

  Until she met Carter.

  Now, all she could think about was when she was going to see him again.

  She smiled and reached for the remote. She turned the TV on and blinked as her eyes adjusted to the screen. She flicked through the channels, looking for something worth having on in the background before she prepared herself to jump up and get on with her weekend chores. But she stopped when she reached the local news and sat up straight to watch as she saw the photograph of the man that had been on the streetlamps.

  LONE REACH – MISSING MAN – MARTIN HALL STILL NOT FOUND – FAMILY APPEAL FOR INFORMATION AMID DESPERATE SEARCH…

  The marquee at the bottom of the news was spinning the words over and over again on a loop, and she could see the reporter was standing on-location, outside the brewery, interviewing someone. She turned the volume up and leaned in a little closer, placing her elbows on her knees and resting her chin on her palms.

  “It was just a day like any other,” the man being interviewed said. He was someone that Aubrey realized she recognized too, a man who she has seen around the bars on Main Street. And she read the caption beneath him as it appeared on the screen which told her his name was Mason Bernard, and he was the owner of The Brewery.

  “Martin clocked off his shift at the regular time and left the staff compound before heading out into the parking lot. We have CCTV present in all areas of the interior and exterior, so we can see what time he leaves… But the camera that was covering the area where his vehicle was parked appears to have been disabled by a malfunction around that time.”

  A chill rolled over Aubrey. How could the one CCTV camera that could have explained something be the one that had malfunctioned or been disabled? She found herself nervously chewing her lip. None of this sounded right, and she could see the look of apprehension on Mason Bernard’s face as he was speaking to the reporter.

  “We hope that, if anyone has any information or has seen anything, either on the evening Mr. Hall disappeared or in the days since then, they get in touch with the police.”

  Aubrey’s mind traveled back to the posters that had been tied to the lamp posts and couldn’t help but feel a swell of sadness for the man’s family. She had been on the side where they were now… She had lost her father in a tragic accident and she hoped this wasn’t going to be a similar outcome. It may have been over a decade before, but the wounds still ran deep. Did anyone ever truly get over the loss of a parent?

  She didn’t realize, for a few moments, that she was crying, until a tear rolled down her cheek and she had to choke back the tears before she rubbed it away.

  “Okay,” she said. “Don’t put yourself on a downer, but you know you’re going to try and help.”

  She opened her laptop and started to google the Brewery site, and articles about Lone Reach and missing people. There had never been a case like this before which is what made it so unusual. Lone Reach had always been a pretty safe place. But then she saw references to the accident, and she shunned it and closed the computer. She didn’t want to read about the fire that had happened all those years before.

  She rose to her feet and had to distract herself. Maybe working on this case with Carter wasn’t going to be so easy after all. She rubbed her head and sighed.

  She was wiping down the surfaces and running the sink with soapy water to do the dishes when her phone began to ring. She dried her hands before picking it up.

  “Hello, Mia,” she said with amusement. “And what can I do for you?”

  “Oh my god!” Mia cackled with laughter. “You know what you can do for me! Tell me everything! How did it go?”

  “It was pretty amazing,” she admitted with a grin.

  “I can imagine…” Mia said. “Victor told me that Carter had been watching you on the dancefloor and when he had seen us come up the stairs, he knew there was no way he was letting Carter miss this opportunity. Apparently, not many girls catch his eye… In fact, according to Victor, Carter hasn’t dated anyone in a long, long time.”

  “Oh, really,” Aubrey smiled.

  “Yep,” she could hear the glee in Mia’s voice. “And who does that remind you of?”

  Aubrey had to laugh. As it turned out, it seemed she and Carter were alike in a lot of ways.

  “So, yeah, I’m feeling pretty pleased with myself right now,” Mia teased. “It’s awesome seeing my best friend hook up with a seriously hot, eligible bachelor, and I’ve bagged myself a new job. Not bad for a random weekend, especially when it started out so badly.”

  “You’re telling me!” Aubrey laughed. “And well done on the job. That really is awesome. How did it all go? And when do you start?”

  Mia paused for a moment, and Aubrey was sure she could hear the cogs turning in her head.

  “Well, that’s another thing,” she mused. “Turns out, they have a student night on Monday and that’ll be my first shift. Your presence is also required.”

