Play Dirty
nineteen
*ROSEA*
“Alpha Forest personally asked for Griffin to act as my guard today,” I say. I put on the best smile I can muster. “I am truly grateful that my mate has such protective parents,” I add with a warm tone.
I see how Harry moves back a little, as the pack members around us just stare at me in surprise. I guess Harry has a reputation for a lot of things, but being protective of his son is not one of them.
I gesture towards Griffin to lead me on to our place.
He follows my wordless command, his lips tugging slightly as he tries not to grin.
By doing so, I am forcing Harry to trail behind me.
“I met with the warriors today,” I explain.
“I wanted to see how they train. And Beta Martin was so kind as to invite me to watch them and to talk to them.”
I stop to greet one of the nurses I recognize from the infirmary, and one of the young women who works at the orphanage. “It’s nice to see you again so soon.”
“Thank you, Luna,” the nurse says. “It was such a great honor to meet you!”
“I hope you will visit us again soon,” the woman from the orphanage adds.
“I will come by later today, after I have talked to Alpha Forest,” I tell her. “There are a lot of plans we need to discuss.”
From the corner of my eye, I notice how Harry’s annoyance is growing, much to my delight. I squeeze the young woman’s shoulder gently. “Take some rest and have a nice breakfast.”
“Thank you, Luna!”
I shake the nurse’s hand as well and exchange some more words with her before Griffin and I continue our walk towards our table.
That’s when I finally decide to turn my attention back to Harry.
“You know, Harry, Forest’s happiness is also of the utmost importance to me.
I have no intention of betraying him. Also, if I did, he would feel it through the bond.
” I turn around to nod politely at some of the warriors.
“I visited the training and also the orphanage, nursery and infirmary to get a feel of how the pack runs.”
As if he knew his father was trying to get at me, Forest makes his entrance. One look at his surprised expression shows that he had no clue Harry would try something, which makes his overall reaction so much more believable.
With a few strides, he is next to me, putting a protective arm around my shoulders. For the second time today, I remind myself that I can’t get used to this. He is doing it for a purpose. Just like me, he has an agenda.
“Hey, babe,” he smiles, planting a kiss on the side of my head. “Something wrong?”
“Harry is worried because I met the warriors earlier this morning,” I explain.
“Worried is one way to put it,” Griffin grins.
The guy is fearless. I am not surprised anymore that Forest’s parents wanted him far away.
“Why is that a problem?” Forest asks his father directly.
Harry clears his throat, trying to look dignified. “I am just concerned that your luna is out there with an unmated male wolf.”
Forest frowns. “Is that ‘unmated wolf’ supposed to be Griffin?”
“Yep,” Griffin says.
“I ordered him to guard Rose today,” Forest points out.
“As the future luna, she can’t just stroll around the pack like this?”
“Why?” Forest asks, something in his eyes glinting. “Is our pack dangerous for her?” Now, that was a well-placed dig, and he did it on purpose. He is getting much more confident every day.
“No, of course not!”
“Then, I don’t understand the problem,” he says firmly, and just throws his father off more. “My future luna can look around the pack as much as she wants. Actually, I hope she will love it here and get along with everyone.” He turns around. “You also met the warriors, didn’t you?”
“Yes, like you asked me to,” I say, from the corner of my eye, noticing how this intrigues the pack members. They have been taught that Forest is inadequate and useless, because that’s what his narcissistic parents were pushing for. “It was a fantastic idea, Forest.”
Forest plays along. “I can’t take all the credit,” he says smoothly. “Clearly, my future luna is particularly smart.”
His words take me a little by surprise, and I have difficulty keeping my face straight. Did he just mean that? It sounded so genuine. Forest just smiles at me, his expression open and gentle, and I can only return the smile.
Behind us, Harry clears his throat. “I can assure you the pack has been in capable hands so far.”
“Yes,” I say. “The pack was certainly in some sort of hands.”
At my words, Griffin grins so brightly I would describe it as shameless, at least in Harry’s eyes.
