Chapter 45 Alpha Jacob
forty-five
Alpha Jacob
*FELIX*
Dinner is good, and while I appreciate the effort, it’s tiring how the whole goal of it is just to show off.
Aside from Beta Mateo, the gamma and his mate are there.
So is the luna, but she stays briefly, only talking to the Alpha before she leaves again.
She doesn’t really pay attention to Maddox, either.
He said, she isn’t really focused on family.
That was probably the understatement of history!
The evening itself drags like chewing gum, and the only person more bored than I am is my lycan. Can we do something? he groans. This is a waste of time!
I know, but we have to play it smart.
These people sit together and eat together, and pretend to be friends, but they obviously can’t stand each other.
I hesitate, realizing he‘s hit the nail on the head. It's like a friendship of convenience.
I am not sure if I can pull it off without Gwen being here, I admit.
We have to try.
That’s another truth. I can’t keep relying on Gwen or my family all the time. While I am still contemplating what to do, the main course is finished, and our plates are carried away. “We will have some lovely dessert,” Alpha Jacob says. “I hope you like sweets?”
I smile brightly. “My girlfriend keeps saying sweet things for a sweet guy,” I laugh, as if I just made a great joke, wondering how Gwen would react if she heard me say it.
She would probably die a little, either from laughter or cringe, or both.
The others join in my laughter, clearly placating me.
Wow, I have never had that kind of power in a room. Is this how Dad and Liam feel constantly? They are alphas and heirs to the crown. It must be exhausting.
“I am glad to hear that,” Alpha Jacob says. “Maddox, bring us some coffee.”
I am stunned. The alpha’s words completely take me by surprise, not because he wants coffee to be brought here, but because he sent Maddox to do so and the tone he uses on him.
It’s obvious he does it to humiliate him in front of the other ranked members, in front of me.
Somehow, this makes me feel sick to my stomach.
Liam and Dad had the right inkling… he is bullying him.
Maybe it’s not always obvious, it’s in the small words and gestures, in the subtle digs, but if someone is constantly on the receiving end of it, it does something to a person.
Maddox doesn’t say anything, just gets up and leaves.
No wonder the guy has checked out completely.
Okay, fuck it! Now I am pissed.
I think of how this man, in front of me, has kept Gwen as an outsider of the pack, how he was supposed to be her alpha and protect her and did nothing of the sort.
Her father was a well-liked elite warrior, yet he couldn’t even honor him.
He thinks he is the greatest person in the universe and has completely chipped away any sense of confidence his son has.
And to top it all off, he has allowed someone to break his own pack member completely, not even investigating what happened to her, when she returned as a shell of herself.
Fuck him!
The air around me sizzles slightly.
Good.
I try to think of Gwen and how she cried in my arms after Marina’s death.
How she is constantly blaming herself for not being able to care more for them than she did.
The guilt she is constantly facing because she broke under being a caretaker.
She is so young! Her alpha and luna should have helped her; it’s their fault. They should be the ones feeling guilty.
“It’s getting warm,” Beta Mateo says.
“Let me open the window,” the gamma’s mate gets up and opens one of the windows in the room.
I play along as well, pretending that I am feeling the warmth. When the gamma and his mate exchange an intense look, however, I have to battle hard not to laugh. The air around us gets even more heated, until-
“I… I think I need to take my leave for today,” Beta Mateo gets up. “I… I…” His eyes are glossy, his lips glazy. “I forgot I have a date.”
“Maybe it was the food,” Alpha Jacob mutters. He gets up, too, and I follow his lead obediently. “No, Felix, please,” he exclaims. “Stay here and finish your dessert. I,“ he pauses. “I will look for my luna.”
As if they were waiting for his cue, they all bolt from the room. The gamma is holding his mate’s hand, while Beta Mateo has his phone in his hands talking to someone on the other end. All of them are gone by the time Maddox returns.
“What…” he blinks. “What happened? Where is everyone?”
“They all turned very horny all of a sudden,” I say.
Maddox stares at me, and for the first time, I see an amused smile curling his lips. “I see,” he says. “So that was your plan.”
“I wasn’t sure if I could pull it off,” I admit. “Oh, and your lovely father said to make sure I have my dessert and coffee. And obviously you have to keep me company.”
