by Jackie May
“We have an accounting office,” Rook offers while Alpha Toth cringes again. “I’m sorry, Miss Jacobs, that’s confidential pack informa—”
“Alpha Toth. Dude. I don’t want to learn your financial situation. I don’t even care what it is. Obviously, your pack isn’t strapped for cash. But I do my thing by touching stuff. If you want me to help, you’ll have to give me some trust.”
Alpha Toth turns his frown to Rook. “Did…she just…call me…dude?”
Rook’s lips twitch as he says, “I think so, sir.”
“Sorry. Alpha Toth, sir, whatever. Can I poke around in the accounting office or not? You can both come with me if you need to.”
Alpha Toth blinks at me several times before making the decision to trust me. “Very well, let’s take a field trip.”
Our field trip ends two doors down and across the hall at a room aptly labeled accounting. Alpha Toth raises his hand to knock, but I stop him. He pauses, watching with curiosity. “Before we barge in and make your accountant suspicious, when’s the last time someone took money?”
“There was another payment moved last night.”
“Oh, perfect.” I grin at their curious looks and grab the handle of the door.
My guess is that if someone was sneaking into this office to steal from the pack, they’d be pretty worked up while breaking in. I might be able to pick up an imprint off the handle. “Catch me if I fall,” I whisper as I’m sucked into a vision.
The only lights on in the building are the nighttime emergency lights. It’s hard to see much, but a tall, muscular man with brown hair and shifty brown eyes glances both directions down the hallway as he pushes a key into the lock on this door. When the lock turns, he wipes sweat from his brow and holds his breath as he slips into the office, immediately relocking the door behind him.
“Whoa.” I sway on my feet as I come out of the vision, and immediately Rook’s arms are around me, holding me steady.
“You okay?” he asks.
“I’m fine. Nasty side effect. It’ll get a little worse the more I use my gift, but it’s worth it.” I pull myself out of his grip and lower my voice just in case there’s a wolf with exceptionally good hearing on the other side of that door. “What does your accountant look like?”
Alpha Toth’s eyebrows raise, but he answers the question. “Short blonde woman.”
“Voluptuous curves,” Rook adds, earning a look from his alpha. He lifts his shoulders. “What? It’s hard not to notice a shape like that.”
I laugh to myself and stay on task. “Okay, not her, then. I don’t know if it was last night,” I say, so low both men have to lean in close, “but it was dark, and I never pick up clues more than two or three days in the past. Ever. So…sometime in the last couple nights, a man snuck into this office. It was dark. Everyone was gone. Place was empty. He had a key, but this guy was really nervous. Sweating, twitching, shifty eyes…the whole bit.”
“What did he look like?” Alpha Toth demanded, getting angry.
I place a finger to my lips, reminding him to be quiet. I look over my shoulder to make sure no one is coming down the hall, and both men seem to remember we’re currently sneaking. “He was tallish, had a bit of muscle. Kind of cute. Brown hair, brown eyes.”
Rook sighs. “Well, you just described half the pack.”
I shrug. “I could point him out on sight.” Both men perk up again. “But first, I need to get into that office. We don’t know what our guy was doing in there. We don’t know if he’s the man you’re looking for.”
I wait for Alpha Toth and Rook to make a decision. I’m not sure what they’re debating, until Rook says, “I could pull the fire alarm.”
“No, I think we can be more subtle,” Alpha Toth says, staring at the door. “I have something I could discuss with her. I’ll call her into my office.” He looks at me. “Will ten minutes be enough?”
I shrug. “It should, but I can’t be certain once I get sucked in how long it’ll take to come out again.”
“We’ll come knock on your door when we’re done,” Rook says to Alpha Toth. “Stall, if you need to.”
Alpha Toth nods my direction. “Work quickly, Miss Jacobs.”
I’m a little surprised he’s giving me the trust to snoop. “As fast as I can,” I assure him.
Rook and I back down the hall and duck out of sight to wait for the accountant to leave her office.
“So, you see visions?” Rook asks as he peeks around the corner.
“Sort of. I call them psychic imprints, but it’s basically glimpses of the past, yes.”
