“Can you find Glenn and bring him here? I want to discuss the humans with you guys and see if we can come up with a plan to take ‘em out.”
Grinning, Smokey said, “Duh…sounds right up our alley. See you in five.” Slipping his phone back into his pocket, he walked over to his mate and waited until there was a break in the conversation. “Hey, Shining Star, Dylon wants to see me and Glenn…will you be okay here?”
Beaming at Smokey, Theo nodded. “Eagle Feather will be here in a minute.”
“I’ll be back shortly,” Smokey murmured, leaning down to give his mate a kiss. Then, glancing over at Dakota, he smiled. “Congrats! Maxwell is a charmer.”
Theo’s eyes followed Smokey out of the hospital room and then, looking back at Dakota, said, “I thought he’d never leave.”
Dakota’s eyebrows shot up. “Why?”
Smiling mischievously, Theo, lowered his voice. “Norm told me the ring we picked out came today, so Ki is gonna help me make it special for Smokey when we propose to him. We want it to be a surprise, so Ki told Norm he had to make sure Smokey was busy doing somethin’ else instead of watching me.”
“Smart man!” Dakota smirked. “So Dylon’s the diversion.”
Nodding vigorously, Theo said, “I thought it would be much harder to get Dylon on board, but I guess I worried for nothing.”
Chuckling, Slate shifted Maxwell from one shoulder to the other and continued to gently pat his back. “Dylon’s a sucker when it comes to anything to do with you or Norm.”
“Slate’s right,” Dakota said. “He’s been watching out for you guys ever since the rescue. Now, what can I do to help with this amazingly romantic meal you’re planning?”
~/~/~/~/~
“Josiah was the sole stockholder in the company that owns the land where he was camping,” Eddie said, looking at his boss.
“How sure are you?” Reeve asked, getting up from the fallen tree.
“Absolutely positive. The boys in accounting found a transfer of Josiah’s personal funds to an offshore bank. It took a while, but they finally got the bank records, and one showed the money was transferred to Josiah’s company bank account. From there it was easy to put together the pieces.”
Shaking his head, Reeve muttered, “What a fucking asshole.”
“There’s more.”
“What?”
“I had the tech guys go over the aerial photos and it appears to have a house along with several outbuildings on it.”
“You got to be kiddin’.”
“Sorry, wish I was,” Eddie said, handing Reeve several documents. “It’s all there…building permits, payments to contractors for various work done, and the appraisal by the accounting guys. He spent a pretty penny on it.”
Reeve slowly read each document, his anger growing with every word. Now, at last, he had the answer to where the hell the money had gone. “Five million dollars?” Reeve asked Eddie. “Are you fucking sure that house is worth five million dollars?”
“It’s also the land, which is prime real estate.”
Studying the slightly blurred picture of the house, Reeve couldn’t tell much other than it was huge—which shouldn’t have surprised him but it did. The man had an ego that was bigger than the state of California. But it also explained other things, such as that many of the statues of Josiah found in the Alpha house weren’t solid gold as he’d first thought. He looked up at Eddie and ordered, “Put together a team to secure the property. Get the accounting team in there to compile a detailed list of each item in the house along with photos of the interior of the house and the other buildings.”
After Eddie left, Reeve sunk down on the log again, staring at the documents he still had. If the appraisal was right, the last issue that needed to be resolved was going to be easy.
~/~/~/~/~
When Heath finally finished, Tristan stood up and winced at the pain he felt. It wouldn’t take long for his body to heal itself but until it did, he was going to enjoy the constant reminder of his claiming.
Seeing his mate’s reaction, Heath reached up and held Tristan’s face until their eyes finally met. “Hey…you okay?”
Slowly, a sensuous smile appeared on Tristan. “Much better than okay…you could say I’m fucking over the moon.”
“So you’re ready to go again,” Heath murmured, wrapping his hand around his mate’s tie and tugging on it.
