He picks up after the second ring. “What happened?” Mack asks, and I can’t help myself as I say, “I need a new designer.” Mack starts laughing as I hear someone in the background ask if I ever saw Mack draw – I know he can’t draw even if his life depended on it. It was one of the things I asked him during one of our conversations in the past few days.
“I got a few new messages from my Mother. They’re coming to Albarr, and she insists on meeting for lunch. The first two messages were definitely written by my Mother and weren’t really threatening, but the other two were probably written by Alpha Bradley. Both basically say: I come to their suite for lunch, or I will regret ignoring their request,” I say, and I hear a few growls in the background. Mack is quiet after what I said.
“Alpha Dax is in Albarr, and he will stay until they’ve left Albarr again. He will go to that lunch with you. If they try to refuse him, he’ll tell them they can only see you in his presence. He is your Alpha, and with the stunt they tried to pull, he has every right to doubt their intentions,” Mack says, and I smile as I tell him I look forward to seeing the look on my Mother’s face.
We talk about why I need a new designer, and I tell him I have a solution, though I don’t reveal exactly what I have in mind for my latest boutique.
“Did one of the Scouts find anything?” I ask him, but as I suspected, neither has reported back yet. I tell him about the explanations Fortune and I came up with.
Alpha Dillon asks how I figured that out, and I reply, “As a businesswoman, I hear quite a bit about Wolves and Lycans in the business world. Even if their business isn’t related to mine, I do listen very carefully to what’s being said.”
After finishing my call with Mack, I order room service. I don’t feel like going down to the restaurant, and it will give me time to write out my plan for the boutique. This will be the first boutique where both males and females can find outfits for special events or everyday life. I grab my laptop to outline how this might work. I’ll need to discuss it with the designers to see if my idea can actually work and if I need to adjust the boutique layout or contract terms.
I have just finished dinner when my phone rings, and I sigh in relief when I see Pauline’s caller ID. “Hello, Pauline. What can I do for you?” I ask, and she asks if I’ve read the file on my new assignment. I confess I didn’t take the time to read it yet. “You might want to read it as soon as you can. I know you’ll take this assignment without hesitating. You would even take it if you were asked to do it for free.” Pauline says.
If Pauline says I’d do an assignment for free, it has to be a damn good assignment. I tell her I will take a look at it immediately before I disconnect the call. I grab the file from my bag and sit down on the balcony as I open it. I read through the first few pages to get an idea what the assignment is about.
Fortune growls in my head the more we read, and I realize Pauline is right – I would have done this assignment for free. I almost let Fortune roar out loud when we read who our targets are.
Maleah’s p.o.v.
I have always known that these two were trouble, but reading through the file on three of their victims, I now know that the world doesn’t know the full extent of their crimes. I am going to make sure they pay for what they have done. That it also solves a personal problem is a huge plus, and I start to think about where to start – how to get this assignment done as soon as possible.
I need to plan this carefully. I don’t want to push either one of them into hiding, and as I read about the Council’s way of handling this matter, I get a feeling that someone is covering for them. Fortune and I have had a suspicion for ages that someone in the Council is responsible for the cases that get thrown out for various reasons. If this assignment can lead me to the right Council Elder, I will not hesitate to bring him down.
A message comes in from Pauline: both designers will meet with me in the morning. I send her a message back in which I explain that we need to plan my new assignment carefully. I need to know the next time either one of them is staying in a public place, and if I can provide myself with an alibi if I ever need it – something I learned years before I took my first real assignment.
Luckily, my work always provides me with an alibi. Carrying out my assignments while I make public appearances has made sure no one ever suspected me. No one has ever questioned me during all these years. I doubt anyone will be able to make the link, and I know that I am grateful for all the gifts I have gotten – each of them helping me to carry out the task at hand.
I know I need to make sure that this plan is even more waterproof because I know that if someone uses their brain, they will figure out the identity of the Angel of
Death. Two names in particular jump to mind, and I am surprised that one of them hasn’t asked questions yet – after all, he knows me better than anyone alive. I am trying to figure out if he might suspect something – after all, I am my Father’s daughter.
Growing up, I always had an interest in any murder case that ended up in the news, always wondering if my Father might have something to do with it or if this one was not related to our Pack at all. Dad always made sure that I didn’t hear too much about what he did for a living. I doubt Mother would have kept it from me, as she would use anything she could to turn me against my Father.
