by Noah Harris
Still, Adrian couldn’t fault him. “The only option you had would have been to point a finger at one of your own. If I were you, I would be denying it even now.”
Michael snorted. “Would you though? You don’t strike me as the type to deny a hard truth to keep yourself happy.”
Adrian looked at the new moon tattoo on his inner arm. “You’d be amazed what I’ve done in my life.”
“I guess we both have a lot to learn about each other then,” Michael said, a smile in his voice.
Michael shifted further down the desk, closer to Adrian. The scent of a rich forest hit Adrian once more and he leaned away. It didn’t make the smell go away, but it certainly made it less overwhelming. Even as Adrian tried to lean away from it, he took a slow, quiet breath, pulling the scent deep into his lungs.
His instinctive movement hadn’t been missed and Michael frowned. “Am I bothering you?”
Adrian snorted. “Naw, I’m fine.”
“That’s not the first time you’ve distanced yourself. I’ll admit, that surprises me a little,” Michael said slowly.
Adrian looked up at him, eyes narrowing. “You trying to say that because you’re good looking I should want you to get in my personal space?”
Michael’s eyes widened slightly. “What? No, that’s not what I’m saying. You just don’t strike me as the type who worries about proximity to other people. I imagine that you are closer than this to all sorts of people in your line of work. I might have thought that you would have rid yourself of any discomfort being near another.”
“Weren’t you the one who made a point that there was a difference between your home and your work life?”
Michael nodded. “A fair point, I should have considered that.”
Adrian could see Michael drawing away, and he winced. “Look, I’m sorry. It’s not that you bother me being close or anything, because you’re right, I got over that a long time ago. It’s—it’s your smell.”
“My smell,” Michael replied slowly.
“I know how that sounds, but yeah,” Adrian said with an uncomfortable chuckle.
Michael looked down at himself, sniffing. “Is it the alcohol? I only had one drink earlier, and quite a light one at that.”
Adrian shook his head. “No, you don’t smell like booze. It’s not a bad smell.”
That only served to deepen the frown on Michael’s face. “If it’s not a bad smell, then what is it?”
Adrian’s discomfort was growing and he shifted uneasily in his chair. If Michael had no idea what he was talking about, it was very possible that the scent could only be detected by omegas. It wasn’t the first time that Adrian had come across an alpha with such a distinct smell, and almost always, it was only an omega who could detect it. The elusive odor wasn’t something he had faced until he had come to live in the city rather than in the middle of nowhere with his family. Michael was the first alpha to have a scent that Adrian found extremely attractive.
“You don’t have many omegas around you, do you?” Adrian asked with a sigh.
Michael blinked “I have only one in my pack, and he is the one I typically send out for any international dealings that I might be interested in. Is that somehow relevant to the fact that I seem to stink?”
Adrian laughed. “You don’t stink. It smells really good actually.”
“And you continue to lose me,” Michael said in exasperation.
Adrian looked away. “You smell like… Well, you smell like the woods.”
“The woods,” Michael repeated.
Adrian looked up. “What, are you a parrot? Yeah, the woods. Like wet earth, things growing, moss on the trees.”
Michael’s confusion eased, and he cocked his head. “You’re not from the city are you?”
Adrian sighed. “No, I’m not. I was a member of a sept when I was a kid. And before you ask, it’s on the complete opposite side of the country. No, I don’t talk to my former pack anymore, and no, I don’t want to talk about it.”
Michael crossed his arms over his chest. “Sounds like there’s a story there.”
Adrian tried to ignore the old ache in his gut as he snorted derisively. “Yeah, and it’s a very long, dramatic story. Rife with family drama, rebellion, bloodshed, and tears. Very exciting. Okay, no, it’s actually really boring and there are better things to talk about.”
Michael cocked his head. “May I at least ask what made you leave?”
“You can ask all you want,” Adrian replied blithely.
Michael seemed to accept that with good grace. “Other than a few weekend retreats, I’ve never been in the wild before.”
Adrian raised a brow. “You’re telling me that you’ve never gone out for a run as a wolf? How is that even possible?”
Michael chuckled. “Allow me to amend that statement. I’ve never been out in the true wild. The runs I do with my pack now and again aren’t— Well, they’re not too far from the city.”
Adrian shrugged. “You’re not missing much. There’s a lot of trees, some rivers, sometimes animals. Other than that, it’s a bunch of stuck-up werewolves who think they’re better than everyone else, and anyone who wants to find out otherwise is even worse than an outsider.”
“Sounds like a grand place to take a vacation.”
Adrian snorted. “If you like locations that get boring fast and judgmental locals, sure, it’s a great place.”
“If I wanted that, I would vacation in a boardroom,” Michael said with a chuckle.
Adrian wrinkled his nose. “I can’t imagine how horrible it must be, locked up with a bunch of suits and made to listen to them ramble on for hours. You have more patience than I do.”
