Pack Poisoned, page 18
part #2 of Thrown to the Wolves Series
The look Adrian shoots me would make a lesser person flinch. “What. Do. You. Want?”
Scoffing, I slide my chair back and rise to my feet. “I asked them if you could come over so that we could talk like reasonable adults, but it’s clear now that was a stupid idea. Obviously Mom doesn’t realize what a backstabbing pervert you are, so I don’t know why I bothered trying. This was a waste of time.”
I make it all of three steps before he breaks. “Wait, what did she say?”
Got him.
“What does it matter? You’re clearly not the same person she remembers.”
This time, I nearly make it out of the room before he quietly presses, “Please?”
Hesitating in the doorway, I take what little blip of my conscience that still remains and promptly set it on fire. I was right, which means I need to lean into those instincts if we want to pull this off. Adrian Ronen hated me from the second he saw my face, one that looks so similar to my mother’s that he was confident in telling my mom’s mates about me without any other facts to base the assumption off of. Which means that her face was seared into his memory even twenty some odd years later. My best guess? He loved her and couldn’t have her, and is either using me to draw her out of the woodwork, or he wants to punish me in her place by throwing me to the same wolves that she managed to escape from.
“Not much. I was giving her the abridged version of what was going on, and she kept avoiding actually answering any of my questions. But when your name came up, her tone shifted and she asked how you were doing, that sort of thing. So I told her the next time I saw you, I’d try to find out since it was clear she wasn’t going to talk about anything else with me.”
Seconds pass, thundering heartbeats and low reverberations from various chests keeping the room from falling into silence as night descends in full force and their other halves press against the surface, wanting out to tear Adrian limb from limb. Yet they behave far better than expected, not forcing the shift. Either the guys are starting to get a handle on how to coexist with their counterparts, or their wolves are starting to settle down now that we’ve proven that they won’t be sealed away again. Whatever the reason, tentative hope flares to life in my chest, and unconsciously, my gaze darts to Reid’s empty seat at our table.
No one moves a muscle, waiting for some sort of signal that will throw the meeting in one direction or the other. Eventually, I’m forced to take a step, and then another. I make it a dozen paces down the hall before his curiosity wins out and Adrian’s chair crashes to the ground as he jumps to his feet. There’s a strangled sound as someone catches him in a chokehold before he can rush after me.
“She’s not even yours!” he shouts, the sound of his struggle with Kaige and Hunter echoing down the hallway. “Why haven’t you killed them like you were supposed to?!” His voice catches with his next grunt of pain. “Just bring her back.”
Closing my eyes, I take three deep breaths before turning on my heel and returning. “And why does it matter to you where I live, Adrian? You hate me. Go about your life and leave me alone; you’ve done enough.”
He meets my hard stare, a storm passing through his eyes and his skin paling further, highlighting the scar on half of his face. And all through it he searches mine for answers that I can’t possibly give, and a part of him knows it. “Because I wish you were never born. You were damned long before Annika tried to carve out my eye during her escape.”
There’s a physical pain where my heart is supposed to be that I metaphorically punch into submission. He’s baiting me, and doing a damn fine job of it too, but I can’t hand him a bargaining chip after this entire meeting was concocted to rip his power away and leave him at our mercy. So as much as I desperately want to demand answers, I remind myself that everything that comes out of his mouth could be a lie twisted to gain the upper hand again, to get inside my head.
“Set me up a meeting with Carter Stonewood, and I won’t go to Malachai about your... extracurricular activities. I imagine Pack Ronen’s alpha won’t appreciate the shame you bring to his legacy, or conspiring behind his back. And I’ll keep my mouth shut when I meet my fathers about the part you played in their mate’s disappearance.”
The guys’ confusion is a physical entity, but they’re wise enough not to voice it, so I take mercy on them. “Because if their reputation is to be believed, if Adrian had tried to stop her, which he clearly did by that scar, yet didn’t succeed, the Slaughters would have killed him for the failure if they’d known. Which means his guard was down for her to get the strike in at all, and if I know Mom, she has no qualms about fighting dirty and manipulating people. So, I’m guessing she used Adrian to get the hell out of dodge, then carjacked him and left him behind. Sound about right, Adrian?”
