Stronger as One (#1, Completed)

37. First aid🌶️🌶️

RILEY

An hour or so later,  Aiden's contacts had taken the survivors away for check-ups and to have them returned to their hometowns after they were all interviewed to gather all possible clues. Their stories, sadly, did not give us much to work with, as many of the accounts resembled Natalia's kidnapping. Some, however, spoke of hearing Mr X and they commented on how smooth and persuasive his voice always felt. Many compared it to a siren song, one that you could not resist even if you tried to. It was a rather strange remark but my gut was telling me that there was more to it than Mr X having a nice voice.

Meanwhile James had insisted on taking Natalia back home as soon as possible, so they left with Callum and Connor as soon as we were all out of the mansion. That suited me just fine because Rafe and I still needed to handle the situation with the enforcer. My contacts, luckily, provided us with another untraceable car- no questions asked- allowing us to make our way back to Scotland separately from the rest. I really was lucky to have a team that was willing to have my back whenever I was in need.

The drive back to Scotland went by in the blink of an eye and I found myself standing in front of the remote cottage that Rafe had told me about. The place was rather cosy- a small cottage made out of stone, situated on a glade in the middle of a thick forest. It was the kind of place that you go to in order to disconnect from the rest of the world. Despite its modest size on the outside, the cottage was big enough to cover all the basic needs for a short stay. It also had a good-sized basement that we decided that we were going to use as an interrogation room. I had also taken a few tranquillizers from the mansion before we left as I did not want our guest to shift and run away, even though I was not sure if he still had his wolf. We handcuffed him to a pipe close to a bed in the basement and made our way back to the living room.

By now we were all starving but the cabin had no food as it was not usually used by anyone. Unfortunately for us, there were no stores nearby- the whole purpose of us going to this place was that it was very remote.

"I'm going to drive to the nearest shop to get some food but it will take me a good two hours until I am back. Can I trust you two not to kill each other in my absence?" Aiden was raising his eyebrows at Rafe and me but I was not sure if his question was intended more for one or the other.

I looked at Rafe who was still dirty and bloodied, though by now he at least had clothes on. I remembered how vulnerable he had been in that dungeon and I felt like someone was squeezing my heart whenever I remembered his pain.

"We will be fine, I promise. But make sure that you bring back some wine for me to drown my insanity after spending time with that one," I joked as I pointed at Rafe. Aiden chuckled and left the cabin.

It was only Rafe and me now and the awkwardness hit me immediately. It was the first time that we had ever been on our own and one of us was not trying to take the piss out of the other one.

"Sooooo....." I decide to break the silence," you should probably shower. I'll make you tea in the meantime." Rafe gave me a doubtful look at the mention of tea- clearly, it was not a manly enough drink for him. "Don't worry- I saw some rum in the cupboard so I'll add that too. Although that's a complete waste of alcohol with you shifters."

Breakthrough- he actually smiled at my lame attempt of a joke. For some reason this made me feel very proud of myself, though I was also worried to see Rafe so quiet and without any cocky comebacks.

While he went to shower, I headed for the stove to boil some water and make tea for both of us. The small bathroom was attached to one of the two bedrooms and I felt a bit relieved that Rafe was not going to walk through the living room half-naked. Out of the blue, I found myself thinking about his perfect body earlier that morning before my mind moved to the moment we shared in the mansion in the middle of a freaking gunfight.