“After a while you begin to drown it all out. If you let them talk for long enough, and know when to nod and say the right phrase, they leave feeling important. It’s not the most exciting or fulfilling of things, but I’m good at what I do, and so I do it.”
Adrian eased himself into a more comfortable position with his hands behind his head, “What you’re good at? What, inheriting the family business?”
“Of all the things you know, you’re going to tell me that you didn’t look into my background?”
Adrian shrugged. “Truth be told, your past never interested me much when I was keeping an eye on you. I’ve only kept tabs on you because you’re a big-name alpha in the city, and because you’ve got one hell of a territory to back up. If you were to be a problem, I wanted to know. Anything before that didn’t seem all that important.”
Michael cocked his head. “You are so different from Eli, and even the rest of the members of your pack.”
“Eli’s a leader, he’s strong and honorable, just like a leader should be. He gives the orders and gets to look good doing it. Marcus wants to be like Eli, but I think he wants to be a member of our pack more than he wants to be leader. So he gets to be noble and tough too. Liam was born to obey, and he wants to live up to that because Eli puts on such a good example. He gets a strong leader to look up to and emulate in everything that he does. Max is… Well, Max is sweet, he’s the best of us, and I think he’s always going to be a little innocent. He’s the one you go to when you have a problem and he’ll listen to you while you cry on his shoulder,” Adrian explained.
“And yet, while all those roles seem to mix together quite well, there’s you consider. You speak of them as being separate from you, so tell me, Adrian, what role do you play?”
Adrian smiled. “I’m the one who makes sure they can continue being those things. Nobody has to dirty their hands, no one has to ruin their honor, and no one loses their innocence. I can lie, cheat, steal, and even kill for them, and they can keep on going with their lives.”
“Sounds lonely,” Michael said quietly.
Adrian looked away, eyes tracing the lines of the snake wrapped dagger tattoo on his left arm. “I have my pack, and I do it for my pack. Like you said yourself, I’m very good at what I do, so I do it.”
“And here I am,
pulling you away from that,” Michael said, sounding uneasy.
“Naw, I came here willingly, and with the permission of my pack leader no less. You’re the one in need of help right now, not them.”
Michael smiled at that. “Well, with that little speech, I now know the full value of the services you’re providing me. I know we’re not close to solving this problem but I can truly say that I’m thankful for the help you’re giving me.”
There was a warmth in Michael’s eyes that made Adrian wish he could squirm without being obvious. It reminded him of the sugary sweetness that he sometimes saw between Hunter and Eli. The look wasn’t quite as intense, but it was enough to leave Adrian feeling both grateful and uneasy.
Adrian winked at Michael. “Good, and don’t you forget it either.”
Michael shook his head, though Adrian noticed he didn’t look irritated as he walked away. “And if I ever do, I’m sure you’ll be right there to remind me.”
“Why, Pack Leader Michael, you sound almost giddy at the prospect of me sassing you in the future.”
Michael glanced over his shoulder before rounding the corner. “I’m not claiming anything of the sort.”
“That’s not a denial!” Adrian called after him.
The only response he got was the faint sound of Michael chuckling.
Chapter 7
Adrian could feel his vision starting to blur. He looked away from the laptop’s screen until his sight cleared. He had been poring over the information that Michael provided for almost two days straight and it was beginning to put a strain on him. The afternoon sunlight streaming through the window wasn’t doing much to improve his mood. After sitting for so long, doing very little except reading, Adrian was feeling restless and cooped up.
Michael looked up from his spot on the couch. “You’re looking a little more tired than usual. Need a break?”
Adrian nodded his head. “I think I need to take a small break. If I keep looking at this screen for much longer, I’m going to end up cross eyed.”
Michael chuckled. “Then take a break, you’ve been stuck in front of that thing for days now. You don’t have to kill your eyes to help me.”
“And sitting around doing nothing isn’t going to do you any good.”
Michael shook his head, turning his attention back to the tablet in his hand. “And people accuse me of being a workaholic.”
Adrian said nothing, feeling like his growing frustration would only make him lash out unfairly at Michael. The truth of the matter was, as good as he could be at sitting around and waiting for information to come to him, he grew more restless with each passing hour. He had hoped that Marcus’ assessment of the time it would take him to look up the names had been exaggerated. But, just like the other contacts he’d talked to, Marcus hadn’t reported anything yet.
Which left Adrian sitting around Michael’s house, poring over files to see if he could find something useful. While he could normally be patient, he found that particular virtue running low. Michael seemed willing to wait for however long it took for Adrian to find a lead, but Adrian himself wasn’t as willing. He wasn’t quite sure where his newfound impatience had come from, but he didn’t like it.
“The longer I take to find a lead, the longer it’s going to take me to find an answer. Without an answer, you’re going to keep losing businesses. I would think you’d be worried about that a little more,” Adrian finally said.
“I’ve been losing out on my businesses for months now. At this point, I suppose I have to roll with the punches and hope I don’t lose everything by the year’s end.”
Adrian cocked a brow. “That sounds incredibly laid back for a man who seems so Type A.”
