Free Once An Alpha (The S Files: Paranormal Investigation Agency – Book 1) by Callie McKenna

actually good…wait…you hear that?”
    We froze in silence. I thought I’d heard something like a twig snapping, but it was so small I figured it was just a roaming animal. “It’s probably just a squirrel,” I whispered to him, but then I heard it again and wasn’t so sure. The earlier investigation hadn’t even come across a single squirrel, let alone any other animals in the area.
    “I’ll go have a look,” he whispered back to me, grabbing a torch from one of the backpacks.
    “Hey!” I said, my voice tinged with urgency. “Practically every single horror movie in the world begins with people stupidly splitting up after hearing strange noises in the night. I’m coming with you!
    “Fine, fine,” he said, turning his head over his shoulder and motioning for me to walk behind him.
    We carefully walked over to the west to where we had heard the sound coming from, keeping our footfall as light and evenly spaced as possible. A second later Lyndon’s torch light shone over a squirrel, and it stared up at us, twitching its cute little nose before dashing away and hiding in the underbrush.
    “Guess you were right,” Lyndon said. “Let’s head back. Hold on, do you see that?”
    “See what?” I asked, my heart pounding. He stepped closer to me, concern etched into his features, and then suddenly he pounced.
    “This!” he shouted, grabbing me by the shoulders and pretending to shake me. I squealed and then roughly shoved him away, storming back to the campfire.
    “Hey, Myla…what’s wrong?” he asked, striding after me. “It was just a joke!”
    I turned around and jabbed him right in the chest, glaring up at him. “Yeah, exactly! A joke. You can’t take anything seriously! There are people still missing, and some disappeared so recently that there’s a chance they’re still out there alive. And you’re playing pranks?”
    He held up his hands. “Okay, okay, you’re right. I’m sorry. Just thought I’d try to lighten the mood a bit. You’ve seemed quite stressed the last few days.”
    I sighed and sat back down on the log, and he followed suit, slinging an arm around me. “Come on Myla, tell me what’s going on,” he said.
    “I just hate this. I hate everything that’s happening with this case. I like being able to construct some sort of rational explanation for things, but this… we just have nothing! It’s like we’ve been given a jigsaw puzzle to solve but with half the pieces missing. And I don’t want to leave my first case on this posting as a failure,” I said.
    “Why?” he asked. “Not every case gets solved. That’s just the way it is. You can’t beat yourself up over it too much.”
    “Yeah, but this is different! I can feel it. Something is not right here; it’s really like something is missing. It should be such a simple case, and when we had the bear theory, that seemed so plausible. But now? Nothing. Nada.”
    Lyndon hesitated for a second. “Well…maybe it’s time for you to start thinking about alternative theories. Like Armstrong said…keep an open mind. Consider a possible shifter presence in the area.”
    I turned my nose up at him. “Seriously? I was assigned to the S Files to prove that shifters and other paranormal things don’t exist. I guess as a foil to you, who clearly thinks they are real.”
    He stared silently at the campfire for a moment before continuing.
    “I’m just saying, maybe there are things we don’t know about yet, even scientists. Like how five hundred years ago they were all totally convinced that the world was flat.”
    “Actually, that’s a pretty common myth,” I interjected. “Five hundred years ago, they were well aware that the world was a sphere.”
    “Oh, shut up, brainiac. You know what I mean!” he replied, ruffling my hair. And I did. He was right. We didn’t know everything, so maybe it was time for me to accept that and start investigating more esoteric leads.
    “I guess I’m just…I feel really stupid