Walsh, Maggie - Betrayal [The Angel Pack] (Siren Publishing Allure ManLove)

Home > Other > Walsh, Maggie - Betrayal [The Angel Pack] (Siren Publishing Allure ManLove) > Page 14
Walsh, Maggie - Betrayal [The Angel Pack] (Siren Publishing Allure ManLove) Page 14

by Maggie Walsh


  Raith sighed heavily. “What the hell is going on around here? I just don’t get it. First the attack on Jesse, now someone has drugged Micah, and how in the hell are they getting in here?” Raith ran his hands through his hair in frustration.

  “I’m sorry, Raith, I wish I could help you find those answers. There is one question I can answer though. I’ll take these vials back to my lab and start those tests. Hopefully we can find out what we’re dealing with.”

  “What tests?” Thomas asked as he, Crew, Sebastian, and Xander walked over.

  “Thanks, Doc, let me know what you find out,” Raith said and shook the doctor’s hand. He opened the door for him. The doc walked out and Raith closed the door behind him. He turned to his pack mates.

  “What’s going on, Raith? Why was the doc here?” Crew asked.

  Raith ran his hands through his hair again and sighed. “It’s Micah.”

  “What?” Thomas yelled. “What about Micah? What’s happened?”

  “Someone drugged him. He’s out cold. We don’t know what it is, or what damage it may be causing him. We don’t even know if he’ll make it. It’s only because he’s a shifter that he’s still alive, but we don’t know what’s going on.”

  “Shit! Shit! Shit!” Bass yelled.

  “No, Raith. No, don’t say that. We won’t lose him. We can’t lose him,” Crew said softly.

  “Where is he?” Xander asked in a choked voice.

  “Up in his room.” Raith gestured to the stairs with his chin. “He was right in the middle of claiming Jesse when he just collapsed, out cold. Jesse, the poor guy is a mess.”

  “I don’t blame him. Is he okay? Does he need anything?” Bass asked, worried.

  “Did Micah finish claiming him?” Thomas asked.

  “No, no he didn’t.”

  “What the fuck is going on around here, Raith?” Xander said. “That’s the question of the day, Xander,” Raith answered.

  * * * *

  Thomas walked into Micah’s room with Raith and Gabriel. They stopped at the foot of Micah’s bed, but Thomas continued around to the side. Jesse was asleep, curled up around Micah. Thomas reached down and gently moved a strand of Micah’s hair off his face. Raith and Gabriel shared a look, then looked back to watch Thomas as he ran his thumb over Micah’s cheek.

  Jesse stirred and opened his eyes. He was staring right at Thomas. “Hey.”

  “Hey, how is he?” Thomas whispered.

  “Still the same. He hasn’t moved.”

  Thomas pulled his hand away and turned to Raith and Gabriel with anger in his eyes and his jaw clenched. “We have to find out who did this to our Alpha and destroy them,” he seethed through clenched teeth.

  “We will, Thomas. And when we do, I promise whoever it is, they will pay with their life,” Raith answered.

  * * * *

  Raith was sitting behind Micah’s desk looking at paperwork when Thomas walked in.

  “Hey, buddy, can we talk?” Thomas asked and closed the door.

  “Sure, have a seat.” Raith leaned back in the chair.

  Thomas sat in one of the chairs in front of the desk. “You need help with any of that? You know, I’m Beta, too, we’re both supposed to take care of things if Micah can’t.”

  “I know, man, it’s just keeping me busy. Keeping my mind off things till we have more answers.”

  “Anything from the doc yet?”

  “No, he said it could take a few days. And you are helping, you’ve taken over the enforcers. That’s one less thing for me to worry about.” Raith smiled. “So was that what you wanted or was there something else?”

  “I know you’re not gonna like what I’m about to say, but you and I go back a long way, so I’m asking you to just hear me out, brother to brother,” Thomas asked.

  “Okay, I’ll listen to whatever you have to say. You know that. Shoot,” Raith answered.