The pain in his eyes is too raw to fake, so even though he refuses to speak, I tilt my head in understanding. Returning to my seat at the table, I take a deep breath and gesture for Kaige to release the death grip on the guy’s throat.
“I’m sorry. Trust me, I know firsthand what she’s like, so I can sympathize. Hate her all you want; God knows I do. But at least be enough of a damn adult to realize that you’re projecting your issues on me when I haven’t done anything to you. You’re the one that’s been taking shots at me and pretending like its revenge. Hate to break it to you, Adrian, but hurting me isn’t going to hurt her like you seem to think it will. My eighteenth birthday, my present was a five A.M. wake-up call and an empty suitcase. So if you’re going to hate me, at least let it be because I’m blackmailing and using you, not anything to do with my family whose actions I have no control over.”
Low growls have become the soundtrack to my life, so they hardly even register as more than background noise as I wait to see if Adrian’s willing to take the olive branch. Admittedly, it’s a weak-ass one that would break at the slightest increase in pressure, but it’s the thought that counts. I’m not going to cede control for the sake of a story I’d honestly love to hear, but I also don’t have to be a total bitch to the guy that tried to help my mom escape the miserable life she was forced into, sold like a sex slave meant only for wolf-releasing and breeding purposes.
She made me a bitter person, too. I just chose therapy instead of letting her ruin another twenty- six years of my life by being obsessed with a convoluted revenge scheme to get even.
“So, what do you want with Carter Stonewood?” he eventually asks, eyeing me with cautious interest now that he realizes the guys aren’t calling the shots. Kaige and Hunter aren’t even my mates and listened to my silent gestures, so I can imagine the loop it’s throwing him that Slade and Damian are for the most part here for moral support.
“As you’ve so well proven, there are no actual solutions to our current problems, simply because everybody hates everybody for something someone did in the past. But that asshole never got the beat down he deserved for what he did to Emmy, and it'll make all of us feel better to let off some steam before the next strike comes.”
Adrian’s smile is slow to come, and malicious when it’s fully developed. “Now that’s a plan I can get behind without any extra incentives. You have a deal, Ms. Laroque.”
Chapter 11
Boden
"Hot damn." Kaige whistles, impressed, as we watch crate after crate get hauled out of the back of a semi backed onto the loading dock. “So not just some coke, then. No wonder they wanted to murder you guys for holding this shit up.”
The warehouse is chaotic, Stonewood’s men rushing here after the very brief warning Adrian gave their alpha that things were a go after all and to come meet the truck. Not like he couldn’t have called at any point over the last three days, but it’s better to keep men on their toes with these sort of business relationships so that they can’t plan the best way to fuck you over.
A little over a dozen men are hastily unloading the truck and running the crates across the open expanse of the warehouse, out to their waiting SUVs on the other side. They have to work double-time since they sacrificed eight of their guys to watch the four of us, semi-automatics trained on our chests. With Kaige’s ability as an ace up our sleeve, though? It’s not much of a threat. Really, the only thing that’s even the slightest bit alarming is the realization of how much of an influence the Slaughters have had in this area for gods know how long when we’d never even heard of them before Sabrina showed up. We keep tabs on all of the packs and their dealings to a certain degree, and while we knew Stonewood was in the drug trade, we never delved so deep as to know what drugs they were moving.
Brent Stonewood finally arrives, his skin flushed with irritation. Not only at being expected to drop everything and jump at a snap of Adrian’s fingers when he’s so far beneath him in social standing, getting jerked around this month and his plans ruined, but at Cinjin, Kaige, and mine’s presence. “Someone care to explain what the hell they’re doing here?” Furious eyes lock onto Adrian’s scarred face, and a lesser man might have flinched in the face of the pissed off asshole that looks like he stepped out of a B-rated mafia movie.
