SWNOVELS Chapter 41
Chapter 41: Ayla
Kingston started to search the room immediately, ensuring whoever was doing this wasn’t still there. He must have mind- linked whoever was on guard because I heard someone come through the front door after a few minutes. He grabbed my hand and led me back out of the room.
“Search the house,” he said to the man waiting in the living room. “Every room. And get Pierce here. I’m going to review the surveillance footage.”
The man nodded and headed down the hall. Kingston led me to the basement door and down the stairs. When we reached the bottom, he told me to wait while he cleared the area before taking me to the security room. The room was small, with a wall-to-wall table top lined with monitors and electronics. Kingston sat in the chair and started typing in passwords.
“How do you think he got in?” I asked quietly, just trying to process what was happening.
“We’re about to find out,” Kingston said as he pulled up the surveillance recordings for the day.
I could tell he was pis*ed off, probably even more than he was worried. I couldn’t blame him. Someone was in his home. The same person who had threatened him had managed to invade his private space. I leaned against a filing cabinet in the corner, trying to figure out what this guy wanted.
Kingston sped up the security footage as he went through the
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Chapter 41: Ayla
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day. Multiple camera recordings were displayed across all the monitors, and all of a sudden, all the footage went black. Kingston cursed under his breath. It came back up after a second later, but I could see there was a jump in the
timestamp. The cameras were down for about twenty minutes just a couple hours ago.
There was a knock on the door, and Pierce poked his head in.
“Any luck?”
Kingston shook his head. “They cut the feeds somehow.’
“All of them?” he asked, coming in and looking at the monitors.
“Every single one.”
“Maybe I should move out,” I said. They both looked at me. “Find my own place.”
“Absolutely not,” Kingston said.
“Kin’s right, Ayla,” Pierce said. “Even if he is threatening the people you’re with, going off alone just gives him a better opportunity to get to you.”
Kingston stood up and moved to stand in front of me. “I get that you’re worried about me, Ayla. But believe me, I’m more concerned about you. So, I think it’s time we moved to the packhouse. There’s better security, and there are always multiple people there.”
I knew he wanted to move us to the packhouse at some point. And he was right. It was the safer option at the moment. I wasn’t sure how I felt about having that many eyes on us just
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Chapter 41: Ayla
yet, but I would figure out how to deal with that.
“Okay,” I said with a small smile.
He k*ssed my forehead. “Okay.”
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“I’m going to hang out here and analyze the footage for a while,” Pierce said. “Ayla, you might want to check your room and make sure nothing has gone missing.”
I nodded, hiding the fear that suddenly spi*ed through me. I slid off the cabinet and opened the door, rushing upstairs to my room. I went to my side of the bed and shoved my hand between the mattress and the boxspring, feeling around for the small box I had tucked in there.
Kingston had followed me up. “Ayla, what is it?”
When my fingers brushed against the surface of the box, I let out a sigh of relief. Still, I pulled it out just to be sure the contents were still there.
“What’s in there?” Kingston asked as he sat on the bed.
“Dad,” I said. I chuckled at his confused look, standing and sitting beside him. I opened the box and found the small metal capsule and my father’s ring. “It’s some of Dad’s ashes,” I said, lifting it for him to see.
He smiled at me, wrapping an arm around my waist and k*ssing my temple.
“I’m glad he’s still here, then.” His brow furrowed and he reached for the ring. “What’s this?”
“Oh, it was his ring,” I said. “He gave it to me a few months before he died.”
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I had put it on a chain and worn it around my n*eck for a while but ended up putting it away once I felt settled here. Dad told me to keep it safe. It’s why I had buried it in the first place. But I would still put it on sometimes now, so it was still on the chain. Wearing it helped me feel closer to my dad.
“How often do you wear this, Ayla?” he asked. The seriousness of his tone made me a little uneasy.
“Not very often. Why?”
He sighed. “This ring is the Dominis family crest. No one should have this. If anyone found this, it could attract some dangerous people, Ayla. Has anyone ever seen you with it?”
“No,” I said. “It’s been buried in the woods for ten years. I only dug it up because I was leaving. I… I couldn’t leave him. behind.”
He hugged me. “I know,” he whispered. “I’m glad you didn’t. But don’t wear this anymore, please. We’ll find a safe place for it at the packhouse, okay?”
“Is this about that group that killed your family?” I asked.
He nodded. “Yeah. I don’t know if they still exist, but I’m sure there are some members who are still alive. They wouldn’t think twice about coming after you, Ayla.”
“Okay,” I said, still not understanding many details about my family’s past.
“Thank you,” he said with a relieved sigh.
He stood up and walked to the desk where the envelope still sat neatly. He picked it up and started to open it.
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“Don’t,” I said. “I don’t want to know.”
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He looked at me with a raised eyebrow. “You sure? It could tell us something.”
“The last ones haven’t been helpful, so I doubt it,” I said. “It’s just going to stress me out.”
“Okay,” he said, setting the envelope back on the desk. “I’m going to go change. Think about what you want for dinner.”
He walked toward the door. He was almost gone when I let out a frustrated grunt.
“Fine,” I huffed, going to the desk and swiping up the envelope.
Kingston came back, shaking his head with a smug smile. I pulled the card out. There was another landscape scene on the outside. And I was right about what was inside stressing
me out.
I see the mate came back.
You should have let the Alphas finish each other,
It would save me the trouble.
Stop trying my patience, my love.
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