The Luna’s Choice (Theo and Ayla) by Kat Silver novel Chapter 61

Chapter 61: Briggs
We had been sitting in the car for two hours waiting for this Randall guy to leave for the day. Theo wanted to get inside the house and see if we could learn more about what he was doing here. He had followed up with the professor Randall said he was working with. Professor Armand did confirm that they were working on a project together, but Theo believed there was more going on.
Since we had looked into every other outsider we could find, I wasn’t going to argue with his intuition. We looked into pack members as well, of course, but everyone was cleared. Even the detectives didn’t think this was the work of a Greytooth. So, this was as good a lead as
any.
I glanced over at Theo. He was looking at his phone again.
He was trying to hide it, and he would deny it if I asked him, but I knew he was looking at the pictures of Ayla I had sent him again. I suppressed a smile. He had been looking at them almost constantly when he thought no one was paying attention. It made it harder to keep the secret.
Luna Grace had told me that Ayla had agreed to write Alpha Torin’s biography. She would be coming to stay with them in a couple days. She told me not to say anything to Theo, but I was about to come out of my skin keeping this from him. Especially since he had been touchy about the subject since we got back from the Gathering.
When Luna Grace had nothing to tell him about Ayla, he thought he had lost his only chance at getting close to her. I had barely spoken to his mother since then. The only thing keeping him from being pi**ed with her was Mina telling him she would visit to help plan our mating
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Chapter 61: Briggs
288 Vouchers
ceremony.
“You’ll see her soon, man,” I said, breaking the silence. “Just have some faith.”
Theo shoved his phone into his pocket. “I’m not talking about it.”
“I’m just saying things will work out ‘
“I know,” he said with a confidence that surprised me. “I’ll make sure it does.”
“Just give it a week before you decide to do anything st**id, okay?”
“Hey.” He bumped my arm and pointed toward the house down the
street.
Randall had stepped out of the house and was locking his door. We waited another half hour before getting out and going up to the front door. Theo knocked, and we waited to make sure there wasn’t anyone else home. When there was no response, he pulled a key out of his pocket and unlocked the door. Ozzy must have given him a copy so we could get in easily.
The place was spa**ely furnished. It wasn’t surprising since he was only here on a project, but it still seemed empty, considering he had been here for four months. It was a small, two-bedroom house, so it didn’t take us long to double-check for any other inhabitants.
“There’s not much to work with here,” I said as I looked into the second bedroom, which was empty except for an unmade bed and a nightstand.
“Hopefully, that means it’ll be easy to find something,” Theo said, fl*pping through a stack of mail. “There’s also a basement and a small attic space. And be on the lookout for any hiding places.”
Chapter 61: Briggs
288 Vouchers
We checked through the main part of the house and didn’t find anything. Theo stood on a chair to see if there was anything in the attic. He was able to get the panel open, but we would need a ladder to get a better look. That wasn’t an option, so we decided to move on to the basement.
The basement door was through a covered porch at the back of the house. As we stepped out, Theo stopped in front of me and cursed under his breath. He walked up to the door. There was a padlock installed on the door. From the look on Theo’s face, I don’t think he was expecting that.
“I’m guessing this isn’t Ozzy’s doing,” I said.
“No,” Theo replied, shaking his head. “He said the house key worked on all the doors.”
To prevent Randall from knowing anyone had been in the house, we had doused ourselves in a spray to cover our scents. We ensured that anything disturbed had been put back in place. But I didn’t know how we would get around the padlock without him noticing.
“Sh*t,” Theo said in frustration. “He’s got to be hiding something down there. Go see if you can find the key.
I went back into the house and started looking through drawers, cabinets, and any containers that may hold the key. After fifteen minutes, I didn’t have any luck. When I came back out, Theo was coming back up the porch stairs with a pair of bolt cutters.
“Where the hell did those come from?”
“The utility shed,” he replied, tipping his head toward the small wooden structure in the back corner of the yard. “I called Ozzy. He said he keeps tools there for maintenance.”
Chapter 61: Briggs
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“If we cut the lock, he’ll know we were here,” I insisted.
“That only matters if we don’t find anything,” Theo said determinedly. “But Ozzy said he’d cover for us if we don’t. The padlock is against the lease agreement.”
He cut the lock in seconds and opened the door. We headed down the rickety wooden stairs. There was a light switch at the bottom. Theo fl*pped it on. For a moment, my hopes sank. Except for a few old boxes and building materials, it was also pretty empty. There was a door under the stairs, though. Theo went over and tried the k**b. It was locked. He tried the house key, but it didn’t work.
“Check over there for a screwdriver or something,” Theo said, indicating the pile of stuff in the corner.
While I searched through, he ran back up the stairs, probably returning to the tool shed. I could sense his determination growing. He was confident we would find something here. But as my own expectations. were shrinking, I started to wonder if he was just getting desperate. I understood his fears. This was our last lead. But I was worried if this came to nothing, he would begin to spiral again.
I rummaged through the pile of odds. Right as Theo was coming back down, I found a screwdriver in one of the boxes. He had one also, along with a mallet. We returned to the door, and Theo started to remove the doorknob. Once it was off, he yanked the door open.
The moment we looked inside, my concerns about Theo disappeared.
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