Chapter 2
TWO
JEWEL
The sun was shining brightly through the balcony windows as I strode into our private dining room. Laurel liked doing our meetings here at the Crimson Palace Casino, because we could get them fully catered by the staff.
My aunt Rosalin stood up to give me a peck on the cheek. “Jewel, you’re looking amazing, as usual.”
“Thanks, darling. Mark couldn’t make it?”
She waved a hand in the air. “He’s indisposed. Come and sit down. I just received the newest pink sapphire line from Aurélie, and I saved a piece for you.”
I gaped at her and sat down in the chair, hard. “No! Shut up, really?”
She sat down beside me and pulled up her phone. “I don’t have it with me, of course, but here’s a picture.”
I stared at the picture of the gorgeous necklace. “Laurel! Laurel, come look, it’s rose gold!” I grabbed her arm and dragged her closer.
She laughed. “It’s beautiful,” she told me, ruffling my head. I was so excited, I forgave her for endangering my artfully styled hair.
“Is this really for me?” I asked, meeting Rosalin’s eyes.
She nodded. “It’s the least I could do, really. And it doesn’t make up for the time I missed with you two.”
“That was Dad’s fault, not yours.” Laurel rested a hand on her shoulder.
I swatted her away. “Hush, La-la, or we won’t get all these amazing presents.”
Laurel snorted and went back to her seat, and Rosalin and I moved on to logistics.
Duh, of course I had a safe for my gems at my home.
Finch joined us, looking up from his notes to meet my eyes. “Jewel—”
“Um, it's Jewel.”
I speared a sandwich and put it on my plate, making sure to get one from the middle. I had to be sure no one else’s grubby hands had touched it first.
Ultimate Himbo Finch hesitated. “That's what I said, didn't I?”
“No, you said Jule. It's Jewel, with a W.”
Of all Laurel’s alphas, Finch was the easiest to rule up, and it was a favorite pastime of mine. I still hadn’t fully forgiven him for dark bonding my sister, even if she had.
Kaos pointed his fork at his packmate. “Don't go disrespecting him like that.”
Finch raised his hands defensively. “I wasn't!” He sat down in his chair more forcefully than he had to. I grinned at Kaos, who gave me a nod back.
Laurel was staring at her plate, eyes glazed a bit. She yawned as I watched her. I pursed my lips and narrowed my eyes at Finch.
“Are you getting enough sleep?” I asked her.
“Hmm?” She blinked up at me. “Oh? I’m fine. I’ve just been having some late nights trying to figure out this mess Father left us with.”
Ocean rested his hand on hers. “Against our advice.”
Laurel gave him a grin. “Puh-lease. You’re one to talk. You go to bed later than me.”
The door to the private dining room opened, and Hugo entered. I perked up, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. My aunt Rosalin smirked, and I pretended not to notice.
“I didn’t know you’d be here today!” I told him.
Hugo was H-O-T hot.
He’d been my mentor since I was twelve and was 100% responsible for my sexual awakening.
I’d always found it hilarious that my father’s idea of somehow triggering my alpha-hood had been to make me train with Hugo. I mean, send your teenage son to wrestle five days a week with an alpha who looked like the love child of Henry Cavill and Pedro Pascal?
Only a man as neurotically straight as my father could think that was a good plan.
Too bad I had yet to get Hugo to look twice at me, even though I was all grown up and mind-blowingly hot.
He stopped when he saw me, and my breath caught a little bit. I mean, I really did look amazing today, so it would be a crime if he didn’t notice—
“Is Jade with you?”
Um, ouch.
“Not yet,” I said, putting a hand on my hip.
Okay, this was the third time this week I’d looked like a total snack, and he hadn’t even blinked.
Maybe he was going blind in his old age?
“Thank god. I’ve already got enough of a headache without listening to you two.”
Rosalin laughed, and I shot her a glare.
“Um, rude,” I told him.
He took his place at the table and grabbed a sandwich.
Dammit.
Should I be trying to get my handsome, grumpy, delicious-smelling former mentor to see me as a snack? Doubtful. But I rarely failed at something once I put my mind to it.
I’m sorry, but the idea of Hugo seeing me as a gangly, boring, masculine teenager for the rest of my life was simply unacceptable. Completely separate from how fuckable he was.