  “Huh?” Aubrey felt her eyes widen. “You want me to come with you to work?”

  “It’s an induction on Monday evening,” Mia said, and Aubrey could sense the sarcasm. “It’s not going to be in any way busy. Victor said to come down and he can show me the ropes while you chill at the bar with Carter.”

  Aubrey put the plate she was cleaning on the counter, dried her hands, and then reached for the phone to hold onto it, instead of leaving it to balance on her shoulder.

  “I can’t come with you to work, Mia,” she said. “I’ll look crazy.”

  “Victor said,” Mia protested, “maybe Carter asked him to arrange it.”

  “If Carter wants to see me, then I’m sure he’ll call,” Aubrey said with an eye roll. “There’s no way I’m turning up at The Dragon Pit on a Monday night looking for some guy. How thirsty would it look?”

  She laughed and shook her head.

  “Oh, come on!” Mia moaned. “I would do it for you.”

  “It’s your first night at a new job,” Aubrey said. “Plus, there’s a missing man in town and no one knows what’s happened to him. Carter and I are actually going to look into it, try and help the family find some information.”

  “All the more reason for you to come with me then.” Mia didn’t miss a beat. “I assume you don’t want me walking the streets alone at night.”

  Aubrey knew she had caught her out there, and she rolled her eyes and closed them tight.

  “Dammit, Mia,” she said through gritted teeth. “You certainly know how to guilt trip me.”

  “It’s what friends are for,” Mia chirped. “Plus, I know you will thank me for it later.”

  Aubrey looked at the clock on the wall and the fact that it was getting closer to dinner time startled her. The whole day seemed to flash by in a blur; waking up later certainly meant you didn’t get as much time to contemplate life and enjoy some peace and quiet. She had been nonstop since the second she had opened her eyes. It only felt as if it should have been around noon, and yet it was approaching five and she had barely gotten anything done.

  “I have chores to do,” Aubrey said. “I’ve got work tomorrow and a ton of laundry to sort through before then.”

  “Promise me you’ll come tomorrow night?” Mia said hopefully. “It’ll be fun, it’ll help me feel at ease going in for my first night, and it’ll mean you get to see Carter again.”

  “If Carter wants to see me, then I’m sure he can get in touch,” Aubrey said sternly. “But I’ll consider your proposal.”

  Mia sighed on the other end of the line, and Aubrey felt a little smile play on her lips.

  “He likes you,” Mia said. “Don’t run a million miles in the other direction before you’ve even given the poor guy a chance.”

  Aubrey felt stunned by the statement, but she had to admit, she felt the weight of Mia’s words, and could understand why she had said them. She knew she had put up walls in the past. She was just so used to being on her own and looking after herself that the idea of a man being around was totally alien to her.

  “Okay,” she found herself saying. “Thank you for the pep talk.” Aubrey smiled.

  “Any time!” Mia chimed. “Speak tomorrow.”

  As she hung up the call, Aubrey leaned back against the kitchen counter and sighed. Mia was right, it had been a pretty epic weekend by all accounts, and now she had the potential of seeing Carter the following night too.

  She stretched and scowled. She wanted to see him more than anything, but she didn’t want to just turn up at The Dragon Pit either.

  She wandered through to the bathroom and put the stopper in the tub before she poured in some soothing bath foam and started to run the hot tap. She swilled it all around and watched the bubbles begin to form, and her mind wandered to the thought of heading out late at night again and on a Monday… It just seemed like madness to her. The beginning of the work week was not a time to be hitting clubs, but maybe it was time she broke her routine ever so slightly.

  Once the bath was full, she pinned up her hair, lit a few candles, and dimmed the main lights. She pressed shuffle on her favorite chill-out playlist and undressed before she climbed into the warm, relaxing water and eased herself down. She closed her eyes and let her imagination take her back to earlier that day and to how content she had been sitting with Carter in the diner. It was as if they had known each other for years, but there was still something about him that was nagging at the back of her mind.

