Chapter 226

Grace

The nerve of this guy. Threatening me already? I cocked an eyebrow at him. "How was the motel?"

He sneered and adjusted his jacket. "I trust you're ready to start talking about Mooncrest and your... precarious financial situation with the debt and all."

I gave him a thin smile. Esme rose to her feet, leaving her copy behind, along with her notebook.

"Seems like we ran over time," Esme said. "We'll pick this up some other time, but I think your plan is solid."

What plan?

She gave Edgar a thin smile as Amira came to the doorway. She looked pissed.

"As I told Mr. Thorne, you were in the middle of a meeting, and he would have to wait."

He laughed. "What meeting could be more important than meeting with me? The liaison? The only reason this farce of a probation will go through?"

He took Esme's seat and propped his feet up on my desk with a sigh.

Amira flushed. Then, Eason walked up behind her, carrying a cup of coffee, his laptop, and a bunch of folders, and dressed the way he always was in a pressed suit. He smiled brilliantly.

"Good to see he came a bit early," Eason said. "Do you need a minute, Amira?"

She nodded. "Just a moment to get my notes."

"For what?" Edgar asked. "I'm only here to teach one woman how to run a pack, not two and a pouf."

Eason grinned, sipping his coffee. "Every alpha has support staff. Are you experiencing a bit of performance anxiety at the thought of having an audience?"

Edgar flushed as Amira came back with her laptop.

Edgar scoffed. "You aren't even a citizen or an employee of Wolfe Medical. And your assistant wasn't even competent enough to stop me from coming in. If you have any hope to become a competent alpha--doubtful as that is--you're going to have to start listening to people who actually know how to do their job, and getting rid of subpar staff."

Amira's eyes bulged.

"Besides," Edgar continued. "The ruling was to keep Grace in the alpha seat, not teach her runner-up how to take over."

His words struck me. I looked over at Eason, who looked bored as he sipped.

"Your call, Grace," Eason said.

I thought of yesterday and how he had been clear about him having his own life. I looked back at Edgar. I didn't need him to be here.

Him or Amira.

"I appreciate the gesture," I said, my voice measured, "but this is a matter I need to handle myself. Mr. Thorne is here to guide me as alpha, and having additional voices might complicate things."

"You sure?" Eason asked.

"I said I'll handle it myself," I said, looking at him. "Don't you have a life to get back to?"

Amira's eyes bulged. Eason grinned. "I do."

A flicker of hurt crossed Amira's features. Her lips parted as if to protest, but Eason placed a hand on her shoulder, a silent message to stand down. A smirk played on Edgar's lips. He leaned back in his chair as I stared at them.

"Well?" I asked.

Eason snickered. "Good deal. Before I go, Amira, you said you wanted help on

those reports, right?"

Amira hesitated but nodded. Then, she closed the door behind them, leaving me alone with Edgar.

As Eason and Amira's footsteps faded down the hallway, Mr. Thorne's smug smile widened, transforming into a predatory grin.

"Rest assured, Mr. Thorne," I said, my voice firm despite the storm raging within. "I don't have subpar staff, and I'm more than prepared to complete this probation as soon as possible."

"I'll believe it when I see it," he said smugly. "Given your history of hiring ill-fitted people for positions to disastrous ends, I'll be looking into the staff you have at Wolfe Medical and throughout the Pack."

I narrowed my eyes. "You aren't here to tell me how to run my family's company. You're here to teach me how to run a territory."

And I damn sure hoped that whoever our old liaison was would be reinstated into work soon.

"Please remember what your actual duties are."

I met his gaze, glaring at him as I organized the pages of the report and gathered them.

I glanced over the notes Esme had made. If I hadn't known better, I would have thought I made them since the handwriting was mine.

It was a to-do list: find out my interest rate with Charles, try to get the amount I owed onto financing, and determine how much income I should actually be paid.

Simple, sensible things that had never crossed my mind until now.

"And what of this plan that witch mentioned?" he asked.

"As it is a personal matter, it has nothing to do with you."

He narrowed his eyes. "Intriguing that you think you will have personal matters. You are an alpha. Everything you say, do, agree to, and so on affects your territory. I would have thought you would have realized that, given how your choice of husband has affected the entire territory."

I snarled.

"The nation, even," he said. "So, again. Elaborate, and be quick about it. Transparency will get these matters rolling faster. I have no desire to be here or in your presence any more than necessary."

I set my jaw. "My salary is drawn out of the company and from the pack's reserves. Since the pack doesn't have any reserves due to Devin's actions, I only have the company to rely on. My personal finances have nothing to do with Mooncrest or Wolfe Medical."

He smiled thinly. "You're certain of that?"

"Positive."

"You are oddly sure for someone who has now working knowledge of the law," he said. "An alpha's personal debts can be, and will be, levied against a territory depending on the amount and the alpha's situation."

My gut plummeted.

"As you have only just started working after years of not, the debt levied against you could easily be levied against your territory. Causing an up in taxes and set at an interest rate at the States' discretion."

The threat was clear: tell me, or else I'll blow the whistle.

He smiled. "Transparency will make things much easier."

I narrowed my eyes. "Financing."

He chuckled. "Well, I suppose I can wait for that to fall through."

"Transparency is something you should practice as well, Mr. Thorne," I said, my voice laced with steel. "Are you here to help me or on behalf of the president's plot against me?" I glanced over at the patent office's mail and then back to him. He smiled.

My words hung heavy in the silence, but I already knew the answer. We both knew the president, and Fenris was behind the patent office's choice to delay my application.

"A bold accusation," he finally said, his voice regaining its smugness. "But one I'm confident I can refute."

He leaned forward. "Though, I'll be happy to give you the transparency you asked for."

His eyes went hard and menacing. "I would like nothing more than to get you firmly removed from your position."

I swallowed, seeing the roiling hatred in his eyes.

"This has been a boon to me to be able to come here and ruin yet another family who lycans have gotten their claws into. I will be watching you closely, pushing you until you break, and at the end, I'm going to pick something... Something almost inconsequential, you'll think, to unseat you."

My eyes widened. He smiled.

"Then, I'll do the same to your brother." He sat back. "How's that for transparency?"

My stomach knotted as I stared at him. Nothing I said or did was going to matter to this man, but if I didn't work hard... He would just win faster. Damned if I don't, but there was a chance in time.

Six months wasn't a long time, and if he was going to push me hard to fix Mooncrest, I could worry about getting rid of him before he could ruin me later.

"Clear," I said.

He laughed like a villain in a fucking cartoon almost. I took a deep breath, bracing for what he would say next.

"Now that we have the formalities out of the way, half-breed," he drawled, the amusement was gone from his voice, replaced by cold professionalism, "let's discuss your pack's… public image and information management system, shall we?"

My stomach lurched. It took everything in me not to glance back to the door and kick myself. I gave him a thin smile and hit the call button.

"Of course, I'll get the reports from Amira."

Her away from her desk tone chimed. I called Eason on his phone and got a message.

I'm out of Mooncrest for the rest of the day. I'll get back to you as soon as possible.

An email popped up on my screen, stating that Amira had to leave due to needing to get to her younger sister, who had just been in an accident.

I swallowed and glanced at Edgar.

Fuck.