Page 69 of Hart's Redemption

But if I had challenged him then, the pack never would have thrown the bacchanal, we wouldn’t have been vulnerable to attack, and Josh wouldn’t have come.

As guilty as it made me feel, that was just not something I could bring myself to regret. “It’s not that simple,” I finally said.

“How is it not? You challenge, you win. Done. The pack is back on track.”

I wished I could see the world as starkly as Eric did. Sometimes he was a guiding light of clarity, but other times, he refused to recognize what was right in front of his nose. “Becausewe don’t know what’s going on with Josh.” I fought the urge to rub my chest. The ache had gotten indescribably worse over the last few weeks, as had my worry. Not that I could say anything to Eric. He’d already admitted that he didn’t understand, explaining it again wasn’t likely to make a difference.

He glared at me as if he were contemplating wrapping his fingers around my neck, then threw his hands up, clearly at the end of his rope. “How is what’s going on with Josh in any way relevant to what is happening here?”

“Because if he dies, I die.” I speared Eric with a pointed look. “Where would the pack be then?”

He opened his mouth and promptly shut it again without uttering a syllable. His hands dropped back to his sides with a smack. “Okay, so that’s relevant.”

I could practically see the gears turning as he processed this latest facet and what it meant for the pack at large. At last, he held out his hands, and I waited expectantly for whatever questionable scheme he’d concocted in his ruminating silence.

“Right. New plan. We find Josh, spring him, come back here, andthenwe take the pack from Conrad.”

My jaw fell. I quickly snapped it shut and pushed past my disbelief. “Are you fucking kidding me right now?” I surged off the couch, the tenuous hold on my temper growing thinner by the second. “That’s literally been the plan this whole time. You can see how much success we’re having on that front. I’ve tracked literal fucking moles with more intel than we’ve got. We don’t have so much as a hint of where he’s being held, and you just want to ‘spring him’ like it’s nothing?”

As Eric opened his mouth invariably to argue some more, the front door flung open hard enough to hit the entry wall. A second later, Remus burst into the room, eyes bright with excitement, panting for breath.

“I have something.”

Eric and I looked at each other, equally surprised by his fortuitous timing. It was Eric who asked what I was too afraid to hope for. “You know where he is?”

“Nope,” Remus said, an idiotic grin plastered on his face.

I stepped forward, more than a little confused, my suppressed anger in danger of snapping free. “I don’t understand. Do you or don’t you know where to find Josh?”

Remus glanced over his shoulder back towards the entrance before stepping aside, his obnoxious smile still firmly in place. “I don’t, butshedoes.”

All eyes turned to the petite woman who emerged from behind him. Pure-gold hair fell in a loose curtain to her shoulders around an oval-shaped face. Her lavender tank top and light denim jeans lent her eyes a periwinkle hue that didn’t quite seem real. She swept the room in one look and settled her gaze on me.

“Dr. Bennett. It is a pleasure to see you again, though I wish it were under better circumstances.”

It wasn’t until she spoke that I finally recognized her. “Director Starling.”

She nodded, and what might have been a smile flitted across her lips. It was gone too fast to be certain.

I accepted her hand, surprised to find it warm. This delicate doll was a far cry from the deadly ice queen I’d briefly encountered when I’d accompanied Josh on his last sanctioned hunt. “You look… different.”

“Hot. She looks hot,” Remus corrected from where he was still panting with exuberance in the middle of my living room.

Director Starling angled towards him and arched a perfect golden brow. Instantly, his eyes widened and his face paled as all the blood left it in a rush. “While I appreciate the value of the compliment, Sergeant Andana, it would behoove you to remember my station and the particular licenses I hold.”

Eric leaned over and not-so-quietly asked, “Is that detective-speak for she will cut a bitch?” I couldn’t help but snort a laugh. The thinly veiled threat was so perfectly crafted to be true and so perfectly Josh that it was hard not to.

The Director’s penetrating gaze swiveled back to me. “If we’re all done with the pleasantries, there is work to be done.”

I blinked away my astonishment at the day’s unexpected turn of events and gestured towards the dining table. “Please have a seat.”

Director Starling pulled up a chair and took out a modest data tab. She instantly began thumbing through files and asked without looking up, “Has Joshua equipped this place with a security system?” My words didn’t come quite fast enough, and she flicked her stern gaze up to look at me.

“He installed Atlas months ago,” I said in a rush.

She nodded her approval and went right back to her tablet. “Would you instruct the system to initiate security protocol Crickets?”

I did as she requested, and the system informed the room at large that the perimeter was secure, all comms jammed, and the house safe from prying ears.