“I’ve got an odd request,” Emma said.
“I’m totally into kinky stuff.” Ace waggled his eyebrows.
Under better circumstances she’d have laughed, but her mind had been so far from the gutter that his joke merely threw her off guard. “Uh... No. I mean...” She stuttered with the mental aerobics it took to regain her train of thought.
“Don’t do it.” Ace stopped in his tracks, worry stealing the laughter from his eyes.
“Do what?”
“The Jekyll and Hyde thing you do when I try to flirt.”
It took moments longer than it should have, but when she picked up the thread of both sides of the conversation, she finally got the punch line. “I say the same thing about you and your bad boy Alpha routine.”
“My what?”
“You know... When you get all puffy and try to be the big tough guy.”
“I think I’m honestly insulted now.” He motioned as if wiping a tear from his eye.
“Shut up. No, you’re not.”
“I am. What exactly are you getting at?”
Emma puffed out her chest and stood at her full height. She narrowed her eyes at Ace and lowered her voice. “This is my territory.” It was all she could say before busting into a fit of laughter.
“Oh I see. Like when you go all...” Ace pulled his shoulders back and stuck out his chest. He whipped his hand around and snapped his fingers at Emma. “Is that all you can do? Brag!”
He nailed the drag queen voice, though she suspected he was trying for a higher pitch.
Her eyes watered with the effort it took to hold back her amusement. “Oh, no. I have way more attitude than that.”
Ace relaxed his shoulders. “You must really think I’m a dick.”
“Nah. You’re an Alpha. I kind of expect it.”
Ace’s head cocked sideways, like a confused puppy. “Was that supposed to be a compliment or an insult?”
“Yeah.” She nodded.
“Oh. Okay. That’s how we’re playing this?”
Emma’s cheeks burned with the effort of trying to control her smile. Messing with him was just too much fun. She’d almost forgotten her anxiety. “You started it.”
“I concede defeat... this time.” Ace bowed to his champion before resuming his course down the hall. “So what was this kinky favor you wanted?”
“Leif,” she blurted out, as she tried to remember what it was about him that had been so important.
“Safely locked up,” Ace answered, before she could say another word.
“No. That’s not it. If he ordered her to be drugged, he might be shocked to know Regina died.”
“That’s if he ordered it. And if he knew what it was expected to do to her.”
“So wouldn’t it be good to see his reaction to learning the news?”
Ace shook his head. “That wolf is a crafty one. I doubt he’d show his cards either way.”
“What if he thought it might buy him a pardon?” Emma asked.
“I think he would lie.”
“Body language doesn’t lie as well as people do. It’s all about the question you ask, not the answers he tells you,” Emma suggested.
“So you propose we go down there and have a chat with him to see what he does?” Ace asked.
“Someone should,” she replied, not wanting to be part of that investigation at all.
Ace opened his mouth as if to answer, but the moment sound began to escape from his lips, footsteps echoing in the hall behind them stole their attention.
Everyone was supposed to be in their rooms. At least, that was what Jay had said. Emma expected to see one of Ace’s council members, or perhaps someone from the security team patrolling the halls, but when she turned, the woman she saw was neither.
“Oh, good. I was completely lost. I thought I’d be wandering these halls all night.” A woman she’d never seen before approached with a friendly enough smile to be disarming. “Did I hear you talking about my mate?”
“Nikita?” Ace asked, sounding just as thrown off guard by the new woman as Emma felt. Jay had said she’d arrived while they were working on Richard.
“Sorry, everyone was out when I arrived. We haven’t been formally introduced. Yes.” She held the back of her hand out to him as if expecting him to kiss it.
Ace stood motionless for a moment before taking the offered hand and shaking it. “I’m Aeson Silverman. Alpha of the Long Teeth.”
Nikita winced with embarrassment and jerked her hand away.
