The Reluctant Alpha (10 page)

“I’ve got a number for her and I’ll call her shortly. Jacob, you sort out what you need here. First is getting Silas’ percentage of the land. Then I want as much as I can get.”

“I’ll phone Ms. Hood now.” Jacob got up, dialing a number on his phone as he went to the back door to make the call.

“Jinx, you liaise with Jacob. Give him whatever he needs and we’ll set up some shifts to guard the camp.” Cam stood up stating, “I don’t want that fucker trying anything here but if he does come, I want to be the one to confront him. Make sure everyone knows that.”

“Will do,” Jinx replied, “tell Chastity to stay safe.”

Cam noticed the cheeky glint in his friend’s eye as he checked his phone, seeing the text from Stracey and memorizing the number. Inputting the numbers his heart sped up and when he heard her voice his breath hitched, just for a moment, before he caught himself.

“Hi, it’s Cam. Are you okay?”

He heard a little intake of breath, similar to the one he’d just experienced, before she replied. “Yes, but he knows something is wrong. Silas is never away this long.”

“Don’t worry, he won’t get any more information from the body. That’s if they find it.” Cam’s heart was beating wildly in his chest and he had no idea why. “Do you want to leave? I can meet you and bring you to safety.”

“I can’t, not tonight. He’s got me locked up with guards on the door.”

Her words elicited a snarl, “Locked up? I can come, now, and I’ll get you out.”

“No!” Chastity’s voice was frantic. “Please don’t do that. You’ll get hurt and then he’ll know I’m involved in something. Please don’t come.”

Cam took a steadying breath, the urge to go Wolf and go get Chastity gnawing inside him. “What do you want me to do?”

“If I get out tomorrow, I’ll call you and we can talk ‘bout it then. I just needed you to know that he’s aware something is wrong. I,” her voice faltered, “don’t want you getting hurt.”

“Trust me,” Cam said forcibly, “when your brother and I meet it won’t be me hurting.”

“I hope not,” Chastity whispered.

“While I have you on the phone can I ask you some questions?” He waited until she agreed. “Okay, do you have any information that could be used against Pascall and Quincy? Any weaknesses they have? Anything at all.”

“Hmm, let me think.” She was quiet for a moment or two. “Pascall likes to gamble. I know Philippe has argued with him about it before because he had to bail him out of a hole. Other than that I’m not sure.”

“That’s good to know, I can use that.” Cam knew Jacob would uncover any debts the man held. “What ‘bout Quincy? Anything on him?”

Long moments of silence met him as he waited her out. He could sense she wanted to say something but was having difficulty putting it into words. Finally, she answered, “Quincy is a creep, a really bad creep and there have been rumors of him liking
young
girls.”

Chastity took a deep breath, the sound of it causing Cam to inhale too. “Go on,” he said quietly, her reluctance obvious.

“I know he’s gotten into trouble here for going after the youngsters and got into a fight or two over it. I overheard Philippe telling him he had to stop, well, in the Pack anyways. Now I think he goes elsewhere to get what he wants.”

Cam fought back the growl threatening to break free at the thought of a full grown Wolf taking advantage of young girls. His disgust at Quincy causing him to think of the ways he was going to hurt him as soon as he got the chance. He kept his voice calm when he replied, “Okay, that’s information we can use too. Oh, and Chastity, he’ll pay for what he’s done to them. Don’t worry ‘bout that.”

“Good,” Chastity murmured, “he deserves to be punished. Cam, I have to go, I can hear them coming. Please be careful.”

“You too and if you get out of there, phone me immediately and I’ll come get you.”

“I’ll try.” Chastity hung up.

Cam sighed, the loss of her voice in his ear causing a sadness within his chest.
“What the hell is going on with me?”
he thought as he went back to the table.

Jacob was grinning like a cat that got the cream. “Here it is.” He shook a sheaf of papers held in his hand. “All I need to do now is copy his signature and you are the proud owner of Silas’ share of the land.”

