by Lisa Oliver
“There’s nothing wrong with it,” Tanner protested although his mate was right. He waved his hand indicating the spotless coffee table, two three-seater couches that looked like they’d never been sat on, the sixty-five-inch television on the wall, and the round plush rug which was the only color in the room. “It just doesn’t feel lived in like my place does.”
“Probably because I don’t live in my place like you do yours. Basically, it was a place to sleep. But this layout and décor makes it perfect from a selling viewpoint. Come on,” Karl held up his keys, “the sooner we get this meeting over and done with, the sooner I can spoil you with a decent meal. After living on take out all day yesterday, my belly’s screaming for a couple of steaks.”
“A little less of the spoiling please.” Tanner knew his comment fell on deaf ears. Karl in a suit was a totally different man to the naked lover he’d enjoyed since Saturday night. Following Karl out to the car, he took the passenger side, settling back in the seat and letting Karl handle the early morning traffic chaos. His wolf was edgy, alert, watchful, and Tanner had been around the block long enough to trust his animal side. When Karl parked the car around the back of his office building, Tanner jumped out first, immediately scanning the surroundings. While nothing appeared out of place…
Tanner jumped as Karl put his hand on his arm. “What’s wrong? You’re vibrating like you need to shift.”
“There’s something…” Tanner struggled to put his concerns into words. “I can’t explain. It’s not like I have a sixth sense or something, but my wolf’s telling me danger’s coming and I’ve learned not to ignore him.”
“Then I won’t either.” Grabbing his arm, Karl power walked over to a small door set in the back of the building. “We’ll take the back way.”
/~/~/~/~/
Karl didn’t have the same finely honed self-preservation instincts that were clearly driving his mate, but he could feel Tanner’s wolf in the back of his head, which in turn hyped up his own animal half. Pressing a quick code into the door panel, he pulled Tanner into the building, his need to protect his mate rising. There was a bit of a tussle at the stairs – it seemed Tanner had similar ideas – but Karl stormed ahead. Trouble wouldn’t be in the parking lot, it’d be in his office.
“Did you tell security Allan wasn’t allowed in the office?” Tanner kept up with him easily as they ran up the five flights of stairs.
“I had other things to do this weekend.” Karl focused on keeping his footsteps as silent as possible. “I doubt…” He stopped as he opened the door between the stairwell and his office, surprised by the horde of people in the reception area.
“What’s going on?” Karl strode in, just stopping long enough to hold the door for Tanner. “The meeting’s on the next floor down.”
The crowd of coders and admin staff parted leaving Roger, company COO, Dennis his accountant, Sean from Security, Paul the System’s manager and Larry who ran the administration side of things huddled around a heap of torn clothes and scraped skin that smelled an awful lot like Allan.
“We’ve called the police.” Sean came over, checking back over his shoulder at the mess. “I’m really sorry. I wasn’t here, but Roger called me in, and I came as soon as I got the call.”
“What the hell is going on? Allan is that you?”
“Boss?” Tears and mud streaked Allan’s face. “I came… I didn’t know…” then Allan screamed, pointing behind Karl. “It was him. It was him. Get him. Keep him away from me!”
“You fucking liar,” Karl snarled, well aware he was a hair away from shifting. “How dare you accuse my partner of hurting you. He’s been with me since Friday lunch and hasn’t left my side.”
“Karl.” Roger crossed the room, taking his arm, apparently unaware of how much danger he was in. “Karl, this looks really bad. Someone,” he flicked a look in Tanner’s direction. “Someone has beaten up your PA really badly and pretty much dumped him on the company’s front doorstep. Getting angry at the victim is not going to be a good look when the police get here.”
“He’s right,” Tanner said quietly from behind him. “You and I both know I wasn’t responsible, and when the police get here, they’ll know that too. But maybe, for now, Allan might be more comfortable talking to you… in your office, without so many people around?”
