Chapter 50

The Sentinel kept his eyes closed for minutes, taking in the emotions left behind on the soil with his bare right hand, the left one protected from overstimulation with the thick black glove that was still on it.

"This is a very complicated person," Clifford said with knitted eyebrows.

Riley opened his mouth to speak, but before I managed to hush him, he thought better of it and kept silent, allowing the empath to work in peace.

Clifford's hand moved to the branches of the nearby bush.

"Very complicated indeed," he concluded. "It's more difficult to pick up on secondary emotions when someone shifts to their animal form, but with this person, it's difficult to comprehend even the most dominant ones."

His eyes opened and he got up, putting his glove back on in the process.

"So it was a shifter?" Keri asked.

"Yes," Clifford certified. "Your kind feels... bifurcated, but at the same time cohesive."

"Two fancy words in one short sentence." Johnathan whistled quietly.

His partner went on to elaborate:

"It's as if I'm trying to understand the emotions of two creatures but at the same time they feel as one."

"Welcome to our world." Keri smiled a bit crookedly. "It's always as if we have two hearts to feel with. But enough of that. What did you find out?"

"Not much," the Sentinel admitted. "A lot of you have passed by here and that muddled this shifter's emotions with the ones from your pack. Also, this boy's fear..." He turned to my mate, his eyebrows furrowing again. "You said they were not aggressive; why did you fear them so?"

Riley shrugged and looked down. I reached to him and took his hand, giving it a little squeeze.

"They just felt very dominant and intrusive," he replied after taking a deep breath. "They were gazing at me as if I was a toy."

"Good instincts." Clifford nodded. " A sense of superiority is one of the things I picked up on. Confidence. There was some form of desire, but it wasn't a sexual one, it wasn't romantic; I wouldn't say it was a desire to harm you either. There was also curiosity and something else I can't quite make out."

He closed his fist, leaving the index and thumb sticking out and brought his fingers under his chin as he contemplated for a few seconds.

"Entitlement." He finally uttered. "There was definitely a sense of entitlement."

"But no malicious intent?" I needed to make sure.

"No."

"And their interest in Riley..." I held my mate's hand tighter. "... Can you tell us more about that?"

To my great disappointment, the man shook his head.

"Not from here. Riley, show me where they stepped when they saw your mate coming."

My mate let go of me and moved a few steps to the side to indicate the spot by pointing between a set of bushes.

"They went that way. In a straight line," he added.

"Alright." Clifford nodded yet again, removed the glove he had put back on and crouched once more. A sense of déjà vu overcame me as he closed his eyes, reached to the ground with him palm facing it and the rest of us just stood nearby in silence, waiting for the Sentinel to pick on the intruder's emotions. This time though, he kept moving. He spent a minute or two touching the ground, then, still crouched, stepped away from us and touched another spot; he spent about the same amount of time there, before moving another couple of steps and doing this over and over again, following the path the white wolf had taken. He was about sixteen feet away from us when he stood up and put the black leather glove back on.

"You can relax," he announced on his way back to us. "The further they got, the less curious they felt. Perhaps they were simply surprised to see a human boy on a territory owned by a pack of werewolves."

His words, inconclusive as they were, brought a small relief. And yet, I wished I had more, I wished I could be reassured again.

"So you think they aren't fixated on Riley?" I asked.

"A few hours have gone by and quite a few shifters have passed, but I doubt they are targeting your mate."

That was good to know, but nothing less of him being sure could blow all of my anxiety away. Perhaps even if he was absolutely sure, I wouldn't be able to sleep soundly without my mate by my side.

I put my hands on Riley's shoulders and turned him towards me, looking into a tired pair of brown eyes.

"I still want you to move in with me. As soon as possible, Riley. It will be so much easier to protect you if you are here."

"But..." He took a step back and my arms fell lifelessly by my side. I could understand his hesitation, but a part of me, the inhuman part that recognized him as my mate, was too scared he'd be hurt to let this matter drop.

"I know I'm coming off as pushy, Riley," I held his hands in mine, "but try to see things from my perspective. If the person you loved most was in potential danger, wouldn't you want to be by their side as much as possible?"

