18. Darius
DARIUS
“Alpha Darius, to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?” Alpha Matis said, reaching out and gripping my forearm in greeting.
Tav and I had both agreed that we needed to talk to his father about letting his brother Thomas into the group of mate prospects. Originally, we had planned it would be via Skype, but since I had to travel past his pack to get to my own, it was just as easy to pop by.
“I won’t beat around the bush, you’re far too practical for that. The reason for my visit is Thomas,” I said.
“Thomas? What of him?” Matis frowned. “He left the pack weeks ago. Sebastian was going to challenge him for the position of Alpha in Waiting. He refused and took off in the middle of the night, and I haven’t seen the bastard since.”
I could tell by his body language and the trick that Tav had taught me about the heart rate that he wasn’t lying. Either that, or he was very good at it.
“Hmm, I see. It seems that the information that we have on him is incorrect. He’s representing your pack as part of a delegation visiting another alpha,” I mused, trying to gauge if he knew about Viv.
I thought it was odd that he hadn’t been at the video meeting, but he hardly ever showed up to participate in anything with The Collective, leaving it all to Tav.
“Why the hell would he be a part of some shit-brained idea for The Collective? Here I thought I trained that boy better. Bad enough Tavas was their lap dog—they took him too.” Matis barked.
“Seems I’ll have to reach out to Tav and see what he knows,” I ventured.
“That good for nothing son of mine seems to have gotten himself mated and left the country. I’m surprised you didn’t know, being the information guy for The Collective,” Matis said.
Now he was just fishing for information. “You know very well that even if I did know something, I couldn’t tell you. Besides, everyone knows you always planned on Sebastian taking over the pack.”
Mathis grunted but didn’t deny my accusation.
“Not sure if this means much, but I don’t want him dragging our pack’s reputation through the mud.
Sebastian said he found out that Thomas was reaching out to other alphas, trying to see if he could join their pack.
Not sure if anything will come of it, but now you can tell those pompous assholes who play werewolf that I was helpful and nice to you. ”
Gripping the man’s forearm again, I said my farewell and headed back to my chopper, texting one of my men to start a deep-dive search into Thomas.
We had been looking into him, making sure he was safe to be in the castle, but I thought we knew his allegiance was to his father.
Now that we knew that wasn’t the case, I had more work on my hands.
Thankfully, I’d soon be in my own office with the best of the best working on it.
Sitting back in the chopper, I loosened my tie and rubbed my neck, feeling Viv’s bite there still healing.
She hadn’t been fucking around when she gave it to me, that’s for sure.
I knew I shouldn’t have inserted myself in the situation with Rik and Koit, but I couldn’t wrap my head around that betrayal.
Koit claimed to love Rik and have his best interest at heart, but he’d lied to him his whole life.
How is that showing someone you care? Clearly, I needed to learn a thing or two in that department, seeing as I was being punished for not treating my mate with the proper respect.
I understood her need to punish me, but at the same time, I didn’t really think she knew how I punished myself far worse.
I thought back to the moment that Tav burst into my office, telling me that something was wrong.
The panic I felt thinking it was Viv made me sick to my stomach.
Yet again, I had been asked to come along with her, and I rejected her, leaving her vulnerable to attack.
Walking into that god-awful lab filled with everything that confirmed what Dr. Faulk did made me blind with rage.
Add on the lost look in Viv’s puffy red eyes, and I wanted to burn the place down.
But I couldn’t. I needed to control myself so that I wouldn’t fail her again.
Only it seems I might have already done that where Thomas was concerned.
Now that I had a scent, I was going to take this hunt to its fulfillment.
The moment the helicopter touched the ground, I was up and out, jogging to my home next to the helipad. My assistant, Chaz, met me at the door, tablet at the ready to share what he’d found so far.
“Welcome home, Alpha Darius,” Chaz said. I returned his greeting, taking the tablet from him and heading up the stairs to my office.
“I apologize in advance for what’s about to happen in the next few days.
It’s going to be rushed and hectic. We are going to relocate our headquarters to Kursar.
I’ll need to have all of my personal things packed, but no need to send the furniture.
