Aria was an alpha and utilized her designation to be a complete bulldog in the courtroom. She was infamous in most circles and gave most other lawyers a run for their money when she faced off with them. But seeing her in her office was a completely different experience. For one her office was always a disaster. Papers and empty take out containers were strewn about and I could barely see the floor underneath all of the manila file folders that were tossed haphazardly everywhere. Once an intern had taken upon themselves to ‘clean’ Aria’s office, claiming that she would be a better lawyer if her things were organized. Let’s just say that when that intern left for the day it was with a cardboard box full of their things and zero color in their face.
Aria herself was seated in front of her desk on the floor, her heels kicked off and thrown into the corner. Her laptop was sitting on one leg and an open folder on the other. She’d pulled her highlighted brown hair up into a ponytail and had wiped off her makeup for the day, telling me she’d probably be heading home to her pack soon.
“It went as well as it could. That guy is a real prick you know.” I sat on the comfortable gray sofa in the corner and watched Aria type something furiously into her computer before finally looking up and giving me her full attention.
“Well, that is the name of corporate law, in a crisis—”
“—the devil eats the flies.” I finished for her. I still had no idea what that meant and she’d been saying it to me for years. She was full of sayings and idioms that I and the rest of the office had no idea about. We usually just smiled and nodded because we all knew that she was one-hundred times smarter than we were. Well, that and she comes from old German money, her grandparents had moved from Germany right before World War I and she’d been raised by them after her parents died. I was pretty sure that the idiom made sense in German.
“By the way,” I said, changing the subject, “Does Theo still have contacts within the FBI?”
Theo Nilsson was one of Aria’s partners in her alpha pack. He was a former FBI agent turned security consultant and probably one of the coolest guys I’d ever met. Their other packmate was Matteo Diaz, the chief of medicine at the biggest hospital in the city. The three of them made one of the most decorated and highly thought of packs in the Bay Area.
“I can ask.” Aria replied, already reaching for her phone and typing out a quick message to him, “Is this about Eloise and her pack?”
I nodded, “I don’t know how much I can share but they are having some trouble with a man named Volkov?”
Aria’s expression immediately changed, her face paling, “Alexei Volkov is a dangerous man, Link. He’s a part of the sect of the Russian mob in California. In fact he’s in charge of that sect.”
“Yeah it sounds like it.” Was all that I could respond with. I was very probably in over my head, but I’d tread these choppy waters for Eloise if I had to. There was no way in hell I was leaving her again and I doubted she’d leave Pack Russo at this point.
“You don’t understand, he’s averydangerous man. We’ve had several clients at the firm over the last fifteen years who have gotten on his bad side and have ended up dead. I understand that Leon Russo has some ties to that lifestyle but how the hell did he get involved with Alexei fucking Volkov?” Aria was typing another message on her phone and I could almost read it with my mind ‘SOS - Link has done something stupid, again.’
I was almost sure that was what it said when Aria’s phone began to ring and she answered it and put it on speaker.
“Hey babe.” Aria greeted her packmate.
“Aria, what the hell is going on? First you ask me for my FBI contacts and then you send an ‘SOS - Link is trying to get himself killed’.” Well. I was half right at least.
“Hi Theo. You’re on speaker phone.” I called out drily.
“Hi Link. Why are you trying to get yourself killed?”
Aria cut in, “He’s gotten himself involved with Pack Russo like I was telling you about and apparently they are having trouble with none other than Alexei Volkov.”
There was silence on the other end of the line before Theo belted out a string of curse words that were crass enough to make a sailor blush.
“How the actual fuck did that happen? Link that man is bad news.”
I shrugged even though I knew that Theo couldn’t see it, “Honestly? I didn’t ask. It sounds like Leon used to have issues with him when he was younger. I’m not super familiar with this whole ‘mafia’ thing. I feel like I’ve stumbled into a crime novel and I can’t get out.” I grew up in a trailer park for crying out loud. How the hell was I supposed to know about mob bosses and things like that?
“Link your best bet is to distance yourself from Pack Russo. It sounds like shit is going to get real hairy real fast.” Theo sounded stressed—a tone of voice that was usually saved for when Matteo bought a new sports car or was learning how to drift on a motorcycle because one of his residents dared him to with the explanation of, quote, “I want to show them that I’m not a normal boss, I’m acoolboss”. The motorcycle was quickly taken away from the daredevil alpha by his two more level-headed counterparts.
I hated to add onto that stress but unfortunately I had to, “Well,thatisn’t going to happen. Eloise is a part of their pack and I’m not leaving her again.”
“I told you he was trying to get himself killed.” Aria chimed in, unhelpfully, shooting me a look that was more akin to a mother duck rather than my boss.
“... I’ll call my contact at the FBI and have them get in touch with you.”
“Thank you, Theo. You’re the best.”
“Tell me that when you are all on the other side of this and are all, hopefully, still alive.”
All I could say to that was: yikes.
Now, as I drove across the Golden Gate Bridge towards Sausalito, I couldn’t help but be excited. Despite the general sense of impending doom I was happy to be able to be around Eloise. It struck me yet again that I had never felt excited when spending time with Pack Ruiz. They were all good people and I hoped to remain friends with them but I never felt like I truly belonged.
With Pack Russo it almost felt natural to be around them. Scientists had a lot to say about pack instincts and pheromones, but I was no scientist. I just knew that it felt right—especially if I got to be around Eloise.