“You think I don’t know who beat me and tried…” Allan hiccupped loudly from across the room, “tried to… tried to, you know… I’ll tell them. I’ll tell them who it is and who’s protecting him.”
Karl growled loud enough to turn a few heads, but he was beyond caring. If it wasn’t for Tanner’s steady presence, Allan would already be dead. Every inch of his alpha soul demanded it.
But Karl had enough control to let his human side rule for now. “Come on through to the office, Allan,” he said, moving slowly towards his office door. “Sean’s said the police are already on their way and I’m sure they’ll readily listen to all you have to say. Tanner will stay out here, with Sean making sure he doesn’t go anywhere. You can tell me all about what happened in my office.”
Allan looked hesitant. “I’m not sure I want to be alone with you.”
“Totally understandable.” Karl held out his hands. “You’ve been through a difficult time and you’ve got every right to feel nervous around a solitary male.” He made sure his wolf was glaring through his eyes, knowing Allan would notice. “Dennis, Roger, can you come in with us too please? I found some discrepancies in the accounts payable system when Tanner and I were in my office Friday night. You can look that over for me while we wait for the police.”
“I don’t see how there could be any discrepancies, Karl.” Dennis was a small man with an amazingly sharp brain. “The accounts are all paid automatically apart from the small amount of personal payments and donations you authorize each month.”
“Come on through to the office and I’ll show you what I’ve found. Allan, can you make it, or did you need me to carry you?”
“I can walk.” Allan shuffled off his chair, keeping his shoulders hunched as he held onto bits of his torn shirt. Karl’s keen eyes picked up he was already healing from his clearly self-inflicted wounds. The only thing he didn’t know was why the pack had let him go and why the shit was in his office.
“Tanner…?”
“I’ll be fine.” Tanner gave him a small smile before taking a chair along the reception room wall. “I’ll wait out here with Sean for the police. It might be an idea to suggest everyone else go back to work, and perhaps reschedule the department head meeting till tomorrow morning?”
“You heard him.” Karl waved at his other employees. “We will get to the bottom of what happened to Allan and in the meantime if any of you have concerns leaving the building tonight, please see Sean and I’ll make sure he has adequate personnel to escort you to your cars. Larry, if you could arrange to disburse the food ordered for the meeting today among the staff, oh and bring me and my partner a plate too please. We skipped breakfast for this shit. Roger, Dennis, you’re with me.”
Don’t kill anyone. Tanner’s voice accompanied Karl as he went through into his office. Allan was sitting in the seat closest to the door. Ignoring him for the moment, Karl went over to his desk, pulling out his payment file from the locked drawer he’d left it in and finding the page he needed. “If you men could go through the bank statements, you can use your logins on my computer, and check the figures authorized, against the amounts taken from the bank and make a list of any discrepancies, I’d appreciate it. I know, I know,” he added as he saw Roger’s belligerent look, “this is not in your job description, but as two of the most senior members of this firm, I’d like to keep this matter confidential until we have all the facts and I do believe you two need to see this.”
“Come on, Roger,” Dennis said, pulling off his jacket. “It won’t kill you to look at a computer screen once in a while.”
“I’ll just be over here.” Karl crossed the room and sat in the chair n
ext to Allan. Folding his arms across his chest, and stretching out his legs, he kept his eyes focused on the men working at his desk. There was a lot of grumbling and complaining as the two men got themselves seated, but Karl could tell the moment they found the first error.
“It’s not going to work,” he said low enough only Allan could hear.
“I’m doing what any decent pack member would do, getting rid of the omega.”
Karl put his hand up as though he was yawning. “You know Tanner’s a detective, and a damn good one by all accounts. His friends aren’t going to believe he did this, even if he didn’t have a rock-solid alibi. Which he does.”
Allan snorted. “You’re just drunk with lust. As soon as that omega is locked up, you’ll come to your senses and thank me. For god’s sake, you even had the audacity to try and pass him off as your mate and we all know you’re as straight as I am.”