I’m sure we can still use this house as a vacation home of sorts,” I said, scanning over the information and not finding anything new.
“Alpha?” Chaz questioned, making me pause and look up at him. “May I ask why we are moving headquarters?”
I leveled him with a look backed with my alpha energy as I spoke. “If this information gets repeated to anyone outside of our trusted staff, I will know where it came from and act accordingly, is that clear?”
“Yes alpha, I understand,” Chaz said, dropping his gaze and hunching his shoulders to make himself smaller.
“My mate is the Dama of Kursar, and as such, she needs the best protection out there—and that is us. I can’t keep working remotely.
I need all of our equipment and staff. I realize this is a large change, and we are still working out how to merge the packs together, but right now, time is of the essence,” I explained.
“Congratulations on your mating, Alpha,” Chaz said, giving me a knowing grin. He knew that I’d never wanted to be mated. “She must be quite the woman.”
“You have no idea,” I grumbled, but I was proud, knowing that Viv could kick my ass. It meant she wouldn’t go down without a wicked fight.
Letting out a sigh, I steeled myself for the meeting I needed to have with the other staff to let them know about the relocation.
I didn’t want to displace people from their homes, but many of my men were bachelors, and I’d ask those that were mated to come for at least two weeks while we sorted things out.
“Gather the staff in the conference room. I think it would be better to tell them personally that we’re leaving before we start packing stuff up.
The fact that she is Dama will wait for a later time when I know she is safe.
Also—tomorrow, I will plan to have a pack meeting and let them know as well,” I decided as I rubbed my forehead, trying to think of everything I had to do in the next few days.
I knew Viv had her other three mates and the guards I’d been working with, but I had an uneasy feeling with Thomas there.
The pack took the news surprisingly well. It had taken a few days for them to absorb everything, but most were happy for me to be mated after so many years alone. The women who had helped me satisfy my sexual needs, however, were not so thrilled about being kicked out of my bed permanently.
My pack was used to me being gone much of the time—case in point, the fact that I’d traveled to Rik’s lands a couple days this past week—and leaving some of my betas to deal with things that came up or draw my attention to a problem I needed to fix.
That wouldn’t change for now, but I had a feeling that Viv would want to integrate the packs somehow now that we both would be in charge.
“Alpha, I just got word from Astrid that there will be a coronation dinner tomorrow night. She asks if you are going to be back by then? This really only gives you until tomorrow morning if you want to get back in time,” Chaz asked in a low voice while I was overseeing the equipment being packed up.
Seeing that things were well in hand, I replied, “Yes, I think I can manage to even get in first thing tomorrow morning. How are things going with my personal effects?”
“I have made sure to leave out things for your stay, but for the most part, everything is packed and placed in one of the four semis that will be transporting all the equipment,” Chaz answered.
I clapped Chaz on the back, giving him a grin before I headed to my office.
This wouldn’t be packed up until I left since I’d need access to my equipment until the moment I departed.
My good mood faded as I received an email that didn’t give me nearly the information I wanted on Thomas.
I’d hacked into his computer and retrieved all of the documents he’d sent out requesting to be accepted into other packs.
What I couldn’t seem to find anywhere were responses.
There had to be some trace that these had made it to the intended sender, but they showed as none of them being opened.
Well, all except one. The person who was in charge of covering the trail was good, but I was better.
Ding.
I looked up at my computer and noticed there was an alert on Ambassador Beck’s passport coming into our country from Russia. He couldn’t be that stupid, right?
Pulling up the airport CCTV, I scanned the immigration check with my face recognition software, and sure enough, his superiorly smug face popped up.
What the fuck was he doing, coming to Collective territory? They know he burned us and was working with Vadik. It made no sense.
My mind raced, trying to figure out what the purpose of this could possibly be. I kept coming up with nothing, but then it hit me.
“He’s a distraction.”
I shot up from my chair, sending it crashing into the wall behind me as I raced out of the room and down the stairs. “Chaz, I need the helicopter ready to go, now. Alert Beta Team that I’ll need them to suit up and head to Kursar as fast as possible.”
“Right away, Alpha. Any other directives for when they get there, in case you aren’t available?” Chaz asked.
“Protect the Dama at all costs.”