Lethal Alpha (Her Vicious Pack #3)

1. Mathew

1

Mathew

The door to my office slowly opens, letting in light from the hallway, illuminating the crumpled carpet in the middle of the room.

With everything going on these last few weeks, I’ve still not gotten around to getting it replaced. I really should do it soon. I can’t really have clients over if it looks this messy, it’s not professional.

Not that I’ve had any meetings in here since the night Vera and Caleb arrived, things have been a bit too hectic for that.

First, I didn’t want anyone around while I was getting to know them, then Vera and I went into heat and then we found out that the organisation that used to own me had gotten much closer to me than I thought.

So, for the last couple of days, we’ve been pretty much locked in here while we’re redoing the security.

The office door closes again, the room returning to darkness, as footsteps softly come towards me.

Caleb’s deep forest scent spreads through the room, easing my nerves. He’s in his boxer briefs and a t-shirt, he didn’t even bother to grab a robe to come look for me.

“Why are you sitting here in the dark?” His voice is quiet as he makes his way over to the desk. He stops behind me and puts his hands on my shoulders, softly kneading, massaging the tension from my muscles. “What’s on your mind?”

I lean my head back, against his chest, looking up at his worn face in the gloom, not sure what to answer him. I don’t want to make him frown or worry, I want him to be happy and smile at me. I want him to be able to finally relax, and what I’m working on won’t do that.

He meets my gaze, sliding one of his hands up to softly run his calloused fingers over my cheek. “Can’t sleep?”

I shake my head, reaching up and taking his hand from my cheek, realising it’s his left hand, the one with the scar. “I keep wondering, how did this happen?” I rub my fingers over where his pinkie is supposed to be.

He snorts, grinning, as he pulls his hand back, going over to the couch and sitting down. “Nothing fancy. I was working on the engine of an old car and got my hand caught. I was lucky I only lost my pinkie and not the rest of my fingers too.” He rubs over the area with his other hand.

“All of it? The whole side of your hand just gone?” I follow him to the couch, sitting next to him, leaning against him, craving to be near him now he’s here. “I’m surprised the scar’s not bigger.”

“I didn’t lose all of the side, just a good chunk.” He holds up his hand before he slides his arm around my shoulders and pulls me against him more. “They removed the last bits of the bone in the hospital. No use keeping them in and potentially bringing me trouble later.”

“Did it happen before or after you met Vera?”

“After. She was really upset when she found out. I’ve rarely seen her so angry as when she was cursing me out that day. She was furious that I’d been so careless as to put my hand into a running engine.” His voice is soft, his pheromones warm and soothing, loving.

“I can imagine it.” I smile, pulling my legs onto the couch and leaning against him more. “She must have been quite the sight.”

“You won’t have to imagine it for long. I’m sure it’ll happen to you plenty of times.” He laughs, moving slightly so it’s easier for me to lean against his chest. “If she’s angry, you’ll know it. She will not keep quiet.”

I let out a soft laugh, not able to suppress my smile. “Oh, I believe you.” Vera doesn’t really hide her emotions, either because she doesn’t want to or because it’s not something she’s very good at. It’s what makes her so much fun.

She might have been upset with me a couple of times in the last weeks, but I’m sure I’ve not seen her angry-angry yet.

And while I wish I could avoid it, I also know that I’m too much of a risk-taker to not take a couple of risks that work out poorly, which will definitely anger her in the future.

My eyes slowly slide shut, my body warm and comfortable, and I notice the soft rumble in Caleb’s chest. It’s the same rumble he always makes when Vera’s sleeping against him.

“You’re trying to make me fall asleep.” My accusation gets lost in a deep yawn.

“Is it working?” He rubs his hand over my arm, the motion soothing, like he’s rubbing the stress out of me. It feels good, really good, but this isn’t the right time.

“For a moment, yes.” I sit up straight, blinking fast, trying to clear my head. “But I can’t fall asleep. Not yet.”

“Why not? You need sleep. You can’t keep skipping sleep, it’s important.”

“I know.” I eye him, really wishing I could just fall asleep against him, but I’ve got other things to do first.

I stand up, going back over to my desk, and move the mouse so the screen wakes up. Even though the brightness is on the lowest setting, I still blink against the light.

“What are you working on?” Caleb follows me, pulling one of the other chairs along with him, and sits next to me, apparently not going to sleep either.

Well, I guess there’s no harm in telling him. Since I’ve not been able to make much sense of it on my own.

“Jorge found these transactions between someone from the Hearts and the three from Hubert Russell’s pack. It’s how he initially found out they were connected. These are all from before you came here. I’m trying to figure out what the transactions are for. As far as I know, nobody in Russell’s pack has a business that moves these kinds of numbers.”

I show him the breakdowns and the dates. “Do they make sense to you?”