Emma stood in shocked silence. Given Leif’s age and demeanor, she would have expected to see a mate that looked more mature, but Nikita could easily pass for thirty. Trophy mate. Her hair was raven black without even a hint of gray. And where even Emma had crow’s feet cropping up at the edges of her eyes, Nikita looked as if she hadn’t even started to wrinkle. Totally unfair. But of course that had to mean she wasn’t his first mate. Not surprising from a warmongering dictator like Leif.
“And you are?” Nikita asked, with a casual glance at Emma.
“High council of the Olde Town and Chief Medical Officer Emma MacBride.” She delivered the response with as much self-importance as she could muster.
“Well, I’m so glad to meet you both.” Nikita smiled as if she wanted everyone to see how perfectly white her teeth were.
No wolf should look that good. She had to have some kind of flaw.
“We have the facility on lockdown right now, Nikita. I’m not sure if you’re aware of that. You’ll have to go back to your room,” Ace said.
“What has my mate done this time?” She huffed with exaggerated annoyance.
“Why do you assume it was him?” Ace asked curiously.
“He’s the reason we’re all here, isn’t he?” Nikita asked.
“Yes, but he’s been locked up since his capture,” Emma replied.
“The first thing you’ll want to understand about that man is he gets his way, no matter what.”
Emma opened her mouth to refute that, but Nikita cut her off.
“No. Matter. What.” She spoke with complete certainty. “If so much as one person is within earshot, he’ll worm his way into their heads. It’s what he does.”
“And has he wormed his way into yours?” Emma asked, growing suddenly suspicious.
Nikita leaned in close and whispered, “I want him dead for a reason.”
Emma couldn’t fault her for that, though she picked up the same creepy vibe from Mrs. Perfect as she’d gotten from Leif the first time they’d met. And knowing Leif had no living heirs meant they hadn’t produced any together. If Leif were taken out of the picture, then she’d stand to rule the territory alone.
“Be that as it may” – Ace cleared his throat to grab their attention – “we do need to get everyone back to their rooms.” He led the way, heading toward Nikita’s room first.
27
Aeson Silverman
The evening threatened to go on forever. Not that he could sleep if he wanted to. One problem after another threatened to destroy their pack, leaving the new Alpha wary of what might come next.
Emma had been safely returned to her suite. But the conversation she’d had with him haunted Ace all the way back to his office. Had Leif been pulling strings the entire time he’d been in captivity, or had someone else ordered the hit on Regina? Questions that would need answers, hopefully before another tragedy struck.
He poked his head into the office, glad to see his brother still hard at work, his face buried in the computer screen; scrutinizing security tapes, no doubt.
“Jay. You’re with me. We need to have a talk with our buddy down in the cell,” Ace called out from the doorway.
Half-lidded eyes slowly lifted from the screen. Sleep threatened to claim them all soon. “Why?” Jay groggily replied.
“Got any more of those magic potions? We should probably split one,” Ace laughed.
“Yeah, sure.” Jay reached into the top drawer of the desk and pulled ou
t a small bottle. He took a sip, and as the magic took hold, light returned to his eyes. Jay’s whole body shivered, and as he stood, all signs of exhaustion disappeared. “But you still haven’t answered my question.”
“We’re going to play a little good cop, bad cop, and see what we can get out of Leif. See if he knows about Regina’s death.”
“You and Emma are getting pretty close. Murder must be your thing.” Jay tossed the bottle at Ace.
“Whatever works, right?” Ace shrugged. No point in feeding the beast. His brother would only dig harder if he tried to avoid the subject; though talking about it felt like it might somehow jinx the connection they’d made earlier. He slugged back the last of the wakeup juice, shivering as the invigorating tingle ran the length of his body. Sleep would have to come soon, but at least with this stuff, he could endure a little while longer.
“Good for you!” Jay slapped him on the back as he walked past.
“Oh and Nikita paid us a visit in the hallway.”
