by Vivian Arend
She held out a hand. “Hi. I’m Sa…Amy.” Maybe not using her first name would hold off a few problems for a while.
The dark-haired woman slowly accepted the greeting. “Amanda.”
Mr. Shiny Suit beside her leaned to the left as he extended his hand. “Justin. You have a bit of explaining to do, young lady.”
“Hold that thought,” Amy requested as she lifted a finger in the air. “Amanda, you okay?”
The woman seemed surprised at the question. “Of course, I am.”
Amy stood silently for a moment. “We can talk later if you’d like.”
Amanda got very busy looking nowhere, and Amy knew she’d guessed correctly. From the questioning glances Justin was directing her way, a lot of her work from the past year was about to come to light. That didn’t mean she could ignore a person like Amanda whose body language was all but screaming for comfort.
Offering help was part of who Amy was, and as necessary as breathing.
Evan stepped behind her, his hand settling on her lower back. “Let’s take this to my office.”
Amanda excused herself and vanished into the back of the pack house, but the rest of them ended up crowded into the small room. Her, Evan, Justin and Shaun.
Amy hung back at the door. She didn’t need to be around when the truth came out. “I’ll wait outside while you talk.”
“You’re not going anywhere.” Evan caught her by the waist and pulled her to his side. Already the contact was so familiar she was sad that the coming minutes would tear it away. He tucked her onto the chair next to him.
Amy eyed how far it was to the door in case she needed to make a quick getaway.
Evan folded his arms over his chest. “So. I’m here. What was so damn important you felt the need to break a direct order and track me down?” he demanded of his Beta.
Shaun gestured to Justin. “He’s the guy with the goods.”
Justin handed printed pages to Evan. “These are from the accountant I told you about. He faxed them over this morning.”
Evan shuffled through them, clearly not seeing their importance. “What am I looking at?”
The bear shifter ran a finger down the summary page. “These are the names of the properties and investments you’ve been building up over the past year. This column shows the total value of each.”
A low whistle sounded. “Looks as if I’ve done all right.”
Justin cleared his throat and pointed. “And this column shows how much you own of the investment.”
“What do you mean how much I own?” Evan rearranged the pages. “These properties were purchased by myself or the pack. Why do we not own one hundred percent?”
Justin looked straight at Amy. “It appears you had a silent partner. Someone else contributed money toward your investments. In some cases, after making a purchase, you made some of the investments sellable through shares, and your silent partner picked up as much as was available.”
“Here it comes,” Shaun warned, imitating the sound of a bomb plummeting toward the earth.
Evan shook his head. “But these numbers in the final column make no sense. How can I own only forty-eight or forty-nine percent of something?”
Might as well make sure he knew exactly what he was about to hate her for. Amy laid a hand on his thigh. “It means someone else owns a majority of the investment. They have control over it.”
“Bullshit. That wasn’t what my accountant was supposed to do.”
“It was done legally, but very under the radar. I’m not surprised your accountant missed it.” Justin’s expression remained fierce. “Amy’s got it right. Everything listed on that paper, you or the Takhini pack has an interest in, but someone else owns more than you. They are the ones in charge. They have the right to make decisions.”
Evan’s rising anger was apparent to everyone in the room. “Who the hell owns the other half?”
“Half plus a little bit,” Amy explained again. “And that would be me.”
It was a good thing he was sitting down, because Evan didn’t think his legs would hold him. He dragged a hand through his hair and fought to keep from growling.
“How? Why?”
Amy took a deep breath. “Do I really need to tell you why?”
Evan stopped in shock. “You planned this? You planned this all along?”
“This is why I came to Whitehorse.”
“Holy crap.” Evan shot to his feet and stomped across the room. Okay, this wasn’t something he wanted aired in public. Not when there was so much at stake. He needed everyone to get out now so he could have a heart-to-heart with his mate.
He rotated slowly, working to keep his voice below a roar. “Justin. Shaun. Leave.”
He could tell Shaun wanted to stay. Tough. Fucking. Beans. Evan snapped up an arm to point at the door. His Beta and the bear shifter reluctantly left, Shaun tossing a final warning glare at Amy before he closed the door.
The click echoed in the silent room like a gunshot.
She leaned back in her chair.
“You want to start explaining?” Evan demanded.
“I think you figured most of it out.” She met his gaze without fear. “When I did my research and discovered you were the one responsible for Philip’s death and everything that happened afterward, I was furious. The most logical thing seemed to be to take everything from you, like everything had been taken from me.”
He’d thought being hauled to jail was insane, but this? This was an entirely new dimension of lunacy, never before experienced. Evan took a deep breath. “But you were wrong. And now you’ve potentially not only hurt me, but my pack. How am I supposed to react?”
“Takhini will be fine. Just because I have control doesn’t mean I want to tear anything away from them.”
He struggled to understand. “This was about personally taking me down.”
“Yes. That’s all it was ever about.”
Evan dropped into the chair on the opposite side of the desk from her.
