Chapter 43: Chapter 43

“Who can tell me what happened to Gabriel Hudson in the WD case twenty years ago?”

Silence falls as Jace waits for an answer. To no avail.

“Anyone?” Jace sighs, visibly disappointed and Millan wishes he knew what the hell the WD case was.

He is honestly wondering what Jace has brought him here for. Finally, a dainty hand raises above the group, a beta woman on the smaller side, wide green eyes waiting for permission to speak.

Jace nods, encouraging her to speak up and break the silence.

“Gabriel Hudson was the spy who discovered WD’s fraudulent documents. He wanted to give them to the media but he was followed. He ended up leading WD straight to the journalists he was supposed to meet. They were all killed including agent Hudson and the documents were destroyed.”

“Thank you, Ava. Nice to know that at least one of you paid attention in Case Study classes. Can someone tell me what Gabriel Hudson should have done?”

The one Millan now recognizes as Colton snorts, “Not get caught in the first place.”

Jace raises an unimpressed eyebrow, “Sure, but getting caught happens. It’s part of the job. What else?”

Another woman’s hand rises from the back of the group. An alpha, according to her scent.

“Agent Hudson should have known he was being followed and should have lost his tail before meeting the journalists.”

“Thank you, Scarllet, that’s exactly right. But, it’s easier said than done and that’s why I’ve asked Millan to join us today.”

Millan has never seen Jace smirk that way. Like he knows something no one else does. And he probably does, since Millan still has no idea how he’s going to demonstrate losing a tail.

Every time he’s done that, he didn’t really know what he was doing. He was always improvising every step of the way.

“Here.” Jace holds out a folded piece of paper for Millan to take, which he does, with a confused frown.

As Millan unfolds the paper to discover an address written on it, Jace turns to Grant who’d been silently watching on the sidelines, his signature frown on display.

“Officer Grant, we’ll need your participation, if you don’t mind.”

Grant looks taken aback by the request, eyebrows shooting up and mouth hanging open for a second before hesitantly morphing back to a frown.

“Hmm.”

“Your expertise would definitely add a great deal to the lesson, I’m sure.”

The flattery isn’t subtle in any way, but Grant seems extremely content with Jace’s statement nonetheless.

Puffing his chest, he nods, “Anything I can do to help.”

Jace’s smirk grows into a full blown grin and Millan has the feeling Grant will like him even less after today.

“Good. Now, trainees, you’ll follow me to a specific location. I’ll ask Grant and Millan to give us a head start. I’ve given Millan the address, Grant doesn’t know it. He’ll need to follow Millan if he wants to get there. Millan, you will try to lose him. Simple enough?”

Millan smirks, happy to accept the challenge while Grant snorts, obviously doubting Millan's capabilities to lose him.

“This is a situation you’re bound to face on the field. Knowing how to lose a tail properly is detrimental to your work.”

Jace turns to Grant, “Don’t worry, Grant, I’ll text you the address once Millan gets there.”

As Millan shoves the folded piece of paper in his pocket, he can see how hard Grant tries to keep a straight face but his set jaw and sudden redness all over give his annoyance away.

Jace winks at Millan and leads the group of trainees away from them both.

As they wait in uncomfortable silence to give them a head start, a plan slowly forms in Millan's mind. The way Jace had played on the officer’s ego to make him participate in the exercise gives him an idea.

Millan forces himself to fidget, crossing and uncrossing his arms, touching his face, transferring his weight from one foot to the other. As he does so, Grant’s cold expression changes too. There’s more confidence in his stance.

Millan can almost see a smirk forming on the officer’s lips.

Good. Bring it on.

After a good ten minutes where Millan plays the part of a small insecure and unexperienced omega and Grant could break his back puffing his chest the way he does, Millan speaks, stuttering.

“W-we should probably, umm, get going. What do you think?”

Grant smirks and shrugs, arms still crossed.

“It’s your call. You know how far the location is.”

Millan gulps, hoping he’s not doing too much, but by Grant’s expression, he’s buying every second of it.

“Right, yeah, my call. Uhm. Okay, well let’s go then.”

Grant purses his lips in an obvious attempt not to grin, “Lead the way.”

Millan goes for one direction, hesitates, then turns the opposite way. Hopefully, Grant will fall for his bluff and think the location is the other way around.

As he leads Grant towards Madelyn’s bench, he has to contain a sigh of relief seeing her there.

Of course, she has a discarded book on her lap while she scribbles in her journal. She’d shown him once how she’d write her thoughts and comments on what she’d just read.

Millan makes sure the bench is behind Grant before turning to him. Millan pushes Grant and tries to make a run for it. Of course, big-muscle-Grant’s reaction is to grab Millan's arm.

“Not so fast.” Grant mutters, rolling his eyes at Millan's pitiful attempt to lose him.

Millan pulls on his arm, but Grant is much stronger, the fight isn’t fair at all and Millan is counting on it.

“Ouch! Get off of me!” Millan screams and Grant groans.

