Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 107670 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107670 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Cheeks flushed, Hector spoke to Nick. “I’m not an unreasonable man. I will give you some time to find alternative territory, since you will now have to do it without any funding from me. Construction doesn’t begin for another three months. You have until then to secure new land and relocate. If you don’t, copies of these testimonies will find their way to various people. And remember, killing me won’t achieve anything.” He sighed. “I’m sorry that it has come to this; I truly am. Make the right choice.”
Then he turned his back on them and walked away with a cocky stride. His guards followed, guns still aimed at the Alpha right up until they were in the safety of the BMW.
Looking rightfully enraged, Nick and the others pivoted on their heels and stalked into the forest, where they joined Jesse, Roni, and Marcus.
“That rat bastard,” growled Roni. “He’s actually trying to blackmail us.”
Jesse turned to Derren. “I’m not going to ask if those statements are legit—I figure that Seer deserved to die anyway, and it’s your business if you made it happen sooner rather than later. Besides, it would make me pretty fucking hypocritical, considering I killed to avenge my sister. But true or not, those statements will bring us attention from all angles, which means we need to get our hands on the originals.”
Pacing, Nick nodded. “But he’s a rich guy who has properties in several places—the originals could be anywhere.”
“If he’s done this before, it’s likely that he keeps all his blackmail material in one place,” said Marcus. “Like a safety deposit box or something.”
“Something tells me he’d keep them close,” said Ally. “He’s doing this because he hates shifters with a passion that’s actually frightening. I think he’d want to look at the material occasionally the way a killer might like to have his trophies close by.”
“What else did you sense from him?” Derren asked her.
“He’s smug as all hell, which makes me think he’s done this many times before and is sure it’ll all work out the way he wants it to. He’s also scared of Nick, but he seems to like the fear—it gives him some kind of weird rush.” She sighed. “Unfortunately, that’s all I got. In short, he’s a serial blackmailer, likes a good ol’ adrenaline rush, and hates our kind—which means he also hates half of who he is.”
Derren scrubbed a hand down his face. “So now what? I don’t think he’s bluffing about the copies. Even if we do find the originals, the copies would still do damage if they were released. We could probably confront his attorney and hope he knows where they are.”
“It won’t be easy to find them or it would have been done before by other packs,” said Marcus. “He probably has a lot of smoke screens in place.”
“Like multiple attorneys and safes,” said Eli. “It would take us a lot of fucking time to get all this shit, even with all Nick’s resources.”
“You know,” began Roni, “we could try some tit for tat. Blackmail the blackmailer.”
Jesse wasn’t surprised by her suggestion. Roni was the type who always got even. “That might work. I saw his face when Ally asked him why he hated shifters. He hadn’t expected us to suspect that, and he didn’t like it.”
“Even though he hates our kind, I noticed he doesn’t mind using them for protection,” said Eli. “Those guards were polar bears. Probably lone shifters that he’s hired as guards.”
Nick’s expression was pensive. “He’s not a low-profile guy. I’d say that whatever has fueled his hatred for our kind is a secret he wouldn’t like made public. It would affect his businesses. That fact alone could make him back off.”
“If nothing else, we’ll have fucked him over the way he fucked us over,” said Roni. “And if he releases those statements and then we release his secrets and an ‘exclusive’ of his blackmail attempt at the same time, he’ll be discredited.”
Derren’s smile was cunning. “His business partners won’t want to be associated with any kind of scandal, and they’ll drop him like a bag of crack.”
Ally smiled at her mate. “Such a lovely metaphor.”
Nick exhaled a heavy breath. “My mate can feel my rage and is going insane with worry. We need to get to the lodge and explain everything to the others.”
Jesse couldn’t help feeling envious of Nick’s bond with Shaya; it allowed them to sense each other’s emotions, bolster each other’s strength, and for their scents to mix and become one unique scent. He wanted all that with Harley. His wolf yearned for it.
Back at the main lodge, Nick briskly relayed their meeting with Hector and his attempt at blackmail. Shaya went fucking nuclear. It took Nick, Eli, and Derren to hold her back from going after Hector with her shotgun.