Chapter 156

Chapter 3: Ayla I had showered, changed, and was heading out the door when my phone rang. I checked the ID and picked up the call.

“Hey, Zeff,” I answered happily.

“Well, don’t you sound perky this morning,” Zeff replied. “Oh, that’s right, congratulations are in order. Not that I found out from you.

“I There was no anger in his tone, but I still felt a pang of guilt. I hadn’t told him about Theo and I marking each other. He was out of town working with Holly on the magazine again, and I hadn’t had time once we got back to the packhouse. I should have Called him on the way home.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “The whole thing wasn’t exactly planned.”

Zeff chuckled. “It’s okay, Ayls,” he assured me. “Seriously, I’m happy if you’re happy. You are happy, right?”

I smiled. “Yeah,” I said earnestly. “I’m happy.”

“Good,” Zeff said genuinely.

“So, I guess that means you no longer hate Theo?” I asked.

“Eh, he saved you from a psycho stalker,” he stated. “So, if the goddess thinks he’s good enough, I guess he’s not so bad.

”

I rolled my eyes as I left the suite. “How is the website going?”

“Actually, that’s part of why I called,” Zeff said. “Other than my best friend not telling me she had been marked and mated, of course.”

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Chapter 3 Ayla 288 IVouchers “I’m sorry.” I insisted.

He laughed again. “Great, I know exactly how you can make it up to me.”

“Oh yeah, how is that?”

“Pick up the advice column,” he said.

I winced. I had completely forgotten about that. I paused in the middle of the hall.

“Look, I’ve sent you an email with three letters we picked out,” he told me. “Take a look at them and see what you think. I’ll be back in town tomorrow afternoon, and we can celebrate then.”

“Okay,” I gave in. “I’ll take a look.”

“I knew you wouldn’t let me down,” he replied.

“Yeah, yeah,” I teased. “I’ll talk to you later.”

“Later, Ayls.

“I I exited the packhouse and looked around the grounds before heading to the utility shed at the back. Mina was already down there working when I arrived.

“Good morning,” I greeted. “How long have you been down here?”

She lifted up a cup of coffee for me. “Not long.” She shrugged. “I got here about fifteen minutes ago. I promised Briggs I wouldn’t put so many extra hours in for a while.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” I said. “There’s already one workaholic in this family. We don’t need another.”

18 288 Vouchers Our eyes met and we both laughed.

“Okay, okay.” I said. “Let’s get to work. I have an interview with the admissions office at two.”

Theo had Briggs bring my dad’s box down the day before while everyone was preoccupied with our arrival. We had another table set up to keep the contents separate from what we got from Onyxcrown. I pulled up a chair and set Harry’s notebook down on the table. I had marked a few pages that I wanted to look into.

“What’s that?” Mina asked.

“It’s Harry’s notebook,” I explained. “I found it in the hideout. I’ve been studying it. I can’t tell if it is all just gibberish nonsense or if it’s encoded. I think it’s in code. I’m hoping to find something that will help us decipher it.”

“Let me take a look,” Mina said, holding out her hand.

I handed her the book and she flipped through it. She made a few faces before sharing her thoughts.

“You’re right that it’s hard to tell which case it is,” she said. “But we’ll cover it to make sure. What if we ask Alpha Torin? If it’s in code, maybe he’ll have an idea...”

“No,” I interrupted. “If I absolutely have to, I’ll ask him. But Harry’s betrayal has been hard enough on him. I don’t want to make things harder.”

―

“You’re probably right,” Mina agreed. “Well, since I have you on these for a while“. she slipped on a pair of rubber gloves “I’m going to play with the fun stuff.”

She was talking about the chemicals and electronic equipment we had 40.48%

11:59 Chispter 3 Ayda # 288 Vouchera.

taken with us. She pulled a file folder from her work bag and held it to her nose, inhaling deeply.

“Ahhh,” she exhaled dramatically. “I love the smell of test results in the morning.”

I laughed as she went to the other work table and started reviewing the file. It surprisingly didn’t take her long to find something of interest.

“Ooh,” she said. “I think we found what Harry used to make Kylee smell like you.”

“Really?”

I got up and walked over to her side as she looked through the labeled vials and containers in front of her. She found what she was looking for and selected a large glass vial. She popped the lid and wafted her hand over the opening.

“Hoo yeah,” she said. “That’s you alright.”

I followed her lead and waved my hand over the bottle. My brow furrowed.

“I just smell chemicals,” I said. “And it’s very faint, at that.”

“Really?” Mina said, c***ing her head. “Well, that’s just fascinating. Although, I guess that would make sense in a way.” She looked back at the file. “We tend to not register our own scent. This says that this vial contains an unusual amount of werewolf DNA. The sample appears to be from a single subject. Concentration is too high to be contamination.”

“Wait, Harry was using my DNA?” I asked incredulously. “How could he have gotten that?”

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11:59 Chape Ayle 205 Wouterą “Have you ever given blood?” She made a face as soon as she asked. “Why am I even asking? Of course you have.”

I shrugged in confirmation.

“Um, I may also have been a consistent plasma donor, too,” I told her. “Particularly back when money was tight.”

“Hmm...” Mina said. “I’ll contact the plasma clinic and see if they can give us any information on dear old psycho Harry. In the meantime, and I know how much damage this little invention of his has done to you, but it’s pretty damn cool.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yes, the evil genius made some cool stuff. Let’s just hope you still think that when they’re being used against you.”

I playfully tapped her head with some papers and returned to my table.

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