“That’s got to be convenient.”
I shake my head. “Not always. I can’t control when I pick up an imprint, and I can’t help what I see. I can’t always pull myself out of the visions, either. The stronger the imprint, the more I’m stuck waiting until it’s over, and the sicker it makes me.”
Down the hall, a door opens and closes. When we hear a knock on another door, Rook peeks around the corner again. “Come on. Time to do your thing.”
I shake my head, chuckling as Rook lets me into the office. The room is tiny compared to Alpha Toth’s office, and overcrowded with filing cabinets along the back wall. It has a small desk crammed into one corner, but at least it’s neat. Toth’s accountant is meticulously organized. I swipe my hand across the filing cabinets on my way to the desk and immediately get pulled into a really strong vision. I groan as I settle in to watch Ms. Accountant get banged up against her filing cabinets.
My knees buckle when the vision ends, letting me get back to reality. Rook catches me and helps me sit in the desk chair. I lean over, moaning lightly and willing myself not to puke.
“What’d you see?”
“A lot more than I’d have liked to.” He waits for me to expand. “Let’s just say you aren’t the only one who’s noticed Ms. Thang’s voluptuous curves.”
Rook rears his head back, blinking at me in disbelief. “Holly’s getting it on in her office? Up against the filing cabinets?” He eyes the cabinets in question with newfound respect. “Whoa. That’s hot.”
I snort. “Not really. What was that? Four minutes total? Five? She totally faked it. I hope her lover is better between the sheets.”
Rook moves to sit on the edge of Holly’s desk, smirking. “So, you get sex visions?”
I roll my eyes. Of course he’d focus on that. “Unfortunately, those are what I get most. Imprints are like emotional residue. The higher the emotions flying, the stronger the imprint. I try to get out of them, but again, the stronger the imprint the more I get stuck.”
“Oh, come on, you don’t like it at least a little?”
“No,” I say flatly. “Now shut up, and let me work.”
Rook frowns, but he moves off the desk and goes to stand silently against the office door. I look around and figure my best bet is the computer. Mouse and keyboard, it is. Moving one hand over each, I instantly know I’ve found what I’m looking for.
Mr. Slim Shady’s hands shake as he slides the mouse over the pad. He clicks on a locked file. When it asks for a password, he unfurls a small paper and types in a long, complicated password. It seems to pull up a list of bank accounts. He clicks the first one on the list and transfers one hundred dollars from that account into one that was also written on his paper. Once the transfer is complete, he continues to go down the list of accounts, doing the same thing with each one. There must be thirty or forty accounts. When he’s finished the whole list, he logs out of the computer and leaves the office.
“Oh, man,” I moan, leaning my head down on the desk. “I’m gonna hurl.”
“Are you okay? You’ve been under for a good twelve minutes.”
“Seriously? No wonder I feel like shit. Damn, that was so boring.”
“Can you move? We need to get out of here.”
“You might need to help me walk, and I might puke on you, but yeah. Let’s get out of here. We’ve got exactly what we need.”
Rook
walks me out the back door of the clubhouse, toward the Huron River. The fresh air helps clear my nausea and headache. I crash down on a bench on the water’s edge with another moan. My eyes fall closed while Rook texts Alpha Toth. “Are you okay? Do I need to get you help or anything?”
“No.” I grunt. “It’ll pass. Just give me a couple minutes.”
“Alpha Toth is on his way.”
We sit in silence a couple more minutes, until Alpha Toth’s gruff voice says, “What’s wrong? Is she okay?”
“I’m good,” I promise. “It’s passing already.”
“What is it?”
“My body’s natural reaction to sucking up psychic imprints. It’s a bitch, but we got what we needed. Sneaky McSneakerson is our guy. I just watched him skim one hundred bucks from every different pack account you have and deposit it into one personal account.”
Alpha Toth growls. “That fits.”
“Fits what?”
“The money’s been disappearing in such small amounts, it took us almost a year to notice.”
“A year? That’s a nice little chunk of money, then.”
“The money’s not the issue. He’s been robbing the pack for a year. He’s going to pay.”
