Find My Heart - Chapter 32: Chapter 32

Joel
I stormed into Sebastian's office, not waiting for a reply to my knock.
Sebastian looked up from the laptop on his desk, his eyebrows high on his forehead from my sudden entrance.
"What the hell happened!" I exclaimed, walking over to the desk and putting both hands on it while leaning over towards Seb.
Seb, leaned back in his chair and took a deep breath.
"Never mind what happened! What are you doing here? You're supposed to be keeping your head down, not waltzing into the Police's headquarters!"
"I made sure I wasn't followed, now tell me what went wrong?!" I snapped back.
Sebastian scowled but finally decided to answer my question.
"We arrived a few minutes after Nathan's group went in."
"Yes but why?" I said back, "Why didn't they wait for you? Did you not make it clear that they should have waited?"
"Yes Joe, I made it clear but they went in anyway," Sebastian huffed. "There was nothing that could be done. I don't have control over them."
"Then you should have never given them the information!" I shouted, and banged my fists down on the desk.
I would never describe myself as an angry person. I was passionate, not angry. But today I was. Today I was seething.
Sebastian, having clearly lost his patience with my attitude, stood up from his chair and glared right back at me. For a human, he could be quite intimidating when he tried.
"I know you're upset Joe, but it wasn't my fault. It wasn't my team's fault and it wasn't your fault."
I held his gaze for a few seconds. I wanted to shout back. I wanted to scream and hurl his laptop across the room.
But he was right. It wasn't his fault. And I shouldn't take it out on him.
I let my shoulders sag slightly and looked away, clearly backing down.
For the last couple of weeks I'd been working undercover as a member of FLOW after I'd contacted the group online. It was purely by chance that I'd overheard a conversation about a human been held captive with a werewolf in one of FLOW's meeting points. Of course, as soon as I heard that I put two and two together and informed Seb.
What I didn't know at the time was that the werewolf was Emily. And now she was gone.
"I should have known Nathan wouldn't wait. He's too arrogant to accept help," I replied, in a much quieter tone.
"I don't think that was the problem," Sebastian said, and I turned to look at him to see that his brow was furrowed in concern.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
Sebastian sighed and gestured at a chair asking me to sit down. I followed his request and Sebastian also sat back down as I waited for him to continue.
"It turns out that Nathan and Cole are mates," he said.
This was one of those moments when you wish you had a few moments to plan a considered response, but instead my eyes widened, my jaw dropped and I stuttered out an ineloquent, "Fucking hell."
I could feel Sebastian's gaze lock onto mine.
"I mean.....well it's just......they just don't seem very....what's the word...patible?" I squirmed out.
"So what do you know about Nathan then?" Seb asked, his eyes boring into mine.
"Not much really," I replied, hoping to end this conversation as soon as possible. "He's part of the Huntley pack and the feud between my pack and theirs only ended just before I left so I didn't really know him."
"Oh come on," Seb said, clearly not buying my response, "you said they weren't compatible. That must be based on something."
I sighed, realising I'd sort of backed myself into a corner.
"Look, most of what I heard was just rumour. But Nathan was basically like the perfect werewolf. Precise, obedient, meticulous. He was so focused on being the best that he sometimes didn't care who got swept aside in his wake. The other werewolves called him Robowolf because they said he didn't have a heart. It was rumoured that he rejected his mate, although if Cole is his mate, maybe that's not true."
"It could be true," Sebastian replied, "he rejected Cole at first too."
I shrugged. "That doesn't surprise me if I'm being honest. Like I said, Nathan likes to be the best, and I imagine he saw having a human as a mate as some kind of disadvantage."
Sebastian nodded slowly.
"They do seem to be quite bonded now," he said, "but that doesn't stop me from worrying. What if once Cole becomes fully attached, Nathan decides he doesn't want him anymore? I know that seems impossible with a mate, but with Nathan, I'm just not so sure."
"Like I said, I don't know him that well but.."
We were interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Come in," Sebastian said in a commanding voice.