Oh, if only you knew. Nodding to the men working at his desk, Karl kept his voice low. “Did you think I was going to thank you for stealing tens of thousands of dollars every month from this company, just to feather the pack’s account?”
“You can afford it, and the extra money paid makes you look good in the eyes of the alpha. Everyone knows the tithes are percentage based. You pay more, it looks like you earn more.”
“You think you’ve got it all figured out, don’t you?” Reaching into his jacket pocket, Karl pulled out his phone and scratched his nose with the corner of it. “You think if you get rid of Tanner, then I’ll go back to the pack, keep paying ridiculous sums of money to support people I don’t even know, and you keep your position, and all the additional bonuses I’m sure my uncle is paying you for the insider information you give him on me. The only thing I haven’t worked out, is if you’re going to take responsibility for the thefts, or if you’re going to turn on my uncle when the police start investigating.”
“The police are coming to lock up the omega for attacking me.”
Still maintaining a casual pose, Karl leaned towards the man who was threatening every aspect of his mating. “I met a police Captain the other day. He’s a very good friend of Tanner’s. If he doesn’t turn up here today, I’ll be sure to call him and ask him to look into this matter personally.”
“Doesn’t make any difference when dealing with humans.” Allan half turned in his chair. Despite the mess he was in, his belligerence was still shining through. “I’m an exceptional actor and I can be very convincing.”
“You sure fooled me. I thought you were a decent person.” Karl showed his teeth. “However, you might have a bit of a problem with the Captain.” He leaned over even closer, growling in Allan’s ear, “He’s not human, he’s a bear shifter.” He straightened up as there was a knock at the door. “Ah gentlemen, Captain Peters, isn’t it?”
Standing up, Karl held out his hand to the big bear to shake. He felt on a lot firmer footing than he had the last time he’d met the man. “This is the abused young man who seems to be under the misguided impression that my partner Tanner was responsible for his injuries. As Tanner spent the entire weekend being claimed by my attention, we all know it’s not possible, but perhaps your team can find the truth of what happened.”
Turning back to Allan, Karl leaned over, dropping his voice to a hissed whisper. “You had the audacity to come into my territory, steal from my company, and then you tried to remove my mate from me. Be damned thankful it’s the bear that’s taking you, because believe me, in any other circumstances you’d be roadkill.”
Allan burst into tears as Karl left the room, but he really didn’t care. He had a mate to feed and hold onto until his anger ebbed away.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“We’ve still got your uncle to deal with.” Tanner mopped up his spilled egg yolk with a slice of bread and butter and popped it in his mouth. Chewing and swallowing quickly, he added, “How were you hoping to handle that?”
Karl sighed. They were in the diner Tanner preferred, munching on a full breakfast even though it was closer to lunchtime. “I’m not sure. I shouldn’t have got Roger and Dennis involved in the thefts. Believe me, I was thinking on my feet and didn’t think through the ramifications fast enough.”
“They want to investigate the entity the money is going to?” By entity, Tanner meant ‘pack’, but there were too many people coming and going for the two men to speak freely.
“They’re mumbling about suing to get the money back. I was so pissed off at what Allan was trying to do, I didn’t think of what might happen once Dennis and Roger saw the amount of money that’d been stolen.”
It’d been a lot of money; more than two hundred thousand dollars, just in the past twelve months alone. Sitting back in his chair, nursing his cup of coffee, Tanner said, “What would be the chances of putting all of this on Allan? Drop a few hints the man is unstable, let your employees know the injuries they saw him with were self-inflicted, and that Allan was trying to divert attention from the thefts he thought we’d found out about after the Friday break-in. If you mention to the likes of Roger and Dennis that you don’t see the point trying to get the money back because Allan clearly needs psychiatric help… Would that work, do you think? Do they have a profit share clause in their employment contracts?”
Shaking his head, Karl abandoned his plate and reached for his own coffee. “No profit share, nope. Every company I’ve had through the years, I’ve retained full control of for as long as I was working there. All of my staff get bonuses, like they did on the night of the launch, but apart from that, they’re all on salary.”