  “What do we really know about these two humans, Jesse and Taylor? We were living a nice, quiet, drama-free life before they got here. It’s a little suspicious to me that all this stuff has started happening after they showed up.” Raith shot him an annoyed look. “Oh come on, Raith, I know you like them, but what if that’s part of their plan? Before this they were street rats. Looking for their next meal, maybe even a sugar daddy, and in walks Micah. Alpha of one of the biggest wolf packs on the east coast. He owns lots of land, all the businesses in this town, and he has tons of money. What if they did their homework before they came here? They knew about shifters, what if that Lion shifter also told them about this place and Micah?”

  “But Jesse is Micah’s mate. You can’t fake that, Thomas.”

  “No, you can’t. But what if that just turned out to be an added bonus to their plan. I’m sure Micah explained to Jesse that as his mate, everything that Micah has now belongs to Jesse as per our laws. So if something happens to Micah, Jesse gets everything. Then we’re all shit out of luck. He can throw us out of here and off the pack lands.”

  “I see what you’re saying, but our laws only make Jesse co-owner if Micah claims him, and he hasn’t done that yet.”

  “But what if he didn’t count on the drug taking effect when it did? He’s not familiar with our DNA, maybe he miscalculated and it took effect before Micah could claim him.”

  “That’s a possibility. I tell you what, let me start doing some digging into their backgrounds, check out their story, see what I can find out. Okay?” Raith asked.

  “You’re really going to take what I said seriously?” Thomas asked, surprised.

  “Yeah, why wouldn’t I?” Raith asked.

  “I know you like the humans, I’m just surprised.”

  “Thomas, my first priority is always to protect my Alpha, my best friend, my brother. What you’re saying isn’t out of the realm of possibility, it’s a solid idea. If it protects Micah then yes, I will check into them,” Raith said with conviction.

  “Thanks, Raith. I thought for sure you were gonna fight me on this.”

  “I thought about it. I know you don’t like Jesse. I don’t know or understand why, but what you said has merit, so I’ll check it out.”

  “Thanks again, man,” Thomas said and stood up to leave.

  “Hey, Thomas?” Raith called him before he stepped out. Thomas turned around to look at him.

  “Yeah?”

  “Why don’t you like Jesse? I’m just curious. You have pretty good instincts, so I’d like to know your take on him.”

  Thomas closed the door. “I honestly don’t know. I just get this feeling that he’s not being honest with Micah. I don’t think he’s just a singer who’s been traveling around from club to club after his parents kicked him out. There’s too many holes in his story. I don’t want Micah getting hurt.”

  “I think you’re right. I think there are too many holes in his story. Thanks, Thomas. Hey, can you close the door after you go? I don’t want anyone hearing what I’m doing. They don’t need to know until I find out something.”

  “Sure thing, buddy. And thanks again.” Thomas walked out and closed the door behind him.

  “You can come back in now,” Raith said.

  Bass walked into the room through the open French doors that lead to the outside patio. “I can’t believe he didn’t smell me out there. How did he not smell me out there?”

  “I don’t know. You heard everything right?” Raith asked, running his hands through his hair.

  “Yeah, I heard everything. You don’t actually believe all that crap do you?” Bass asked as he sat down.

  “No, not one word. Along with Micah, I know Jesse and Taylor’s full story. And I gotta tell ya, there’s something more going on with Thomas. I don’t know what, but there’s definitely something.”

  “You don’t think he has anything to do with all of this do you?” Bass asked in surprise.

  “No, Thomas would never hurt Micah. That I do know. But something’s going on.” Raith sighed.

  * * * *

&nbs
p; “You wanted to see me, Raith?” Jesse asked as he stepped into Micah’s office. Raith was sitting behind Micah’s desk working on his computer.

  “Yes, Jesse. Thanks for taking a few minutes away from Micah. I know it’s hard for you to leave him right now. Please come in, close the door.”

  Jesse closed the door and sat in one of the chairs in front of the desk. “What’s up?”

  “I spoke with Doc Evans. There’s a problem with Micah’s samples.”

  “What problem?” Jesse asked as he sat forward with concern.

  “They’re missing,” Raith explained as he stood up and started pacing the floor.

  Jesse gasped in shock. “What? How are they missing?”

  “Doc was working on them last night. He put them away to get some sleep. When he got up this morning and went to his lab, the place was broken into. The samples were gone.”

  “Son of a bitch!” Jesse jumped up, yelling. He put his hands over his mouth and looked toward the door.

