Chapter 144: Chapter 144

She is home! He is her home!

Azraiel pulls her inside his office and takes her sit on the couch, making her sit on his lap. His face rets in the crook of her neck and he breathes in deeply.

“Are you okay?” He asks her lightly.

“Mhmm…I am now.” She places a kiss on the top of his head.

“Good.” He pulls back to look into her eyes.

A smile slowly etches on his face.

“You look stunning.” Azraiel whispers. He wasn’t lying. Charlotte was practically glowing. It was still her but somehow more beautiful, if that was possible. Her face now had a certain tightness and sharpness that it didn’t before. Her eyes looked bigger and sharper, probably her vision has altered too. She was dressed in a simple black sweatshirt and a blue denim but to him, she looked exquisite.

Charlotte smiles in return. “Please tell me I didn’t hurt you…or anyone?” She asks, her smile slowly wiping away.

Azraiel understands her concern immediately and shakes his head with confidence and conviction painted on his face. “No, you didn’t hurt anyone.” When he sees her not believing his words, he adds, “I promise.” He doesn’t want to mention anything that happened during the shift as he knows she will take blame for events that were out of her control.

They sit in silence for a few seconds and he is grateful when she breaks it.

“You want to ask me about Theo, don’t you?”

She chuckles under her breath and gets down from Azraiel’s lap to sit on the couch.

“Yes, God, Yes.” He pecks her lips in gratitude.

“When my wolf looked at Theo, she saw him as her Beta. I don’t know how that is possible but I think it was meant to be like this. It would explain why I always felt so at ease and protected around Theo. If he was destined to be my Beta, then for sure my wolf would have started connecting with me even before I shifted which is what happened, and you know that after you, Theo is the one I feel the closest too.” Charlotte finishes in one go.

Azraiel doesn’t say anything but his jaw clenches. Charlotte doesn’t fail to notice that.

“So, he is your Beta now? Roughness seeps into his voice involuntarily.

Charlotte sighs and palms his cheek lovingly.

“Hey…let’s not worry about it right now, okay? We will talk to Theo and Samantha later to know what they want. Hmm?” She tries to soothe his worries but to no avail.

“I-I just don’t understand, okay? It’s something that I have never seen. He is my best friend damn it...!” He puts his head in his hands.

“Yeah…neither do I. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, alright? Maybe we can talk when we are calmer than now?” She tries to reason with him

.

Azraiel doesn’t want to wait till he is calmer. He wants to get up, trash the whole office and scream at the top of his lungs to demand answers. Who will be answering his questions? He has no fucking clue.

But he doesn’t do that. He looks at his mate’s tired face and realizes that this is not about him. So, instead he says, “I’m sorry. You are right. You must be tired. Let’s go home and get you some rest.” He stands up and pulls her to feet.

“Thank you.” She smiles lazily.

It’s not long before they reach home and lock themselves in their room. For the next two hours, Azraiel makes sure that his mate is properly bathed, fed and in bed. By the time Charlotte falls asleep it’s already evening.

Azraiel lays on his side and keeps staring at the beautiful face in front of him. He couldn’t thank the Moon enough for sending his mate back to him safe. He was still worried about a lot of things, but today he would put them at the back of his mind and focus solely on his mate.

A frown etches on his face when he hears Matt through the mindlink, “Alpha, we found some suspicious activity outside the woods. It’d be better if you can see the recording yourself.”

“Alright. I’ll be there in ten.”

He leans and presses a soft kiss on Charlotte’s forehead. Standing up he once checks that the windows and the door to the balcony is closed and leaves the room. Two warriors are stationed in front of the house and two in the back. He also installed cameras all around the house to check for any suspicious activities.

On his way to the packhouse he mindlinks Theo to be there and to bring Katya along.

Within minutes he in the packhouse. He goes into the security wing and his warriors are already was

iting for him.

“Alpha, have a look!” The warrior viewing the recording stands up from his seat and offers it to Azraiel.

Azraiel nods quietly and takes the seat. He plays the video on the screen and his jaw clenches instantly.

The video is that of the area just outside the woods. A man walks towards the wood and walks up and down there for around five minutes. Then he finally stops in the middle and puts down the bag pack he has been carrying all around. He takes out what looks like a bag and puts it down on the ground. Then he takes out an envelope from his jacket and puts it on the top if the bag that he put on the ground.

He then looks at the woods silently for a minute or two, alternating his gaze between the bag on the ground and the woods now and then. Finally, after casting a long look at the woods he picks up his bag pack and turns around to leave.

Azraiel watches the video again and again several times till he is sure he hasn’t missed anything.

He is about to stand up when the warrior interrupts, “There is something else too.” He opens another video timestamped around fifteen minute later than the previous video.

The video starts with no one around and then after a minute, a warrior comes out of the woods and picks up the bag and the envelope and goes inside the woods again. The area is empty after that for a couple of minutes. But then, a man enters the scene but he looks clueless. He looks around frantically for something and then punches a tree next to him in frustration. After standing there for a couple more minutes, he turns around and leaves.

Azraiel’s jaw clenches as he leans back.

“Here, the bag and the envelope were carried back by a warrior who was patrolling the woods when this happened. I asked him to bring these when I saw what happened on the video camera. We haven’t opened these but we are sure there is nothing dangerous in them.” He hands over a plain white envelope and a brown weathered down satchel bag to Azraiel.

Azraiel acknowledges him with a nod and stands. “Keep an eye on the borders as well as outside the woods.”

He leaves and goes into his office and puts down the bag and envelope on the desk.

Theo and Katya enter the office a minute later.

“What happened?” Theo immediately asks eyeing the contents on the table.

“Charlotte’s uncle, Arthur dropped these off just outside the woods and a few minutes after our warrior took these things, Austin Jones came in looking for them.”