Caroline punched in her password. “If you scented her in the kitchen, she had to get in and out, somehow. Unless she shifted into a mouse or something.”
He choked. “Umm, no. Definitely not. She left through the shipping door.”
“How long ago was this?” Caroline looped back through the feed that focused on the kitchen area. Evan’s wolf reappeared, shifted back into his human and acted…interesting. “Whoa, were you ever pissy. Way to freak out the staff, big guy.”
“I had reason.”
She patted his knee. “You did. Come on, backing up shouldn’t take too long then. I’ll focus on the door and take it up to high speed.” A couple adjustments later the workspace was a blur of motion, uniformed cooks and assistants seeming to leap from position to position. “We’re looking for someone returning through the—”
“There.”
He stabbed his finger at the screen and she paused the motion. A body in a black hoodie was backing through the service exit, definitely not one of the staff, who were all dressed in white. “There’s no one else in the room, so no witnesses.” Caroline checked the time stamp. “Ten to ten. Someone should have been in there, no?”
“I would have thought so. Not sure why… What is she doing? And damn it, do we have another camera angle to check?”
Evan’s mate, if that’s who it was, had kept her back to the camera the entire time she paced past the workstations. She had a notebook out and wrote something down at one point. “I’m sorry, Evan, I can’t change angles because there’s only the single ceiling camera. We didn’t install them to monitor staff that closely, just…”
“Just for moments like this, when someone we don’t know tries to gain access to the hotel. Fuck it, Caroline. We’ve got a potentially volatile situation with a hotel full of bear diplomats, who aren’t known to be forgiving of indiscretions or mistakes. What does this mean in terms of them?”
Caroline spun her chair until she could catch his hands. “Hey. You’re rattled, and I get it, because you’re probably some kind of ticking wolf-time-bomb, but please, get it under control.”
The usually level-headed, hyper-bossy, always-in-control A-plus Alpha as good as bounced from his chair and into the kitchen, jerking open the fridge and hauling out a juice. She watched his throat move as he tipped the bottle back and drained it.
That’s when the realization hit. They were finished.
She was happy for Evan, but now that he’d found—well, knew his mate existed—it was as good as a done deal in her mind.
Caroline didn’t cheat, and she didn’t fool around with other women’s men. Her and Evan’s love affair, as hot and intense and,
Something of what rolled through her must have shown on her face, because when their eyes met, his expression shifted. He put down the empty bottle and returned to her side, extending his hand.
She allowed him to pull her to her feet and accepted the hug he gave her, only she couldn’t hold back a sigh of regret.
“I’m sorry for hurting you like this.” Evan petted her hair gently. Even his touch had changed, from that of a lover heating her to the boiling point to a big brother offering comfort.
“Oh, Evan.” She wiggled back far enough they were staring at each other so he had to witness her honest smile. “I don’t regret one minute. Not of the time we had together, or that it’s over because you’ve found your missing soul. How could I possibly be upset?”
Confusion lingered in his eyes. “But you sighed as if…”
“I sighed because I’m going to miss the sex, dammit.” She wrinkled her nose. “You might have ruined me for everyone else in the future.”
Evan grinned cockily. “I did warn you about that when we hooked up, you know.”
She laughed. “Yeah, I think you did.”
He squeezed her again. “I don’t regret our time together either, although I am sorry it’s over. You’re a pretty cool human. Very devious.”
Caroline slipped back to the computer chair, considering the changes that would have to happen. “Only when I need to be.”
“Hey, I like devious. You’re more shifter than ninety percent of the pack, when it comes down to it.”
She went back to attempting to find a picture, a notable bit of information anywhere on the security tapes that would help him trace his mate. “I’ll get my things together. I can be clear of your place in the next day or two. I can use my sister’s apartment while she’s out of town.”
“No.” He leaned on the island counter. “You stay here. I’ll move into my room at the pack house until we can find you a new place to live.”
“Don’t be silly, Evan. This is your home. I’m not kicking you out of it.”
Evan narrowed his eyes. “Why are you arguing with me? Is it out of principle? Like you can’t possibly do what the Alpha says for once in your life?”
“Where would be the fun in that?” They smiled at each other, her sadness fading. “I mean it, Evan. You deserve this—to find your mate, and I’ll do everything I can to help you. And that sigh? Wasn’t
“Hey, you’re not getting out of my life that easy. We’re switching paths, that’s all.”
She nodded. “Friends instead of lovers?”
“Best friends.”
Her email pinged, but she ignored it. “One other question, though. How do you want to play this out with the pack? I assume while you’d love to hold a citywide search, you don’t want this broadcast. Or do you?”
Evan paced to the windows, messing up his hair with his fingers as he worked out his frustrations. “It’s not likely to stay a secret for long, but I don’t want to shout it from the rooftops. Any apparent weakness is an opportunity for others to take advantage of the pack through me. I won’t let Takhini suffer.”
“So…do you need me to stay here? Pretend we’re still together? I can sleep on a spare mattress in the bedroom. It’s nobody’s business what we’re not doing anymore.”
Evan turned, his gaze sharper, harder. “No, that’s not fair to you, or my mate. I don’t know if she’s unaware of me, but I won’t allow her to think I’m willing to be with anyone but her. Not even in retrospect.”
Caroline was at a loss. “Tell me how I can help.”
“Be yourself.” He gestured in the air, a wide encompassing circle. “Go with your gut instincts—they don’t seem to have failed you before. The hotel needs to keep running smoothly, and I…might need a few kicks in the butt. If I lose focus. Help me?”
“Deal.”
They paused. A moment of silence, almost as if they were saying farewell to what they had been.
Evan stepped to the window, hand clutched around something, his gaze focused into the distance.
Space. They might be committed to staying friends, and helping each other, but right now, they needed some space. She’d gather a few things and head over to Shelley’s apartment to settle in. Even though she was good with the change in their situation, not having Evan in her life was going to take some getting used to.
Maybe the invite to dinner she discovered in her inbox would be enough to distract her. Keep her mind off what she’d lost, and give her the chance to focus on all the good things it meant for her future.
Moving ahead with her plans—change might have come sooner than she expected, but she’d survive. A turn in the path, that’s what Evan had called it.
If only she could peek to see what was around the next corner.
Chapter Five
Tyler stepped from the limo and into his brother’s encompassing hug.
Frank didn’t seem to care they were standing on the sidewalk outside the Takhini pack house, or that there
