“You’re very good at hypothesising,” Douglas says, reinserting himself into the discussion. He’s leaning back on his chair, relaxed and Heidi responds to his calmness. “Tell me how the shooter is connected.”
He challenges her with a push of his Alpha presence, but it’s done with admiration and love. Like is supposed to happen.
In the corridor I can hear the authorities arriving. Ronnie’s timbre voice directs them to the scene, while he directs the medical emergency services to Dare. I need to get out there soon too.
Of course, she knows where I’m at, she’d feel me being torn in our bond. “I’m going as quick as I can.”
“I’ve got all the time in the world for you. Everyone is being attended to. Dazzle me.” I wink, and she blossoms, like a person should do if they have someone in their corner.
“This is full of what ifs. Okay, the first one is clearly not really a what if, but let’s say the Executive never disbanded the research into the drug to break bonds. Instead, what they did was set up a small research team led by a conceited and cocky beta, with the intent of establishing a rival pharmaceutical company, Gamma Pharm.”
“Explain why,” Douglas urges.
Her words dry up and I watch as she scowls at something before it all clicks into place. Her mouth falls open in realisation. “It was the clause Margot added. On the night I got attacked, the night the truth about Ayden came out, the arrangement of my Trust and also my position with Verdune altered ever so slightly. No matter what the Board did or said Verdune could never, ever, ever go to anyone but me. Even in my death, the Board, or any pack I packed got nothing. You and Margot were busy protecting me behind a million words and clauses, but that night the Board found out about the new clause so they had to find another way of taking from Verdune what they believed they were entitled to. It’s the Butterfly Effect. Small decisions by me, Ayden, the Board, Margot, changed absolutely everything.”
Something in my thoughts forces my attention to stay on Ayden. “If Ayden denied your bond why would he kill the Alpha who attacked you?”
Heidi tips her head agreeing with my question but answering it different to what I expected, “Because we’ve been looking at it all wrong. Like I said before, it wasn’t about me. Look at the situation with that insight.”
Douglas’ eyebrows pull up as he joins her line of thinking. “What if Leigh tasked Ayden to kill the Alpha as a test of where his loyalties lie – was he working for Verdune which in turn included Allan and you, or was Ayden’s role to protect Leigh?”
She sits up straight on my lap. “That’s it, Douglas! He killed the Alpha not because I was attacked but to clean up the mess. Because dead men can’t talk.”
The conversation stalls and by the looks of concentration on their faces, they’re each working through a range of possibilities and conjectures.
I squeeze my arm around her waist to get Heidi’s attention. “Did you ever see him in prison?”
She glowers at me. Leaving me no option but to chuckle before leaning down to kiss the scowl off her lips.
Heidi answers once we break apart, her scowl long gone. “For the sake of clarification, no. At the first chance I got, I left for Unity. Douglas and Margot helped it happen.”
“He was sentenced. I had an interest on behalf of my client,” Douglas adds. “He wasn’t remanded in custody during the trial but had to report weekly to the authorities. Once he was sentenced, I shifted my focus to ensuring those bastards kept their hands off Heidi’s future.”
“And then Margot got sicker. Our focus shifted to that, while I was also trying to move on from being attacked,” Heidi says as she settles back into my arms. “Now let’s say during that time, Ayden disclosed to Leigh that he was my scent-matched Alpha. He offers himself up as a live test for the drug they wanted to trial because then they’re testing all the bonds and connections people can have with others—scent-matched or bitten; it’s all the same in the world of medicine. And even though our connection didn’t solidify there’s no disputing we shared a bond that could have formed which gives them another angle to test. A drug that could dissolve any and all types of bonds at any stage, would make millions and millions, effectively somersaulting Gamma Pharma into the Pharmaceutical industry. Ayden was a key player but I’m not sure he was central player in the objective of the Executive, which was to take the fortune of Verdune, any way they could. Does that make sense?”
I groan, “Jesus, you’re going to ask me to find him, aren’t you?”
She shakes her head. “I think he’s dead.”
“Why?” Douglas asks, beating me to asking the same question.
“Lowly never mentioned him after that weekend away when I went to see Raney packed, after Ronnie kicked him out the car. When the Executive were in hospital dying, and Pack Lowly was gossiping, he wasn’t involved but before that he was keeping me exactly where I needed to be. Essentially, he was their eyes and ears and also walking billboard for the drug they wanted to manufacture and sell. And that’s why Pack Lowly were coming, demanding to see me and Allan, because they knew I knew about Gamma, and they no longer had Ayden as their spy.”
Heidi climbs out of my lap, resting her butt on the edge of the table. Our fingers are interlaced, and she watches me as much as I watch her. All the different flecks of gold and brown swirl around in her eyes, as everything keeps falling into place.
She takes another steadying exhale then goes over it all again. “Ayden was hired to be a guard, that fact is not in dispute. Allan knew he was Leigh's son, but did Leigh know initially?” She asks us both.
Douglas takes over, “Ayden and Heidi were surprisescent matches. Ayden felt torn between the connection and his duty as her guard. He kept this a secret until he was incarcerated and offered himself up as a trial subject to the pack bond breaking drug. And this would account for his complete disregard for Heidi when he gets out but still is on her security team, because now the Board want Pack Lowly to pack her but they want to know she doesn’t stumble on to any information regarding Gamma or the beta hidden in Verdune.”
Both Douglas and Heidi look at me and I talk through the next part, “Ayden killed the man that attacked her - was it because he felt he needed to as her scent matched alpha or under orders from an outside source to cut off loose ends?”
“Cut off loose ends,” Heidi clarifies before she continues, “Now Ayden is missing - Why? Did the drug fail and he started to feel the pull of our scent-match again? Or was he just another loose end that needed to be eliminated? And that’s my bet of what happened, because if Leigh wanted Ayden as family he would have accepted him immediately but he never wanted him.”
Her apple scent gets bitter as she explains the final piece, “They weren’t coming to kill either Allan or me, they were coming to claim me. Not for my money, or for Verdune, but to make me their bitch. They would have forced the bond, breaking me to do it if need be.”
The instant she says it, I know it to be the truth. A blast of rage from my Alpha makes my scent sharp enough to make others bleed. Douglas responds, dropping his eyes to the ground, while Heidi responds like a compatible Omega should; she becomes my anchor, binding me to the present moment. Stopping me from getting lost in what could have happened.
“They would have locked you away. Never let you out in public again. They couldn’t afford for anyone to know what they had done because the public and investors never would have got behind Gamma.” I hiss, at the realisation of what might have happened.
