by Lisa Oliver
“I imagine she wants the land and house bequeathed to you in this will,” Ven said drily, rolling up the paper concerned and throwing it to Mosh who caught it easily. “Under the terms of your late brother’s last request, you inherited everything from your brother – tangible and intangible. The rights to the pack name, his house, land, cars, bank accounts – the works. It is quite a substantial amount from what I’ve read.”
Con frowned. “He didn’t make any provision for Megan or the pups at all, or the rest of the pack?” He turned to Megan. “Why did you tell me Donny wanted me to look out for you and the other pack members, if it wasn’t stated in his will?”
“It was implied, wasn’t it,” Megan snapped. “I mean, for goodness sake, Donny didn’t expect to die so young. The will was made out just before we knew I was pregnant. The fact that he left you the land and house shows he meant for you to look after us.”
“This will doesn’t say anything like that at all,” Mosh said gravely. Reading from the piece of paper in his hand, he said, “It has always been my wish, that should I pass before my twin, I bequeath everything to him, the one person I could truly trust, all my worldly goods to do with as he sees fit. May the Fates see fit to grant him the strength to do what I never could. May I find more peace in death, than I ever had in life. Donny Donel. The paper was signed six months ago.”
Closing his eyes briefly, Con fought his tears. He wouldn’t give Megan the satisfaction. “That means…” His voice choked up and he coughed and tried again. “The date confirms what you said about the will being made after your bonding but before the pregnancy news. But I don’t understand. He left nothing to you at all, Megan – the bond mate he claimed and told me he loved.”
All at once, Con felt his anger surge. “There’s no way the Donny I knew would do that – cut you out of the will for no reason at all. He’d give a stranger the shirt off his back if he was asked for it. What did you do? What did you do that was so terrible, my brother basically gave me permission to dismantle the pack and wash my hands of you all?”
The stubborn set of Megan’s chin didn’t help Con’s anger levels. “I can’t believe it. I won’t believe it. I’m so pissed I could hit something. This is why you hid his last wishes from me. His last words. It all makes sense now. I was the one person he could trust. Not his bond mate, his pack second or his advisor. Why the hell couldn’t he trust you, Megan? Answer me. You twisted things, hid this will from me and why? Because you were damned homeless unless you could scam me the way you did him.”
“Babe.” One soft word from Ven and Con realized he was almost shouting in a public place. A restaurant of all places, where people came to enjoy a quiet evening out with loved ones and friends. Con got himself under control as best he could.
“My apologies, my Prince. My outburst was unforgiveable. Please arrange for your guards to escort these people to individually confined rooms and if it pleases you, arrange for sustenance to be provided. They’re not to have any communication devices with them and are all to be isolated from each other.”
“Of course, my beloved, I can arrange that for you.” Ven’s calm acceptance was the perfect foil to Con’s anger. “How long are they to be detained for?”
“Until I get to the bottom of what happened to my brother and the unfortunate members of the Donel pack,” Con snarled, his wolf surging as the impact of how badly he’d been deceived hit him.
“You’re ordering us to be locked up?” Megan shrieked, obviously having no concerns about the other diners. “My pups are due any day.”
“A shifter doctor will be provided to ensure your care,” Ven said smoothly. “Luke, Mosh, you heard the consort’s orders, please carry them out.”
Both men stood immediately. “Of course, my lord, consort.” Brief nods and the six wolf shifters were suddenly surrounded by staunch looking vampire guards. If there was a scuffle, Con didn’t hear it. It was as though he could hear his brother speaking when Mosh read out the last paragraph of his will. In that moment, he knew Megan was responsible for his brother’s death. Now he just had to prove it.
Chapter Twelve
“You need to eat.” Ven deftly took the laptop out of Con’s grip with one hand and replaced it with a plate. “I understand you’re worried, I know you’re upset, but you didn’t touch a mouthful of dinner so I’m insisting you eat now.”
“Oh, babe,” Con sighed, managing a weak smile. “I know you didn’t sign up for this. I’m so sorry. Thank you for the food. It’s just… fuck, I don’t know what to say.”
“Tell me.” Ven took the chair next to his beloved, fully prepared to listen. “It’s just you and me here. No one else can hear us. Tell me your darkest fear about all this.”
Con hesitated – Ven could see the indecision cross his face, but then, when the words came out, that hesitation made sense. “I think Megan had my brother killed and, in the process, cost the lives of forty-two innocent people.” Con picked up his sandwich and stuffed over half of it into his mouth as if to prevent himself from saying more.
“It’s certainly looking that way.” Ven was pleased to see his beloved was actually chewing. Con had gone through hell in the past twenty-four hours and it was showing in the droop of his shoulders and the faint bruises under his eyes.
“There’s another thing,” Con added, swallowing his mouthful. “I don’t think Bartholomew Jones was responsible for any of this.”
Ven nodded. “That makes sense. Everything I’ve heard about the man indicates he doesn’t need to take over any other pack’s territory. He’s got enough of his own.” Mosh had come through with the report Ven ordered about two hours earlier. Bartholomew Jones was known by all to be a tough but fair alpha.
