Patrick Hockstetter Novels & Stories

He was a blonde guy with a frecklish but handsome face. She smile at them and walked in their direction. Both of them stood up and shook Elena’s hand one by one. The handsome guy spoke first, “We never knew Mr. Parker had Ms. Phoebe Schmidt right under his nose. My daughter is a fan of your book.” “That’s so sweet of you to say that.” “Hello, Ms. Schmidt, I am Henry Stokes, a lawyer and he is my assistant, Mr. Brooks, who is such a big fan of yours himself that he forgot to introduce himself.” The old man spoke.

I fix myself. We park and exited the car. We enter the elevator and go to the 12th floor of the building. "Mr. Brooklyn!" An old man shouted. Hilary's dad and the old man bro hug each other and shake hands. "Here's my daughter Hilary." I bowed and shake hands. "And here's my son, Richard." A five-foot and nine inches tall guy wearing a mask extends his hand. I shake hands with him. "So let's talk about the wedding?" My eyes almost got out in my eye socket. "WEDDING!?"

Hearing the words, I wanted to swear that this fighting wolf was only a bootlicker, that he only wanted to please Alpha James, but there was a honesty and rage with which he said his words that convinced me that he was truthful, that he would not deceive, that he could be trusted. “My fighting wolf head has looked at you and heard of the things you have done. We all know that you conquered the Khmarden Pack with only eighty-nine men, and though they should be begrudged, you somehow won their loyalty so much that they showed you the secrets with which you would conquer us, these silver bullets of yours.” I nodded, seeing his point.

He did not look happy at the idea of being forced to sit here. The man to the left of Argus was an older man, about 60 and he had a few strands of pure white in his brown hair. He had old, wise looking dark eyes and according to Alpha Reed, he was one of the men who had thrown their breeder to the side when they got 'too old' to breed. He looked old and sullen.

To witness me. I stood at the front, beside Alexandro, beneath a giant silver arch twined with white roses and moon blossoms. My hand trembled in his, but he held it firmly—reassuring, unshaken, calm. He looked every bit a king in his white ceremonial robe embroidered with gold and pearl threads. His hair was neatly tied back, his wound hidden beneath layers of fabric and power. He didn't flinch once. Even now, after being stabbed, he stood like nothing could touch him. Miraculously, his wound stopped bleeding and he got a fast healing. 0

Instead, he took a sip of his wine before turning to the elders as if I was some kind of ornament that was on the table, and at this point, he treated me like I was an ornament that he wanted nothing more than to get rid of. By dessert, I couldn’t stand the silence between us anymore. I put my hand on his, gently running my finger over it, allowing myself to be familiar with him, allowing myself to be the wife that I believed he was accepting. Again, he did not react. I leaned in slightly, my voice low so only he could hear. “Are you okay? Did I do anything to bother you?’ He didn’t even glance at me. His eyes were on the elders as he asked, “When was the last time you met with Elder Rowan,

the hot shot Litigator. Tor Huntzburger.

"Should I remove Hector Whitaker from tonight's list?" Hyde's finger hovered over the tablet, waiting for her instruction. Darcy's grip on her coffee cup tightened. The porcelain let out a faint, sharp sound. Across the desk, the blue-and-white table on the screen showed the name "Hector Whitaker" at the bottom of the supplemental entry column. The title beside it was clean and deliberately ordinary: supply chain representative, outer mining district, North Barrens. No family name. No council title. Nothing that tied him to the North's ruling circle.

I could hear him holding back an evil cackle when he called himself a made genius. I rolled my eyes as I tossed three big steaks onto the grill. “Dial it back and stay on track,” I sighed. “Alright. I’m digging into Rowan’s records more. He’s got secret offshore accounts getting sums ranging from as small as five hundred to as high as two grand. The deposit dates line up with the dates poachers have been on the property. I am backtracking the deposits to see if they are coming directly from these bastards to Rowan or if he’s transferring the funds some other way,” he explained.

Mr Caine motioned for silence and the room soon became quiet once more. "Now that you all got the chance to take it in, I'd like to introduce Xavier Persons," he introduced polite clapping following his statement, as the door opened a man appears shaking his hand. Confidence radiated off his 6'1 figure, his black hair combed perfectly, his navy blue tailored suit holding his perfectly sculpted body. All eyes were on him but he went unfazed as he turned to face the room.