18. Nate

Chapter 18

Nate

The day had finally come for us to leave our room. I had mixed feelings. It would be great to get out for some fresh air and a change of scenery, but also, it meant we were out in the open and an easier target. Had it not been necessary for us to go, I'd have erred on the side of caution, but it was. We had no choice.

I gave the owner of the motels a few more hundreds. "We'll be back with more," I assured him.

He made no secret of his love for our money, and that worked for me. I was getting low on cash, but what I gave him was enough to hold our spot for us. I'd need to get some more while we were in the city.

More important than holding our room was preventing him from talking if anybody happened to show up and ask questions. We didn't think they would, but we hadn't thought they'd find the cabin either. So you never know. It was a case of better safe than sorry.

Today was the day Ash set up for us to meet with the prosecutors to get ready for the trial. I didn't love the idea of going back to the city where this all began, but we really didn't have a choice. This was necessary if we were ever going to be truly safe.

We pulled into the back of the courthouse, which was more of a city hall-courthouse combination. The prosecutors had their offices there. And at least when we were inside, no one would see us and there wouldn't be any armed criminals. At least that was the theory. They did have metal detectors, so that was something.

My mates and I came in, working our way through security with ease. I'd been to court far more than I'd have liked thanks to work. But with contract law, I wasn't here enough for the guards to know me and was relieved that everything went so smoothly.

We wove our way to where my meeting was scheduled, my hand gripping Trig's, Garin taking up the rear, making sure that we were safe. He might not have had any training in being a bodyguard, but it came easily to him. Maybe that was because he was one of my alphas and it came naturally, but I had a feeling it was instinctual with him.

The lawyer, Anders, greeted us at the conference room door and told my mates where to wait for me. I hated that they couldn't be with me, but hadn't expected otherwise.

I sat down at the conference table, and Anders introduced me to the others in the room and we began. It was exactly as I suspected it to be. I was in the fortunate position of not knowing much more than the incident at hand. It wasn't a case where I knew the victim or the suspect, and all questions related to that were off the table.

They did ask where I'd been and if the suspect had been in contact with me. I refused to give them our location, citing safety, and they respected my wishes. Not that they had a choice. I wouldn't budge. It wasn't only me who was in danger now.

"I think that's all for today." Anders stood up and dismissed everyone, but as they were leaving, he told me to wait a second so he could give me his card. Instantly, I knew something was up. Of course I already had his contact information or I wouldn't have been here.

Once the room was cleared, he whispered low, "I can get you witness protection."

I knew this. He'd offered before. But there was something different about this one, like he was saying it because something had changed.

"No. I don't… I don't think it would be safe. Rumor has it…" I told him my fears about there being people on the inside and the reasons I felt that was.

"Understood. You're right to be cautious, but I had to offer. I'd pick the people who help, if that matters."

"And there would be no written record?"

"I can't promise that. Let me see what I can do."

I thanked him for his time, and he said he'd be in touch. The court date he thought had been set in stone had been postponed, and he wasn't sure what the new timeline would be. It sucked, but what could we do?

The hallway was fairly empty when I stepped out. My mates pulled me into a hug, and Garin whispered in my ear he had a plan. He took such good care of me. They both did.

The first stop we made was to my house to get more cash. I'd always been told that keeping large quantities of cash at home was asking for trouble. In this case, it was getting us out of trouble. Garin ran a perimeter run and detected the scent of the man he killed, but nothing else, not even the faint remnants of cat scent. They hadn't been back, probably because they knew I was gone.

From there we went to their place and swapped cars, this time taking Trig's. Garin did sweep it for an airtag, but there was nothing out of the ordinary at their place. If anyone had been there, they were long gone.

Next came our long ride back to the motel. We couldn't chance anyone following us. We went the wrong direction to cut back to the right one and then made a circle around it before stopping at a small general store where we grabbed some more food, an air fryer, and a kettle. At least now our crappy food would be hot.

But really, none of that mattered. All that did was that we were safe and together. The rest of it would all work out. I was sure of it.