Chapter 89


    LEAH


    I ordered the back fields mowed after all. The grass will likely stick to feet and shoes and get dragged


    inside, but there is nothing to be done for it.


    We need a ce to set up the bars and to move out all the booze. And lest my brother and his


    packmates fr eak the f* ck out, I thought it better to move their stash rather than pour it


    down the drain.


    I’m not sure the kitchen staff is up to the task and the wolf I remembered so fondly from my childhood


    passed away a few years ago, I’d learned. The ‘chef’ is a neen year old wolf


    with an attitude and penchant for fusion dishes.


    Material ? of N?velDrama.Org.


    I like that he wants to take ownership of the menu. I think he


    was expecting me to boss him around. Instead I shook his.


    hand. Weed him to my pack. And told him to make us


    proud.


    We’ll see if that results in something amazing or the kind of


    sp iteful coup that might ruin this entire party.


    This is a country estate, it’s not like Uber eats or Doordash are


    driving all the way out here.


    “Rx,” Aaron tells me. “Chef Dom is sending trays of food


    too.”


    I still don’t know why Aaron is here. Or why he is helping me.


    “Is this because you feel bad?” I ask. “About my dad?”


    Aaron draws me aside from the flurry of wolves working to clean up the main pack house. We’re


    outside and he points to a set of benches on the side of the backwn, a good hundred


    feet from the main house.


    After we sit, he says, “Have you checked the books yet?”


    “The library books?”


    His smile is wry. “ounting books. The records for Pack Roberts and their corporations.”


    “No.” I’ve been depressed and dealing with some things.


    Here’s the moment I can lean into the conversation and just


    course I don’t.


    “Leah, your pack’s been struggling for a long time. There has been a lot of mismanagement. Your dad


    was pulling money from thepany for years. Your brother… there’s evidence


    linking him to several underground gambling rings and even weapons trafficking.”


    “You’re not serious.”


    “I am.”


    “Taking that money from the marked ount, that was just one misstep among many.” He expels a


    deep breath. “You should know that my pack has bought up a sizable portion of Roberts Corporation.”


    I haven’t been to our corporate headquarters in years.


    I wonder when my brotherst sat on the board. “How


    sizable?”


    “We now have a controlling majority.”


    I gasp. I wrench myself away from him. “Gods, it’s always


    something with you. Just when I think I can start to trust you,


    you do something awful. Again and again and again.”


    He grabs my shoulder and spins me back around. “Don’t you


    walk away from me when we’re talking.”


    I shove him back. “I’ll walk wherever the f**k I want, whenever


    1 choose.”


    His eyes sh gold.


    “I’m not yours anymore, Aaron.” I rub my eyes and try to make


    sense of things. “So let me see if I understand everything


    correctly… you set up my father for embezzlement, while


    secretly buying up shares of Roberts Corporation-”


    “It’s pu blicly traded, Leah. Anyone could’ve bought that stock.”


    “But it wasn’t anyone. It was you. Da mn it, Aaron. I always


    knew you were a ruthless ba stard, but can you just leave us alone!? You win. Okay. We’re weak, poor


    and apparently alpha-less.”


    “You’re the Alpha.”


    “Stop. You know I’m not what this pack needs.”


    He towers over me. His huge body blocking the sun and


    overwhelming me with his scent and strength and nearness.


    “You want to save your pack, quit feeling sorry for yourself. Be


    the Alpha they need you to be.”