“So now what do we do? You own…” He glanced at the list of assets, resisting the urge to swear because that wouldn’t make the conversation run any smoother. “You own just about everything. The hotel, the bar, the pack house. How the hell did you do some of this? I’m no expert, but wouldn’t I have had to put things up for sale?”
She looked sheepish. “You did. You just didn’t realize you had.”
“Dammit, Amy. Did you forge my signature or something? Because that seems like the only way possible.”
Her non-answer was an answer.
“That can’t be legal and stand up in a court of law. There’s no way…”
He fought for control, refusing to shout at her like he really, really wanted to. No matter how fucked up this was, giving her hell for doing it in the first place didn’t change the current reality. He stared at the table and took slow breaths until he was rational enough to speak. “I understand why you started this, but now that you know more about what happened in the past, don’t you think the situation has changed? My question remains, what do we do now?”
Amy stood and walked to the window, her body tension tight. She remained silent for a while before turning to face him. “We join the packs, like the plan was all along.”
“But my plan was for Takhini to take over Canyon. From the looks of things, you’ve already joined the packs, and Canyon owns my ass.”
“Is that a bad thing?” Amy demanded. “The only difference is you’re not the one in charge. Does that make it wrong?”
“Yes,” Evan snapped.
“Because you’re the only one who can lead the joint packs. That’s a rather bold presumption on your part.” She glared at him, ice in the depths of her eyes. “I still say I could lead Takhini, but you could never lead Canyon. Maybe that moment in the restaurant would give you a clue a
s to why.”
This was getting them nowhere. “Are you really demanding I challenge you on a leadership level? My mate? Because that’s what it sounds like.”
“It’s not a challenge to point out a gap in your logic.” Her words came softer. Slower. “You made a wrong decision, and I’m trying to help you make it right.”
She was attempting to be reasonable, but Evan was so far gone from reasonable, it wasn’t even funny.
“I need some fresh air.” He was going to explode. He jabbed a finger at her. “Stay here.”
Her expression darkened. “Ha. I don’t think so. Nice try ordering me around. If you need to burn off some steam, that’s fine, but I’m going back to work. You know where to find me when you’re in control of your emotions.”
A growl burst from his throat.
It was as if there were two of him, and one half wanted to get the hell out of here and run off his frustrations. The other half didn’t want Amy out of his sight, and not only because he had no idea what else she had up her sleeve. “Look, I’m trying hard not to blow my temper, because I don’t want to say something I would regret.”
“Just assume I understand what you’re feeling,” Amy snapped back before softening, her expression growing sorrowful. “I can’t change what I’ve done, but I will tell you this. I’m sorry. I wish I’d found more information before I started.”
“Revenge is always a fucking stupid move.”
She seemed to stop breathing, regret and frustration shooting from her, and that was the final straw. His wolf backhanded him for sniping after she’d apologized. Whatever happened before, they had to move forward, and blaming was certainly not going to get the job done.
Evan crushed her against him, holding her tight to his chest. She remained stiff for the first moment before slipping her arms around his torso and allowing him to offer comfort.
“We’ll get through this as well,” he promised. “Yes, I make assumptions. There’s got to be a middle ground that we can find. Because all the wolves who live in Whitehorse deserve to have strong leadership, and the reassurance they have a pack who cares for them.”
“I want that too,” she whispered.
He slipped his fingers under her chin and lifted her face. “We’re both fiercely independent. Coming together is going to take some work, and we have to learn to trust each other.”
She stared at him silently then nodded. “I’m willing to try. I need to trust you more first.” She laughed ruefully. “But I bet you could say the same thing.”
“I’m in shock, yes.” Evan confessed. She was nestled against him, though, and he couldn’t stop a smile from escaping. “But along with the shock, I’m damn impressed. You kicked some serious butt. I like that.”
The corner of her mouth tipped upward. “You would be happier if it wasn’t your butt I’d been kicking, right?”
“Yeah, but this is still exciting. Who wants to turn down a grand adventure? And damn if we aren’t going to have the best pack in the entire North, with the skills we bring to the table. Whitehorse is going to rule, just like I’d always hoped.”
That inner layer of ice encasing her heart only got colder. While she understood why he was upset, it wasn’t very reassuring that once he did calm down it was all about the packs—joining and leading them. Not a single word about him and her as mates. Learning to trust, yes, definitely. What about learning to love?
You tore everything from him. Don’t expect promises of eternal love and devotion right away.
Don’t expect them ever.
She wanted to snap her teeth at the condemning internal voice. No matter how logical the realization, facts didn’t matter to her heart. She still wanted what she couldn’t have.
Evan continued to stroke her, his strong hands trailing over her back and arms. They were both craving physical contact, but she stared into his dark eyes and fought giving in.
An entirely different observation poked her as she stood within the circle of his arms. Amy examined him closer. “You don’t seem that upset anymore.”
“Anger isn’t worth holding on to.” Evan shrugged, the move making his muscular shoulders that much more apparent. “You had your reasons for what you did, and I have mine. Also, touching you calms me like whoa.”