“They,” I say. “I’m assuming he has an accomplice. He got that key from somewhere, and he was relieved when it worked…like he was nervous it wouldn’t. Then he got the password to Holly’s computer from somewhere—had it written down on a piece of paper. The personal account number, too. And overall, he was just too nervous to be the brains behind this scheme. My guess is this was the first time he’s had to be the one moving the funds. He’s got someone helping him. It could be Holly, but I wouldn’t know unless spending some time with one or the other, or both of them. Though, I doubt it’s her, considering she’s polishing the filing cabinets with a different man.”
When I quit talking, I wait for a reply but am met with silence. I open my eyes and rub my temples. “What?”
“What do you mean, you could get more if you spent time with them?” Rook asks.
I blush. I don’t want to tell them I can read minds. Them knowing about the visions is bad enough, but mind reading makes people really uneasy. No one ever trusts a mind reader. “I can pick some things up from people, too, not just objects. But it has to be skin-to-skin contact, which could be hard to do if we’re going for discreet.”
Rook and the alpha share a look. “The pack social?” Rook asks.
Alpha Toth nods. “Could be hard to get her there without raising suspicion, though.”
Rook shakes his head. “She saved Maya. She could be an honored guest.”
“Oh, yes, that’ll work perfectly.”
I’m falling behind. “What will work? Honored guest at a what?”
They ignore me, of course. Alpha Toth nods, as if everything is settled. “You’ll have to keep a close eye on her, but make sure you aren’t stepping on your brother’s toes. I know what she said, but she got him here for the first time in thirty years.”
My brain stalls at that. “Thirty years!” I cry. “He said it’s been a few, but thirty?”
Rook sighs. “Werewolves live a long time. Thirty years isn’t as long to us as it is to you. Still, it’s a long time to go without a pack. You accomplished something big, Nora. I didn’t think anything would ever bring Wulf back.”
I’m stunned, but I feel awful at the same time. Why did Wulf agree to come here after so long? Was it my whacked out allure that had him jumping through hoops for me? I don’t get it, but he and I are going to have a long chat. “Oh, that little liar,” I grumble, getting to my feet. I’m ready to stalk back into the gym despite my headache and upset stomach. “Excuse me, gentlemen, I need to go kill myself a Wulf.”
I get one good stomp in before Rook grips me by the shoulder. “Hang on there, little lady. Wait until you’re well away from the compound to lay into him, huh?” He chuckles. “Coming here was hard enough for him. He doesn’t need the humiliation of getting disciplined by a human female on top of it.”
All of my anger deflates, and I’m back to feeling guilty. I just don’t get why he’d make the exception for me. I didn’t even have to push. It was his idea to come here. “Fine. It can wait.” I won’t really do it now, though. I’ll probably just ask him about it nicely. “So, what is this social you guys were talking about?”
“Our monthly pack social is next weekend,” Alpha Toth says, puffing up his chest and smiling proudly. “It’s a dance.”
“And a dinner,” Rook adds. “Usually a cookout with a big bonfire. It’s a hell of a party.”
“Would a dance work for you?” Alpha Toth looks at me.
It takes me a moment to understand what he’s asking. “Oh!” I said I needed reasons for skin-to-skin contact. “Actually, yes, your social sounds perfect, as long as our thief shows up.”
“Oh, he will,” Rook promises.
“The monthly socials are mandatory,” Alpha Toth adds.
Huh. “A mandatory monthly party? Wow. Pack life sounds interesting.”
Rook laughs and places a hand at the small of my back, urging me toward the clubhouse. “It’s a blast, most of the time. No better life than that of a werewolf in a stable pack.”
“That’s why it’s so important we find these thieves and stop them quietly,” Alpha Toth mutters, walking up the path behind us.
“No problem,” I say. “I already know who one of them is. Pointing him out and finding the other next weekend shouldn’t be too hard. Seems like an open-and-shut case.”
“I hope you’re right, Miss Jacobs. I really—”
He stops talking to frown at a text, and then he sighs. After the dark look he gives Rook, I know I’m missing something important again. I look to Rook for the answer. He echoes Alpha Toth’s sigh. “Jeffrey’s challenged Wulf.”
