Page 101 of Tempting Fate

Alpha Deacon blinks but nods as though this display of subordination is all expected, actually. He looks at Alpha Kieran and Sam. “You two as well, then.”

“Yes, alpha,” Alpha Kieran replies. Sam nods.

Alpha Axel climbs into the back of the car, Alpha Deacon in the passenger seat, and they drive away.

“Well, you heard the man,” Sam says. He claps his hands. “Chop, chop.”

Alpha Kieran rolls his eyes. “I’ll order the taxi, shall I?”

“What do you think he wants?” Em asks. He seems nervous again. I don’t like that.

“The big reveal?” Sam replies, grinning. “Nah, for real, he probably wants to clarify what happened. No big deal.”

“Apart from the bit where he’s making them leave,” Jamie says.

Sam raises his eyebrows. Jamie shrugs.

“Well,” Sam says, “I think you’ve got that quite in hand. Haven’t you?”

Jamie shrugs again. Alpha Kieran sighs and puts his phone back in his pocket.

“All right, show’s over. Let’s go deal with this.”

When we arrive at Alpha Deacon’s office, Gideon and his man are nowhere to be seen. Alpha Axel is here, though, sitting next to Alpha Deacon’s desk, and so is Vasile, Alpha Deacon’s mate and former crai of all the clan vampires. Alpha Kieran greets them all, then gestures for Em and me to take the two empty seats.

I look at Jamie. He’s the one who’s been through everything today. He’s been stuck in a room with that man for fucking hours, been hit, and they’ve not checked in with him, not sent him home—

“Sit down, Patch,” Jamie says when he catches me looking. He steps between the chairs. “Seriously. I’ve been sitting all day. I’ll be just here, okay?”

My wolf is pushing close to the surface now that it’s all over. The urge to shift is almost overwhelming. I know what’s about to happen. They know the truth of what’s happened—the real truth, the bits we didn’t even know about—and they’re going to send me and Em away.

“Ah,” Vasile says when we both sit. “Well, you did not explain that part of it.”

“Hush,” Alpha Deacon mutters, though he looks sheepish. “All right, let’s get into it. After speaking with your brother this evening, Emerson—”

“Em,” Jamie says. I think it’s a reflex. Sam bites his lip like he’s trying to hide a smirk.

“Em,” Alpha Deacon says. “Apologies. After speaking with him, it has become quite clear that this was all a desperate and incredibly poorly thought-out ploy to have you institutionalised.”

Em blinks. He and Jamie look just as stunned as I feel. “I’m sorry,” Em says, “what?”

Alpha Deacon shrugs. “We had quite the similar reaction. He seemed to believe that you were in the possession of a rather large sum of money and that by having you locked away, it would all revert to him. He confirmed that he—or someone on his behalf, at least—found a wolf, bribed them into being in a video, and then he sent you the email, offering you the job in the first place. He hoped that he could use the resulting video as evidence to have you taken away involuntarily.”

“Would’ve been better off framing him for a crime,” Sam mutters. Kieran elbows him in the side. “Ow!”

“Anyway, what he seemed to misunderstand was that the kind of money he was saying you had would, I imagine, make fifty thousand far less enticing.”

Vasile snorts. “He does not sound particularly… shrewd.”

“Yeah, he’s never been that clever,” Em replies. “What are you going to do with him?”

Alpha Deacon and Alpha Axel exchange a glance. Alpha Axel looks furious, but Alpha Deacon merely shakes his head. “The necromancer Ophelia knows… His contact was able to find evidence of Gideon’s mismanagement of funds after they finally traced the source of the email. They’ve compiled everything. Felix seemed quite determined to post it all himself, but I thought it might be better if we spoke to you first.”

I bite back the question I want to ask. Why? Em clearly hasn’t had anything to do with his family for years. The company has nothing to do with him.

But Em sighs and nods. “Yeah, that… I’d rather it be sent to someone higher up, to be honest.”

Jamie makes a questioning sound, and Em shakes his head.