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

right now,” I admitted. “Can’t seem to solve this case no matter how much I think about it. We’ve been through all those files a million times, and nothing jumps out. None of the people really had anything in common, so there’s no pattern to these disappearances if they are abductions. The only thing I can think of is that they were all fairly young, but that can be explained pretty easily – younger people are way more likely to go hiking than older people.”
    “You shouldn’t feel stupid,” Lyndon murmured, rubbing my shoulder blades with one hand. “Because if you’re stupid, then I must be a total idiot.”
    “Why?” I asked.
    “Because it’s you,” he replied, the campfire throwing shadows on his handsome stubble-lined features as he turned his face to mine. “You’re a genius. And you take charge. You know what you want and you go after it. Hell, I was a cop for six years before I even thought about joining the academy, and even then I wasn’t sure I wanted to do it. But you…you always know exactly what you want and you go right out there and get it.”
    “So you don’t know exactly what you want?” I whispered, looking at him right in the eyes. A silent question lingered between us; the one I had really meant to ask. Do you know what you want from me? Firelight danced in his green irises, and he hesitated before leaning down and kissing my forehead and then looking back at me.
    “Myla, I…”
    He was cut off before he could say anything else by a strange sound that made my ears perk up and the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. It had almost sounded like a deep growl somewhere in the distance, but I had no idea what sort of creature could have made such a sound.
    “What the hell? Did you hear that?” I asked, frantically looking around to see if I could spot anything. “Please tell me this is another one of your jokes.”
    “It isn’t.” Lyndon shook his head. “Let me go look. Don’t come with me, though. Just stay here and guard the camp.”
    “No, we can’t do that! We can’t split up!” I replied, but it was too late. He’d already grabbed the torch and dashed off into the woods, and I called after him. “Lyndon!”
    It was no use; he was gone. I paced nervously around the campsite, wondering what was going on. Was he okay? Had he found anything? And what on earth was taking so long? I’d never been one to believe in any sort of religion, but when ten minutes had passed and he hadn’t returned, I found myself looking up at the sky and murmuring.
    “Oh god… please be okay, Lyndon. Please.”
    Another ten minutes later he came crashing back into our campsite, his brawny arms and the sides of his neck covered in scratches. I dashed over to him and threw my arms around him, almost sobbing with relief.
    “Lyndon! What happened out there? I thought…”
    I cut myself off. I didn’t know what exactly I’d thought, only that something terrible might have happened.
    “I’m fine,” he replied, brushing a loose strand of hair out of my eyes as he gently stroked my face.
    “Why are you all cut up?” I asked, motioning to the scratches.
    He shrugged. “Guess I wasn’t too careful about avoiding low-hanging branches. Anyway, I didn’t see much out there. I thought I heard voices and saw a light, so I followed the trail a bit further back the way we came in.”
    “And?”
    “And it was just that Australian couple from earlier. They’re camping not far from us.”
    “Oh.”
    I crawled into the tent, slightly placated now that Lyndon was back but still confused and frightened over the noise we’d heard. I wasn’t typically a paranoid kind of person, and I had definitely heard some sort of weird growling sound near our camp. Hadn’t I? I grumbled as I slid into my sleeping bag. This is what I hated the most about this case. Never before had anything made me doubt myself so much.
    Lyndon got into the sleeping bag next to me, and we lay in silence. It was the