“Then the only person ostensibly to lose money out of any of this is you, and at least you know where it went.” Putting down his cup, Tanner touched Karl’s arm. “There’s something else, isn’t there?”
A quick nod, and Karl put down his cup, taking Tanner’s hand in his. “I can’t stop thinking about what my uncle said the night I officially broke ties with the family. I’d barely given it a thought at the time, although his words hurt me more than he’d realized, but now, with all that’s happened, it was almost like he was warning me.”
“What did he say?” Tanner frowned.
“You’ll think I’m being weird.” Karl laughed, but Tanner could pick up his unease through their bond. “He acknowledged how well I’d done, but he wasn’t proud of me or anything. He made a reference to my late father, something along the lines of how he wouldn’t be proud of me either.”
“You were cutting ties with your family. Your uncle was bound to be angry about that, especially in light of all you did for them.” Paid to them.
“Oh, I know, and you know what?” Karl looked up and Tanner realized he was looking for validation. “If my dad was still alive, he would’ve been proud of me, for the companies I’ve built over the years, and for being with you. He might not have understood the way I lived, but he would’ve accepted it. Hell, if he’d lived longer there was a good chance there would’ve been someone else to take my place as the heir and my father would’ve wished me well. I’m sure of that.”
“And you need to hold onto that. You’re a son any father would be proud of.” Tanner gave Karl’s hand a squeeze. “So, what did your uncle say that did bother you.”
“This is where it gets crazy.” Karl huffed. “And remember, I hadn’t spoken to you or anything at this point.”
Tanner waited him out. Years on the force made him good at that.
“My uncle said something about how lady luck wouldn’t always be sitting on my shoulder and that…” Karl faltered. “Nah, you’re just going to think I’m loopy.”
“Tell me.”
“My uncle said, that if he could, he’d curse me for defiling his brother’s, my father’s, memory.”
“He doesn’t have that power.” A wolf spirit would never curse another for their actions – throat ripping was a lot easier and faster.
“I know, and I dismissed it at the time, even though it hurt that he was so hateful. But then I met you, and the
n Serena told me she was pregnant, and now this business with Allan and the missing money…”
“Wait. Wait. One of your girlfriends told you she was pregnant? And you decided to pursue me anyway?” Tanner pulled his hand away from Karl’s, sitting back as far as the chair would allow him. It seemed like it was just one bombshell after another as far as his mate was concerned. Knowing, in the abstract sense, Karl had been with many women was one thing. Having a physical reminder of it…
Karl shoved his cup across the table and then proceeded to bang his head on the tablecloth. “I knew I would stuff this up,” he huffed as he sat back up. There was a small red mark on his forehead. “Yes, Serena is pregnant. No, it’s not mine and it was her that told me that, not me assuming, or running scared, or anything stupid like that. She’s deliriously happy with Jorge and is planning her wedding as we speak. But see, all this stuff happened and now…”
Tanner felt marginally better. “Okay, so all these bad things happen, including meeting me, when in fact you were expecting someone small and feminine as your life partner… and you think it’s all because your uncle cursed you?”
“We should’ve stayed in bed this morning.” Karl let out a long sigh before stretching his hand across the table. “Please take my hand.”
Tanner couldn’t refuse – he wasn’t like that.
“Meeting you was a shock, but one I quickly embraced and adapted to,” Karl said softly. “Serena’s pregnancy was also noteworthy, but only because I’d been trying to work out how to break up with her after meeting you, and then it turns out she was doing the same thing with me. I’m happy for her, and I told her so.”
“And in the meantime, the only reason you found out about Allan’s thieving was because he ranted against me at the office on Friday and then for some stupid reason, broke into the office that night with friends, setting up an automatic payment for tithes even though you’ve left the family. So, in a way, meeting me was a good thing, because if he hadn’t done that, Allan would still be stealing from you and you’d be none the wiser.”
