Until Forever

by Lynn Hagen

  Mike’s phone started ringing again. He held up a finger at Aaron and answered. “What the hell, Calhoun? What’s so important that you’re repeat dialing me?”

  “The tavern’s on fire,” Calhoun said in a rush. “It was closing time, and not many people were in there, but I got them out. The fire started in the kitchen, and I tried to put it out with an extinguisher, but it was too out of control by then.”

  “Whoa!” Mike’s heart started pounding hard in his chest. “Tell me I didn’t hear you right.”

  He looked over at Aaron and knew Calhoun was telling him the truth. Not that he thought the barback would lie to him, but Mike had prayed he’d misheard the guy.

  But Aaron’s presence confirmed it.

  “Fire trucks are here putting out the blaze,” Calhoun said. “When I couldn’t reach you, Deputy Mills headed to the motel.”

  Mike sank in the chair by the table and scrubbed a hand through his hair. “How did it start?” he asked. “Did Rudy or Reese—”

  “The kitchen had already been shut down for hours. If it had been a misstep on their part, a fire would’ve started way before closing time,” Calhoun said.

  “I have the deputy here now. Let me call you back.” Mike hung up.

  Mike couldn’t believe this. He’d already dropped a pretty penny on the renovation costs. Now he would have to rebuild the tavern? How could his luck be this shitty? He didn’t think Rudy or Reese had been that careless and refused to believe this was their fault. Bad wiring? Had someone been out back smoking and tossed their cigarette too close to the back door? That didn’t sound plausible, but Mike couldn’t understand how the fire had started.

  “I guess Calhoun told you why I’m here.” Aaron fingered his trooper hat, which he’d taken off. “While he was trying to get ahold of you, one of the guys who’d left the bar moments before the fire started said he saw someone racing from the back.”

  Mike’s head snapped up. “You’re telling me it was set deliberately?”

  His mind started racing again. Who would want to do this to him? Had Strabo found out about his son and…no, that didn’t make sense. The guy would’ve come to the motel for revenge. Right? The men after Theo. Could his cousin have been telling the truth this time? He didn’t know what to think.

  Aaron placed a hand on Mike’s shoulder. “We’ll be doing a full investigation because of the witness’s accusation. Sal Monroe, the chief at the fire department, will figure out how it started.” Aaron hunched down in front of Mike, which was kind of funny since Mike was taller than the human and he had to look down to see into Aaron’s hazel eyes. “The witness said the guy looked just like you.”

  Mike’s head spun, and he had to force his canines not to descend in front of the human deputy. No. No goddamn way. “Are you saying it was Theo who set the fire?”

  Aaron shrugged. “You got any other family who looks like you?”

  Not in Maple Grove, and he didn’t have a beef with the rest of his family. His parents lived in Colorado and ran their own successful chain of restaurants. His sister lived in Nevada and was mated with kids. She wouldn’t hurt a fly. His two brothers lived in Mississippi. Terrance was an EMT and mated to the love of his life, and Jake was an overworked cop who was so straight-laced that he’d given Mike a speeding ticket once when he’d gone to visit the jerk.

  None of them would have done this. “No, no other family here.”

  Aaron nodded. “Deputy Burrows is out looking for Theo now to question him. I just wanted to let you know what was going on.”

  Mike needed to get to the tavern. He needed to access the damage. He wasn’t even sure if his insurance of the tavern covered arson.

  “What’s going on?” Kester blinked rapidly at them and yawned.

  Aaron straightened and headed for the door. “I’ll be at the tavern if you need me.”

  Mike nodded and watched as the deputy let himself out. He still couldn’t believe his beloved tavern had caught fire. Mike got up and went for his clothes. “Get dressed, sweetheart. We have to go into town.”

  Kester got up, no questions asked as he dressed in silence. Mike wasn’t sure if it was the rage on his face that kept his mate quiet or if he knew Mike didn’t want to talk right now. He was afraid that if he opened his mouth, he would swear to killing Theo when he found his cousin.