A woman with red curly hair poked her head round the door. "Sorry to bother you Sir, but your son is here."
"Oh," Seb said, looking quite surprised, "send him in then."
A few seconds later a rather tired looking Cole walked through the door, followed by an obviously grumpy Nathan.
Nathan's eyes locked onto mine for a second before he moved to the corner of the room and leant against the wall, arms folded across his chest. He reminded me of a moody teenager.
"Joe!" Cole said, bringing my attention away from the brooding beast in the corner.
Cole was beaming from ear to ear at seeing me and even came over and gave me a quick hug.
I glanced nervously at Nathan, a bit at a loss as to Cole's obvious delight at seeing me.
Thankfully Nathan didn't move.
"Cole what are you doing here?" his dad asked. "You should be at home resting."
Cole rolled his eyes. "You sound just like Nathan!"
My eyes shot back to Nathan and I saw his frown deepen. I bit my lip to stop myself from laughing. Nathan was obviously grumpy because Cole wouldn't do what he'd asked him. And the fact that Cole had got his own way, showed me that already Cole had him wrapped around his little finger.
"Of course I do! We're concerned about you. You're body needs to rest," Sebastian added.
Cole shook his head. "I can get all the rest I need later, but right now my head is buzzing with so much information that there's no way I would be able to sleep."
"What information?" I asked Cole.
"Information you might be able to help me with," he replied back rather cryptically.
Cole looked over at his father, and I saw Sebastian give a slight nod of the head.
Cole turned back to me.
"It turns out I have a twin sister, who's a werewolf and is part of the Bournville pack. I was hoping you might know her?"
My eyes widened. "You've got a twin?" I just repeated back.
"Yes, she's called Lyla,"
"LYLA!?!" I practically shouted back.
"Yeah, do you know her?" he said, his eyes lighting up.
"Know her? She's my best friend! Well, one of them."
Cole's whole face lit up like a Christmas tree, and I also saw Seb's jaw drop a little.
"Oh wow, can you tell me about her? I can't wait to meet her!"
I pulled my wallet out of my back pocket and took out a small photo. I looked at it briefly before handing it over to Cole.
It was a picture of me, Mark and Lyla. My dad had taken it not too long before I left. It was a gloriously sunny day and so my dad had invited loads of friends round for a barbeque. The picture was taken without us knowing. Mark was telling us one of his stories, and me and Lyla were on either side of him, laughing at whatever it was he was saying.
We looked so happy and free. It was hard to believe that once, that was my life.
"Wow," Cole said, his eyes scrutinising the picture, "you all look so happy."
I smiled and nodded. Sebastian got up from behind his desk and looked at the photo over Cole's shoulder.
"So what's she like then?" Cole asked, his eyes never leaving the picture.
"She's amazing," I replied, "she's incredibly beautiful, but she doesn't know it. She can be a bit of a Tomboy, but yet she's still incredibly girly at times. She loves to gossip, but not in a bitchy way. She's very loyal and supportive, and absolutely the best friend you could ever hope for."
"Oh wow. She sounds awesome," he said, slightly star struck. "When can I meet her, Dad?"
"Oh, erm, I don't know Cole," Sebastian said, going back to sit behind his desk.
I saw Cole's face drop. "Why not?"
"Your mum got back to me and has asked if we give her some time to tell Lyla about you. She said when she's done that we can arrange for the two of you to meet up."
"Ok, so when's she going to tell her?"
"I don't know Cole," Seb said, with slight annoyance in his tone. "We have to respect her wishes and give her time. It's not an easy conversation to have."
Cole looked disgruntled, but he turned his attention back to the photograph and smiled again.
"Joe, can I keep this?" he asked.
I paused while I had an argument with myself. It was one of those moments where you know what the correct thing to do was, but your body was really pleading with you to ignore that and just be selfish.
"It's the only photo I have," I said begrudgingly.
I saw Cole's smile falter.
For the first time Nathan stepped forward. "I know somewhere that will copy it for you. Can Cole borrow it for a few days then get it back to you?" he asked.