Those beautiful brown eyes that I adored lit up.

"Don't put it like that," he quietly begged me. "Don't go all 'I love you' at a time like this, Rhys, it isn't fair!"

My jaw went slack. He'd felt joy when I'd said that I loved him, I was sure of that.

So why didn't he want to hear it?

Had I interpreted his look wrong?

Had I said 'I love you' wrong?

"When you say it like that," Riley went on, "I can't find the strength to say no to you."

I pulled him into a tight, but gentle embrace, his cheek resting on my chest. For a moment, I thought my racing heartbeat would turn him deaf, but I felt him relax and lean into me, taking in a deep breath. I did the same, enjoying the comforting aroma that was Riley. I could feel happiness rolling out of him and mixing with mine, yet his hands and feet began to tremble so I held onto him tighter.

"I can't believe that not a month into the relationship and we are moving in together." He giggled. "Maybe I've gone crazy."

"You don't seem particularly bothered by that," I murmured, kissing him on top of his head.

He looked up, resting his chin on my chest.

"Nope. Not at all, not at the moment and that's thanks to you cheating."

"Saying that 'I love you' is cheating?" I raised an eyebrow, this time amused instead of worried.

"I told you: I can't say no to you then. All you need to do is say 'I love you, Riley' and I go all mushy and agreeable."

He stood on his tiptoes and I lowered my head, anticipating the kiss. We were interrupted before our lips met:

"Oh, you two are so adorable together." It was Johnathan Mitchell's voice. "Has anyone told you that before?"

The sudden realization that we were not alone smacked me across the face, leaving me with red cheeks. With Riley in my arms, I'd completely forgotten that there were other people around.

"Did I interrupt you?" The Sentinel asked. "I'm sorry; do go on."

Our private little world invaded by this small audience, Riley stepped away.

"We should head back," Keri swirled around and commenced a walk towards the edge of the woods. Knowing her as well as I did, I was probably the only one who noticed the hint of sadness in her tone. I could guess the source: as joyous as she was to see me with my mate, she had yet to find hers and be bless with the experience of a shared love.

"I'm going to contact each household to let them know that it had indeed been a shifter, but you felt no malicious intent," she informed Clifford who gave her his typical reply - a nod.

Riley and I sped up and caught up with her.

"I'm still holding the children here, just in case." This time Keri spoke to me. Her tone was back to normal. I glanced behind me and saw Anthony carefully examining his sister. Perhaps I'd been wrong and he'd also managed to detect her previous state.

"Would you like to stay for lunch?" Keri turned back to the Sentinels. "I could..."

A polyphonic melody sounded from Johnathan's pocket and we all stopped while he reached for his phone.

He lifted one finger in the air with an 'Excuse me for a moment' before swiping the screen to answer. Being in human form, I could only hear one side of the conversation that took place.

"Hello?"

There was short pause in which he listened.

"Yes, we are still here. We doubt it's the killer since Cliff sensed no malicious intent..."

The person on the other end interrupted him. We watched his expression morph into a surprised one, his brown eyes going round.

"How can you know..."

He was cut off again and this time confusion briefly flashed across his face before he gaped in shock.

"But there hasn't been another one." He spoke loudly.

Another what?

'Murder' was the first thing that came to mind.

Could they be talking about our case?

Had they found more clues?

I held my breath, wishing I was closer to him and in my wolf form so I could hear the person on the other side of the phone conversation.

"How can you know for sure?" He asked and I unconsciously took a step towards him.

There was another moment of him quieting down until the person we could not hear spoke; a moment in which all of us - probably each thinking of the serial killer - were on edge.

"Oh, she saw." Johnathan sounded excited. "Yes. Yes, I'll tell them."

He swiped his finger over the screen to end the call.

"You can tell your people that the white wolf isn't the killer and we know that for sure," he addressed Keri.

"How?" Like me, she moved towards him, her voice rising before she threw his own question back at him. "How can you know?"

"Because we found out where the killer is."

I know that you are eager to find out what's next, but first, I'd really appreciate it if you tell me what you think of this chapter.

And since it's the last chapter - what do you think of the book?

Did you enjoy it more than YATA? Why/why not?

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