by Sydney Addae
"You have mail for me?" She handed the man the slip of paper she'd taken from her box.
He looked at it. "Yeah, I need to see your ID." He turned and walked to the back. A few seconds he returned with a large padded manila envelope. He pulled a piece of paper off and wrote her driver’s license on it. "This is just for in-house," he explained.
"I appreciate that," she said giving him a smile.
The older man stared at her for a few seconds, glanced at Quinn's frown, and finished the transaction with a stuttering "thank you."
Jackie shook her head as they exited the store. "You're bad."
"He stared too long."
"I'm mated. No one will ever take me from you." She glanced over her shoulder at him.
"You and I know that. It's these other assholes I need to remind."
"Jackie? Is that you?" Kristin, the Sales Manager from her job asked looking at Jackie, then Quinn and then the store.
Quinn sensed his mate's distress spike and blocked the human's view.
Kristin craned her neck. "Jackie? That is you. When did you get back in town? Is everything okay? Mr. Bradley said you had an emergency." She moved to the side and watched Jackie.
"This one needs watching," Quinn said. "She's been with a wolf."
"Damn it, I should've known," Jackie said tossing her mail onto the back seat. "Is it a scent you recognize?"
"No. But she's been fucked by one recently."
"I'm good, Kristin. Thanks for asking." Jackie slid into the back seat.
Quinn followed and closed the door in the woman's incredulous face. He sensed few treated her the way Jackie just did.
They remained parked in front of the postal store to see if Kristin went inside. A few seconds later she walked away.
"Have Alpha Theron assign someone to follow her. She's been with one of us," Jackie told the driver.
He nodded.
They pulled off and headed to her home. She picked up the hefty envelope and stared at the label. Next, she held it up to his nose.
"Papers?"
He inhaled. "Paper. Something plastic and metal. Maybe a disk. Nothing harmful unless it’s the disk."
She released a held breath. "I don't want to be wrong about Bradley, but it's odd for him to beg me to return to look at this."
Based on what she shared about her job, Quinn thought the man had excellent insight and called the best person to help wade through this mess. He squeezed her hand and looked out the window as they entered a multi-lane highway. He couldn't imagine living amongst so many humans. And the bumper to bumper traffic was ridiculous. An hour had passed before they pulled off the freeway and headed toward pack lands.
"You did that every day?"
Jackie looked up from her reading her mail. "What? Drive to work?"
"Yeah, in that traffic, with all those maniacs?"
She laughed. "I enjoy driving and it depends on the time of day. I go in early and miss a lot of it."
He swallowed his disgust and sent a prayer to the Goddess that his mate didn't want to live in this horrible place. After clearing the gate onto pack lands, it took another 10 minutes to arrive at Jackie's home. She handed Quinn her keys and gave him the code while she spoke to the driver.
Quinn stood next to her and waited, ignoring her raised brow. Did she really think he'd leave her with another male, regardless of who he was? Together they entered her home and he shut off the alarm. Jackie continued forward down a hall and into a room. Quinn looked around on his way to the room she'd entered and appreciated her simple tastes in good, solid, furniture. Neutral wall colors warmed the room and made it more inviting to sit and rest. He looked forward to the two of them making love in this room later.
He entered what he assumed was her office. She sat on a long rust colored sofa looking at a disk drive. The contents of the envelope spread out in piles on the low coffee table in front of her.
"Can you start looking through this disk while I read these files? He highlighted a lot of things for me to look at," she asked as he moved further into the room.
"Yes." He extended his hand and looked around. "Which computer should I use?"
"Oh, one sec." She stood, walked to the desk and pulled out a laptop from behind a door. After turning it on, he gave her the disk to insert. "It's ready." She returned to the sofa, picked up the first stack and started reading.
Quinn watched her for a while and then opened the first file on the disk. Financials. He bit back a groan and did a cursory glance for anything glaring. If all these files were financials it was going to be a long night.
