Read Once Forgotten Twice Loved Online
Authors: Bryce Evans
“Dammit.” Jewel leaned over the bed and looked for the blasted phone. Finding it, she flipped it over and pushed it on. “Campbell!” she barked into the phone.
Jewel listened to her partner, Vander Collins, tell her that there was another murder. She rolled herself off the bed, sat on the side, pulled out her notepad, and wrote down the location of the crime.
“I’ll be there in an hour. Got it.” Jewel got up, stretching as she walked to the bathroom. Jewel slept in the nude so she didn’t have to waste any time taking her clothes off before she stepped into the shower. Also, it didn’t hurt not having on clothes when she shifted.
Jewel Campbell was a shifter, a wolf shifter to be exact. She loved being in the nude, except in front of others.
There was line she would draw
, she thought to herself and laughed. Shit, this was already starting out to be a shitty, busy day.
Jewel was a natural beauty. Her hair was dark brown with blond highlights in it. Her hair was long, down past her shoulders, but she wore it up most of the time at work. She had dark green eyes. When you looked at them, it was like looking at green moss hanging from a tree. Jewel was always getting hit-on because of her looks. She had long legs that should have belonged to a super-model. Plus she was buff, being a shifter and working out at the gym in her basement, gave her sculpted muscles most men would be jealous of.
She married her high school sweetheart, Josh Campbell. A drunk driver killed Josh two years ago. The pain was still fresh and right on the surface when she worked. Her mate had been a shifter too, as well as the love of her life. He would have healed if they could have gotten to him in time and stopped the bleeding. Jewel refused to date anyone since Josh died, once a shifter found their mate, rarely did they find another if one of them died. Jewel didn’t want to go through that pain again, so she shut herself off. Dating was a huge no no, but sex, well, that was another story, although lately that had dried up too.
Her partner was worried about her.
Josh would tell Jewel to take more time off so they could go to her farm, approximately twenty minutes outside of Atlanta, to run as her wolf—it relaxed her. Jewel felt like the farm was her true home. She hoped that when she retired she would move to the farm and leave the city life behind her. She loved the silence and the ability to run through the woods without anyone coming across her. Jewel’s wolf always let her know when she was itching to get out. She never missed a weekend in honor of Josh, which cut down on her sex life. Since the murders started, Jewel hadn’t been at the farm in a month. Most of her time was taken up with investigating the murders. Her wolf was getting impatient, Jewel really was going to have to make some time, even if it was an hour or two. Not shifting for long periods of time could be dangerous. Jewel often had to take down shifters who refused to accept their other half, they turned bat shit crazy and required someone to kill them. It sucked but was a fact of life. And Jewel had enough problems, going bat shit crazy was not an option. Her partner wouldn’t let that happen.
He was with her through the whole ordeal. Vander was a true friend and would do anything for her, and her wolf loved him too. He has been her best friend for ten years. They joined the force at the same time and went through the academy together. Though he was human, Jewel had been drawn to him. It surprised her almost as much as him. They found each other on the first day of the Academy. Jewel had a bit of a chip on her shoulder and was a hardcore bitch. They met when she was chewing out another cadet for something or another—she had forgotten what. When they met, it was like she found something she had been missing.
Vander knew that Jewel was one hundred percent in love with Josh, he respected that about her. Jewel loved Vander and would do anything for him, but they were very clear with each other on the line between friendship and anything else. He was her best friend, her confidant, and her partner, in some ways he was closer to her than anyone else. However, he also respected the friendship, Vander once said fucking her would be like incest. Jewel had agree, and then they got drunk together and laughed about the thought.
She teased him. He was good looking, but he knew it. Vander had short hair that was dark brown with brown eyes. He was built pretty well too. He had muscles in the all the right places and never had a problem finding the women. They flocked to him. She teased him about his looks.
She will never forget the day Vander discovered she was a shifter. Jewel and Vander were pinned down in a gunfight. A bullet ricocheted off the wall and hit Jewel in the leg. It was just a flesh wound but enough blood to let Vander know that she had been shot. Jewel pulled her pant leg up to try to stop the bleeding and the wound had already healed. Vander was shocked. Jewel invited Vander to the farm that night and she and Josh told Vander that they were shifters, then Josh showed him. They still laugh about that today and how Josh just about passed out.
Jewel looked down at the car radio and saw it was 6:30 a.m. on the dot when she pulled into the construction site. Vander was walking up with a cup of coffee in one hand and a can of diet coke in the other. He handed her the unopened can. Before she took one more step, she popped the top on the can and took a long drink, needing the caffeine.
“Okay, tell me what you’ve got?” Jewel said after taking in enough of the drink.
Vander smiled at her then looked out toward the site. “The Superintendent of the site got to work this morning at around 4:45 a.m. He had an early shipment coming in, so he had to come in earlier than normal. When he got to the site, he went to his office. It’s that trailer over there.” Vander pointed to a small trailer in front of the construction site. “He waited for his shipment and when they pulled into the site, he walked over to that door and waited for them to park the truck. The guys driving the truck walked into the site to see where he wanted the steel put. Johnson, the Superintendant, noticed a light on in one of the rooms, and went in to shut it off. The guys followed him thinking that was where he wanted the steel put. When they entered the room, he found the victim. He immediately got the guys out of there and went outside and called the police. The Victim is strapped to a table just like the other VIC. It’s the same M.O. as before too.”
Jewel looked up at Vander. “Don’t say it.”
“I think we have a serial killer,” Vander whispered, knowing Jewel could hear him.
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