“Since you were so hard pressed to receive the shipment and Jackson failed to handle the-” Adrian pauses for dramatic effect with a knowing smirk “- contributing factors to its delay, I pulled a few strings as a surprise. So, you’re welcome. Now everyone’s happy.”
The man has balls, I’ll give him that.
Brent’s jaw ticks, but he attempts to conceal it by tucking his hands in the pockets of his dark suit, rocking back on his heels in faux casualty, as if contemplating the situation without a care. I share a quick look with Cin and find him struggling to suppress a grin of his own; Brent’s always had a shit poker face.
Eyes as black as his soul narrow on the four of us as Brent catches our amusement, aiming his attention at Adrian. “I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.”
“Let’s put it this way then.” A cruel, smug smile spreads across my face. “Your suppliers aren't particularly happy that their daughter was injured in your sloppy attempt to ‘handle’ things. And as someone mated to said daughter, who do you think they’d prefer to align themselves with when certain connections were brought to light in order to save face?”
A crease forms between his eyebrows. “She was never threatened, simply escorted away from potential crossfire. I made sure that was abundantly clear, so anything else that happened to that girl wasn’t at the hands of my men.”
He’s not really this dumb? It’s almost impossible not to roll my eyes. Yes, please admit to your involvement.
Adrian shrugs a single shoulder. “Regardless, it nearly resulted in their relationship with their daughter getting off on the wrong foot, and they have no interest in chasing her away.” The ‘like her mother,’ is implied, hanging heavily in the air. “And you know as well as I do that they have plenty of other interested buyers, so it would go a long way all around to extend a peace offering to smooth things over between all parties.”
Red spreads up his neck, but he wisely keeps himself in check, at least smart enough to realize the corner he’s been backed into. Seething, he grits out, “Such as?”
Cinjin speaks for the first time, his voice devoid of all traces of his usual humor. “Carter. I promised Slade that we’d play by the rules and wait, but seeing as no one else is doing so anymore, my patience is wearing thin. I’d think the men you sent after my sister that never reported back would be proof enough that our pack may be small, but each one of us is worth ten of your men. Your failed attempts at getting us arrested over the past week should convince you that our lack of retaliation is out of respect for the old laws of our kind, not because we’re afraid. We’re owed blood, and I damn well plan to collect; with or without your blessing.”
He looks from me to Cinjin, then Kaige, Adrian, and the truck. After several minutes of silent contemplation, weighing all of his options, he nods, barking a command at one of the men pointing a gun at us to fetch him.
“Will this affect the next shipment?” he asks, speaking to Adrian and acting as if we aren’t worth acknowledging. Still, his men keep their weapons trained on us, his show of an olive branch exactly that; a show.
Adrian pulls out his phone, bringing up his calendar and dragging shit out simply to piss off Brent. “I’m not seeing anything that would indicate a delay.” He lifts his gaze to the alpha in front of him, reveling in the fact that we promised to protect him to the best of our ability in return for his cooperation, exploiting it as much as he possibly can. “Unless there’s something you’d like me to pencil in? Any maimings or pissing someone off that will disrupt the supply chain?”
If that vein in his temple throbs any harder, it’s going to burst.
The words are hardly discernible between his grinding teeth. “Everything’s running smoothly on our end.”
Adrian nods to himself, pokes at his phone a little more, and then tucks it in his back pocket with the bulging envelope containing the ‘tip’ he suggested they should bring for all of his hard work. “Then pending no more issues, we’re on for around six weeks out. Pleasure doing business with you as always.”
The next twenty minutes pass by without any more conversation, only the sounds of men running crates and beginning to roll out keeping it from falling into silence. Jackson finally shows his face, the beta storming into the warehouse, his gun held loosely at his side.
After a terse update as Brent brings him up to speed, Jackson spits on the floor at our feet. “If they kept their bitch on a tighter leash, there wouldn’t be any problems in th-”
Time seems to slow as I slam the heel of my palm against the gun in front of me, wrapping a hand around the guy’s neck and jerking him forward to be my living shield as shots are fired in my direction. By turning to deal with the current threat, the men that should have held their weapons trained on Cinjin and Kaige give them an opening. Keeping my shield in place, I catch the gun Cin tosses my way and take down the last three as he slams his fist in Jackson’s face.