Jackie read Mr. Bradley notes and dug into the reports he referenced. It didn't take long to see why he assumed the worst. It looked bad but not conclusive. She continued digging through the data, putting pieces of the puzzle together to see the bigger picture.
"Did you call Bradley?" Quinn asked.
Jackie jerked and tore her gaze from the document she held. "What?"
"Your boss, did you call him? You told him you'd call," Quinn reminded her.
"No. I um... got distracted." She twirled her hair around her finger and continued reading a digital company's prospectus. Bradley had good instincts. Whoever put this together had been good, tiptoeing over the line on occasion but nothing too brazen. "What's on the disk?"
"Financials."
Another puzzle piece. "Company?"
"Yeah and a couple personal."
Excitement simmered as she walked to the desk, placed her hands on his shoulders and looked at the monitor searching for the digital firm. "Yes! Print these for me please." She pointed to the ones she wanted. "I need to see everything for that company."
Seconds later the printer spit out the pages. Taking them she did a quick glance looking for certain dates. "Who are the personal financials?"
"A. Johnson. K. Cross."
"Really?" She looked at the monitor again. "Didn't see that coming," she murmured.
"What?"
"Those two are the ones who were in the room when I thought I'd get fired. K. Cross is the woman who spoke to me at the post office, glad he didn't trust her. But A. Johnson is a senior VP and in line for Mr. Bradley's job. All this time I thought they were close."
"You changed your mind?" Quinn asked.
"Everything he's given me points to fake deals and money siphoned from the company to someplace else. Can't imagine he'd throw the records of his two top executives in this pile if they weren't involved somehow. He's looking for payoffs or something like that but they won't be here, not in the states anyway. I'd bet that. Let me finish this and I'll see if Cain will let us into his database."
"Cain?"
"Yeah, he trains the Knights and works at the Pentagon. He and Abel are the military liaisons for the pack. I interned with him and used their database for searches like these. He has to green light us using the system."
Quinn nodded. "Anything I should be looking for in particular in these files?"
Jackie returned to her seat. "No. Not really. Now that I understand who he's looking at, I'll sharpen my focus." She glanced at the numbers quickly and then at the documents she read before.
"Something to drink?" Quinn asked from the door.
"Yes, thanks." She didn't look at him but continued reading. "Son of a bitch," she murmured. Picking up her phone she placed a call.
It was answered on the second ring. "Jackie?"
"Alpha Theron where did Kristin go after we left the postal place?"
"One second." A few moments later he spoke. "She went to her office but returned to the store two hours later. She asked the guy at the counter about you but the guy who helped you had left work and another male was at the counter. She asked him if you'd picked up anything. He didn't know. She asked him to search the back to see if you signed anything. He claimed he couldn't access those records. From what I understand she was angry when she left."
Jackie shook her head. "Where did she go, then?"
"To a restaurant
in Westbury."
"What?"
He chuckled. "To a small out of the way place. Good steaks I'm told."
"That's across town, easily an hour away with traffic. Did she meet anyone?"
"No. But she was on the phone a lot. She returned downtown and went to happy hour at a place near your office. Then she went home, alone. We're watching her tonight."
"Thanks. Her dealing with a wolf is a wild card. I don't know what that has to do with all of this or if she knows or not."
"No problem, I'm using this surveillance as a training opportunity for our security team. We don't interact with humans much but it's good to know how to deal with them when the need arises."
"Has Mr. Bradley left his place?"
"No. Hasn't answered his phone either. The human security company is pretty good, I know the company owner. If they miss something, we'll provide backup."
"Thanks, he was definitely onto something. I'll be contacting him soon. We’ll need to set up a meeting to go over everything."
"Let me know so I can have security ready," Alpha Theron said.
"Will do, thanks." She disconnected and stared at the pages in her hand. "What are you doing Kristin? Are you and Johnson working together or separately?" Jackie wasn't sure.