“What did you find out?” Forest asks.
I pull out my notebook. “I will tell you everything over breakfast. It’s pretty much as we expected it to be.
The orphanage, nursery and infirmary need a lot more attention.
” Forest, Griffin and I continue our walk, with me chatting happily along and making sure to tell him a few details I caught from my detour today—for everyone to hear.
Forest and I spend the day planning how to help the infirmary and orphanage in particular. I have also started setting up some security measures, and furthermore, planning the budget, while Forest is head over heels with the idea of specialized training for his warriors.
It’s a busy day for both of us, and fortunately, his parents leave us alone. I guess his father is still shocked from earlier this morning, and his mom hasn’t been seen all day.
This reminds me of something.
When Forest and I finally retire to the suite, later that evening, I pull out the folder I wanted to take a closer look at. “This is weird, Forest.”
“How come?”
“Your mom invested a huge sum in flowers.”
“And how is that weird?” he blinks. “Don’t get me wrong, she definitely overspent, and you can change the budget to your liking, but is it really so off?”
“Definitely. Flowers and good decoration can cost quite a hefty sum. But even if I go for luxurious stuff, it wouldn’t cost that much.” I show him the numbers. “They are off.”
“What do you think?”
“That she is not buying flowers,” I say.
His eyes widen. “What…”
“We need to look into this properly. This could be something to use against her.”
“Awesome,” he exclaims.
“I will snoop around a little.”
He nods. “Just be careful and tell me if you need any help.”
Before I can answer, there is a knock at the door, making both of us look at each other, confused. “Hopefully not your parents.”
“No, I’d sense them,” he mutters. “I think, going by the scent, it’s…” he opens the door, “Griffin.” He pauses. “What are you doing here at such a late hour, man?”
Griffin enters the suite and closes the door behind him, his gaze going from Forest to me and then back to Forest. “Listen, Forest,” he says. “I know it’s late, but I thought it better to talk about it now when everyone else is asleep and unsuspecting.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know what you are playing,” he says. “I just know something here is off.”
“You sure it’s not in your head?” Forest says, while I decide to keep out of this. Griffin is his friend, and I had a feeling he was getting more and more suspicious, especially after he showed me around this morning.
But it’s for Forest to decide if he trusts him or not.
“Like I said, it looks like you and the luna are playing 4D chess.” His serious expression makes way for a devilish smirk. “And I kind of like it.”
Forest rubs the back of his head. “Maybe we do have something in mind,” he says tentatively.
“Something in mind?” Griffin shakes his head. “I know you, Forest, better than you think I do. Something is off. She is not your mate, am I right?”
At that, I can barely hide my surprise. How was he able to tell? As far as I am concerned, Forest really played his part well. Forest seems to be shocked, too, but to his credit, he recovers very quickly.
“You are probably wondering how I know?” Griffin says.
“Your parents clearly have it out for her, as much is obvious. You would never let your mate walk around on her own in such a situation. Also, you are not acting yourself, or rather, you are. Something happened. And the both of you look…” he pauses.
“It all seems too well planned to be a coincidence.”
Forest looks at me with a questioning gaze. “It’s your decision,” I say quietly. “He is your friend.”
“And what’s your opinion?”
“I don’t know. I am a bad judge in this case,” I say honestly. “I don’t trust anyone, aside from you, and even that’s hard for me to do at times.”
Forest nods thoughtfully. “Sit down,” he finally tells Griffin.
“It’s a longer story. But just to set one thing straight immediately.
You are wrong about one thing,” he pauses.
“I might have been incredibly tense around Rose if she were my true fated mate, but I would have let her do her thing nevertheless.” He pauses once more.
“And to be honest, I am a bit tense about her strolling around on her own, even now.”
“That might be true,” I say. “But you are not stopping me, and I am thankful for that.”
Forest smiles. “I couldn’t do anything without you, Rose.”
“So, are you going to fill me in?” Griffin asks.
