“Thank you, Silas,” Lyle says, squeezing his thigh as he gets up to begin making calls across the room. This way, he has privacy as we continue to discuss things, but doesn’t have to come back to update us.
It helps that they have a large den for us to work in.
“Hello, Helen?” Silas asks, making me smile. He is the best one for the job, since he’s great at convincing people to do things.
I don’t know many people who dislike him, and that’s saying something.
“Next issue,” Ansel murmurs. “Shiloh, how are you doing with your research?”
“These people are cunts,” I say without thinking, making Lyle snort. “There’s everything from a list of ownership to upcoming auction dates, as well as deaths of their inventory. They have little concern for life. I still have more to get into, but one of the things I’m most interested in is following the money.”
“Please let me run a lawsuit against them,” Lyle begs. “It’ll be so much fun!”
“Or…I could just kill them all and that would be more fun for me,” I say with a smirk.
“Clearly our types of fun are very different,” Ansel chuckles, shaking his head in amusement.
This is another reason why we enjoy working with Pack Mayor.
“Lalalala,” Lyle sings, covering his ears.
“Darling, I keep telling you that doesn’t work if you want to ensure you can protect us,” Silas calls from the other side of the room, ending his call.
“Besides, you know that you also enjoy finding retribution with your fists just as much as we do,” I remind him, thinking back to how Nina’s mother found her end.
“I have to pretend that I’m an upstanding, law-abiding citizen,” Lyle shrugs.
“I am an upstanding citizen, but the law-abiding part is usually hit or miss,” I parry, hacking into Winchell’s accounts. “Not to mention, I’m committing multiple crimes while sitting here.”
“True. Send me a list later in case it ever comes up. The trick to being on retainer for you all is that you’re never caught,” Lyle replies.
Everyone around him knocks on wood, making him laugh. We are a superstitious bunch, and that’ll never change.
“Alright, let us know if you need help on the less legal side of things,” he adds. “We’ll make sure that the omegas at the hospital are well taken care of.”
“Thank you,” I say, closing out of my current work before closing my laptop with a sigh. I’m ready to go home. I’ll continue to work from home after a shower. “Ansel told you our many sins today…”
“I’m not a priest,” Lyle says. “I’m far from it actually, but I am the guy who will make sure no one knows you were ever there.”
Nodding, I go over everything I did to ensure he can do that. The security cameras are wiped from the street, inside The Hug Project, and the side streets. Pack Tremaine and their omegas are ghosts.
Goddamn. Our omegas. I woke up with sinus shit this morning, and have no idea if they actually are mine. I’m still up in the air about this, though I did feel a pull when I saw them. My sympathy factor can be hit or miss, which has a lot to do with being a psychopath.
I have the ability to disconnect when I kill, just like I have the same ability to do this when I’m fucking with someone’s life. I’ve already decided that Winchell is a better fertilizer than a human, which means I’ll begin dismantling his life very soon.
My dick is hard just thinking about it.
“We’ll be in touch,” Ansel says.
I follow his lead as I stand, thanking Lyle for the use of his home while we figured this out.
“Anytime,” he says, walking us out.
The drive home is short, and Ansel and I keep our own counsel during it. The sun is already setting by now, and the day has slipped away.
“I want to talk to Cassidy about all this,” he finally says as we park the SUV.
“Me too,” I murmur. “It’s like time just slipped away, and I didn’t realize how much she was struggling.”