  “Don’t worry, as long as all the doors are closed, this room is soundproof. That’s why I asked you to close the door.” Raith smiled at him.

  “Yeah, I guess with your super wolf hearing, you never know what someone might hear.” Jesse smirked at Raith.

  Raith smiled shyly back as he blushed. “Sorry about that,” he mumbled.

  Jesse chuckled. “It’s okay. I trust you, Raith. I know that what you heard won’t go anywhere else.”

  “No it won’t, I promise you that. And thanks for trusting in me. I know that doesn’t come easy for you.”

  “So now that the samples are gone, what do we do?” Jesse asked.

  “Between the two of us, I think we were with Micah the most yesterday. I was hoping we could try and pinpoint what he ate.”

  “We were all together for every meal. We all ate the same things. Drank the same things. You and Micah came in here for meetings. Did he have anything in here?” Jesse asked.

  “No, nothing,” Raith answered. “After dinner he took that call from Dante while we were all in the game room. I didn’t see him bring anything in here with him, did you?”

  “No, but I wasn’t paying attention to details like that. I didn’t think I had to. Was there anything on the desk when you came in here? A cup or a wrapper?”

  “Nothing. Let me look in the trash can.” Raith pulled out the can from under the desk and looked through it. “There’s nothing but paper in here.”

  Jesse stopped his pacing then turned to Raith with wide eyes. “The water.”

  “What water?” Raith asked in confusion.

  “The bottle of water I gave him when we were in the game room. He started coughing and I gave him my water, remember?”

  “But nothing has happened to you, Jesse,” Raith stated, still confused.

  “Because I didn’t drink out of it. Only Micah did. You handed it to me right before Micah came in. I never drank from it,” Jesse explained, his face getting excited at his revelation. Jesse turned and headed for the door. But Raith called out to stop him.

  “Wait, Jesse.” He walked around the desk stood in front of Jesse.

  “Why? We need that bottle, Raith,” Jesse said angrily. “It may be our only proof now.”

  “I know, Jess, but if we go racing out there, whoever is doing this may figure out what we’re doing and stop us. For now I want to keep this between just the two of us. I trust all those guys with my life, but something is going on. I know I didn’t do it, and I know you didn’t do it, so let’s just keep it between us for now. Okay?”

  Jesse nodded his head. “You’re right, so what do we do?”

  “Right now you go back up to Micah. I’m going to casually go into the game room and check for that bottle in the garbage.”

  “How will you know which one it is?” Jesse asked.

  “Good question.” Raith paused, thinking. “Wait a minute. When I gave you that water, I remember that it was the only one in the fridge. I remember thinking we needed to restock.”

  “Oh, and my bottle doesn’t have a label. I took it off. I’m always picking the labels off bottles.” Jesse was excited as he explained.

  “Why?” Raith smirked at him.

  “It gives my hands something to do, and I always know which is mine. Trust issues, remember?” Jesse said shyly as he shrugged his shoulder.

  Raith chuckled at him then reached for the door and stopped. He turned his head and looked at Jesse intently.

  “What?” Jesse asked.

  “Something doesn’t add up. There was tons of water in there. Micah made us make sure it was stocked just for you,” Raith explained.

  “No one else drinks it in there but me. You all drink soda and liquor in there. I’m the only one who drinks the water,” Jesse said the last part softly and sat back down in shock.

  “Shit!” Raith yelled and grabbed his hair in his hands. “That means it was meant for you.”

  “Someone is trying to kill me?” Jesse said in a whisper as he started to shake and tears formed in his eyes. “That water was for me. Whoever did this had no idea Micah was going to drink it. I gave him that water. I almost killed my mate.” The tears started to slowly fall from Jesse’s eyes.

  Raith placed a hand on Jesse’s shoulder in comfort. “You didn’t know, Jesse. It’s not your fault. It’ll be okay. I promise you I will find out who’s doing this. I won’t let them hurt you.”

  “Thank you, Raith. I think I’ll go back to Micah now.”

  * * * *

  Jesse opened the door to his and Micah’s room and froze. Thomas was sitting on the edge of the bed leaning over Micah. He jumped back when he heard the door. It looked like he wiped his eyes before he turned to face Jesse. Was he just kissing my mate? Jesse thought to himself. “What are you doing?” he asked Thomas suspiciously.