“Some wolves never have enough.” Con shook his head. “But no, in this case I think you’re right. I’ve been going through Donny’s emails, his private account. Donny wanted a treaty definitely, and he was, from what I read, prepared to introduce me to Jones’ daughter in the hopes of us making a match. But when I told him no, I wouldn’t be a party to it, he wrote and told Jones the offer was off the table and asked if there was any other way a treaty could be arranged.”
“Which doesn’t fit with what either your twin, or Megan or anyone else told you the night of the fateful dinner.”
“No, it doesn’t, but thinking back about that night now, I’m wondering if I got the wrong idea completely, at least in respect to what Don said.” Con finished his sandwich and reached for another one. It gave Ven a small sense of pride, providing for his beloved in even a small way.
“You said you begged for him not to host the dinner,” Ven prompted. “Not to trust Jones and his pack, right?”
“I did, but now, when I’m thinking more clearly, Donny didn’t actually say the dinner was for Jones and his pack. He was high, that was common, but all he kept saying, in between giggling was, ‘it’s just a dinner, it’s just a dinner’. He didn’t mention Jones, or the merger or anything else.”
“And you got the impression it was an inter-pack dinner from Megan?”
Con shook his head. “Brian told me about the dinner. He actually called me and told me I wasn’t welcome at the pack house that night. Which again, in hindsight was a really weird thing to do because I hadn’t eaten with the pack since I left it. I would visit Donny sometimes, but I never got involved with the pack at all. Megan was the one who rang me, screaming I hadn’t done right by my brother by shattering the chances of a treaty, but that was like a full week before.”
“And this friend of yours, Owen was it, who got killed because he was impersonating you. Didn’t you mention you’d warned him too?”
“I should’ve known you had spies everywhere.” Ven wasn’t going to feel embarrassed. His beloved was right. “It was Oscar, not Owen.” Con took another bite of his sandwich. “Oscar visited me at work one day, totally out of the blue. He said that Megan had asked him to pretend to be me, but that was before I’d turned the arranged bonding down
. I had held off from making a decision. I didn’t want to upset Donny, but then I didn’t want to be mated for the hell of it either. I warned Oscar then not to do it; told him that nothing good would come out of a deception like that. I didn’t know or trust Jones. Arranged matings went out with the dark ages and I couldn’t work out why Jones wanted it so badly.”
“And now you’ve found out Jones accepted he’d have to find another bond mate for his daughter.” Ven shuffled some of the puzzle pieces around in his head. “Why do you think the pack was gathered that night?” He had a fair idea, but he wanted to see if his beloved was on the same wavelength.
“I feel so stupid when I think about it now.” Con shook his head. “It was a Friday. Donny always liked to have his pack around him at least once a week.” Con looked visibly upset and Ven reached over for the coffee pot Mosh left, so as to give his beloved a private moment. “I have been struggling for weeks since it happened – asking myself what was wrong with the scene at the house.”
“And?” Ven poured a huge mug of coffee and handed it to Con, taking the empty plate away.
“The clothing. Strangely enough it was Megan’s dress tonight that made me think about it.” Taking a sip of the coffee, Con set it aside on the small table on the desk he’d been using and reached for Ven’s hands. “At the time I didn’t think about it. The scene was horrific, I’m sure you understand. A whole pack, sitting at the huge dining table my father bought years before – everyone who was sat around that table was dead. Megan, Brian, and Jonny were all dressed in their finest party clothes, not a spot of blood on them anywhere. But I remembered, when Mosh read that last part of Donny’s will. I remembered what he looked like last time I saw my twin. Donny was wearing jeans, a black t-shirt, and had two bullet holes in his skull. Until now, only the bullet holes registered with me.”
“Oh babe.” Ven leaned over, gently kissing his beloved’s knuckles. “I’m so sorry for your loss.” He liked to think he was immune to death, having seen so much of it in his long life, but Con was still very young in paranormal terms and losing a twin would be devastating.
“It’s okay. Well, it’s not okay, but Donny’s dead and nothing will bring him back.” Con sniffed and then said, “When the guards arrived, I was the one who called them incidentally, Megan was crying, the omegas and young Morty were too shattered to say a word and all Brian and Jonny kept saying was they were out getting more booze. Brian insisted that Jones must be the killer because of the so-called failed merger, but the more I think about it, the more I realize he never actually said the man was invited to dinner.”
“Because that would have been picked up as a lie straight away, which would have resulted in more questions your pack members didn’t want asked.” Ven ran his tongue over his fangs that were threatening to drop. “Why did they save the omegas, do you think? If the killers had a compassionate bone in their bodies, why didn’t they save the children as well?”
To his credit, Con didn’t flinch. “The parents would have known something was iffy if Megan had offered to remove them from the dinner no matter what excuse was used. Megan wasn’t known for getting on with any of the pack children. She thought them loud and annoying although Donny loved them and would often play with them. I imagine that’s why he was so ready to believe the pups Megan’s carrying were his.”
Poor guy must have been out of it, to look forward to the birth of someone else’s children with his bond mate. “But why save the omegas at all?”