  On their way into town, Mike called Darren. The guy sounded sleepy when he answered the phone. If he was anything like Mike, getting woken up without a fresh cup of coffee was sacrilege.

  As he drove, he explained what Calhoun and Aaron had told him. Kester’s eyes went wide as he listened from the passenger seat. Then his mate’s face became a mask of rage as he stared out the window.

  “Have Kester text me a few pics of his mom if he has them. We’ll work the mission while you guys take care of the tavern.”

  “Do you have any pictures of your mom in your phone?” Mike asked his mate.

  “My smartphone, not my burn phone, is in my bag at the motel,” Kester said. “I haven’t turned it on since I left Arkansas.”

  Mike cursed and turned the truck around to head back to the motel. “He has some pictures. Give me a minute and he’ll send them to you.”

  “Have him text me any important information that he can think of,” Darren said. “The more we know, the better our success rate. We’ll be heading out in about an hour.”

  Mike thanked Darren and hung up. He didn’t want to be left behind. Mike wanted to help find his mate’s mother. But he also wanted to find Theo. If this was retaliation for not giving him the money…Mike blew out a breath.

  “Do you really think Theo would do something like that?” Kester asked. “I mean I know he was pissed, but would he stoop this low?”

  “I honestly don’t know,” Mike said. “I’ve never refused to help him before.”

  And that worried Mike. What if Theo blamed Kester for having anything to do with his decision? Would he try to come after Kester? In truth, Mike might’ve been swayed to give his cousin the money if Theo hadn’t called Kester a whore. That had been the straw that had broken the camel’s back. Mike had been so furious that he’d had to force himself not to beat the shit out of his cousin in the room.

  Kester grabbed Mike’s hand. “We can rebuild. Just remember that. No one was hurt in the fire, right?”

  “No, my barback got everyone out in time.” He had to remember to thank Calhoun for his quick thinking and actions. Mike just prayed the damage wasn’t too extensive. He didn’t need two businesses down. The loss of income would cripple him.

  He had a cushy savings, but the cost of renovating the motel wouldn’t be cheap. And now he had to rebuild the tavern. Jeez.

  Mike slowed in the parking lot of the motel when he saw the door to their room was ajar. He recalled closing it when they’d left. He glanced at room five, but the door was still closed.

  But Smitty’s sedan was gone. That didn’t make any sense. If Smitty had been hiding out, he would’ve frozen to death before he’d come back for his car.

  Mike eased his truck to a stop and looked over at Kester. “Stay in the truck and keep the doors locked.”

  Kester nodded, as though he’d observed the same bizarre things as Mike. Mike got out and went to their room. He looked around, but no one was there.

  He cursed when he saw that his laptop bag was gone. Mike rummaged in Kester’s bag and found his smart phone. He pocketed it then left the room. He went to Smitty’s room next. The guy’s belongings were still there.

  What the hell was going on?

  Mike spun and ran when he heard his horn honking. Kester was still in the passenger seat, and no one else was around. “What is it?”

  Kester turned seven shades of red as he rolled his window down. “I’m sorry. I just got freaked out by the darkness and being out here by myself. I’m sorry I worried you. I don’t do well with creepiness.”

  Mike breathed a sigh of relief as he climbed back into the driver’s seat and
headed back toward town. He handed Kester his phone.

  “Did you find anything?” Kester turned his phone on.

  “My laptop is gone, but nothing else seems to be missing.”

  “Who would steal your laptop at four in the morning?” Kester stared at him.

  Had Theo come to the motel after they’d left and stolen it? He wouldn’t get much for it if he sold it. Not the twenty grand he was after. The laptop was precious to Mike because it had a lot of important information in it. But he had a password that wouldn’t be easy to crack.

  Then he remembered he’d installed something close to a LoJack on it. If he could get to another computer, he would be able to use the GPS on his laptop to locate it. He pulled out his cell phone. The app was installed on his phone. He could find it just as soon as he was parked.

  They pulled to the curb by the tavern. Getting into the parking lot wasn’t happening since it was congested with a fire truck and a police cruiser. The firemen were packing up their gear. When Mike got out, he smelled the dissipating smoke. The front part of the tavern still appeared intact. That didn’t reassure Mike that the damage was minimal.