  Thomas stood up. “His breathing seemed shallow, I was listening for his breath,” Thomas answered, looking at Jesse emotionless.

  “Any change?” Jesse asked as he walked over to the bed and climbed on it. He lay down next to Micah and placed his head on his chest and kissed his lips. Thomas hadn’t answered so Jesse pulled back and turned to look at him and that’s when he saw it. It was in his eyes. What Thomas kept hiding was finally there, unmasked… hatred. Jesse knew that look, he had seen it many times before. Thomas quickly tried to hide it when he noticed Jesse looking at him, but it was too late, Jesse saw it.

  “No, no change,” Thomas finally answered. “I need to go head out for patrol. Keep him safe.”

  “Of course, Thomas. Be safe out there.” Jesse smiled at him.

  “Thanks,” Thomas said and walked out of the room.

  Raith walked into Micah’s room five minutes later to find Jesse pacing quickly across the room, flailing his arms around and muttering to himself.

  “Hey, slow down there, slugger. What’s got your panties in a bunch?” Raith asked.

  Jesse stopped and looked at Raith. “We need to talk. In private. Now.”

  Chapter 9

  Micah was lying on his bed, unmoved. Only a small light was on next to the bed, which cast a soft glow across Micah’s golden skin. Micah was alone as Thomas shut the door behind him. He approached the bed and sat on the edge next to Micah. He gently took Micah’s hand in one of his and placed his other hand on Micah’s chest. He started to caress Micah’s chest as he whispered to him. “You have to wake up, Micah. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I never meant for you to get hurt. Why couldn’t you just give up on Jesse, send him away. I could have made you happy. We were so good together once. He’s a human, he doesn’t understand our ways. He can’t make you happy. He probably can’t even keep up with you in bed. Humans are too fragile for our kind. I can make you happy, Micah. I can love you so good. I have loved you for over a hundred years…You should have been my mate.” Thomas was quiet for a moment as he lifted Micah’s hand to his mouth and kissed it then rubbed it on his cheek. “It should have been him, not you. He was supposed to drink that fuckin
g water, not you, my love.” Thomas leaned down and placed his lips on Micah’s.

  The lights clicked on and the bathroom door opened. Thomas jumped back and saw Jesse and Raith standing in the bathroom doorway. He looked over his shoulder by the door and Dante was standing there blocking the door. He looked back to Micah’s face and drew in a quick breath when he saw Micah looking back at him.

  “How could you try to hurt my mate, Thomas? We’re family. You’re like my brother,” Micah asked. His voice showed the hurt inside at Thomas’s betrayal.

  Thomas jumped up off the bed and stepped back. Micah sat up and tried to get out of the bed but wobbled. Thomas lunged to catch him. At the same time Jesse vaulted across the bed to grab Micah. Thomas snarled at him. “Don’t touch him!”

  Jesse’s head snapped up, his eyes wide with fear.

  “Get your filthy hands off him. He’s mine. I’ve been by his side for almost two hundred years. I’m the one he turns to for advice. I’m the one he comes to to share his bed. You don’t get to just stroll in here and take him from me. You should have died when I stabbed you and kicked the shit out of you. I thought you were finally gone, but fucking Lexi and Bass were coming and I had to get out of there fast.” Everyone was looking at Thomas in horror as he confessed his sins and his face got redder as his anger grew. “To my surprise, when I get home, your useless excuse for a life was still alive. Then the water. Do you know what I had to do for that damn drug? Huh? I had to fuck that beast Hillary for it. I told her I would help get rid of your sorry ass so she could have Micah. Then I was going to use the shit on her later to get rid of her, too. But no! You gave it to Micah! Then I had to stand by and watch you lying all over him. Touching him, kissing him, cuddling with him. Why won’t you just die?” Thomas whispered that last part to Jesse.

  Micah reached out and gently cupped Thomas’s face. “Oh, Thomas, we were only together a few times and that was over a hundred years ago. And you were the one who called it off because you were in love with someone else. Why now.” Micah spoke softly, tenderly.

 

‹ Prev