“Really?” Jay spun on his heel, to face his brother. “I told her we were on lockdown.”
“Did you?” Disbelief narrowed his eyes “She seemed to take it as new information.”
“Pretty sure I did.” Jay said. “I’m just as exhausted as you, but I wouldn’t have let something like that slip.”
“Did she get an access code for Leif’s cell?” Ace asked, worried that his brother might have followed the standard protocol they’d set up before the shit hit the fan. Each envoy was supposed to get a welcome packet with information and equal rights access to the accused for questioning.
“Who do you think I am?” Jay sounded insulted, but Ace wasn’t in the mood for an argument.
“Just going through the motions here. Nothing has gone according to plan. This whole thing is a giant clusterfuck.”
Understatement of the century. Jay’s face made that fact abundantly clear, though when he responded his tone was more subdued. “You can say that again.”
No one was immune to the stress cause by this event, and Jay as head of security had been taking so much on his shoulders that he looked about ready to crumble under the pressure.
“I know you’re handling a lot.” Ace reached out and hugged his brother tightly. They had to stick together. Their bond had to remain stronger than anything the world threw at them. Together they could overcome anything.
“We gotta do what we gotta do, right?” Jay pulled back with a nod of solidarity.
“Speaking of that... we might keep an extra close eye on Nikita. Just to be safe.” Ace started down the hallway, assuming his brother would follow.
“I wouldn’t mind that. She’s hot.”
“Dude?” Ace replied, shocked his brother would even go there. He refused to turn and look at Jay after he made such an idiotic comment.
“She is.” The amusement in his voice only added to Jay’s ridiculous comment. “Can’t blame a guy for looking.”
Ace ground his teeth in frustration. He hoped his brother was just playing with him, but when it came to women, all bets were off. “She’s probably bat-shit crazy, being Leif’s mate.”
“Yeah, she’d have to be.” Jay laughed. “Crazy ones are always the best in bed, though, am I right?”
“Not worth it!” Ace rounded the corner and came up on the locked door to the detainment center. Two guards stood watch, as expected. Eyes forward, they stiffened their posture as Ace arrived and asked, “Did anyone come through here tonight?”
One guard shook his head no. The other did not respond.
“Code or not, no one but myself or Jay are allowed to get in here tonight. Understood?” Ace gave the order and then punched his code into the door panel.
“We have a plan?” Jay whispered, as he followed through behind his brother.
Ace shrugged. “We’re just going to have a little visit with our buddy here and see how he’s feeling, now that his business is done.”
Leif lay resting on the cot provided in the lonely cell. His back faced the open bars, hiding his face from view. “As long as air fills these lungs, I will still have business to conduct.”
“Feeling confident, are you?” Ace asked with a light chuckle. “Your friends... the ones who visited you earlier, gave you assurances, did they?”
Leif remained on his cot, not bothering to turn or make eye contact with Ace, though his voice retained the haughty tone of authority he once possessed. “You know as well as I that Alphas don’t have friends. We are leaders.”
“I doubt you were leading Regina anywhere. That woman hates you.” Ace pointed out the obvious, in the hopes it might spur some kind of response from the old wolf.
Jay walked closer to the cell and looked in on Leif’s prone body. “Bet she’ll be first in line for your execution.”
Ace held his breath and waited. If Leif knew of her death, some clue might be visible. Even the slightest movement could be something to work with. A strangled breath or the twitch of a finger could mean guilt.
Silence that might have been informative too was in short supply. “Women are a fickle sort, aren’t they?” Leif spoke without any hesitation or even an ounce of emotion in his voice. “How’s the good doctor treating you, Ace?”
“I find it funny that the woman who wants nothing more than to see you executed comes calling down here moments before your trial,” Jay said. “Did you know we have her log in on record? Security footage as well.”
Leif chuckled, as if in on some joke neither of them shared. “Well, you know how it goes. Women always have to get the last word.”
