Chumming with a Great White - Charlie Richards Page 0,14

thing to say as soon as the words were out of his mouth.

Grisham’s face darkened with anger as he surged forward. After tossing the letter on the table, thankfully folded so Graham didn’t catch the words, he rested his knuckles on it. He leaned forward and scowled at him.

“Whoever this yahoo is is threatening you,” Grisham pointed out.

“I never go anywhere but the marine park. With all the security, I’m perfectly safe,” Graham countered, frowning. When that didn’t seem to appease his brother, he quickly added, “And Eban knows. He’s having his people look into it.”

Grisham’s shoulders sagged, and he dropped into a seat. “You trusted him with it, but not me?”

Cuzco settled on his lap, his arms around Grisham’s shoulders, and Grisham held him close.

Graham bet Cuzco did that to soothe his obviously upset brother.

Damn. Didn’t mean to do that.

“Any answer I give you, you’re not going to like, so I’m going to go with the painful truth.” Graham wrapped both hands around the bottle and rested his forearms on the table. “You know when I first started recovery, I didn’t think I deserved to be one of the guys who’d survived.”

Grisham nodded. “You suffered from survivor’s guilt.”

Graham nodded, too. “Right. At the time when those letters started, I still felt that way. I thought—” He hesitated, worried about the reaction he was about to receive, but knew he needed to push on. “Well, I thought I deserved to have someone off me, since I shouldn’t have lived anyway.”

“God, Graham,” Grisham whispered, his complexion paling. He shook his head, opened his mouth, then closed it again.

Lifting one hand, Graham assured, “I no longer feel that way, but since I was here and never saw anyone, I didn’t really feel like it was an issue.” He shrugged. “I took your words to heart.” When Graham saw Grisham’s tilted head and confused expression, he explained, “I’ve ordered a sports prosthesis, so before I begin going anywhere where a stalker might be, I’ll be prepared. I am ex-military and can take care of myself.”

Grisham rubbed a hand over his face, obviously still struggling with Graham’s decision. Sighing, he lowered his hand and stared at him. “Then why tell Eban?” Grisham pointed a finger at him. “And I completely disagree with your decision of thinking you’re safe.” Tapping the note, he stated, “This guy knows shit he shouldn’t.”

Graham almost reached for the note, but he hesitated. Enough people had handled it already. “I had one come the day we met, and he opened it and read it.” Cocking his head, Graham focused on Cuzco. “Not that I’m upset, but why did you open my mail?”

Cuzco’s pale features took on a pinkish hue. “It was a mistake. I didn’t pay close enough attention to the name on the front, and I thought it was for your brother.” Nibbling his bottom lip, he told him, “We open each other’s mail all the time.”

Grisham nodded.

Makes sense.

* * * *

Eban growled low in his throat, anger surging through him. “The stalker was in the park.”

The newest note had included a line about how even Graham’s new big fag protector couldn’t save him. That meant someone had seen his mate with him in the park. They’d shared lunch every day, so it could have been any time during the week.

“Or someone they hired to spy on me,” Graham pointed out.

Tightening his arm around Graham’s shoulders—they were sitting on a small sofa together in Alpha Kaiser’s large office—Eban narrowed his eyes. “Stalkers don’t normally work with other people, but maybe.”

“Your notes are about how you didn’t deserve to come back,” Captain John Casinov mused. The man was the mate of their pod’s beta—William Roush—and headed up the precinct where Grisham worked. “Do you think it’s specific to your last deployment when you were injured?”

“That seems the logical assumption,” Graham replied slowly, narrowing his eyes. “Prior to that assignment, it had been four years since we lost any member of our team.”

Graham rubbed at his chest as if in pain from the memory, and Eban leaned over and nuzzled his neck, doing his best to soothe his human. To his relief, his mate flashed a smile his way.

Eban straightened as he listened to Beta William state, “That’s where we start then.” Since Alpha Kaiser was in San Diego with his mate, Arthur, for business reasons, the beta was in charge. “Ovram, dig up everything you can on the family of all the soldiers who fell during Graham’s last mission.” William