  Aaron was there, talking to Chief Monroe. With Kester at his side, Mike rounded the building, and his stomach dropped. The tavern was made of brick, which he was sure helped to contain the fire, but the back door was gone, the rear windows blown out, and water was coming out of the building, forming sheets of ice along the path.

  “You can’t go in yet.”

  Mike turned to see Firefighter Scott Mulligan behind him. The guy was tall and muscular with blue eyes and a look of sympathy on his face. “Not until the chief inspects the place and deems it safe to enter.”

  None of this felt real. Mike grabbed Kester’s hand and led him back to their truck. It was freezing outside, and he didn’t want his mate to get cold.

  When they were in the truck, Kester went through his photo library and sent three pictures to Mike’s phone. “You can send those to Darren.”

  He stared at the first picture. Emma Oliver was beautiful. Kester looked just like her. The same blue eyes, dark hair, chin, eyebrows, and smile. The second picture was of Emma, but she was with a very handsome man. Mike assumed that was Kester’s father. The third picture was of Kester and his mom laughing at some picnic.

  “She’s beautiful,” he said. “Short, too.”

  The woman didn’t look to be over five feet. Not in the picture with Kester. His mate was inches taller than her, and he was already short enough.

  Kester smiled. “She’s only four feet eleven inches, but don’t ever make her angry. She’s a force to be reckoned with if you piss her off.”

  “I bet.” Mike saw the fire in her eyes, the love of life, and the pure joy she held for her husband and son. Then he remembered Kester telling him that his father had died. He wondered if Emma still held that look in her eyes now that her husband was gone.

  The chief knocked on Mike’s window. He set his phone aside and rolled the window down.

  “It’ll be a few hours before you can see the damage,” Monroe said. “I’m not going to call this deliberate just yet. Not until I’ve finalized my report.”

  “I understand.” Mike felt exhausted. After his lovemaking session with Kester, then the argument with Theo, the fire, the robbery of his laptop, and now sitting here looking at his tavern, he just wanted to go back to sleep and forget the past few hours.

  “Sheriff Copache will give you a call when I’m done if you want to go home.”

  With the motel shut down, Mike planned on taking Kester home. His home, not the motel. “Thanks,” he said.

  With a nod, the polar bear shifter walked away.

  “What now?” Kester asked.

  Mike sent the photos to Darren before he pulled away from the curb. “Now we go rest.”

  The drive to his house didn’t take long. He lived a few streets over. Mike pulled into his driveway and had never been more thankful to see his house.

  “You live here?” Kester sat forward and glanced through the windshield. “It’s really nice.”

  “Thanks.” It was a single-family home, white with dark green trim. There was a large front porch that Mike liked to sit on in the mornings when it was warm out. He also had a large back deck, complete with grill and patio set, and he loved hanging a ton of plants in the spring and summer.

  They went inside, and Mike turned on some lights. He went to the kitchen to make a pot of coffee as Kester wandered around, exploring his home. He briefly thought about calling Darren and asking the deputy to swing by and grab him, but Mike was barely standing upright.

  And to be completely honest, Darren, Moose, and Deon would probably get the job done better without two civilians tagging along. Although Mike hated to admit that. But he didn’t have military or any kind of law enforcement training. He wouldn’t even know where to begin looking for Emma Oliver.

  Mike frowned when he realized he hadn’t heard a peep from Kester. He left the coffeepot brewing as he went to find his mate. Mike stopped dead in his tracks when he saw a large, looming stranger standing in his living room.

  And the guy had a tight grip on Kester’s arm.

  Chapter Eleven

  Kester had poked his head into every room of the house. He loved the hardwood flooring, the colors Mike had chosen for the walls, and the lighting fixtures were amazing. But the furnishings were simple, as if Mike hadn’t wanted to spend the extra money. Even so, the house felt cozy as Kester made his way back to the kitchen.

