A Love That Lasts Forever

Chapter Fifteen

Shelby watched as Caleb exited the small office and headed back down the hallway. His appointment with Shane Hollister had lasted less than an hour. That didn't surprise Shelby though. She hadn't expected Caleb to divulge any real information to the man. He probably sat in there and told him that everything was fine and that nothing of any real importance had happened since their last meeting.

"What a crock of shit." Shelby whispered to herself. But, what did she really expect? That Caleb would willingly incriminate himself? And Hollister, was he so gullible that he just took everything the omega said at face value? All he had to do was dig a little deeper and he'd learn the truth. Black River was a small pack and in small packs people liked to gossip.

Shelby had done her own investigation and talked to several members of the pack and what she'd found out had shocked her. Hear-say wasn't enough to go on though. Rhys had told her that many times. You needed facts. Evidence that couldn't be disputed. Well, she had that too. She wasn't proud of the way she had come about the information but it was necessary. It's not like Quinton would have just handed it over to her without question. No, his head was so far up Caleb's ass that he couldn't even see the truth when it was staring him right in the damn face.

When Quinton had gone in for his interview with Hollister, Shelby had snuck down to Quinton's office, picked the lock, and let herself in. It didn't take her long to find Rhys file on Caleb, or at least a copy of it. The council probably had the original. She read through it quickly. There wasn't a lot of information in it which was unusual. Rhys normally kept detailed reports of his cases. It seemed that after he'd made contact with Caleb, the report just abruptly stopped.

It didn't matter anyway, really. Shelby wasn't really looking for accounts of Rhys day to day dealings with the omega. She wanted something more incriminating. Sifting through the papers she found the original details of the job. Seth Bowden hadn't wanted to divulge too much information on his runaway omega. He was supposed to mate with Seth's younger brother then he ran the night before the actual mating. What he failed to include was the reason why the omega was so important that he'd actually pay to have him returned.

Seth Bowden wasn't one to care about the fate of one lost omega let alone pay out good money to a bounty hunter to find him. It didn't make sense, unless you knew the whole truth of the matter which wasn't nessasarily a secret anymore. Practically everyone in the pack had heard by now that Seth Bowden suspected Caleb of having some kind of magical powers. He supposedly was some rare omega, a throw back to the past, that had the ability to heal others. Shelby found it all to be a bunch of bull until the incident happened with Rusty and Zev's pup.

These papers weren't giving her anything she could use against him though. Frustrated, she tossed the file on the desk and sighed. There had to be something. Something she'd overlooked. She wished she could get her hands on Hollister's files. Just for her own curiosity of course. Telling Hollister something he already knew wouldn't do her one bit of good. She wondered suddenly if Quinton would have copies of Hollister's notes.

She opened the file cabinet and began sifting through the different files. Most of them were about construction, finances, and personnel. Nothing of any real interest there. She was just about to give up when she saw a folder shoved in the back of the cabinet, almost as if hidden from preying eyes. The folder had Caleb's name written clearly on the tab. Shelby pulled it out and opened it, her eyes scanning over the first few pages. She couldn't believe what she was staring at it. It was too good to be true. A vicious smile stretched across her face as she closed the folder. "Bingo." She laughed. "I've got you now."

***

Hollister hurried to gather his papers together and return them to his brief case. He'd finished with his interviews for the week and was eager to get out of Black River territory and return to his office where he could write up his reports and then go home and relax some. He was just about to head out when the door opened and a young female beta entered the room.