I slipped into the seat beside him.
Jade and Casey entered the dining hall, rounding out our little soirée. Casey’s head was ducked as he listened to what Jade was saying.
To my delight, Casey pulled out the chair right next to mine, offering it to Jade. She was so flustered, she took it, even though she was still pretending to be mad at me. Aww.
They were so adorable together, it was going to make my head explode.
Oh, shit. Rosalin was saying something to me. “Jewel, you should listen to Jade. She’s under a lot of stress right now with all the threats you’ve been getting.”
I straightened up. “Threats? What threats?”
I thought this meeting was about our asshole uncle Valentino.
When Laurel had expertly swooped in to take our Father’s place as the head of the family, not everyone had taken it well.
Despite Laurel getting our grandparent’s blessing, we were sure Val was planning something nasty.
There was too much power and money at stake for him to just walk away.
Laurel levelled me with an exasperated look. “Yes, remember? We have two separate threats of dark bonds, and one for your life. She’s trying to figure out where they’re all coming from and how legit they are. Maybe you should get a bodyguard in the meantime?”
I turned to Hugo and put on my most charming smile. “Hugo? You’d take a bullet for me, right?”
“No,” he said, not looking up from his phone.
Laurel snorted as my mouth dropped open.
“No?!” I echoed, aghast. “That’s not very alpha daddy of you.”
He leaned back in his seat, still not looking up. “Trust me, kid, you couldn’t handle me if I went alpha daddy on you.”
I resisted the urge to tell him I wasn’t a kid.
It just might make me seem a tad bit petulant, as far-fetched as that would be.
Although I wouldn’t be opposed to being petulant if it would actually make Hugo go alpha daddy on me.
I turned away from him, waving my hand dismissively. “I’m sure I’ll be fine. I’ve pissed off a lot of people in my time and survived them all. I don’t know what it is, but I seem to rub people the wrong way.”
I grinned at Hugo, leaning closer. “Don’t get me wrong. I can assure you, I am very skilled at rubbing people the right way as well.”
Hugo seemed startled, which was… something, I guess.
Ugh, kill me now.
Jade rolled her eyes. “Can you behave for five minutes?”
“Depends. Do I get a reward for being a good boy?”
“For fuck’s sake.” Hugo took my arm and stood up, taking my place next to Jade.
I sulked for a second before realizing I was now sitting right next to Kaos. I stayed away from most alphas—it was a purely preference thing—but I supposed Laurel’s were tolerable. Plus, Kaos and I went way back.
I subtly tapped his thigh as the meeting continued. “Hey, would you be able to hook me up with a way to hack into a phone?” I asked under my breath.
He gave a happy hum, nodding.
“Have I told you you're my favorite brother-in-law?”
“Might have mentioned it,” Kaos said, scratching his ear and looking very pleased. “Who’s it for?”
I flicked my head toward Jade.
“I hear you.” Kaos nodded. “You know, I’m pretty good at this romantic stuff. There was one time when I handcuffed me and Laurel together so I wouldn’t lose her.”
“That is a brilliant idea.” I thought about it for a second and then shook my head. “Jade’s too sneaky, though. She’d be out of them in two minutes, tops.”
“Gotcha.”
“Are you two listening?”
Laurel’s question made my head whip up.
“Of course.”
Laurel looked over at us with suspicion. Kaos took another bite of his sandwich, unperturbed.
“What are you two up to?”
“Oh, nothing,” I said at the same time Kaos said, “I’m giving him relationship tips.”
“Oh god.” Ocean looked horrified. “Do not listen to anything he says.”
“Too late.”
“As I was saying,” Finch continued, giving me a disapproving frown. “Your uncle, Valentino—”
I cut him off. “Technically, he’s our first cousin once removed.”
Finch’s eye twitched, and he pinched the bridge of his nose. “Valentino has announced he’s moving to Boston.”
Laurel, Rosalin, and I looked at each other in confusion.
All right, I had to admit that it was actually interesting.
“He what?” Rosalin asked. “Boston?”
“Don’t you guys have family out there? Maybe he’s giving up and getting out of our hair,” Ocean said.