  It was the smell of coffee brewing that drew him through the house. Kester was also starving and hoped Mike made some breakfast. As Kester walked down the hallway, he thought about Theo, and his heart broke for what that bastard had put Mike through.

  Not just the fire. Theo had put his cousin through the wringer over the past one hundred years. Kester still couldn’t believe Mike had given him that amount of money. And had Theo been grateful or gotten his act together? No. He’d just leeched off of Mike the entire time.

  But was Theo capable of setting that fire? Could the witness have been mistaken? After all, the guy who’d sworn he’d seen Theo was coming from a bar at closing time. Kester wasn’t sure how reliable his information was.

  The hallway was located near the front door. Kester looked up from his thoughts when he heard the door quietly open and close. Had Mike forgotten something in his truck?

  Kester rounded the corner into the living room and gasped. Agent Gugino stood there with a deep glower on his face. When Kester tried to turn and run, Gugino grabbed his arm to stop him from racing out the front door.

  “You’ve been a hard man to find,” Gugino said. “And stop trying to run from me. We need to talk.”

  Kester’s head snapped sideways when he heard a deep, rumbling growl. Mike’s face held the look of death as he stormed from the kitchen.

  “You have five seconds to let him go before I eviscerate you.”

  Gugino released Kester and held up his hands, palms out. “I just came here to talk.”

  “Strabo?” Mike looked at Kester.

  “God no,” the stranger said.

  “No.” Kester shook his head. “This is FBI Agent Raymond Gugino. The prick who has been after me for my testimony.”

  “Why do you have to make this so personal?” Gugino asked. “I haven’t been a prick toward you. If anything, I coddled you too much.”

  “So you decided breaking into my house was your best move?” Mike snarled. “I do have a doorbell.”

  Gugino narrowed his eyes. “And give Kester a chance to escape? His testimony will put Strabo Garcia away for life.”

  What Gugino didn’t know was that Kester had overheard the agent on the phone when he’d been in the hospital. This was personal for the guy. Apparently Strabo had killed Gugino’s partner. Kester felt really bad for the agent, but he still didn’t want to rat on Strabo.

  Kester liked breathing too much.

  When Mike and the agent be
gan to argue, Kester held up his hands. “Stop it, both of you.”

  To his amazement, the room fell silent. Kester knew Mike was tired and needed some sleep. Kester wasn’t exactly bright-eyed and bushy-tailed himself.

  “Agent Gugino, I need you to leave. We’re tired and won’t be of any help to you right now anyway.”

  Gugino nodded. “I heard about the tavern fire.”

  “How?” The word flew out of Kester’s mouth.

  Mike looked suspiciously at Gugino. “You’re a lion shifter.”

  “And you’re a wolf,” Gugino countered. “Glad we got that out of the way.”

  “You’re a shifter?” Kester stared wide-eyed at the tall and muscular man. The agent was a dominant male, and authority bled from every pore. But he had no idea…crap. Kester was getting tired of discovering things weren’t always what they seemed.

  “I am.” Gugino nodded again. “My brother works in your police department.”

  “Malik Burrows?” Mike sounded stunned. “Then why do you have different last names?”

  “Different fathers,” Gugino said. “But that’s beside the point.”

  “Wait.” Mike glared at the agent. “Did Malik call you and tell you Kester was here?”

  “No,” Gugino said. “My brother wouldn’t do that. I just followed Nunzio.”

  Which meant he knew Nunzio was dead. If he’d followed Kester’s cousin, then he’d seen him arrive at the motel. Or had he come after Nunzio’s body was carried out? Kester refused to believe the agent had been there beforehand. He would’ve tried to stop Nunzio.

  Or had he come after the fight and had no idea what happened to Nunzio? Kester was getting a migraine. He couldn’t ask Gugino, because if the guy didn’t know, he wasn’t going to make him aware of Nunzio’s death.

  Kester eased toward Mike. He’d make a run for it if he had to, but he hoped he didn’t have to. Kester was exhausted, and he’d already removed his coat and shoes. Running out into the freezing cold didn’t sound appealing to him.