I watched as Cole looked over at Nathan giving him a big beaming smile, which in turn made Nathan look like he was going to melt into a puddle onto the floor.
I looked over at Seb and exchanged a quick smirk.
"Sure," I said, nodding my agreement.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Cole said, jumping up and down and then throwing his arms around me again.
"Hey," I said, gently pushing Cole off me, "don't thank me, thank your mate over there."
Cole didn't need to be told twice, and his ran straight over to Natan and gave him a kiss on the tip of his nose.
To my absolute surprise, Nathan blushed! His whole face turning a lovely shade of pink.
"Oh my goodness! I never thought I'd see the day when Nathan Blake would blush!" I said, trying to contain my laughter.
"Oy!" Cole snapped at me, sending me a glare.
I held my hands up in apology but I couldn't remove the smile from my face. The two of them were so sweet!
"Anyway Joe," Sebastian said, "I think it's about time you disappeared before you break your cover."
"Oh yes, that's the other thing I wanted to talk to you about," I said, briefly pausing when I realised my anger from earlier had totally dissipated.
As upset as I was from hearing about what had happened to Emily, when I saw Nathan and Cole together, I knew there was no point in blaming Nathan.
I knew that if it had been my mate in there, I'd have probably done the same.
I shook my head slightly to bring my focus back to where it needed to be.
"Kane is plotting revenge for his uncle. They're planning to hit us, and hit us big. They's haven't decided on the target yet, but Blackwood Manor is definitely on the short list."
"Blackwood Manor?" Cole said rather anxiously. "What do you mean hit us? What are they going to do?" he asked, looking at his dad, his face full of concern.
"Don't worry son, if we know they're coming, they can't do any harm."
"Yes, but I don't like it. What if Lyla gets hurt....or worse?"
I could see that Cole was clearly not taking the news well, and I wished I'd just held my tongue until after he'd left. I flashed an apologetic glance over to Seb.
"Honestly Cole, don't worry. Do you think I'd let anything happen to my own daughter?"
Cole opened his mouth as if to answer back, but then promptly closed it again, although he still looked completely on edge.
"Come on Cole," Nathan said putting his arm around his waist and gently steering him towards the door. "Let's go home and have a rest, then we'll discuss it in the morning."
I watched as Cole's body visibly relaxed under Nathan's touch, and he leant into Nathan as they walked away.
"I'll need to interview you both formally tomorrow," Sebastian said, "so please try and get some rest."
"Fine, I'm going," Cole huffed, but his body language told me he was more than happy to be led away by Nathan.
As soon as the door shut behind them I turned to Seb with a mischeivous smile.
"I take it all back!" I said chuckling lightly. "Those two are made for each other!"
"You think?" Seb asked, but he also couldn't help the corners of his mouth twitching upwards.
"Gosh yes! Nathan's clearly besotted by Cole, and Cole's clearly not letting Nathan get his own way. Also Nathan is going to be great for Cole's confidence. Did you see how comfortable he was with him? And also how protective Nathan got when Cole was upset? No, you've definitely nothing to worry about there."
Sebastian smiled, but it very quickly morphed into a frown.
"What about Kane though? How likely do you think it is that he will target Blackwood Manor?"
I let out a sigh, not liking my answer. "It makes sense to target Blackwood. It's by far the biggest pack they are aware of, except the Huntley pack, but of course they've mostly moved out. Kane wants to go big, so it makes sense that he'll try to take out the biggest pack."
"Mmmm," Seb hummed back, clearly deep in thought.
"I'll let you know as soon as I hear anything," I said getting up.
"Ok, thanks Joe," he said as I headed to the door.
"Oh by the way," he said before I'd opened the office door, "Cole mentioned something about you having a history with Casper? Is this anything I need to know about?"
I froze for a second.
"Why what's Cole said?"
"What does it matter? All I need to know is whether your history with Casper is going to be an issue."
"Ok, then at least we're on the same page then," I said, then I bolted through the door before I could see the baffled look on Seb's face.