Chapter 3: Legal Bindings

Ben Lanzetta 

I can't stand the press. Releasing this kind of information will have every buyer in the country avoiding me for weeks, even if nothing comes from it. 

Not only do I have NYPD and the press breathing down my neck, but now I also have to deal with little Daliah. Though she's not so little anymore. 

My wolf stirs inside me at the thought, but I shut him down quickly. I've been waiting for my mate my whole life, and I wasn't about to throw it away over some girl I used to know. Especially not Antonio Luciano's daughter. 

That prick permanently glued my buttons; he doesn't just press them. I am sure his daughter has turned into just like him, too.  

Antonio used to be the Manhattan pack alpha and one of my father's best friends. When I challenged my father for the title of Alpha, Antonio couldn't seem to sit right with it. Constantly questioning my decisions and going over my head for things regarding the pack business. He's lucky I sent him to North Carolina instead of killing him. I should have just killed him.  

"Alpha, did you-" my beta Kyle starts in. 

"Yes, Kyle, I saw the news," I say while pinching the brim of my nose in frustration. 

"You really need a" I cut him off again with a grumble. 

"A lawyer, yes, Kyle. I know." Except it's not easy to find a lawyer who won't betray me. They have to be a wolf, so they won't out us to the world. They also need to be under my thumb so they don't turn me into the police with the evidence I give them for my defense. 

"Do you want me to find you one?" Kyle asks, clearly seeing my irritation. I let my fist slam down on my desk dramatically with a sigh.

"No. I can find one," I tell him. My last lawyer was caught feeding information to the Feds about our operations. I had the pack torture him for months before finally killing him. 

The room is silent for a few minutes, and when I unpinch the brim of my nose to look at Kyle, he is staring at me. 

"Spit it the fuck out, Kyle," I say in a low growl. 

"I know you don't like the Lucianos, but Antonio's daughter is a lawyer." His voice is uncertain, as if he wasn't sure whether to tell me or not. His words genuinely surprise me, and I sit back in my leather chair, letting it rock back. 

"Really?" I ask, not fully believing that my little Daliah could be a graduate from law school. 

"Yes, Alpha. She graduated last week in the top 3 percent of her class. I called a few of her professors, and they all rave about her." He says, clearly having already decided that I should utilize her presence at the pack house for good. 

"Why is she here then? Instead of working at some prestigious law firm?" I ask while reaching for the bottle of scotch behind me. 

Kyle shrugs.

"Not sure. You know her better than I do." He says with a knowing smile, taking a glass for himself and letting me pour us both a glass. 

"Used to. I don't know a thing about her now. All I know is that she turned her back on the wolves and chose to live with the mundies instead." She turned her back on me, and if there wasn't a council of elders, I would have killed her and her lousy father for doing the things they've done. The disgust in my voice isn't well masked, and I can see Kyle's wheels turning in his head. 

"Lots of wolves live with the mundies, what's the big deal?" He asks, but I send a glare at him that makes him shut up quickly. To anyone else, it's not a big deal, but to me it was. 

When that girl left, she didn't just shut out the wolf world. She shut me out of her life, too. Now I couldn't care less if she lives or dies. I want her to suffer for what she did. 

We grew up together. That girl was my best friend, and I thought I was hers. I always thought she was going to be my mate because we always connected on such a deep level. None of it mattered in the end, though, because she packed her shit and left for California. Leaving everything and everyone behind. 

No phone calls, letters, not even a damn postcard. I didn't know what she was doing there. She's been gone for seven years now, and I thought I had forgotten about her. The second I saw her in that hallway, all of it came rushing back. Including how she hurt me.

Worst of all, I remembered the way she used to lie in my bed. Cuffs on her hands, wearing whatever I told her to, and I couldn't help but replace those memories with fantasies of her now full, woman figure in my sheets instead.   

"Get her in my office. Now." I tell him with my Alpha voice at its full force. 

"Yes, Alpha," he says while standing and making his way to my office door. Just as his hand lands on the door handle, a soft knock echoes on the hardwood. 

Kyle pauses and turns to look at me. I wave my hand to signal him to open the door. He does so quickly, and I am left staring at the dark-haired woman in the doorway with the scent of blood coating the air around her.

"I hear you need a lawyer."