Hammers in the Shadows

Part Two: Hammers in the Night - Chapter Fourteen

"That's for sure," I growled, "I hope that your people find a suitable way to ensure that he won't come back anytime soon."

"Yes, though we are currently working on freeze drying him, doesn't help that some of the females have taken to visiting the freezer and urinating on his corpse... he's covered in yellow ice." Alex stated with an amused growling chuckle.

I had to laugh at that since that was fitting, even if it did slow down the process of drying the damned corpse out. "It is better than he deserves Alex." I stated.

"Well unlike you we don't have access to a mountain-top tomb to shove him into, and I don't expect you to cram him into that one that your people built for you monsters." Alex stated before his mate said something to him,

"Anyways as I was saying before I have some things that I must attend to, and I really should get going. Please tell the Alpha that we need his assistance here soon." He said before hanging up.

I'd just put the phone down on it's base when there was a knock on the door frame and I looked up to see Ilya standing there with a soft leather briefcase in his hand. "Come on in Ilya, what can I do for you?" I asked.

Ilya, who had, prior to the move to Silver Peak, been one of the younger House Lords of the Pride, walked in and smiled. With the dissolution of the House system Anna and I had found a new use for his talents. He was a capable and resourceful financial manager, though most of the larger transactions were still handled by Max over at West Caledonia. "Sir, I just wanted to come by to give you a report on our finances, since the renovations are finally complete." He replied dodging around the large smart-table in the middle of the office before taking a seat in one of the chairs in front of my desk.

I nodded and picked up the folder than he pulled from his briefcase and slid across my desk to me before opening it and glancing at the contents. I had to smile slightly at the balance that was shown at the top. After burning through several million for the renovations the balance was still fairly healthy, though the number was much smaller than it had been before. However, prior to our accessing Vladimir's accounts we'd had a much less healthy account balance, and the work that we'd done to the Pride House would have left us drowning in red ink. "Is there anything here that I should be worried about Ilya?" I asked while looking over the lines and figures.

He nodded slightly, "Mark, the balance is healthy, for the moment, but I am worried about the fact that we currently don't have any major source of income, other than the restaurant that we're maintaining in Prince George. Otherwise we only have a few Juniors that have found service level employment in McBride, but we can't ask them to give up more of their income than they already do."

I nodded, and I had to admit, that by in large, Ilya was correct. The truth of the matter that like any Pack or Pride we had a significant line of expenses for everything that we needed to keep our members happy and healthy. "Do you have any recommendations that won't cause serious or irreparable damage to our territory or members?" I asked, interested in what Ilya thought we could do to bring money into our accounts.

Ilya nodded before looking up at me, "Sir our most marketable resource are the arts of our craftspeople, the jewellers and woodworkers." He nodded at the extension to the desk that I was sitting at. The extension had been made, in the same style and colour as the older part of the desk, which had belonged to Vladimir before I killed him. The extension had been built by one of our furniture makers to house my work computer and all of the attendant wires as well as my printer. "Our furniture is of the old-style sir; solid wood furniture usually fetches premium prices compared to the modern Ikea style pressboard crap that most people these days buy." He paused for breath and glanced over at an ornate piece of jewelry on the desk. It was a modern recreation of an Imperial Faberge Egg, which had been carefully crafted by the most skilled of our Pride's Jewellers. "Prior to the move, we already had a reputation for making some of the most intricate, and desirable custom made jewellery in western Canada."