“Are you going to think any less of me and my kind, if I say I don’t think that was intentional?” Con’s eyes were full of grief. “I genuinely think the young omegas were where they said they were that night. Morty too. There was no sign that the rest of the house was searched. All the foreign scents were only found in the hallway and the dining room. Afterward, it suited Megan’s purpose to keep them around as they gave me more of a reason to take them all on as an alpha.”
That fit with what Ven had been thinking. “Sickening though that is, that makes sense. What I don’t understand though, is you said the guards questioned everyone about what happened that night. Why didn’t one of the omegas mention it was a pack dinner, not a meeting with the Jones’ contingent? I can see why Brian and Jonny didn’t say anything, but why didn’t any of the others?”
“You can blame fucking wolf hierarchy for that.” Con bit his lip, Ven could see he was fighting some powerful emotions. “We were all interviewed by the shifter council guard. The omegas, and Morty, were all completely shattered – crying, wailing, and not making any sense at all. All of them are under twenty years old. The only thing the guards asked them was their whereabouts when the shooting occurred and if they heard anything. It was a wonder they could even answer that.”
“Leaving the perpetrators of the crime, Brian, Jonny, and Megan, to set the scene, plant the idea Jones was responsible and claim they weren’t around. A simple enough thing to do for someone with a sneaky heart.” Ven studied his mate’s hands. Con’s fingers were long and thick, his nails blunt as would suit someone used to hard work.
“I can’t prove it.” Con sounded beaten. “Oh, I could question the omegas, get them to give their new evidence to the council, but what could they say? None of them were in the room when the shootings happened, I’m sure of that. All that would confirm is what the council guard already guessed, and that Jones wasn’t likely to be responsible. I could press Megan, but she wouldn’t have got her hands dirty by pulling the triggers herself. I could see Brian or Jonny killing Donny if they were swayed by Megan well enough, but they wouldn’t have taken out the rest of the pack.”
Ven held in his hiss with difficulty. He knew, just from the way Con was looking at him, that his beloved could sense his tension and he chose his words carefully. “There’s a couple of things you’re forgetting, my beloved. Firstly, you need to take care of the estate your brother left you. I can understand you leaving, can even understand why the council would recommend that you leave because of Megan’s condition and with unknown killers on the loose. In fact, it’s likely the council recommended this place because they thought your move was temporary until the killers were found. But if your twin’s death was not a takeover bid, then you have an empty house and land that could become overrun with squatters in a very short space of time.”
Ven hated to see Con flinch. “I don’t know if I can… It’s just… what was the other thing?”
My beloved’s not ready to face his past. “Megan’s condition does allow her some leeway when it comes to interrogating her, and given a shifter’s love of children, I can understand why the council guards didn’t push her very hard. But hon, you’re mated to a vampire and we do things a little differently.”
“You’d just kill her? But what about the pups?”
Ven rolled his eyes. “I know my reputation is a ruthless one, but even I wouldn’t condone the killing of women or children. No, beloved, no harm will come to her, but I can use the vampire thrall to find out exactly what did happen to your twin that night if you want me to.”
The little furrow Con got between his eyes when he was thinking was quite cute. “This thrall concept - it wouldn’t hurt her?”
“All I would do is compel her to speak. She’d be forced to answer my questions. There’s never any lasting damage for something like that.”
“Come here.” Ven went with the slight tug on his hand, happy to straddle Con’s lap. Con’s heartbeat called to him quickening as Con’s arousal kicked into gear. “I need you,” Con said simply. Ven had never seen so much want in anyone’s eyes before.
“I will always be what you need,” Ven promised as he leaned forward and sucked on Con’s bottom lip. “Can I just bring up one more point?”
“Apart from this one?” Con’s palm felt solid and heavy against his growing cock.
“Unfortunately.” Ven wiggled his hips, seeking a more comfortable position, but he wasn’t going to move off Con’s lap. “Babe, there’s one more thi
ng I don’t understand in all of this. If Megan was responsible for your brother’s death, and I’m sure she is, then why were you warned to stay away? Megan was your brother’s bond mate. If you both died,” Ven shuddered, not wanting to think about how close he’d come to losing his beloved, but the question had to be asked.
“If you both died, then surely the council would automatically assume Megan stood to inherit the pack, grounds, territory, and house, because everyone would assume her offspring were Don’s and with no bond scents to compare to, no one would be any the wiser that they weren’t his. Wouldn’t that make things easier for her to take control?”
Con shook his head slowly. “One, Megan is a beta wolf, so could never control the Donel territory on her own. She would have to accept the control of a council appointed alpha, which she might not be able to readily influence. Two, she always thought I was a soft touch, not alpha material, and easy to control. Three, if the council guards were faced with two alpha deaths, they’d have dug a lot deeper into who was responsible and might not have been so forgiving of Megan’s condition. Four, Megan knew I would fight to the death to save my brother. I’d have smelled the guns well before those assholes accessed the house and I’d have made sure the children and everyone I could help was safe.”
“So, in Megan’s eyes, you were easier to manipulate and control alive, than your addicted brother?”