“We were thinking about it,” Forest says. “But just so you know, if you blab, it might get us killed.”
“It would definitely be the end of us,” I agree.
Griffin looks from Forest to me and back to Forest. “This has to be a good story.”
“It is,” I mutter. “It’s tragic.”
“And enraging,” Forest adds.
I get up, deciding to fetch us something to drink while Forest begins to retell what happened only a few evenings ago.
It takes us almost two hours to wrap up our stories.
Griffin keeps listening, first curious, then going through various emotions.
He looks shocked, and horrified, and sad, and then very angry.
“I knew your parents were full of shit,” he finally exclaims. “And fuck! Jordan is a psycho. I always had an inkling.”
“You know him?” I ask.
“I met his beta occasionally,” he says. “You know, when I wasn’t yet treated as a disgrace, I sometimes had to attend certain events.”
“Clemmens must have been there,” I add.
“He was.” Griffin pauses. “I knew he was a loser. Gave me pathetic loser energy from the first moment on.”
“Is that even a thing?” Forest asks. “Because if it is, I bet I had to give the same vibes.”
“No!” Griffin says. “You never did. You were an idiot and maybe a bit of a doormat, but you were also a victim of your fucking psycho parents.”
I nod vehemently. “I agree.”
“So, how can I help?” Griffin asks.
Forest sighs. “It’s dangerous to—“
“Fuck it, Forest! Shut up,” Griffin snarls. “You let Rosea put her life at risk, and you do the same. I am not going to just stand by.”
“I was actually hoping you would offer your help,” I say. When Forest looks at me, I shrug. “I’d have a few ideas,” I admit.
Forest sighs, but then shows me a smile. For a moment, he reaches out his hand as if to touch me, but then probably remembers we aren’t anywhere where we need to pretend. “If my luna has plans,” he says. “Then it’s probably something good.”
He calls me his luna, although we aren’t in public. I guess he got kind of used to it, but still, I can’t help but relish the feeling of receiving some respect, after all the ways Jordan shunned me.
“So, the plan, Luna,” Griffin leans forward, eyeing me curiously. “What can I do?”
“We need to get Lissa out of the picture first,” I say. “She is the weakest link and needs to go before we can go against Donna and Harry.” I look at Griffin insistently. “I need you to follow her around, subtly, particularly at night or evening hours.”
“What do you think she is doing?” Forest asks.
“We pretty much verified that she had an affair with Jordan,” I say. “I‘ll bet he isn’t the only one.”
“But it’s not illegal to sleep with pack members,” Griffin says. “It won’t make her look good because she was all over Forest, but would it truly be enough to be her downfall?”
“If it’s just unmated pack members, it’s fine,” I say.
“You think it isn’t?”
I recall the gazes some of the warriors exchanged when Lissa was hitting on Forest in front of me, but much more so do I remember the looks on the faces of the omegas in the staff; those who were serving us that day.
“She must be furious that Forest showed so much loyalty towards me and not towards her,” I muse.
“I bet she is doing something about it. We are talking about a person who willingly plotted to get her friend killed. That’s not just a normal shunned woman.
She is a murderer and an accomplice of Forest’s parents. ”
“She is,” Forest says. “When you put it like that, I wonder what else she is up to.”
“There is no way she is sitting idly,” I say. “It’s not only you who tossed her aside, your parents did, too.”
“They did?” Griffin asks.
“Obviously, they are busy now that I am here,” I say. “They pretty much hate me, but to Lissa it might look like they are tossing her aside.” I pause. “I mean, technically, they are doing just that. She was just a tool.”
“Disposable,” Forest says. “I would feel bad for her if she didn’t kill my mate. She can rot in a cell for all I care.”
Griffin nods firmly. “I will make sure to follow her around, discreetly. You can trust me, Luna, I am good at that.”
“Should you admit to being good at snooping around?” Forest chuckles.
“Well, it helped me to get around your parents during the last few years,” Griffin grins. “My abilities will come in handy now. Let’s make sure that these assholes get what they deserve!”