  She didn’t know why he seemed so different to her; it was just as if her instincts could pick up on it and it was driving her crazy. When she had first laid eyes on him in the nightclub, she had thought that he had an animalistic nature to him and the way he was watching her had ignited something in her soul. His eyes were so dark and deep, they almost didn’t look human… And yet, when she sat and spoke to him, and when she was close to him, she felt so drawn in and safe. It was as if she were meant to be there beside him.

  How could he radiate something so strange and yet she be so drawn to him and become so quickly addicted?

  She opened her eyes and ran her hands down her face to try and freshen herself up. She still didn’t feel brilliant from the evening before, and suddenly, she felt overwhelmingly tired. Her cellphone pinged on the washstand and she dried her hands with a towel before she leaned forward to grab it, reaching out her arm as far as she could and just being able to grab it before she slid back down into the bubbles, keeping the phone safe in her fist high above the water.

  She rested back, looked at the screen, smiled and felt warm inside when she saw his name. He was messaging her…

  She bit her lip and grinned.

  C: So, Victor tells me that Mia is starting at the club tomorrow, and I was thinking it would be good if you came down with her… What do you say?

  Aubrey laughed and clutched the phone in her hands and held it against her lips. She was grinning from ear to ear and wanted to scold herself for being so giddy, but she just couldn’t help it. Her heart was doing summersaults and she was feeling like a schoolgirl all over again.

  She waited a few moments and wracked her brains for a witty reply, but in the end, she just went with her gut and began to type…

  A: Hmm… on a school night? It’s tempting but I don’t know about that… some of us have regular jobs to tend to, not just living the wild party lifestyle ;P

  Once she hit send, she instantly cringed and rolled her eyes at herself. She had just done exactly what Mia had told her not to do. She had put up a wall and told him no, when, really, she had wanted to say yes. She felt annoyed at herself and found herself wishing there was some kind of unsend button on text messages.

  Luckily, for her, Carter didn’t seem like the type of guy to drag out a conversation and keep people on hold.

  C: I quite agree… so with that in mind, let’s do dinner instead? Drinks in the club first then we can head out to somewhere on Main Street. I promise to have you back before 10pm ??

  Aubrey’s heart was practically jumping out of her chest as she read his words. He hadn’t turned his back on her, and he had got her humor, even if it had been terrible.

  She had never been more relieved and excited.

  A: Okay, you’ve twisted my arm. See you tomorrow at the club around 7?

  C: Perfect x

  Aubrey grinned as she let the phone fall to the floor at the side of the tub and then she laughed and slid down into the water until her head was underneath it and she was covered in foam and her hair was soaking wet. When she rose up again, she was laughing and could barely see, but she felt happy and full of energy.

  Carter was giving her so much happiness, and she could sense that they had so much more ahead that it was only going to get even more exciting.

  She pulled the plug out of the tub, wrapped herself in a towel and padded back along the hallway to her bedroom where she threw open her closet doors and peered inside.

  She only had just over twenty-four hours… she better get to planning.

  9.

  The clock struck midnight in the great entrance hall of Carter’s mansion. His fiery eyes flicked up to the doorway and his breath caught in his throat as he waited for the rest of his pack to arrive.

  It had been a strange day in many ways. So much had happened. And now he had to take the next step in ensuring his town was protected and to also see that the new person in his life was going to be safe.

  He smiled when he thought about Aubrey, of what a great time he had had with her both at the party the night before and that day at the diner. For someone who liked to shut people out, somehow, he had found himself enjoying her company and lusting for more. And her kisses were addictive.

  The house was old and echoing as he began to pace along the flagstone, and he felt the familiar rush of adrenaline spike through him as his inner dragon began to awaken. He had been suppressing his instincts for the past few days, being overwhelmed with so many issues that had been haunting him, but now he was ready to unleash all his pent-up energy and take to the skies.

  From outside, he heard the sound of crunching gravel, of the trucks making their way closer. He breathed in and out deeply and stepped toward the massive front door, before he opened both sides and flung them open so he could look out into the night. Parking up in front of him were five vehicles, all of them big and impressive and coming from other secluded parts of the mountain.

  From behind him, he heard Victor’s footsteps as he approached from inside the house and then sidled up next to him. He had been there with Carter for some time, while they had gone over the takings from the club from the previous evening and bagged up some cash to put in the vault in the basement deep below the house.