Michael shrugged. “Do I need to reiterate that there’s more to me than meets the eye?”
“Maybe you should share so I can stop obsessing over every little detail and getting mad that I can’t figure anything out,” Adrian offered with a huff.
Michael looked up from his screen, as if he were scrutinizing Adrian. “Are you asking if I’ll let you get to know me on a personal and intimate level?”
Something in Adrian’s stomach fluttered. “Now, when you say intimate…”
Michael smirked, the expression sending another twist through Adrian’s stomach. “I mean intimate.”
Adrian hesitated, unsure if he was being hit on or if Michael was somehow learning how to mess with him. The smirk told him that it was very possible that Michael was trying to get a rise out of him. Yet the hint of heated emotion behind Michael’s eyes had the wolf within Adrian growing restless. Generally speaking, the only people who looked at him like that wanted to punch him or screw him. Since he hadn’t done anything recently that could have irritated Michael, Adrian was leaning toward the latter.
Before Adrian could form a reply, his phone began buzzing in his pocket. Adrian jerked, only then realizing the tension that had worked its way into his body in the span of a few seconds of eye contact. Grinning sheepishly, he pulled the device from his pocket to check the screen.
Grunting when he saw Marcus’ name and picture pop up, he answered it. “About goddamn time!”
Marcus sighed. “I told you it would be a few days. If anything, I’m ahead of schedule.”
“You’re always saying it’s going to be longer than it actually is, and the one time you’re telling the truth, I’m left to sit around with my thumb up my ass,” Adrian complained as he stood up.
Marcus snorted. “What you do to pass the time is your own business. I don’t need to know the sordid details.”
Adrian walked through the back door onto the deck with a roll of his eyes. “And now you choose to develop a sense of humor.”
“I’ve always had a sense of humor. Now, do you want to learn about what I found out or do you just want to complain for the entire call?”
“Can’t I do both?”
“Adrian, I just came off of a double shift and laying in my bed sounds so much more appealing than listening to you attempt to be witty,” Marcus growled.
Sensing that Marcus’ patience was thinning, Adrian straightened. “Alright, what do you have for me?”
“All of the names you gave me basically came up clean. There were a few drug charges, all for pot.”
Adrian sighed. “Damn, I was hoping there was something juicy in that list.”
“Well, this might interest you. One of the names on the list, a Stephan Raine, came up with absolutely nothing.”
Adrian frowned. “You said that most of them came up clean though.”
“Yeah, I’m talking the average sort of clean. A few parking or traffic tickets here or there, or reports filed with their names on it. Every other name but Stephan’s came up with something attached to it. This Stephan guy? No record in the system whatsoever. The guy is supposed to be pushing thirty. You’re going to tell me that in thirty years of life, he wouldn’t have somehow got a record of himself out there doing something?”
Adrian didn’t think so. “Okay, you’ve got my attention.”
“I looked a little deeper. The guy has all the right paperwork, a social security number and everything. But when I looked a little harder through the public records, I found that that’s it, he’s got all the bare necessities to not ping anybody’s alarm bells. He owns a few properties in the city, all warehouses.”
“Of course they’re warehouses, because that’s not cliché,” Adrian snorted.
“And one on the West Coast,” Marcus continued.
Adrian tensed. “Where on the West Coast?”
Marcus paused before continuing carefully. “Portland.”
“Well, doesn’t that sound dangerously close to home sweet home?” Adrian asked bitterly.
“Yeah, I thought you might say that. That whole rumor about sept wolves being out this way floating back into your mind now?”
Adrian grunted. “Yeah, but I’m not going to jump to conclusions. There’s no reason someone from my old sept would be out this wa
y, and certainly not to cause trouble to some random alpha that they wouldn’t know.”
“I’ve learned to not believe in coincidence in this line of work.”
Adrian shrugged, not caring that Marcus couldn’t see it. “So don’t. I’m not typically a big believer in them either. But I’ve also learned to not jump to conclusions, because people are fickle and don’t like to make sense sometimes.”
“Well, I sent you the addresses of the warehouses that Stephan owns. I figured you could take over from here, because this is about as far as I go with this whole thing for now,” Marcus said with a stifled yawn.
Adrian grinned. “This is perfect, actually. It gives me something to do instead of sit around reading a bunch of expense reports.”
“Expense reports? The hell are you doing reading those?”
“I said I was sitting around with my thumb up my ass.”
Marcus snorted. “Well, get it out and go get something productive done. I’m going to go produce myself some sleep.”
Adrian ended the call, opening his email to find the addresses that Marcus had sent. He knew roughly where they were located and saved the addresses to the memo on his phone in case he lost service while finding the place. He entered the house with a newfound sense of purpose, glad to have something to do that didn’t involve sitting around all day and night.
Michael looked up as he entered the living room. “Good call?”
Adrian nodded, almost vibrating with excitement. “I might just have a lead for us to follow. Well, for me to follow. Unless you feel up to the task of staking out a warehouse for hours.”