That train of thought brings me back to my Mother and Alpha Bradley. I wonder if he took her as a Mate because of me, and if he did, then what is he expecting to gain out of it. My Mother isn’t the nicest person to live with, and I doubt she will change for the likes of Alpha Bradley – even though I understand that as an Alpha, he can make her do whatever he wants.
Because I doubt there is a Mate-bond between them, I know she will have to comply with him if he gives her an Alpha order. A true Mate-bond would be the only thing that could stop him from using an Alpha order on my Mother, and with everything I know about Alpha Bradley, there is a very slim chance that he would take a Mate with a true Mate-bond.
The Mate-bond has always been something that held my interest. Our Wolves or our Lycans can feel a connection to another Wolf or Lycan, and from there a true Mate-bond can be formed. It will take a few days for the Mate-bond to form after a Wolf or a Lycan has felt the connection, but once that bond starts to form, it is nearly impossible to ignore it. Throughout history, there have only been a handful of Wolves and Lycans that were able to resist it.
It is very different from the old days when, on a Full
Moon, a Wolf or a Lycan could find their fated Mate. I am not sure which way I would prefer to find my Mate. Both situations have their ups and their downs. I believe that finding your Mate on a Full Moon makes it difficult for both parties to determine whether they want this Mate-bond or not, and that has everything to do with the fact that in the old days, Mates usually marked and Mated within hours of meeting.
Nowadays, you can get to know the Human half before you make that decision, and if a Wolf or a Lycan agrees with their Human half, it is easier to ignore the forming of the bond. That usually happens when the Human half or both halves are known for abuse or sleeping around. There isn’t a female or a male that wants a Mate that doesn’t cherish the Mate-bond or a Mate that has no respect for another living being.
Knowing all this, you might understand why I doubt there is a true Mate-bond between my Mother and Alpha Bradley. The more I think about it, the more I am inclined to accept the fact that my Mother made a deal with Alpha Bradley. The only question that remains is what either one of them will be gaining with this Mate-bond.
If either one of them thinks they can get access to my fortune, they are in for a huge surprise because after I bought my second boutique, I made sure that large withdrawals from my account needed an extra verification, and I doubt my Mother will be able to find out what or who that extra verification entails. The reason I put that second verification in place has to do with my Mother’s remark on staying in my life until the day I would become useful to her.
I know Mother has tried in the past to get access to my fortune, but she always tried in the same way and never figured out that it was nearly impossible for her to get into my account. Mother had opened an account for me after I bought my first boutique, and I know she had hoped that I would use that account for the money I made with my boutique. I had been smart enough to contact the bank and ask who has access to the account – not surprising to find out my Mother had full access to the account.
Dad helped me to open my own account, and it is the account I am still using to this day. Dad never asked me for anything even though he knows I have a huge fortune in my bank account. Mother, on the other hand, has asked on multiple occasions for money or for me to pay her bills, and it took me several years to make her understand that I would never give her money or pay her bills for her.
Maleah’s p.o.v.
“Pauline, I need a meeting with the team. Set it up for tomorrow night and make sure it is a secure location. We need to talk about my next targets,” I say after she has answered her phone. I know I will have the details for the meeting by the time I wake up in the morning. I place the tray with empty dishes on the small table outside my room, and I place the “Do not disturb” sign on the door, hoping I can sleep in a little.
The persistent ringing of my phone wakes me in the morning, and Fortune growls in the back of my head at the lack of respect – she hates being woken up by anything other than the sound of my alarm. I join Fortune in her growling when I see my Mother’s name on the caller-ID. Instead of ignoring it, I answer the call: “What the fuck, Mother? Do you have any idea what time it is?” I growl into the phone, and I hear Alpha Bradley growling in the background.
“Tell that Mate of yours to shut it. You know I hate being woken up,” I say, and I hear him growl even louder. “Sweetheart, we are in Albarr and we will be expecting you at one o’clock in our suite. I will send you the information of the hotel where we are staying,” she says. “Mother, I have a business meeting in two hours, and I am not sure when I will be done. I will let you know if I can make it to lunch,” I reply. The next voice I hear belongs to Alpha Bradley.
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