“Are they not going to be suspicious of you?” Maddox asks. “You know, once their… horniness subsides.”
“No, usually people aren’t. For them, it feels like something inside them draws them to feel a certain way. They usually don’t feel an outer influence. One time, I almost kicked off an orgy by accident.” I pause. “Fuck, I forgot where we are. Your father hopefully has no mic or camera somewhere!”
“He doesn’t,” Maddox says. “I snooped around a couple of times already, and believe me, had he known, he would have killed me.”
There is a knock at the door, startling us, but it’s just the kitchen staff bringing the dessert.
Maddox accepts it, telling them that his father told us to finish dinner up here.
It’s good that he repeated it in front of them once more, so hopefully, no one will find it weird that we are still hanging around.
“We should not waste this opportunity,” I say.
“I agree.” Maddox leads me back to his father’s office. “We need to be careful. Everything needs to remain exactly as it is.”
“Got you. Fast but precise.”
Maddox nods. “I worked through the bookshelves on the left side of the room already, whenever I could, which wasn’t often.
I was only able to do a couple of minutes every few weeks.
And I did the cupboard right next to the door.
What’s missing is the second wall with shelves and… ” he pauses. “His desk.”
“Alright, I will do his desk, then.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. If we get busted, it’s much less risky if I‘m the one snooping through it.”
Maddox nods, wordlessly handing me a spray bottle before turning to his task. Oh, we went back to being quiet again. The bottle carries a scent diffuser – perfect. Silent or not, this guy has been thinking things through.
He must have put some effort into snooping around, meaning he did try to find the truth. The shelves he goes through have books and various folders, while the desk’s drawers are stuffed with a variety of things.
“Since when have you been looking for proof?” I ask while opening the first drawer.
“A year.”
“That’s around the time Marina returned,” I mutter.
Maddox nods.
Silence ensues again, but the little he just told me carries much more weight than he probably thinks it does. It means he did worry about Marina and Faye; it also means he saw the injustice and tried to push for the truth. It also means he does care for the pack and its members… in his own way.
For a while neither of us talks. We are completely engrossed in our task, well aware we have to be quick. I might have bought us some time, but we certainly can’t stay here the whole evening.
Something drops on the floor. Lifting my eyes, I spot Maddox picking up a photo. “A picture,” he mutters, a deep frown on his face. He walks over to me. “Look, that is Marina.”
When I study the picture, I notice the person Marina once was. Horror fills me. Until now, the only Marina I knew was the broken young woman who was only a shell of a person. But this woman here, this is the real Marina. Gwen said once that she was full of life.
“By the goddess,” I whisper. “She was so… she is laughing. She is…”
“Yes,” Maddox mutters. “I was a young teen back then, but Marina was very popular in the pack. She was pretty and fun to be around, and she was a genuinely kind person.”
“When is that picture from?”
“Look at the flower-crown she is wearing. It must have been our summer festival,” he pauses. “My dad’s in the picture, too.”
“And the beta and gamma,” I say. “Who’s the guy next to Marina? On her left side?”
Maddox’s frown grows. “I don’t know him.”
“What?”
“I… I haven’t seen him before. I know all our allies and business partners. He is not one of them.” Maddox pauses. “Could it be…” He looks up at me in shock. “Could this be her mate? From what I know, she met her mate during one of our summer festivals.”
“Fuck! If that’s true, it’s definitely worth investigating!”
Maddox turns the picture, but there is nothing written on the back of it. “I will take a photo of it,” he says. I watch him take his phone, snapping a couple of pictures before putting the photo back where it was.
Meanwhile, I continue my task. The stuff in the drawers is mostly letters, old bills, pens, and lists of the members of the pack. The schedule is here, too. In the last drawer, however, I find a small notebook.
“Do you know what this is?” I ask Maddox.
Maddox stares at me before his eyes grow wide. “It’s his notebook! He usually carries it around with him all the time. Must have placed it here during dinner!”
“Wait, so this is important?”
“I believe so. He never hands it to anyone. I have wanted to get a glimpse of it for the longest time.”
I start skimming through it, but Alpha Jacob has terribly small handwriting, and it’s all very narrow. “Are you a fast reader? Can you read your dad’s handwriting well?”
“Yes,” Maddox says.
“You need to do that,” I say. “I am dyslexic. It would take me too long.”