Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Cormac
Idon’t require much sleep to function.
I can hunt a target all night or torture someone for information until the wee morning hours, yet somehow, I always wake refreshed.
That is not the case today.
I kept watch over Charlotte and Lucky until nearly five a.m. Once I made it home, I showered and fell into bed. Sleeping until eleven is unusual for me, and it leaves me feeling like I’ve wasted half the day.
I’m finishing my first cup of coffee when my brother, Patrick, corners me in the kitchen.
The look on his face, combined with the tension in his posture, says I won’t like whatever conversation we’re about to have. I already have some idea of what this is about, but we’ve been dealing with it for months, so I’m not sure why he’s riled up.
Fifty or so years ago, the head of the Russian mob in New York, Mikhail Ivanov, made a play to take back his city.
The head of the Boston crime family, Tomlin Manzo, was also in attendance at the wedding-turned-massacre where Ivanov enacted his revenge. With both cities having their reigning family slaughtered in one night, things got messy.
Ivanov took back New York, but no singular Boston family was powerful enough to wipe out the others.
This led to years of all-out wars as the seven remaining families fought it out for territory, power, and prestige.
Boston was in turmoil before the Pierce family stepped out of the equation completely. That one choice allowed a tentative truce to form between the remaining six family heads as each family took over their own niche.
Wilder Pierce has since inherited the role of running his family, and he’s responsible for settling disputes, brokering transactions, and mediating between the six reigning families.
It was an unconventional solution when his fathers suggested it, and it’s equally as questionable now, but it is nice to have a neutral third party available to fix any issues before they can bubble over into full-blown catastrophes.
Basically, the Pierces are the fixers and the reason the Boston police department believes they finally have a handle on organized crime. It couldn’t be further from the truth, but it allows us a certain level of freedom as we hide behind the belief the mafia in Boston is no more.
Still, it’s not a perfect system.
Twenty years ago, the Chapman family was struggling.
My fathers were on good terms with them, and they made a deal to help an ally hang on long enough that things could turn around for them.
That one choice has plagued my family for years.
In theory, it could have worked out well, but no one should fuck around with their children’s futures in the way our families did.
As a result of the deal they struck, my oldest brother, Malachy, is promised to Vanessa Chapman.
Patrick, Malachy, and I always assumed that we’d end up in a pack together to make things easier. Unfortunately, there’s less than no attraction on either party’s side.
Vanessa wants nothing to do with marrying Malachy.
Malachy has honored our fathers’ wishes by taking his engagement seriously, but he can’t hold on forever.
He’s an unbonded alpha, and the mental decay of going feral has progressed to the point we’re afraid to do official lab work.
Once an alpha is declared rabid, only one thing brings them back, and no one wants that diagnosis hanging over their head or on their record.
His mental state makes waiting dangerous, and Vanessa has done everything in her power to put off the union as long as possible. We’ve gone back and forth with her brothers and Wilder for five years, trying to find some resolution.
If she wants out of the agreement that badly, then her brothers need to find a way to come up with the penalty they owe our family.
They got a 2.5 million-dollar loan, interest free, for twenty years.
That doesn’t even account for the property they gained in the trade.
It’s now worth four times what it was then.
It’s not like my family is hurting financially. My fathers may have royally sucked at healthy romantic relationships, but one thing they excelled at is finances.
The main issue is that the other families also understand the contract has come due. If we were to let the Chapmans out of the agreement without enforcing the penalty, it would undermine our authority.
Any of the other families that owe mine markers could try to back out of honoring their agreements.
It would lead to chaos.
Even if we wanted to break the contract and take the loss, the repercussions are what’s stopping us.
“We have a meeting with Wilder in two hours,” Patrick says, his campfire scent smelling more acrid than normal. “No backing out of this one. I need you with me. We have to make him understand what’s on the line.”
Dammit.
I wanted to check on Charlotte today, but that will have to wait.
I nod soberly. “I understand. I’ll be with you.”
Malachy’s mental health is on the line. He needs an omega to claim and fast.
Getting an email to reschedule our appointment with Wilder is insulting, and it’s enough to send Patrick over the edge. His polite request to move our meeting to another day is denied.
The warehouse where Wilder conducts business is located down by the water. Many of us have buildings in the same area, and it’s cordoned off with massive fences and guards stationed at every gate.
Making our way into the warehouse is a process, but it has to be done.