Caleb looks at the numbers, slowly shaking his head. “Do you know what the money is being used for?”

“Normal stuff, groceries and things like that. There are no unusual expenses, they’re mostly just leaving it in their accounts. It’s like everyone’s pretending it’s not even there.” Which is confusing.

There aren’t even any small expenses that could be gifts, either for themselves or others, or anything like that, just business as usual. Mortgages, groceries, bills, boring normal stuff.

It would almost be too normal, but we’ve got numbers going back years and it’s all the same. This pack doesn’t seem to do gifts much, and doesn’t seem to splurge on much at all. It’s all very confusing.

At the same time, it’s a constructed pack, so keeping things as consistent as possible is very important to keeping the peace.

Caleb’s voice is calm, but his pheromones shortly spike in anger. “You’ve checked all the usual reasons why the Hearts might give people this much money?”

I nod. “Hearts don’t buy their victims, they just take them. There are enough kids living at the edge of society that won’t be missed. They don’t need to take them from places where people will notice when they’re gone.”

“Finder’s fee?” The angry growl in his voice is unmistakable and I put my hand on his knee. I know how he hates the ‘business’ that the Hearts are involved in. And every time it’s brought up, he gets furious about it.

Before he met Vera, he helped out kids who were rescued from organisations like that, so he knows what they go through. Which makes his anger very understandable.

“The others from the Suits Syndicate might do that, but the Hearts don’t.” It’s possibly their only redeeming quality, though definitely offset by their lack of concern about the age of their victims. “You’re more likely to end up dead if you try to pull that off than to get paid.”

“Could they be paying for housing? Storage locations? Transport?” He takes my hand and entwines our fingers, rubbing his thumb over the top of my hand. It’s like he doesn’t even notice he’s doing it, but it seems to calm us both down.

“Not as far as I can see in the pack’s other records. It’s all accounted for, both going back years and years and since you’ve gotten here.” I pull up a shoulder, trying to look disinterested. “The only thing out of the ordinary was a pretty fancy funeral a few weeks ago, but nothing else.”

He shows me a slight smile, satisfaction clear in his pheromones before he suppresses them again. “Well, that might have been out of the ordinary, but wasn’t unexpected.”

“Very true.” I scroll through a different list, this one with all the ‘normal’ transactions.

Caleb lets out a long breath. “No other connections between the Hearts and Russell’s pack? Might they be working for a lesser-known sub-organisation? Maybe from one of the other Suits?”

“Not as far as we can see. It could be possible, but it’s not very likely. They don’t do business with many companies outside of the Hearts’ area and nothing that stands out.”

His anger flares, his body tensing. “Could the money be for selling you out?”

I shake my head. “I had considered that, but it doesn’t make sense. They got the money before the last three attempts that they made to get you two back. Why accept the money and then hire three different groups before hiring me? And they didn’t need the money for any of it, they already had enough money to pay them or me.”

“Why do you feel that doesn’t make sense?” He lets go of my hand, balling his into fists as his pheromones are filled with anger and disgust.

“To me, it makes all the sense in the world. The money they got might have simply been a nice bonus for some other thing they got out of the deal.”

He stands up, stalking over to the window as he stares outside. “To be able to hire you, they have to have connections with certain other people first, correct?”

“Correct. Russell had connections with multiple of them.” I watch as Caleb opens his mouth so I quickly continue. “He already had those connections before the three got the money. Even more confusing, he had those connections more than a year ago. So he could have hired me much earlier, but never did.”

I stand up. “The Hearts know where I am. They know who I am. Why would they pay some random guys to hire me? Actually, why would they pay some random guys to make them make their pack leader hire me?”

Caleb’s eyes go wide and he suddenly looks really focused as his eyes land on me. “Why didn’t anyone know that the three of them were part of Russell’s pack? Why didn’t Jorge find that out the first time?”

He lets out a frustrated growl. “According to what Derrick showed me, they were listed as three Alphas ready to form their own pack. But they’d been part of Russell’s pack for years when I met Vera. From what I understand, they were the ones pushing him to marry her. So, why wasn’t that in the information?”

It’s like I’m dunked into a frozen lake as my breath stops a moment and chills go through my body. “ Fuckers. They’re messing with Jorge’s sources, that’s why he didn’t make the connection the first time. This goes much deeper than we thought.”

“Not just that.” Caleb’s voice is a dangerous calm, though his pheromones aren’t. “They either suspected or already knew that you would recognise them, so they made sure to not come here. This was planned long ago. Well before you were hired.”

“Fuck.” I shake my head, trying to calm my body down.

What the fuck are the Hearts doing?

Why put Hubert Russell in a position where they knew that his horrible personality would rub me the wrong way and could get him killed?

What’s in it for them?

And why now?

Why are they doing this right now?