Garrett looked worried when he walked back into the room. I felt really bad for him. It was so obvious he and Jackie were crazy about each other, and he must be going nuts thinking about Kennet mistreating her. He’d managed to stay calm so far, even with all this stuff he had to organize as far as the search and rescue was concerned. I was pretty sure what he really wanted to do was run out the door and vamp speed it up to where Liam was searching for her.
I peeked over at William, hoping he wouldn’t notice me checking him out. What was it like to be head over heels in love with someone? How long did Jackie and Garrett know each other before they kissed for the first time? I’d never kissed anyone seriously. I looked down at my way-too-skinny body and ran a hand through my messy hair. Who’d want to kiss me anyway?
Garrett lowered his long body into a chair and spoke. “I’m going over this once more. Rob will be at the house from dawn to dusk. He’ll expect Sinc and Bridgett to organize the search data, handle the phones and computers and any other work he feels is necessary. He’s in charge during daylight hours. If he’s called away for some reason, Sinc will step up. Is this clear?”
We nodded.
“Sasha is in charge in the evening.” I couldn’t help wincing, but luckily, Garrett didn’t see it and neither did Sasha.
Garrett glanced at William and me. “You two will cooperate and follow their orders, do you understand?” We both nodded again. Garrett’s gaze was so intense neither of us would even think about arguing with him. Garrett looked back at Sasha. “Work on the new house is suspended until Jackie is back. Aaron and his weres will be contacting other packs to get information and will be calling the house as soon as they learn something helpful. If anything important comes in, you’ll get the info to me or Liam immediately.”
Sinc nodded. “Yes, boss.”
“At night, Heinrich and Sasha will take turns patrolling the grounds. Sash, you, Will and Rick will have to take turns feeding. If for some reason it isn’t safe, you can bring a donor here to the house, but only as a last resort. Glamour them so they don’t remember where they’ve been. You’ll lose your heads in a heartbeat if anyone gets injured. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Garrett,” Sash answered respectfully.
“Will, you’ll need to take over and make sure communications get sent to the correct party when Rob leaves and Sinc and Bridgett are asleep.”
“Yes, Garrett. I’ll go over everything with Sinc.”
“And this is the most important thing. Except to feed, no one leaves the grounds until I get back with Jackie. You’re all stuck here together until this danger is past. I can’t be worrying about you and her.” It was obvious he was stressed to the limit, and yet he was somehow holding himself together. His fists were clenching and unclenching and I wondered if he even knew he was doing it. I wanted to say or do something to help him.
“I know she’s alive. Don’t worry about us. We’ll do what Rob, Sasha and Sinc say. You’ll find her.”
He actually smiled at me, losing a tiny bit of the tension in his face. “Thank you. I appreciate that. You can go and organize yourselves now. I’ll be leaving within the hour.” He stood. “Sasha could you come into my office for a minute?” He turned and left the room followed closely by his second in command.
A hand squeezed mine and I froze for a few seconds. When I turned to look at William, he was smiling at me.
“What you said was perfect.” I smiled back and looked down at our hands joined together on the arm of my chair. “Do you want me to take my hand away?” he whispered.
I looked up into his lovely light blue eyes and saw something there I’d never seen in the eyes of any other young male: admiration and maybe even attraction with a little fear thrown in for good measure. He was scared, like me. I was a bit too warm and my heart was beating faster than normal, but it was all good.
“No. Leave it where it is. Please.” His shy smile transitioned into a true grin and as I turned my hand over and threaded my fingers through his, we breathed in each other’s scents at the same time.