Quinn returned with a bowl of chicken chowder soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. The savory aroma made her stomach grumble. She hadn't realized how long she'd been working or how hungry she was. He placed the plate in front of her and pulled a bottle of water from his pocket.
"Eat. Drink. Stay hydrated. Doctor's orders." He set the bottle on the table next to the plate, grabbed a sandwich and took a large bite. "We need to buy food."
Since she didn't cook often she never stocked her pantry. "You're right. After we meet with Mr. Bradley we'll stop on the way back here." She took a bite of her sandwich and looked around. "What do you think?"
"About?"
"My house. Renee helped with the decorations and kept it subtle. I wanted warmth and a sense of belonging."
"You've achieved that. I haven't seen much, but what I've seen is beautiful. But I'm not surprised." He smiled at her and finished eating.
Jackie stared at him a few moments. "I'm really lucky to have you." The surprised expression he wore pleased her.
"What?" he said.
She pushed the empty bowl aside and extended her hand. "I never went for fairy tales, the holes in them were too big. I mean a pumpkin? Lost glass slipper? A bite of an apple?" Appreciating his amused expression, she shook her head. "I'm digressing." She struggled to find the words to say how much he meant to her in such a short time. "If I did believe in fairy tales, you'd be my happily ever after," she said. "Since I don't believe, I feel like I'm living the reality and you're my prince and happy ending wrapped up in one." She mirrored his smile and released a nervous breath when his lips brushed against hers.
"My queen," he murmured and sat back. "How much more?" He looked at the pages covering the table and part of the sofa.
"Almost there. I'm going to call Mr. Bradley and set up a meeting."
"Good. Let me know if I can do anything to help." He stood, removed all signs of their meal and left the room.
Jackie placed the call to her boss. He answered on the first ring. "You're here?"
"Yes."
"Good. Are you okay? No problems?"
"No. Should there be?" She wished he'd tell her what else was going on instead of the cloak and dagger stuff.
"Maybe. I don't know. Have you picked up the information?"
"Yes. I've gone through most of it. Do you know about any offshore accounts?"
"I'm sure there are two at least. The security company I hired is looking into it." He exhaled. "Am I crazy? Seeing things that aren't there? Did I sign off on papers that could bankrupt the company?"
She hadn't gotten that far. "You're not crazy. There's definitely something going on. As far as bankrupting the company... I haven't seen anything that suggests that yet."
"Okay. It's hard being patient. Knowing that at any moment I can be arrested or taken in for questioning on these deals. I've had two others look at the deal you recommended we pass, after a few revisions they resubmitted it and it passed review. It's nothing more than a money-pit, a huge mistake. When I questioned Johnson about it, he claimed I insisted we go ahead with the deal even though he suggested against it. Somehow, it looks as if I've been buying and gutting companies, costing us millions. But I wouldn't have done that. I know I wouldn't have."
Jackie didn't move as several pieces of the puzzle slid into place. "Are you being blackmailed or something?"
"No. Not directly. Implicated in fraud and embezzlement. I've been relieved from my job pending an investigation," he said sounding tired.
She straightened in her chair and released a breath. "How's your health? Are you taking care of yourself?" She wondered if he was on medication and what kind he used.
"I get woozy sometimes."
"When do you want to get together to discuss this?"
"Get together?"
"Yes. I'm not going to talk about it over the phone." She assumed he'd want some type of covert operation to go over the facts.
"Right. Not safe. Let me think."
Jackie looked at the clock on the wall. She'd been at this for four hours and had a long way to go. "Call me after you and your team work things out."
"But you agree something's not right? I wouldn't have made these deals. No matter what's on those videos."
She groaned and shook her head. The dark pit grew deeper and wider. "Videos?"
He sighed. "The conference room has a recorder. We sign contracts there."
"You signed the contracts and now you're saying you didn't?" She didn't understand what was going on. This whole thing sounded like a bad movie.
