Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 128380 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 642(@200wpm)___ 514(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128380 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 642(@200wpm)___ 514(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
His brow pinched. “How do you know?”
“You don’t have that many friends.”
Tate barked a shocked laugh that cracked his serious expression.
Deke shot him the world’s worst glower.
“And there’s no way you’d post inspirational memes,” Bailey went on. The cranky cat rolled his eyes at that stuff. “Also, there are no posts on your page that are written by pride members.”
Swiping his hand down his face as if to wipe away his amused smile, Tate focused on her. “You’re right, it isn’t him. We need to know who created this profile, and then we need to deal with them.”
Bailey instantly got to work, flicking Deke a brief look as she guessed, “They did more than simply clone your profile, huh?”
He inclined his head, his lips thinning. “Posing as me, they entered into an online relationship with a human female.”
Bailey’s fingers halted. “Say what?”
“You’re not serious,” burst out Havana.
A muscle in his cheek ticked. “Couldn’t be more serious.”
“Fuck me,” Aspen breathed. “Did he also tell her you’re a pallas cat?”
Deke shook his head. “No. She has no clue that I’m a shifter or part of a pride. Also, he didn’t give her my exact address—only the location of my apartment building. But he was otherwise pretty detailed in his descriptions of me and my life.”
Holy hell, what a freaking doozy. No wonder Deke looked ready to snap someone’s neck. She’d totally help him do it.
Havana perched her hands on her hips. “How did you find out?”
“The human tracked me down to ‘surprise’ me, having no clue that she’s been duped for the past three months,” he replied. “I took her to the hole-in-the wall café not far from here away from acute shifter hearing to get the full story from her.”
“And?” prodded Havana.
Deke rolled his shoulders, wishing he could easily shake off the anger that had settled in his gut. The same emotion kept knifing through his cat, awakening its primal need to hunt. “This person contacted her via NetherVille three months ago. They got talking. Exchanged phone numbers. They text and call each other on a daily basis. Have heart-to-hearts. He even wrote her poetry.”
“So he’s a regular Romeo,” said Aspen.
“She showed me some of the messages he sent her. The guy is smooth. Always compliments and builds her up. Always says the right thing at the right time.” So very unlike me, thought Deke. He could never be called verbally smooth.
“I take it they never video-called,” said Havana.
“No, they did,” Deke told her. “But the image of his face was always pixelated, so she never saw him clearly. Fed up of him making excuses as to why he couldn’t meet up with her, she decided to come to him. Me.”
“That’s some wild shit,” commented Bailey without looking away from the laptop, her fingers deftly flying over the keys at such an incredible speed that his cat begrudgingly respected it.
Deke had once asked where she’d learned to hack. Her response? Prison.
It was the same answer she gave him whenever he asked where she’d acquired any of the impressive skills he’d come to realize that she possessed. Havana, Aspen, and Camden were equally skilled in various areas, and all were vague about how that came about.
Returning his attention to the subject at hand, Deke continued, “Maisy gave me the number he’s been using to call and text her. I had River look it up,” he said, referring to a member of their pride who was also part of the human police force. “It’s one of those virtual numbers you can get for free online.”
“Then there’s no way to trace it back to whoever’s using it,” groused Bailey.
“River said as much.” Deke scraped a hand over his jaw. “I think it’s highly possible that I know the person who contacted Maisy. He told her things about me that were more than just basic details. This person could even be part of the pride.” The mere idea that Deke made his stomach twist viciously.
Havana let out a harsh curse. “Did you call him?”
“Almost. I held back because I don’t want him to know I’m aware of what he’s doing.” Not yet, anyway. “If I’d called him, he would have deactivated his profile before Bailey had a chance to hack into it.”
“Maisy might confront him,” Aspen warned. “If she does, he’ll cover his tracks.”
Deke had already anticipated that, which was why … “I asked her not to. She agreed.”
“Where is Maisy now?” asked Havana.
“She left in a hurry after I finished questioning her.” She’d dashed out so fast Deke was surprised she hadn’t left skid marks on the floor. “She was as humiliated as she was shocked.”
Aspen crossed her arms over her chest. “The question on my mind is … why would someone do this?”
Tate twisted his mouth. “It’s hard to say, isn’t it? Identity theft is serious, and this whole thing is messed up for certain. But it could be that our boy didn’t deliberately set out to hurt anyone; he just wanted an escape from being himself, or he struggles with women in the real world so tried forming an online relationship using someone else’s pictures.”