“But you didn’t mention her roughing you up before the meeting. Probably too embarrassed to admit a little woman took you down,” Jay added.
Leif finally moved, rolling toward them and sitting himself up on the edge of the cot. “Are you boys trying to make a case against Regina?”
Ace smiled as congenially as he could, mentally noting the fact that he seemed eager to discredit her. “We’re just reviewing evidence at the moment.”
“Far be it for me to speak ill of a fellow high council member, but I did notice her acting uncharacteristically tonight. Perhaps the death of one of her children and her mate broke the poor woman,” Leif responded, with a shrug of indifference.
“Deaths she attributes to your meddling,” Ace replied, watching each and every movement the old wolf made. Body language often spoke volumes of truth that words could not achieve.
“That’s all been dragged through the mud this evening. And my sentence decided.” Leif shrugged.
Ace picked up on the reference to mud, mentally cataloging it as a potential sign while also noting the disdain in Leif’s voice. Had he known she was dead, he might have sounded a little more chipper. The sum of all clues would have to be weighed later. For the moment, Ace continued to follow the conversation.
“Then she got what she wanted after all?” Jay asked.
“I suppose she did,” Leif replied, with a defeated sigh.
“The enhanced emotions really helped drive home her despair,” Ace said. “You’d have to be heartless to ignore the losses she endured.”
For a blip of a second, Ace caught a narrowing of Leif’s eyes. Anger. But was he angry that his plan had worked against him, or was he angry that she’d won despite his plan? If only Ace could be direct with his question, things would be easier. But as slippery as the old wolf was, Ace couldn’t trust anything that came from his mouth, only the truth of his body language. And all he was getting from that was the absolute hatred the two wolves shared for each other.
“Women always get the last word.” Ace repeated Leif’s previous statement.
“They’ll kill you in the end,” he replied with a snort.
“Unless you get them first,” Jay said sarcastically.
“Killing Alphas is a dangerous business,” Leif responded, without an ounce of amusement.
“Only if you do it wrong,” Ace replied, and slowly turned away and walked back to the doo
r. He hoped the old wolf might have a snarky reply or reveal himself in some way, given the opportunity, but only silence and the sound of his footsteps replied to his words. Ace looked over his shoulder as he reached for the handle. “Oh. One more thing. Your mate, Nikita, is here. She wants to see you one last time before–”
“Whatever happens to me, do not let that woman take my place,” Leif warned.
“You’ll be dead; what do you care?” Jay scoffed.
“Consider the people who might be affected,” Leif replied and this time, Ace picked up on a sour note of concern there. He’d never heard Leif speak so honestly.
“Too bad you never considered that in your multiple coup attempts.” Ace left that statement hanging in the air as he exited the room.
His feet moved of their own accord as he scrambled to process all the information he had gleaned from the chat with Leif.
He’d made it half way back to the office before Jay broke through his thoughts. “He doesn’t know she’s dead.”
“No. He doesn’t. But he does have someone else helping him,” Ace replied.
“You caught that too?”
“He still thinks he’s got an ace up his sleeve to keep him from the gallows,” Ace said with absolute certainty. “Problem is – who?”
The million-dollar question. If they could answer that, they could put an end to the systematic breakdown of the packs.
“My money’s on Tito,” Jay suggested.
Ace looked down at his watch. “It’s getting really late. I’m going to try to get some face time with him in the morning. Maybe isolating him will give us some answers about their connection.”
“Tito doesn’t know the extent of the damage tonight,” Jay said. “He’s been informed of the death of Regina, but not the bodyguards.”
“Good. That actually helps. If he’s in league with Leif, he’d have certainly gotten a message to him about her death.” Ace felt relieved about that, but seeing as Tito was on top of his list of suspects, it didn’t put him anywhere closer to confirming his suspicion
“I’m going to finish reviewing security footage tonight. We’ll pick back up in the morning.” Jay turned the corner heading for his room.
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