Seconds passed. "I've been on very strong medication and at times I haven't been fully aware of things around me. I planned to retire for health reasons after this year and have been staying away from the office more and more because of... well my health."
"Who knew about this?" She hadn't noticed and that sucked. Quinn needed to teach her how to use her wolf skills while human deep.
"My assistant who's been with me for 20 years and Johnson. Just those two. Last week I learned he told others on the board and suggested the audit."
"Audit?" Jackie couldn't write a worst case scenario if she tried.
"Yes, it was completed the Friday before you left town. There's something wrong about all of this."
"Johnson and Kristin?" she asked.
"Maybe. But I'm not sure Aaron's guilty of anything other than concern for the company. Basically, he's a good man who feels awful about this."
Jackie snorted. "I want to see those videos. Do you have them?"
"Yes, my assistant has been wonderful. I have a copy of everything."
Quinn walked in, winked at her and returned to the desk.
"My fiancé is assisting me and he's wonderful too. As soon as we have a time for the meeting let me know. I have to make arrangements as well."
"Okay. And thank you for helping and not thinking I'm crazy or worse, a crook."
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Quinn and Jackie nodded at the three, large human men who followed them into Mr. Bradley's home from the garage. Quinn and the security company finally came up with a plan of action to get Jackie and Mr. Bradley together. She held the leather satchel filled with copies of the paperwork he'd sent her. Back-ups of everything had been scanned and sent to the cloud she used for her Pentagon research.
Once Cain cleared her to use the secure database through his Department of Defense connection, she did a more extensive personal and financial search on Mr. Bradley, Mr. Johnson and Kristin. Fortunately, she hadn't found anything more on her boss, married and divorced twice with four Mistresses didn't count. Johnson and Kristin both had off-shore accounts with enough cash to retire anywhere in the world and live comfortably.
Ja
ckie stood in the middle of either a family room or den located in the middle of the house. No windows and one door. Familiar stacks of paper littered a circular wood table in a corner. Two long leather sofas and two over-stuffed chairs were the only pieces of furniture. Unsure if they were supposed to sit and wait or if they'd be going to another room, Jackie looked around and then at Quinn.
His brow rose. "Where is he?"
"Don't know. Pity you don't know his scent or how many heartbeats should be in the area. Otherwise..." she said.
"Yeah, there are a lot of heartbeats nearby. I stopped counting at 10. Seems your boss really believes his life is in jeopardy with all this security," Quinn said taking the satchel from her, and holding her hand.
"His professional life is in jeopardy for sure. I want to see the videos of him signing these contracts, something's definitely not adding up with all of this."
"You believe him? That he's innocent?" Quinn touched her chin, drawing her gaze.
"You're going to kiss me? Here?"
He gave her a small grin. "If I don't they'll think we're the oddest couple they've ever watched, standing, looking at each other and not talking. So yeah, I'm going to kiss you. If the old man doesn't come in here soon, I'll be doing more than kissing my fiancée." Pulling her close, he swooped down and kissed her, stealing her breath.
Her arms crept around his neck as he deepened their kiss. His increased heartbeat and images of their time in bed last night or early this morning, replayed in their link. Her womb clenched in remembrance of his roar and her screams. They broke apart gasping and looking into each other's eyes.
"Stop or I'll jump you right now," she told him breathing hard.
He pulled her close. "We won't do anything to embarrass you too much."
She tucked her face into his chest, breathing in his scent to calm down. His heartbeat normalized and she synced hers with his. Inhaling deeply again she shivered. "You smell so good. Like... like home with a healthy dose of sin."
Quinn chuckled. Arms wrapped tightly around her, he rocked them from side to side. "Sin, huh? I'll have to think on that. Time to say something. Just nod when I make a few sounds." He leaned close to her ear and made meaningless sounds. She nodded and laughed when he bit her earlobe.