Wilder’s office is considered neutral ground, and we’re disarmed, sent through a metal detector, and patted down before being allowed entrance.
Patrick leads the way, stomping toward Wilder’s office.
He throws the door open and freezes.
My nostrils flare, breathing in the scent of cloying omega perfume, pussy, and what must be Wilder’s cum.
It’s not an appealing combination, and I take a step back.
“Get the hell out of my office!” Wilder snaps, baring his teeth. He grabs the blanket tucked around the woman’s ass and pulls it up, wrapping it around her shoulders.
I’m sure he doesn’t like being interrupted.
Too fucking bad.
He blew us off to have sex in his office? That’s not a good look, and before this very moment, I would have considered him a friend.
“Do you know what it’ll do to my brother if Chapman doesn’t go through with our contract?” Patrick growls, not deterred by the circumstances in the least. “You promised you’d advocate for us!”
He’s not wrong.
My fury rises all over again.
This shit isn’t a game.
“And I have,” Wilder says with a huff.
“We’ve spent the last five years waiting for her to come of age,” I remind him.
The woman gasps, but I ignore her.
The contract could have been filled at any time after Vanessa hit eighteen, but with the age difference between us, my brothers and I agreed to wait until she was at least twenty.
Vanessa took those extra few years and pushed for more time. Unfortunately for all of us, the contract expires when she turns twenty-five, and that’s sneaking up fast.
We have to come to some type of resolution before then.
I no longer have any interest in bonding Vanessa myself, but I know Malachy well enough to understand that he’s committed to honoring the contract simply because he promised our fathers that he would.
It sucks.
I have mixed feelings about not ending up in a pack with my brothers, but my instincts are only interested in one omega. That means I’ll be pursuing Charlotte.
“As you can see, gentlemen, I’m a bit tied up at the moment.” Wilder tilts his face down to look at the woman still speared on his cock. “They weren’t waiting for her to turn eighteen. Vanessa is about to be twenty-five. It’s when the contract expires.”
“That’s no one’s goddamn business,” Patrick growls.
“Yes, well, I would introduce you to my sweet stepsister, but she’s currently locked on my knot,” Wilder says, his eyes cutting to me and Patrick. “You’re beginning to test my patience.”
“You canceled on us with no notice,” Patrick snaps back. “This isn’t a game, Pierce!”
“I am doing my best to mediate both of your wishes. You want the omega your family was promised. She wants the freedom to choose her own future,” Wilder says, sounding frustrated.
Yeah, me too.
It’s too fucking bad.
“And while I understand your predicament,” he says calmly. “I truly believe you should consider what your quality of life would be like tied to that woman—”
“Malachy is half-rabid. There are times he doesn’t even recognize us,” Patrick says, surprising me.
We’ve kept that tidbit of information to ourselves, but he’s letting his anger get the better of him.
“We can’t wait any longer. Not to mention, our fathers honored our end of the bargain two decades ago! ”
“Wait, is he getting treatment?” the woman asks, slapping Wilder’s hand away as he attempts to block her face from view. “He should be seeing an omega at least two to three times a week if he’s that bad off.”
“What’s she talking about?” I ask, catching sight of her face. It takes everything in me to keep my expression placid as recognition hits.
She’s the woman who was with Charlotte and Lucky last night at the Christmas market. I’m ninety-nine percent sure she never spotted me, but that one percent chance makes my heart rate pick up to a gallop.
Why is she here?
Did Wilder say she’s his stepsister?
Ahh, fuck.
“Pheromone treatment therapy. It helps prevent the decay from taking over. I’ve had Grim in sessions for two months,” Wilder says, referencing his second-in-command. His face tilts down to hers once more. “Is Charlotte an omega? I would assume so if she works with you.”
My pulse hammers like my heart might explode in my chest.
Did he just say that Charlotte works with that woman at some type of pheromone treatment clinic?
“She is,” the woman replies.
“Actually, I have an idea,” Wilder says to me and Patrick. “Let’s see if we can help each other…”
Fucking Christ.
I haven’t mentioned my slight obsession with Charlotte to my brothers. As far as they know, I’m still planning to join them in marrying Vanessa Chapman to honor the contract.
This is a mess.
Scratch that.
It’s a fucking disaster in the making. There’s no way Charlotte is going to believe that we met by chance. We did the first time, but the occasions since have been by design.
I need to go shopping.
I’m going to need so many courting gifts to make up for how shady all of this looks.