Cam sat down. “Good. Now I have some more work for you.” He went on to give Jacob the information that Chastity had given and saw his PI smirk before doing what he did best.

The rest of the guys were being herded out by Fergie, a black hold all on his lap. “Where they off to?” Cam asked.

“Going to put the sensors out, Fergie is quite the little whiz with electronics.”

“That he is,” Cam agreed, picking up the paperwork and going through the contract with a fine tooth comb.

*****

Chastity stared at her phone before placing it back inside her bra. The fools had patted her jeans pockets but that was all so they hadn’t found her phone, thank goodness. Her thoughts had been wandering to the tall, dark stranger she’d met earlier. Her heart beating wildly every time she thought of him.

He’d said he could help her, take her away from here. But, could he? Was he strong enough to stand against her brother? More importantly, was he devious enough to beat Philippe? She knew how cunning and underhanded he was and she wasn’t sure if this Wolf, Cam, would be able to do what he’d said.

She hoped so. She wished with all her heart that he could because her brother was downright evil. No other word for it and it saddened her to no end. Philippe hadn’t always been this way. When they were both young he’d always watched out for her, looked after her. Then their parents were killed and he changed.

No longer did he care about anyone or anything except himself and he’d turned into a monster. A malicious and wicked man who did whatever he needed to do to get what he wanted. Including murder.

Chastity was well aware of what he’d done and she feared for her own safety. Knowing he’d do whatever he felt was necessary to get what he wanted from her. And what he wanted right now was his Beta.

She jumped as the lock turned in the door, backing up, and sitting on her bed as he walked in. Philippe’s face scared her, the look in his eyes one she’d seen before. She fought to control her body, stop it from shaking in fear as he stepped in front of her.

“Tell me,” he sneered down at her, obviously scenting her terror.

“I don’t know where he is. I really don’t.”

Chastity didn’t even see it coming, his hand moving so fast as he slapped her hard. Her face stung and her eyes watered as she fell sideways. “Philippe, I’m not lying! I saw him earlier but then he left and I don’t know where he went!”

“Chastity, my dear sister, you
are
lying and if you don’t tell me what the fuck is going on I’m going to let Pascall and Quincy come in here and have some fun with you.”

“You wouldn’t!” Chastity’s breath caught in her throat at the thought of those two being let loose on her.

“I will, now, tell me.” Philippe’s eyes bored into hers and her mind went haywire trying to come up with something, anything, to stop the threat being carried out.

“Okay! I’ll tell you.” Chastity knew her lie may not be believed but it was all she could do to stop from being violated. “You have to stay calm, Philippe, you’re not going to like what I am going to say.”

Philippe raised an eyebrow as he motioned with a hand for her to continue.

“He wants to leave the Pack and take me with him. He’s trying to do some sort of deal with someone but he wouldn’t tell me any details. He said he can’t trust me not to tell you. He said he wants to go somewhere he’ll have a chance of becoming Alpha and he knows that won’t happen here. You’re too strong for him to ever challenge so he’s got his eye on a smaller Pack with an Alpha he can take over from.”

Chastity sat back up as Philippe cursed, “Fuck! I knew he was a traitor! He’s going to rue the day he ever thought of leaving. I’ll rip his fucking throat out! When is he due back? Tell me, sister, tell me now!”

Chastity’s heart leaped in her chest as Philippe ranted. “I’m not sure, he said he’s got some
business
to attend to and he didn’t want you to know ‘bout it. He said he’d kill me if I told you.”

“I bet he did. Well, you don’t need to worry ‘bout that fucker anymore. I’ll deal with him.” Philippe sneered down at her, “However, you’re staying here until I deal with him. I wouldn’t want you letting the cat out of the bag that I know his devious little plan. Get comfortable, Chastity and thank you, sister, for finally telling me the truth.”

“I was scared, Philippe. He said he would hurt me or kill me if I told you.” Chastity managed a small smile as her brother’s hand tousled her hair.

“I won’t let him hurt you. I’ll take care of him but you understand I can’t have you running off and letting him know that I’m onto him. Don’t you?”

