Chapter 8

The man rubbed his neck. Stress and terrible sleeping arrangements had kinked up the muscles. As he messaged out the knots in his neck, he couldn’t help feel a pang of loss for the large empty bed waiting for him at home and the warm body of the woman who used to share it with him. The pang of loss hit him hard, remembering she would never lay next to him again. She was gone, and it was all thanks to one Alpha Frank Dupree. He’d stolen her from him, not once, but twice. Biter bile filled his throat and mouth. Grabbing the half-empty alcohol bottle, he took a long drink. The burn of the alcohol wiping the nasty taste out of his mouth. Setting the bottle back down, he leaned back in the cheap office chair. It squeaked as it moved.

He looked around the tiny office, the metal walls did nothing to keep out the humidity from outside. It was already starting to get too warm, despite it was only early morning. Today was going to be hot as hell. He sighed, moving his attention to his left where most of the wall was open into a window. He couldn’t see much of the ground floor of the warehouse, but he didn’t need to. He knew what was down there. The man sat up, scowling as the chair once again squeaked. He grabbed the bottle and stood. Through the large window, he could see the people moving on about their business. He took a drink from the bottle and watched as the front door opened. He recognized the werewolf that came through the door. The leader of this ragtag bunch. The man tried to remember what he was calling himself now. Jeremy was it? Yes, that was it.

The werewolf stopped speaking with a few of the other wolves. The man couldn’t understand why they looked up to someone like him. He knew there were some among the group that was much more competent than him. Perhaps it was the alpha blood thing. Damn werewolves and their alpha blood. He laughed, watching ‘Jeremy’ head towards the stairs that lead to his office. The man turned from the window and set the bottle down on the desk where it had been. Putting his hands behind his back, one hand clasping the wrist of the other he faced the window again and waited for the werewolf. Only when he heard the door open did he turn to face Jeremy. “How did it go?”

“All according to plan. Erin dropped her off, and it seems they bought into Violet’s cover, but man, I gotta say, are you sure about this?”

A spark of anger tore through the man. “Am I sure about what?”

“Violet? She’s a mess. What happened back at the house…I got to be honest here. There is no way someone isn’t going to catch on to the fact she isn’t who she says she is. Hell, I doubt that girl is going to last a week before her cover is blown all the way to Mars.”

The spark turned into an inferno. They had been through this before. “And you don’t think I didn’t plan for that?” he said, hearing his voice rise. “Do you realize all that I have given up for this?” No, he didn’t. How could he? It would require more humanity than Jeremy was capable of. The man would be happy to be done with werewolves entirely, but sadly, they were just the tools he needed right now to get the job done. He pinned Jeremy with a glare. “I have sacrificed everything I held dear for this plan. Everything I held dear to tear down the alpha.”

Jeremy’s jaw tensed as he glared right back at him, but the man knew him too well to be intimidated. Despite his alpha blood, Jeremy obeyed orders like a good dog. “I thought we needed the information. I thought that was the whole reason we sent her in there.”

The man laughed. “See this is why you need me. I know it’s difficult, but try to see the bigger picture here. Yes, the information is important, but not our object. The objective is to destroy the alpha. You tried to do that by confronting him outright with violence and it didn’t work. No, to destroy the alpha we need a subtle touch. The girl is key to that. Yes, she will most likely be killed. If we’re lucky, by the alpha’s own hand.”

Jeremy’s brow furrowed. “But what would we get with that?”

The man sighed. It was pointless. The werewolf was nothing more than an over-glorified attack dog. “If the alpha kills her, then we make sure he knows exactly who she is.”

Finally, understanding lit Jeremy’s face. “And he’d have to live with the knowledge that he’s the one that killed her. He would be crushed.”

There you go,” the man replied, smiling. “So either the girl surprises us both, manages to get the information, and we use it against him or she doesn’t and the alpha kills her. Weakened by the guilt of what he’s done, we walk in and take the information for ourselves.”

A slow smile spread on Jeremy’s face. The man could tell Jeremy already tasted victory. God, it was just too easy to pull this wolf’s strings. Show him a little power and Jeremy would do anything the man asked of him. “Don’t worry my friend,” the man said, moving around the flimsy desk and laying a hand on Jeremy’s shoulder. “First Frank, then we’ll take down every single alpha so the only one left with alpha blood will be you. All the werewolves left in this country will answer to one man, and one man only - You.”

Again, ambition and lust for power burned in the werewolf’s eyes. He licked his lips and nodded, though his gaze was unfocused. “Yeah,” he said, nodding. “Only me.”

Nodding with him, the man said, “But we need to be ready when it’s time to move. Make sure everyone is ready.”

“They are ready. They’ve been ready.”

“Double check. We only get one shot at this. If somehow Frank isn’t downed, he’ll come after us and you know what he’ll do to you if he catches you.”

Bitterness crept into the werewolf’s face. “Yeah, I got the scars to prove it. He caught me by surprise once. He’s not going to do it again. I’ll double-check, but that bastard is going down and I’m going to be the one to down him.”

“Good,” the man said, nodding in dismissal. He turned his back to the werewolf and looked out the window again.

Jeremy could dream all he wanted, but the one who was going to take down Dupree was going to be him! The scars Jeremy bore were only his fault. If he wasn’t so inept he wouldn’t have allowed the alpha to make them. No, the one who deserved to take out the alpha was him. He was the one Dupree betrayed. Even after all these years, the betrayal stung. The man was going to make him feel the pain of that betrayal ten times over. When he was done with him, the alpha would beg him for death. The man smiled wondering, would he give it to him or let him simmer in his own despair for the rest of the days?

Both options filled him with immense pleasure as he imagined them. When he closed his eyes he could almost feel the alpha’s blood on his hands or hear his laments as he wastes away. Opening his eyes again he looked at the people below him but didn’t really see them. Too lost in his fantasy. He would keep the alpha alive, he thought. Killing him, while it would feel damn amazing, would be short-lived. But breaking the alpha, tormenting him with the consequences of his betrayal until the end of his days? Hell, that promised many damn amazing days! Yes, he thought, nodding to himself. He would keep the alpha alive.

His thoughts turned to the girl, Violet. It would be unfortunate if the alpha did kill her. She after all was the only innocent in this equation. The sins for which she might pay the ultimate price for weren’t her own. Yet, as much as her death might move the man towards something resembling sadness, he refused to intervene if the alpha discovered her then kill her, and he would kill her. He couldn’t help himself. Just like all other werewolves, the alpha was an animal before a man. He wouldn’t stop to question why the girl was there only that she was an intruder that needed to be dealt with. That’s it. It was always about himself and his selfish desires. It didn’t matter if something belonged to another person, if he wanted it, it was his.

All of that was over. The man vowed he wouldn’t let that dog take another thing from him or anyone else. It didn’t matter the price, he would pay it to take Dupree down even if it meant the life of one innocent young woman to do it.