“Wait, the whole inner circle knew?” Ryan put his hand over his heart, pretending to be hurt. “And here I thought we were your trusted pack members, Clara!”
“Don’t be such a grump, Ryan!” Clara laughed. “Arthur and I went out for dinner last night and decided to give ourselves a chance at happiness. Yes, we’ve completed the mate bond.”
We all broke into happy howls.One by one, we stood up to congratulate them.
Arthur had been in love with Clara for about thirty years, but when they were young, they couldn’t be together because first mate was basically another Ella and wouldn’t accept the rejection. My Goddess, I was heading down the same path.
“Alright, enough gossip!” Arthur clapped his hands together, making us all laugh. “Let’s talk business.”
The meeting got serious fast. Arthur showed us what they’d found this week.During the meeting, Arthur presented us with the week’s report. They had identified five directors involved in the fraud, including Howard and the accountant Gilbert. The commercial director,operations director,and administrative director were also involved. These were all important strategic positions held by wolves who had been with the pack’s business holdings for thirty years or more.
Besides the directors, each department had three or four employees participating in the fraud, receiving a percentage of the diverted funds. One of them had made a mistake, and we had a way to catch him – he was the weak link in the group.
“We should approach him and use him as an informant,” Arthur suggested. “Offer him a deal that would keep him from being banished as a rogue.”
I nodded,”Make it happen.”
I was shocked by the amount of money that Arthur and his team had discovered was being diverted from the pack. It was a fortune. Arthur also provided me with a list of business alliances with other packs that were being sabotaged, manipulated to leave us and sign with another pack’s business holdings.
“This rival business is registered under human strawmen’s names,” Arthur explained, “We’ve discovered they’re linked to Howard.My investigators are still gathering evidence, but they’ve already identified that these strawmen are reporting directly to Howard.”
“So he’s not just stealing from the pack, he’s actively working to weaken us?”I growled.
“Exactly,” Arthur confirmed. “But there’s more. They’ve also been quietly transferring ownership of several key properties in your territory.”
This news hit me like a physical blow. Territory was everything to a wolf pack. These weren’t just business assets – they were part of our heritage, our identity, places where generations of our pack had run and hunted.
“How the hell did they manage that without me sensing it?” I demanded, my Alpha voice making everyone in the room lower their eyes.
“They did it slow, using human companies,” Arthur explained. “On paper, you can still use the land, but you don’t own it. If they’d kept going, they could have taken the pack away from you.”
We spent the next hour analyzing the report, clearing up doubts, and brainstorming ideas to get everything we needed.
“There’s one good thing,” Arthur said, his gray eyebrows pulled together.”They stopped stealing about two months ago. Don’t know why, but everything’s clean now. No weird activity at all.”
“Thank the Moon for that.” I rubbed my face, feeling exhausted. Inside me, Alaric was snarling with rage at the betrayal.
“That’s all I have about the audit.” Arthur paused, his face turning grim. “But we need to talk about your parents’ accident.”
I’d gotten some investigation results of my own. I knew now that my parents hadn’t died in an accident,they’d been attacked by rogue on purpose.
Caroline’s POV
Arthur’s face was grim as he revealed what he’d found about Thorne Enterprises.
“Howard is behind everything,” Alpha Arthur explained.
My eyes moved to Draven’s face. His jaw was clenched tight, his eyes burning with anger. Something in my chest tightened seeing him like this.
While Arthur kept talking, my mind wandered to places it shouldn’t.I bit my lip, thinking about Ella. Her father was a traitor now. Would this change things? Would the wedding still happen next month?
I shook my head slightly.Why was I even thinking about their wedding? But I couldn’t help it.Goddess help me,I still cared for him more than I should. Ella was carrying his pup, and in three weeks, she’d be his bride. The thought made my chest hurt.
My stomach rolled again, like it had been doing all morning. I reached for Carlos’s tea, taking small sips. The warm herbs helped a little, but I wasn’t sure if it was bad food making me feel sick, or just being so close to Draven while we talked about betrayal.
“I have something else to tell you,” Arthur said, “It’s about your parents, Draven.”
The room went quiet. This wasn’t about business anymore. I watched Draven’s face change, his violet eyes getting darker.
“What did you find?” His voice was tight.
“We found the investigator Howard bribed. Leo checked him out – guy’s corrupt as they come. Has this huge house, fancy cars, sends his kids to expensive schools. His wife blows through money like there’s no tomorrow. He’s not even smart enough to hide the dirty money. Even takes cash from drug dealers on the side.”
Draven’s hands gripped the table so hard his knuckles turned white. I wanted to reach out, to comfort him, but I couldn’t.
“I took this to a friend in Internal Affairs,” Arthur went on. “They’re looking into your parents’ case again. It’s a small team, keeping things quiet.They already found out someone made evidence disappear. It’ll take time, but we’ll find the truth.”
“Good,” Draven said. He took a deep breath, but I could feel anger coming off him in waves.
“One more thing,” Arthur said. “Remember those investigators you hired? The ones looking for the woman from the masquerade?They played you. Took money from both sides and lied to you. We reported them,they’ll lose their licenses. You could sue them too. Might help put Howard away longer.”
My heart stuttered painfully.The masquerade woman.The mysterious woman he’d been searching for. His fated mate.
“If you think it’s important, let’s do it,” Draven agreed.
Arthur mentioned working with Draven’s lawyer, then asked carefully,”I need to know if you want my investigators to look for that woman.”
I froze, my eyes fixed on Draven. My heart seemed to stop beating as I waited for his answer.
“No, Arthur, that’s in the past,” Draven said with finality.
Relief washed through me, but it was short-lived.
“Actually, no,” Draven suddenly changed his mind. “Better investigate, find her. I need to close that Chapter and get answers. She might have gotten pregnant. Find her and discover how she’s doing.”
My teacup trembled in my hands.Draven was still looking for his fated mate from three years ago? He still loved her? Where did that leave me? He was about to marry Ella, who carried his child, and yet he was still searching for another woman. Was I just one of his many casual affairs?
The meeting ended, and people started filing out. I was gathering my things when Draven gently caught my arm.
“Caroline, can you stay for a minute?”
Everyone else had left. I reluctantly met his gaze, trying to mask the turmoil inside me.
“You look even paler,” he said, concern etched on his face. “I should take you to the hospital.”
“It’s not necessary, Draven,” I insisted, though my stomach was churning worse than before. “It was just something I ate. I’ll go home to rest.”
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