He stroked her cheek with the back of his knuckles, and suddenly Amy couldn’t breathe. A decision needed to be made, and now. Did she pull away? Or give in to the craving?
His gentle touch on her face created devastating effects. The wolf’s appetite returned, hotter and hungrier than ever, and Amy turned her cheek to rub against him.
He held her firmly, one hand pressed to the center of her back. The other cupped her chin and angled her face to the side. The first contact between their mouths was gentle, but the tenderness lasted for all of five seconds before the pressure increased and he took control.
Her wolf cheered in satisfaction as Evan took her mouth with wild passion. He swiped his tongue across her lips and demanded entrance, thrusting deep. They tangled for a moment before he pulled back and put his teeth to her bottom lip. Goose bumps erupted on her arms, and a trickle of electricity shot along her spine from where his palm rested.
Her head was filled with his scent, the need to consume him growing more urgent by the second. He grasped the back of her neck, cradling her even as he tightened his grasp and held her motionless. A low rumble of satisfaction started in the back of his throat, and Amy melted against him.
She dragged her nails across his back, finishing with her fists tangled in the front of his shirt. Evan caught her butt in his hands, pulling her against his body, the rock-solid mass of him tight to her softness.
He took two steps and pressed her against the wall of his office, pinning her in place with his strong, muscular body. She was tempted to rip his shirt open so she could place her palms against his naked chest. Still he kissed her, still he took the very breath from her body until she grew lightheaded, clinging to him, her legs wrapped around his torso like some sex-starved Gumby.
Somewhere in the middle of their raging passion, she remembered what had brought her to Whitehorse in the first place, and the fire was doused with a bucket-load of unanswered questions. She stilled and retreated.
He sensed it. Between one heartbeat and the next, he dragged their lips apart, staring into her eyes as their breath rattled on like they’d sprinted a marathon uphill.
“Is this the beginning of the next step?” She looked for the confidence she’d had so abundantly not even a day ago. Careful to word her next comment in a way that made no guarantees she couldn’t keep. “We move forward?”
“As partners. Two Alphas finding the best way to provide for our people. Maybe Takhini will rule in the end, maybe Canyon. Those are simply names. It’s the people who are the heart. It’s the wolves we need to provide a home.” He lowered her to the ground but kept her by his side. “That’s who we serve, and that’s who we care about. Agreed?”
Even agreeing with him left a bitter taste in her mouth. For the pack. The focus wasn’t wrong, but it wasn’t what she’d hoped for from her mate.
So be it. She twisted another protective layer around her soul. “I still need to know what happened to my brother, Evan. I need to be able to put it behind me.”
He pulled her in again for a hug, stroking her hair. “I’m going to ask you to trust me a little longer. When it’s time, I’ll share it all, but not yet. It’s too much.”
When it’s time. Amy beat down her frustration but saw no other way. In spite of the burning ache inside, she squeezed him tight, savouring the last moment of physical contact before letting him go and stepping away. She tilted her chin up.
“For the pack, then. What should we take on first?” She had her plan already in place, but she’d see what his take on things was first. She didn’t have to be in charge.
He
paused, considered. “Do you have a leadership team?”
She wiggled her fingers. “I have an assistant. Canyon runs a little differently than a typical pack.”
Evan’s grin returned. “Our first step is to get all of them on board.”
Oh goody gumdrops. “Shaun will be thrilled.”
A burst of laughter escaped him. “You feel the need to step on him, you go right ahead.”
“Gee, I don’t think you’re enjoying this much,” Amy deadpanned.
He rubbed his hands together. “You have no idea. He might be my best friend and Beta, but Shaun’s still a pain in the butt.” Evan leaned over and whispered in her ear as he pulled open the door. “I’m eager to see more of what my mate can do. Malicious takeover included, you’ve been pretty impressive up to now.”
That much at least was a positive. Amy checked him carefully, but he didn’t seem to be putting on a show for her sake. He really had gotten over his mad in an awfully short period of time.
How important was it for her to show the same kind of boldness? Especially when it came to representing Canyon’s best interests. Perhaps everything else was mucked up and foggy, but her devotion to her pack would never be questioned.
Her wolf pouted. The only thing currently on the beast’s mind was how much longer the silly human side was going to postpone the time until she and Evan got naked.
It was an impossible question. Amy soothed the creature with a promise of a long run. That was the best thing she had to offer.
Which sucked. Hugely.
Chapter Eleven
Evan had always considered himself an observant man. He ran his pack with what he considered firm, but fair control, and overall he was a decent guy.
Being put into the situation of having to convince his mate of this fact was a rather bizarre twist.
It had taken a little wrangling, but they’d organized the first gathering. In the end the female Beta of his pack, Gem, with her easy southern hospitality, had risen to the occasion and offered to host a meal.
So now there were five. Evan on one side of the table, Shaun and Gem on the other. Amy led her second-in-command to a chair at the head of the table before stepping into position next to Evan.