“Yes, of course, but I would never do that.” Chastity tried for sincerity and thought she’d pulled it off as he smiled at her.

“Just in case, little sister, I’m keeping you guarded under lock and key.”

With that he turned around and left, her heart rate slowly going back to normal. She could still hear him talking to someone outside in the hall so she guessed he was making sure the guards didn’t let her out.

“Shit, I’ll need to call Cam in the morning and let him know I can’t get away,”
she thought lying down and trying to sleep. Thinking of the black Wolf causing her stomach to flutter as her eyes slid closed.

*****

Cam watched his PI work. Jacob hissed, then snarled, then growled, but Cam didn’t comment. He knew that he would talk to him when he wanted and not before, but could only assume he was checking out Quincy. Pascall’s gambling would not elicit that kind of response from his hardened PI. Cam continued with the contract, nodding to himself as he finished. Stracey had done it again. Everything was perfect and legally binding. Well, apart from the forged signature. However, he knew that absolutely nobody could question the perfect copy of the Beta’s own handwriting.

Jacob was good, very good indeed.

It was almost half an hour before Jacob spoke again. Slamming a palm down onto the table as his printer started to whir and papers appeared. “Got it. Pascall is easy, he’s already in hock to another moneylender and looks like Philippe has bailed him out before so he’s not gonna do it again. He is up to his neck in gambling debts so...”

“How much?” Cam butted in.

“Over a hundred thousand and rising dramatically every day with the kind of interest he’s paying.” Jacob handed Cam the paperwork. “Now, our other Wolf, Quincy, I gotta say, Cam, I want to get my hands on him real bad. He’s online a lot getting kiddie porn pics and through that I managed to hack into his home pc. It’s chock full of disgusting images and the stupid fuck even has pics of him on there with kids. I’m sure we can use them to get him to sign over or we hand him and the pics over to the Council. He’ll know full well what the Council does to kiddie diddlers so he’s gonna want to avoid that at all costs. It’s a pity though ‘cause he needs to be dealt with and the harsher the better.”

Cam held his hand up, “Wait, shit, I forgot to phone Rebecca. I need to get in touch with her before I can deal with Quincy’s sick proclivities.”

Jacob started to put the paperwork into two separate files and Cam almost gagged as he caught sight of some of Quincy’s pictures. He turned away so he didn’t have to see them as he found Rebecca’s number and connecting the call. It rang for several seconds before her soft voice answered.

“Cam, how nice to hear from you.”

Cam couldn’t help but smile. Rebecca may be small, with strawberry blonde hair and brown eyes and she had the softest voice he’d heard. But, and it was a big but, the Witch was anything but soft. She was one kickass woman who wielded magic like a sword, precise and, at times, deadly.

“Rebecca, I hope you are well?” Cam opened with the niceties, she didn’t respond well otherwise.

“I am, thank you for asking. And you?”

“I’m fine, thanks.”

“So, what do you need?”

Typical Rebecca, straight to point after the minutiae was out of the way. “I’m at my uncle’s Pack and we have a problem. Another Pack is using magic to shield them infiltrating and attacking his Wolves. Some have disappeared and never been found, others have had nearly fatal accidents, including my cousin. If I send the jet are you able to come and help out?”

Rebecca’s voice changed in an instant, “What? That’s outrageous! Of course I’ll come. I’ll be there as soon as I can. I’m visiting another coven so I’m not too far away. I can drive, I don’t need the jet.”

“Thank you.” Cam knew Rebecca’s deep seated values would have her offended and angered at what was going on. “We need all the help we can get. See you soon, Rebecca.”

“Okay, Cam, and you take care until I get there. I wouldn’t like to see you getting hurt.”

He knew that the Witch had a soft spot for him but he thought of her more like a little sister and just didn’t feel that way toward her. He’d let her down gently one time and she’d backed off. Cam was glad because he didn’t want to lose her friendship or her magic. She’d helped him hone his own on more occasions than he could remember.