The other men in the warehouse have dropped their crates to draw their weapons, but they don’t make a move to pull the triggers when they see the stolen semi-automatic I have pressed to their alpha’s temple. They look at Brent expectantly, noting the way my arm is now wrapped around his throat, all but handing the alpha the golden key to dispatching the threat.
Yet nothing happens.
“What the fuck?” Brent murmurs, his body tensing as he realizes how precarious of a position he’s actually in. His saving grace that he abuses is useless, and he has no other tricks up his sleeve to fall back on.
Kaige casually strides closer, but stops far enough away that there’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that he isn’t making contact. Giving the rest of the room his back, he tucks his hands into the pockets of his jeans, rocking back on his heels in a subtle mockery of the alpha’s earlier posturing. Bright orange eyes lock onto Brent’s face, focusing on the bead of sweat trickling down his temple.
Kaige’s voice takes on a taunting lilt as he scolds, “Hasn’t anyone ever told you not to touch things that don’t belong to you? These wolves aren’t your toys, Brent. You don’t get to play with them.”
Smart man, keeping Sabrina out of this.
Nostrils flaring, he inhales, and with it, I watch his entire lethal presence grow while Brent’s seems to shrink with every passing second. By the time Kaige is done, the Stonewood alpha doesn’t even register as a blip on my internal radar as a threat anymore. The rest of the men surrounding us pick up on it too, that sixth sense of survival instinct. Other than a few nervous glances, they stay still; prey that doesn’t want to draw the attention of a predator. It’s easy enough to pretend that we’re human most of the time, but moments like these, it’s impossible to deny how much we’re ruled by instinct, even with our other halves sealed away.
Turning his attention to Jackson, Kaige cocks his head slightly, assessing him with predatory intent. The sound of the beta’s heartbeat picks up, bringing a satisfied smirk to Kaige’s face. “I think we’ve all learned a valuable lesson here today. That’s no way to speak about a lady, now is it?”
Jaw clenched tight, Jackson shakes his head once in a jerking motion, disdain burning in his eyes.
Kaige prowls closer, patting the beta’s cheek twice. “Good boy. Now, how about you fetch me Carter? My patience isn’t what it used to be.”
Jackson stumbles a step before hastening out of the door towards the remaining SUVs, the room holding a collective breath. Kaige pays them no mind, picking at a hangnail, so I address the frozen crowd in his stead, falling into the role far too comfortably with a foreign alpha.
“I highly recommend you grab your shit and get out before they’re back.”
The undercurrent of the threat beneath my words breaks the spell, and they start scurrying like rats. Weapons are holstered, and the last of the crates are shuffled in double-time. Leaving them to it, I glance over to where my brother’s still holding his position, gun to one guy’s forehead and boot on his chest, and give him a subtle nod.
Like I ruined his entire day, he sighs dramatically, but takes a step back, and I follow suit, releasing Brent. As much as I’d like to, taking out the head of another family without just cause would break every fragile treaty we have in place. The others would consider it an official declaration of war, and as skilled as we may be, unless these three decide to bring some of their packs out here to help us, it’d be suicide. Small groups, or one pack at a time, sure, I have confidence we could pull it off. But if all seven of them came at us in a coordinated attack, we wouldn’t stand a chance. Even if by some miracle we pulled it off, it wouldn’t be unscathed, and I’m not willing to gamble Sabrina and Emmy’s lives for the brief satisfaction I’d get putting a bullet in Brent’s skull.
As the last crate is being carted out the door, the man of the hour arrives. Ankles and wrists bound, he struggles, but can’t break out of the fireman’s carry Jackson has him in. Dumping Carter at Kaige’s feet with all of the respect of pissing on an altar, he takes a few heaving breaths, biting back everything he wishes he could spit in his face.
