Chapter 136

Dominic

I settled into work and realized that I had forgotten something. In the haze of everything going on, Andrew included. Vivian as well, I had forgotten. That his last day had passed. There was a note on my desk, tucked underneath my keyboard.

My candidates are in your files. Best of luck.

I swallowed back something bitter and pained. He was my last connection to my parents, my legacy in some ways. Yes, I had my cousin still, but it wasn't the same kind of connection. Especially now that I knew that Vivian wasn't my daughter and Hazel had been lying to me from the start of our marriage. Maybe even longer. You would think that I was too old to draw any comfort from that, but my parents had both died long before I was really ready to take on the mantle.

There were days I still wasn’t sure that I was doing them justice. More of those days seemed to be gathered around the more recent times, but I thought I'd have more time before he was gone.

Yet I couldn’t call him and tell him that I needed him. I couldn't put a hold on him moving on with his life, enjoying his grandchildren. I wouldn't. I didn’t. I just wanted him around, and I was way too old for a security blanket. I sighed and went to the drawer to pull out the files.

Then, I got a notification in my email.

A routine audit request flagged an irregularity in one of the closed accounts. Tyler’s, to be exact. Normally, I wouldn’t be the one combing through the details. But after everything that had happened, I couldn’t afford to delegate. I needed to know the full scale of everything he'd done. And more and more, I realized that I was right to be suspicious, to look into everything as closely as I possibly could. I still wasn't entirely sure about the necklace, where it had ended up, but Tyler didn't have it. And that was strange enough. I pulled up the transaction logs. At first glance, everything looked clean.

Then I saw them.

Small payments. Weekly. Always on Thursdays. Always to the same third-party vendor. But there was no vendor listed in our database. It was just a string of digits and a local bank logo.

I leaned forward, eyes narrowing and opened another screen.

The deposits were small enough not to raise flags. They were all labeled equipment or maintenance. But they added up. Thousands over the course of a year, several tens of thousands over the course of all the time that he had worked for the pack. And all funneling into an account linked to a company with a listed address tied to an abandoned little plot of land, owned by no one.

This wasn't Tyler's doing. I was having him watched and monitored, if he had the kind of money that had been embezzled from his account, he wouldn't be living as a live-in security officer and pinching pennies to finish school.

This had to be someone else. Someone higher up in the past administration who would know how to hide the money and how the system worked.

His father fit the bill.

Research was still being done about who owned the other account. But I didn't need that confirmation. There was likely no chance of getting the money back, but it gave me an idea.

I sent a message to the accounting department to ask them to audit all of the Gamma accounts for similar transactions. Then I called the bank that's based in Brightclaw to see if they could put a hold on all transfers out of Brightclaw-based accounts. Will be easier to move money from one Brightclaw account to another. But once it left my packs banking system, it was going to be a problem. I'd have to get the Panel involved and I didn't have time for the judicial processes right now.

With my luck, some of the panel was involved. And wasn't that an idea? I open my Panel portal and started drafting a message to the higher organizations. If the Panel was compromised, I didn't need to alert them at all. I just needed to say that my banking system had been compromised, and they would take care of the rest. I got a message almost instantly.

There were several accounts owned by gammas that had been compromised. I wasn't entirely sure if any of them knew about it, but it didn't matter. They weren't all attached to Tyler's unit. There was no singular thing connecting them all, either, at least not on the surface. One of their names caught my eye. There was another young man who had come forward about Vivian.

Were they all connected to Vivian? It seemed like things just kept getting better. And more infuriating. I sat back in my chair, thinking over it.

The idea that they could have been working together to embezzle funds from the pack made sense. But why? Vivian would have no reason to, other than sheer greed. I tapped my fingers on the desk. His father had to be funding something, but what and where had he been hiding it all this time?

He hadn’t just been funding something. He’d been hiding it. From everyone. Was Vivian also funding something?

Using his own son’s paycheck as the source? Why? For how long? Was Tyler aware?

I grabbed my office phone and dialed Security.

“I want surveillance doubled on Tyler's father. I want a tail on him tonight. And pull Tyler in for questioning. Immediately.”

“Sir?” the head of security asked. “Do we want official charges filed?”

“Not yet,” I said. “But send a heads up to the pack lawyer that they will be coming down the pipeline soon enough."

I hung up and stared at the screen again, jaw tight.

It wasn’t just embezzlement. If it was just embezzlement, I wouldn't feel so on edge, but I knew it was something more or something worse. I wasn't sure if I hoped that Tyler knew more than I thought or hoped, or that he knew nothing.

And if Vivian was involved, which it seemed like she was, then what?

How had I raised such a monster?

I closed the laptop shut and leaned back in my chair. I couldn't deal with this right now, and then an idea popped into my head.

Renee

I hadn’t even made it to my second cup of coffee before I got the summons.

“Alpha Brightclaw wants to see you,” an assistant said sweetly, as if I was being called in for a regular one-on-one. Maybe it was, even if his very presence set my entire nervous system on fire.

The ring pulsed as if reacting to my excitement.

My face was already flushed when I got to the top floor. The guards barely looked up when I passed, and I knocked once before pushing open the door to Dominic’s office.

He was standing by the window, jacket off, sleeves rolled, his tie just slightly loosened. It was a dangerous look. Relaxed, confident, entirely too handsome.

“I was hoping I’d get to see you before the day got away from us,” he said.

“Is this a business meeting or something else?” I asked, trying to keep my tone neutral. Professional. Unshaken.

That lasted all of three seconds.

“Something else,” he murmured, and then he was in front of me, brushing his fingers down my arms, lifting my chin.

He kissed me. Hard.

There wasn’t a second to think, not before he pulled me closer and shut the door behind me, locking it. He lifted me up and turned us, carrying us across the room to the couch and dropped us down. I ended up in his lap, legs tucked across the side, the heat of his body soaking into mine like he was some kind of fire I was aching to burn in.

He didn’t say anything more, devouring my mouth, his hands gripping my hips in a way that made it very clear he’d been thinking about this for a while.

“Dominic,” I whispered against his mouth between kisses, “this is not appropriate."

"I'm alpha, Renee," he said, nuzzling into my neck. “It's more than appropriate.”

“You’re terrible,” I said, breathless.

“You’re glowing,” he countered.

I should’ve pulled away.

I didn’t.

Then my phone buzzed.

Neil: Is Dominic feeding your stomach or just his lust?

I pulled back and stared at the screen, my face going red hot.

“Oh my goddess,” I groaned.

Neil: If it's a latter, tell him to make it good, and I want a turn.

My jaw dropped. He couldn't be serious.

Dominic chuckled. “What did he say?”

“That.” I showed him the message.

His smirk widened. “He’s not wrong. Do you want to reply to him or should I?”

I scowled at him. "Neither."

"If you're going to give him a turn, I should make it better than good."