Challenged? I don’t like the sound of that. “Who’s Jeffrey?”
“Jeffrey Bean is my second-in-command, my beta,” Alpha Toth explains in a tired voice.
He picks up the pace a little, and Rook grabs my hand, dragging me through the clubhouse. I’m surprised by his thoughts. He’s not worried about his brother getting hurt, but he is worried about his brother killing the pack’s beta. He’ll never be allowed back again if he does that. Not that he’ll want to come back after this. Rook’s angry—no, he’s furious—at Jeffrey. Jeffrey’s too hotheaded. This dumb power play was completely unnecessary, and all it’s going to do is complicate something that didn’t need to be difficult.
We hurry out the front doors of the clubhouse to find a ring of people crowded around two wolves on the front lawn. I gasp, unprepared for the sight. The fight looks so vicious.
The two wolves are huge, and they’re snarling and drooling everywhere as they circle and pounce on each other. Both of them are showing red, but one wolf is a lot bloodier than the other.
The people standing around aren’t cheering or screaming or stepping in to help. They’re simply looking on with fascination and morbid curiosity. It’s a very controlled, if one-sided, fight. Still, Rook puts his arm around me and pulls me tightly to his side in a protective manner, and it’s clear he’s not going to let me go until he hands me over to his brother. Thank heavens Wulf didn’t make me take my T-shirt off to train today. I’m totally gross after my workout, but at least I’m not hearing Rook’s thoughts.
The bloody wolf gets a good slice of his claws into the side of the bigger wolf. The bigger wolf howls, and the air in the fight shifts. The bigger wolf has just been putting up with his attacker thus far, but he’s done messing around now. He bucks the bloodier wolf away and waits. The second the smaller wolf lunges again, the big wolf dodges the strike and goes for the kill. He grabs the smaller wolf by the throat and slams him to the ground. He doesn’t let go of his hold. The smaller wolf is beaten, but he’s refusing to submit, so the larger wolf pinches his throat a little harder. He’ll kill the smaller one if he doesn’t let go soon.
“Eno
ugh!” Alpha Toth’s voice booms across the scene. “Jeffrey, you’re beaten. And you’re an idiot for picking that fight. Both of you, change back. Now.”
I barely have time to register what he means by “change back” before the bigger wolf lets go of the smaller one and the wolves morph into men. Wulf and a short, stocky blond are both standing butt naked in the middle of the circle. Both are bloody, though Jeffrey is a mess and Wulf only has four long gouges in his side.
I can’t look away, and it’s totally not the blood I’m looking at. I feel bad for perving, but Wulf is beautiful in all his natural glory. I don’t breathe, or even blink, until someone hands Wulf his jeans and Rook quietly clears his throat beside me. My face flames, and I glare at a smiling Rook. “I’ve never seen a wolf change before.”
“You look like you’ve never seen a naked man before,” he teases.
I roll my eyes, but my gaze drifts back to Wulf. “I haven’t seen one like him before,” I admit. I was caught staring. May as well own it. It’s not like Wulf isn’t drool worthy.
Rook chuckles.
When the two fighters are dressed from the waist down, the circle of spectators opens to let Alpha Toth, Rook, and myself through. Rook still has his arm tightly around me, as if he expects someone to challenge me next. The way some of the people are gaping at us, and especially some of the females are glaring, I wonder if that’s a possibility.
Alpha Toth steps forward, and though he talks directly to Wulf and Jeffrey, he’s speaking to the entire group. “Wulf, you have won the challenge. The position of my new beta is yours.”
The group looks as if they expected this, but Wulf sighs and Jeffrey snarls. “But, sir! He’s not even pack! He shouldn’t have been here!”
“You lost the challenge!” Alpha Toth snaps. I think he’s throwing some alpha mojo around now, too, because people are squirming and my heart is hammering in my chest in a way it wasn’t before. “You know pack law. Wulf has always been welcome to join this pack, and the spot of beta is rightfully his now. You shouldn’t have challenged him.”
