The Beta's Missing Mate (Book 16 Of The Regal Eclipse Pack Series)

Chapter 18

Ana had spent days reading through her father's detailed notes over everything that they'd done to Xavier Remington. Again. She wasn't quite sure why she was torturing herself with it, but she also wanted to make sure she hadn't missed anything important. She almost felt physically ill from it, but the fact that he'd survived it was the true mind-blowing part. He shouldn't have. He should have been dead many times over, from everything they'd done.

She'd found photos that had been taken of him after the crash, when he'd had pieces of shrapnel embedded in his body. He never even should have survived that. But the fact that he somehow had, and then the brain surgery they'd subjected him to, followed by draining him of most of his blood over and over again, was truly miraculous. Supernatural was the only explanation. It was also the first time that she considered that werewolves might actually truly be real.

She sighed softly, wondering if this guy was still alive, and out there somewhere. Hopefully not in anyone's clutches. Her father seemed convinced that he couldn't die. She bit her lip as she looked at his ID again, studying the small photo of him. He looked normal. But what did werewolves look like anyway? It was just a headshot though. It wasn't like she could see his entire body. She stared at him quietly. He was absolutely gorgeous. Like Aidan. She groaned at herself. That man popped up in her mind way too often.

She looked through the photos they'd taken of him again, but none of those were full body photos. But still, he was in excellent shape. She could easily see that. His arms were muscular and he had a six pack. And tattoos, she noticed. He really did remind her of Aidan. She bit her lip, as a wave of longing and sadness swept over her, and for the millionth time, she regretted walking away from him. She regretted it so much.

Her gaze darted around the screen, and she noticed a program called Tracker. She clicked on it and watched it open. Her mouth dropped open as she began to put together in her mind from the notes exactly what it was. The device Clyde had implanted in Xavier's brain had a tracker in it. And apparently, Clyde had been unaware of it. Her father had made the device and put the tracker in, though he'd never informed his partner. She'd gathered from his notes that her father didn't fully trust the man, and Ana couldn't blame him.

She stared at the program. It was still active and somewhere in California. What was Xavier doing there? She sighed softly. It seemed that he was still alive. Was that where her father was? She had no idea, but she wanted to find out. Maybe even if he wasn't, Xavier would know where he was. Though part of her sort of didn't want to know where he was. Given all of his crimes, Ana knew Coleman needed to be locked up. Mostly for his crimes against Xavier.

Ana stood and paced the room for several moments, letting her mind wander. She finally sat back down in front of the laptop and stared at it. This Xavier was located in a little town called Nevada, California. She could fly out there and talk to him, find out what had happened to her father. She snorted, wondering how he would react to that.

Hi, I'm Tatiana Sawyer. My father is the man who implanted that thing in your brain that's keeping you from your memories. Do you happen to know where he is?

That would go over real well. She pinched the bridge of her nose again. She supposed she could just omit that part. That he was her father. She could use her job to talk to him, she supposed, though she had no jurisdiction out there. She sighed. This is what she did. Interviewed witnesses. She could do this. She was a highly qualified detective. No werewolf, or whatever he was would intimidate her. But just in case, she'd see about getting some silver bullets and wolfsbane. Where did one buy those at? The internet. Someone was selling them, guaranteed.

Ana snorted, but did an internet search anyway. Not surprisingly, it wasn't hard to find either item, though she wondered how real they were, or if they were just novelty items. Though when she saw the price on the silver bullets, she almost thought twice about it. They weren't cheap. She sighed softly and put them in her cart anyway. She'd be stupid to go after a man who apparently was stronger than a human and couldn't die, without her having some sort of protection.

She sighed, thinking back over what her father had said about Xavier, and how difficult of a time they'd had with keeping him sedated. Apparently, draining his blood over and over again had kept him weak.

Ana shook her head. She wouldn't wish this shit on her worst enemy, and yet her father had allowed Clyde to engage in those horrific acts against another person.

She groaned as she looked up at the time. She'd spent the entire day combing through this crap. Maybe a hot bath with a good book were in order. She needed to get Xavier Remington out of her mind. Maybe for tonight, it would be a good idea to let Aidan back in. He would be a good distraction. It wasn't like he wasn't going to be joining her in her dreams anyway. He always did.

Ana stood and walked back into her bedroom, powering on the now fully charged phone she'd found along with Xavie's wallet. It took her about two seconds to realize she wasn't getting into it. Well, she could at work, but a part of her didn't want to. She didn't want to expose any of this to her job, not when she was still so uncertain about her father. She picked up her own phone and called her father. The phone didn't ring. Not his. So, it was either Clyde's or Xavier's. She had a feeling it belonged to the later.

And rubbed at her eyes and headed into the bathroom. She had made up her mind that  she was going to go find Xavier Remington. If nothing else, she'd return his wallet and his phone to him. It was the least she could do. And apologize. If he didn't know about the thing in his head, she'd tell him about that too. If she had the money, she'd pay for him to get it removed, but she didn't. She couldn't even imagine how expensive something like that would be.

She flipped on the water and set the plug in the tub, then walked over to the cabinet to grab some bath salts. She dumped those in, breathing in the scents from them. Ana stripped off her clothes and walked back into her bedroom to find her book. She opened the drawer of the nightstand and picked it up, then spotted her vibrator laying in there as well.

She lifted a brow as she eyed it, then smiled to herself. Should she bring it with her? Her little battery operated boyfriend that she'd named Aidan? She was so ridiculous, so obsessed over a man she would never see again. She sighed, laying back on her bed as she let her thoughts drift back to him.

She thought about how sweet he'd been, how beautiful, how much attention he'd given her. How well he'd ate her pussy, and how many times. She doubted she'd ever find another guy who would make her cum that many times in one night. No guy had ever cared enough to give her that much pleasure. Only Aidan.

A small part of her wondered if she'd completely imagined the entire night, if she'd had so much to drink that she'd blacked out and dreamed Aidan up. She knew that wasn't true though. The man had left marks on her body. Nothing serious, but he'd definitely left a hickey on her neck, not to mention how deliciously sore she'd been afterwards.

Ana stood and hurried into the bathroom. She flipped the water off and crawled inside the tub, getting comfortable. For now, she'd read, and maybe later she'd have a date with Aidan.