赤裸裸的滑稽故事

After the shock of the situation had worn off, Caleb and Galen talked over the report’s details and how it had been discovered. Though there wasn’t all that much to go over. The bugs had all been rooted out and eliminated. A security team was already hard at work creating more robust firewalls and defenses.

The data that had been sent had not been deciphered yet. It would take time to break through the encryption and tear down all the false data layered over it. Which meant some poor analyst in Summer was going to spend a lot of time staring at Jerry’s dick pics.

The only thing they knew for sure was that Alice had found a way to mask her transmissions in her games. When she played the story game, her choices compiled the data sent to Jerry. While her puzzle games hid the bugs. She would then release them into their system.

“How many people know who it was?” Galen asked.

“Not many. The two of us, the three heads of our information systems, and Clara.” Caleb replied.

“Clara?” Galen said with surprise, “your little protégé?”

“She’s the one that found the link between them,” Caleb smiled.

“Wow,” Galen laughed.

“What?” Caleb questioned.

“Nothing, I’m just blown away by this proud papa smile on your face,” Galen mocked.

“Shut up.”

Galen laughed again.

“I have to be proud of someone. I raised you and look at the trouble you cause,” Caleb sighed dramatically._.

“First off, I didn’t cause–“ Galen paused as he thought about what he was going to say, quickly correcting, “ok, well, it wasn’t just me. Second, you didn’t raise me. Your mom did.”

“I’m going to tell her you called her ‘my’ mom,” Caleb smiled, pulling out his phone.

“Don’t!” Galen shouted, “Caleb, don’t! I am wounded, don’t put me in the grave yet!”

Caleb pushed a few buttons and then placed his phone back in his pocket.

“What did you do?” Galen asked carefully. Caleb only smiled back.

A text notification sounded from Galen’s phone, and his eyes widened.

“What did you do!” Galen cried out.

“Look at your phone,” Caleb laughed.

Galen nervously pulled up his phone, the notification showed a message from Fiona. He looked up at Caleb once more, then back to the unread message. He opened it.

[Aww, Galen, I love you too, honey! Caleb said you were upset that I didn’t send any snacks for you! I promise to have a basket of chocolate Pocky waiting for you when you get back! Love you!! – Mom]

He smiled as he read the message, sending a quick thanks reply.

“That was mean,” Galen said, looking back up at Caleb.

“Uh-huh,” Caleb chuckled. “Seriously though, what do you have to report?”

Galen sighed, such a serious man his alpha was.

“I received a copy of all the patient reports except for one. Although apparently, you were supposed to have received them, they were sent to all the Alphas. As is standard practice.”

“Interesting,” Caleb said, having a seat on the stool beside Galen’s bed. “What about the reports themselves? Anything strange?”

“I’m still in the process of comparing notes. But from what I could see, almost every patient was hit with an arrow. The tips were likely coated in wolfsbane.”

“Any knife wounds?”

“A couple,” Galen replied, “not unexpected. I had assumed that they coated all the blades and arrows. But that doesn’t make sense since there were many more people injured without any of the poison. And only the first attack had any wolfsbane at all.”

“Which was already strange,” Caleb added, “everyone else was attacked at the same time in the evening while Winter had been attacked in the afternoon.”

Galen nodded in agreement.

“What about Ashleigh’s report?” Caleb asked. “Anything unusual about it?”

“Yes,” Galen stated flatly.

“What?” Caleb asked with concern.

“It was missing,” Galen answered. “That was the only report that was missing from the pile. If I didn’t already know she had been poisoned, I wouldn’t have even known it was missing.”

“Did you look into it? Why was it missing?” Caleb asked.

“I hadn’t gotten a chance yet; I was on my way to ask Bell when Ashleigh found me first,” Galen replied.

“I see,” Caleb answered. The encounter with Ashleigh had left him shaken. He was torn between his concern for her and his anger at how she had treated Galen.

Galen noticed his sullen expression.

“Why don’t you go back to our room? You can take a look at the reports yourself. Maybe see something I missed. In the meantime, Bell is around here somewhere. I’ll see if she can stop by, and I will ask her about Ashleigh’s report.” Galen offered.

“You aren’t just trying to get some alone time with Bell, are you?” Caleb laughed.

“Maybe,” Galen gave a sly smile.

They laughed together for a moment before Caleb stood to leave. He looked back down at his injured friend.

“Galen,” he called to him.

“Huh?” Galen asked, looking up at him.

“It wasn’t something I want to experience again,” Caleb said quietly, his jaw tightening.

“What’s that?” Galen asked.

“The smell of your blood in the air.”

Caleb walked out the door before Galen had a chance to respond.

“I love you too, brother,” Galen whispered to the closed door, knowing that even as he walked away down the hall, Caleb could still hear his words.

***

As Caleb approached the building he had been told was where he and Galen would be staying together, he caught her scent.

The sweetness danced around his nose, comforting and drawing him in like his mother’s hot chocolate. For a moment, all he could do was close his eyes and let it wash over him. He had longed to be with her, to bathe himself in her scent.

“Caleb?” she called to him softly.

Her voice, though there was hesitation and sadness laced into it, was still an enchanting melody for his ears. He forced his heart to steady itself.

“Ashleigh,” he replied simply.

“Hi,” she said, stepping out from behind a tree near the door of his room. “I figured you had to come back here at some point.”

“You were waiting for me?” he asked.

“I wanted to talk. I don’t want you to get the wrong idea about what happened earlier.”

“Galen already explained. There is no need for any further discussion about it,” Caleb replied, trying to walk past her and continue on his way.

“No!” she shouted, grabbing his arm before he could pass her. “Don’t go!”

The words from her lips played in his ear like an incantation, preventing him from thinking on his own. Her hands on his skin stopped him instantly. Caleb felt his desire for her stirring within the deepest darkest corners of his mind.

His heart was beating fast. His chest heaved in heavy breaths as he tried desperately to keep in control of himself.

“Ashleigh…” he let out a shaky whisper.

Her hazel eyes glistened up at him. Soft but powerful breaths escaped her mouth. Her small tongue slipped out to moisten her lips as her teeth grazed the bottom lip. Caleb let out a low growl in response.

His control was slipping. He hadn’t felt their bond with such intensity since the full moon. But there was still another night until the next one, so why was it happening now?

“Caleb… “ Ashleigh whispered breathily.

His name on her lips sent a hot tremble through his body.

“What’s… happening to me?” she whispered anxiously.