“What are you playing at?”

“Hey! Leave him alone, you big brute!” At Madelyn’s outraged voice, Millan can’t help but smile slightly.

Madelyn had developed this protective streak when it comes to Millan ever since their last meet up. It’s not as much as Weston’s but enough to make one think that Madelyn is actually the older one of the two instead of Millan. Grant looks up, genuinely surprised, hand still holding on to Millan's arm quite forcefully.

“I- no wait, you don’t get it.”

Millan tries to shove Grant away, unsuccessfully, of course.

“Let go! You’re hurting me!”

It’s not difficult to act hurt when Grant’s hold gets tighter and tighter.

“I don’t know what you’re playing at, but you’re not getting away.” Grant whispers between gritted teeth, just as Madelyn approaches them.

She instantly pushes Grant with more force than Millan had thought her capable. Grant lets go of Millan more out of shock than anything else.

“This doesn’t concern you. Back off.”

While Grant is occupied staring down Madelyn, Millan slips behind Grant.

“Do you want me to get Weston? I’m sure he’d be happy to make it his business.”

“Look, little girl, you don’t know what you’re talking about. Y- “

“Little girl? Say that again and see what happens!”

Grant’s red angry face enters Madelyn’s personal space, in a clear attempt to intimidate her.

“You think you can take me on? Little girl?”

“Watch me.”

They stare at each other angrily in silence until Grant seems to remember something and turns away. Just in time to catch Millan silently slipping away.

“Not so fast, kid!”

Millan sighs as if he’d been caught and walks back towards Grant. He sighs again, accepting his loss.

“It’s okay, Maddie. It was a misunderstanding, don’t worry about it.”

Madelyn gapes, confused and Millan takes Grant’s arm, leading him away.

“Come on, Grant, let’s take a walk and talk about this. Thanks, Maddie. Have a good day!”

They’re walking away when Madelyn’s surprise subdues.

“But- wait, are you sure?”

Millan turns as he walks beside Grant and winks to reassure her.

“We’re great, Maddie, thanks.”

Madelyn frowns but lets it go.

“Nice try, kid.” Grant says once they’re out of earshot.

Millan sighs, trying his hardest to sound defeated, “This is ridiculous. You’re obviously more experienced than me. I don’t know what Jace was thinking.”

Millan can’t wait to see Grant’s smile vanish. But he has to be patient.

Almost there.

“Me neither. It’s good you can admit it though.”

“Yeah, let’s just get there together and maybe you can give the trainees a lesson on following someone? That’s good to know too, I imagine.”

Grant nods, the stupid smile never leaving his face.

“It is. It is. So where’s the location?”

Millan gulps, “Uhh…”

“It’s the other way around, isn’t it?”

Millan nods sheepishly, “Yeah, it’s at Janine’s Coffee Shop.”

Millan takes out a folded piece of paper from his pocket and gives it to Grant who reads it and nods, satisfied. Millan bites the inside of his cheek to keep himself from grinning from ear to ear.

This is too easy.

The coffee shop isn’t far at all and they arrived in less than five minutes.

“Here we are.”

“It’s weird, I don’t see them.”

“They’re probably out back.”

Grant hums and opens the front door, so sure of himself it’s almost too easy to slip away.

Millan almost feels bad. Almost. He forces himself to stay focused.

He’s still not there yet. Grant could still catch up.

Just in case Grant decides to look back, Millan makes sure to slip between buildings into smaller streets and pulls up his hoodie.

To be certain he loses Grant completely, he changes directions often and in an unpredictable pattern. He knows though, that Grant isn’t near him at all.

There’s no trace of his scent in the vicinity and he lets himself smile earnestly all the way to the flower shop, where Jace and the trainees are waiting.

“Hey, Mill!”

Millan jumps a little. He was so concentrated on discerning Grant’s scent that he hadn’t picked up on Weston’s.

He doesn’t stop walking, not wanting to risk it.

“Mill, wait up!”

Millan turns around, smirking.

“How about you catch up?”

Weston pauses and smiles playfully waking the butterflies in Millan's stomach.

“Oh, you’re on.”

Millan runs, taking a detour to the flower shop.

Weston is good.

Better than any alpha he’s outran before. Jumping over, ducking under any obstacle that would have caused a lot of grief to alphas as bulky as him.

It’s impressive and exhilarating. They’re nearly running side by side when Millan reaches the flower shop entrance.

They enter laughing and panting.

“Man, you’re good.” Weston says in between two heavy breaths.

“You’re not too bad either.” Millan has practically forgotten about the demonstration Weston reminds him.

“So, you lost him, huh?”

“You knew about that?”

Weston nods, pride radiating through their bond and bleeding into Millan's demeanor. He’s never felt this way.

Proud.

That’s new.

“Jace told me. They’re waiting for you out back.”

“Right.”

Light hearted for once, Millan beams and leads Weston towards the backdoor.

Happy to share this moment with his soul mate.