“That doesn’t make any sense.” Laurel frowned. “The Boston syndicate isn’t nearly as well established or organized as what we have here.”
Ocean looked at our aunt. “Maybe he thinks it’ll be easier to take over, then?”
Rosalin shook her head. “No. He was next in line for New Oxford. He’s spent his whole life preparing to take over from Thaddeus. He lost the most when Laurel took over instead. It doesn’t make sense for him to walk away from it all.”
There was an uneasy silence. Kaos started tapping rhythmically on the table, his brow furrowed.
“We need more information,” Finch finally said. “As far as we know, he hasn’t cancelled his little party. We’ll move ahead with Plan C-4.”
Everyone at the table stared blankly at him.
“We’re gonna blow him up?” Jade finally asked.
Kaos almost toppled out of his chair in his excitement. “Wait, really?”
“For god’s sake! No! Does anyone even read the briefings I send out?” Finch snapped.
Kaos slumped down and huffed. I gave him a sympathetic pat on the hand.
Casey gave a little wave. “Uh, sorry, Alpha Finch. They didn’t make a lot of sense?”
“Did you use the cipher?”
Casey blinked. “The what?”
“The code! I’m not going to share our top-secret plans in written form without a cipher!”
I raised my own hand. “How about we just pretend that none of us read them, and go from there?”
“Hear, hear.” Kaos banged on the table.
Finch scowled, and Laurel leaned over and pressed a kiss to his cheek.
Rosalin took over. “Jade, this is all you. This new information makes infiltrating his party even more critical.”
Jade leaned back and put her feet up on the table. “You got it.”
Rosalin nodded. “The car will pick you and Hugo up at nine that night—”
Jade held up her hands. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Why am I bringing a date? I usually work alone. No offense, Hugo.”
“He’ll be your backup.”
“I don’t need backup!”
“If you think I’m letting you walk into enemy territory on your own, you’re insane,” I told her.
She rounded on me, puffing up in indignation. “Letting me? What the actual fuck? You have no say in where I go.”
Debatable. But I didn’t think she’d appreciate me saying that right now.
“Stop!” Hugo snapped as I opened my mouth to reply.
Rosalin jumped in again. “It was Laurel’s request, Jade. But I think everyone at this table would agree we don’t want you going in alone. The Seo pack is recognizable now, as are Laurel and Jewel. Which leaves Hugo. Or, you know…” She trailed off, and we all looked at Casey.
“Absolutely not,” I snapped at the same time Jade said, “Are you insane? Over my dead body will Casey get within two miles of Valentino.”
At least we were on the same page in that regard. Jade could handle herself, but Casey was a big, soft marshmallow and needed to be protected.
“I rest my case,” Hugo said.
Jade paused and looked at Laurel, then sighed. “Fine. I guess I can say you’re my security,” she said to Hugo.
Laurel nodded and settled back into her chair. I could see the worry simmering in her brain, same as mine. No way was Valentino backing off. But what the hell was in Boston?
Besides a bunch of unpleasant memories, that is.
Like Ascend.
It wasn’t such a big coincidence, though. Outside of New Oxford, Boston was where our family had the most connections.
The meeting wasn’t long. We didn’t have much to work with and wouldn’t until Jade got those bugs into Valentino’s place.
Hugo was the first to stand and leave, and I hurried after him, catching up to him in the corridor. “Hugo!” I caught his arm.
He turned around, raising an eyebrow. God, he had such a fascinating face.
All scarred and weathered and those deep amber eyes I could get lost in.
And his scent…every other unbonded alpha I’d met had made my stomach turn.
Except Hugo. His woodsy orchid scent was something I’d been intimately familiar with for years, and it was absolutely delicious.
I had to fight the urge to step even closer.
I cleared my throat, collecting myself. “Can I train with you again?”
I kept my cool, even though my heart was beating in my throat. Please say yes, please say yes, I silently pleaded.
Hugo’s amber eyes looked me up and down, then he shrugged. “Sure.”
“Great! Tomorrow morning, then? I’m free at eight.”
“Sure.” He turned to go.
“It’s a date, then!” I called after him.
He gave me a casual salute, and I smiled.
Oh, it was so a date.
Casey was secured.
Jade was in progress.
Hugo would be the final piece to our little pack.