“I don’t know.”
He seemed to be done with the conversation but I don’t feel like anything got resolved. I walked over to his desk and looked over his shoulder. “Do you mind?”
“You’re always doing paperwork. I can help. I was beta at my pack.” He looked up at me skeptically. “You want to help me with paperwork?” I nodded happily in response. I needed something to do here.
“Fine. You can help Brett.”
“But-“ V cut me off, sounding agitated. “You know how to do beta work so you’ll do best helping him.” I didn’t bother arguing anymore.
I walked out of his office and found Brett already waiting for me. “Ready to start?” I nodded and silently followed him further down the hall.
“Where are we going?” I know I probably sounded defeated because that’s exactly how I felt at the moment.
“My office.” These boys never cease to shock me. I never heard of a beta getting his own office. When we walked inside, I saw why. There was a ridiculous amount of paperwork. Guess this is what comes with the third biggest pack in the world.
“What paperwork are you familiar with?” He was standing at his desk looking at various folders. “I handled finances, marriages, births, and warriors.” Brett instantly stopped looking at the folders to stare at me.
“Why were you handling all of that?” I scrunched my face in thought before I just shrugged. “I don’t know.”
Brett walked over to a box that was sitting in front of his desk before he walked over to the loveseat and dropped it down on the floor. “This is all the financials of all the districts we cover for this term. We have 10 and you’ll have to separate them into folders. Any questions?” I shook my head no as he handed me 11 new folders. “Have fun.”
I never saw so much paperwork in my life. I didn’t mind though. It would keep my mind off of all the drama with V. I quickly took off the lid and started to go through the paperwork. I couldn’t crunch numbers until I got it all organized.
My first goal was to separate them all into the right districts, then I had to put them all in order by the dates, lastly I could start to go over the logistics district by districts.
I had just made it through the third one when I seemed to hit a discrepancy in the 4th district. I checked it several times before I called Brett over. “What is it?”
“I think I might have fried my brain so I need you to look over this.” He seemed a little uncomfortable about looking over it. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m not good at financial paperwork. V usually does it.” I sighed to myself. Of course he does.
“Look I’ll just walk you through it and you can tell me if I’m crazy before we call him.” He nodded and I proceeded to walk him through it.
I grabbed a highlighter and uncapped it before we started. “Okay. Here it says that you guys had given them $120,000 for the month.” I swiped the highlighter across the page to show him where. He just nodded as he continued to watch the page. “Well here it says that you only gave them $45,000 the month before.”
“Yeah we gave them more for a project.”
“To build a new barracks for unmarried warriors, I know. It’s in here too. But here’s the problem.” I highlighted 12 lines on the paper before handing it to him.
“I’m lost.” I sighed before I took the paper back from him. “These are all the building materials costs. It’s higher than it should be.”
“How do you know?” Now I see why he didn’t take care of the finance paperwork.
“I handled finances for my pack in California. Cost of materials and labor cost more in California because of the location. These prices are double what even we would pay. Which means either they’re building with marble or-“
“They’re embezzling.” I didn’t even know that V had come into the room. He took the paper from me before looking it over.
“Keep looking through all their paperwork. Come tell me what you find when you’re done.” I just nodded as he walked towards me. “Good job.” He kissed me on top of my head and walked out the door, leaving me there shocked.
I looked at Brett who looked just as shocked as I was. “What just happened?” Brett shrugged before he walked back to his desk. “I don’t think he’s mad at you anymore.”
********************
This is exactly why I don’t trust people. If I wasn’t so swamped in paperwork I could have caught this sooner. Cassie was right about the price discrepancy. They were way off. It’s like they weren’t even trying to hide what they were doing. I would have to call the lead warrior in charge of that district to get to the bottom of this.
“I called Ryan here from district 4.” I just nodded my head at him while I continued to look over the paper. “What?”
“Nothing.” I glared at Brett and he finally caved. “What is going on with you and Cassie? You kick her out of your room and now you’re kissing her on the head. What gives?”
I ran my hand over my face with a sigh. “I don’t know. Ask her.” There was a light knock on my door and I knew it was her. “What are you waiting for, an invitation?”
She came into the room with a scowl on her face. She didn’t say anything, just walked over to my desk and placed the folder down before she flipped it open.
“I have terrible news.” I slapped my hand on the table causing her to jump away from me. “What is it?”
She slowly made her way back to my side before she started laying the papers over my desk, the sight of all the bright yellow on the sheets making me want to lash out again.
“That wasn’t an isolated incident. I don’t know what is going on in that district but you need to go investigate.” I nodded my head in agreement before turning my attention to Brett.
“Rally up the blood pack and run a full check in district 4 while I meet with Ryan.” Brett bowed and left the room leaving me and Cassie alone.
She stood there awkwardly waiting for something. “What now?” I looked up at her and she quickly looked down to avoid my gaze. “Cassie.” I purposely made my voice lower.
“Can I go home and visit my parents while you sort this out?” She was playing with her fingers, a nervous habit she had.
“No.” She looked up at me confused and I’m pretty sure a little pissed off. “Why not?!”
Oh yeah. She was pissed. “Because I said so. Go look through the other 6 districts unless you quit already.”
After she left I threw my head back and sighed. This girl drives me insane. I don’t have a problem with her going to see her family but she has to pass through that bastard’s territory to get there. I’m not going to let her go anywhere near there without me marking her.
“Alpha. Ryan is here.”
I got up from my chair and walked to the foyer of the house. One of my younger pack members, Ted, was waiting with Ryan.
“Alpha.” Ryan bowed when Ted did before I motioned him away. “So Ryan, I have things to discuss about the district you are in charge of.” He nodded before he quietly followed after me.
“What is this about?” I growled at him, making him shift uncomfortably on his feet. “You don’t question me. Understand?” He nodded and I walked over to my desk and sat. I motioned for him to join me and he did apprehensively.
“We looked through the financials and saw a little problem.” He didn’t react at all to this information. “What problem?”
“Almost $100,000 is unaccounted for.” Now I got a reaction but it wasn’t the one I expected. He was just as pissed off as I was. “You didn’t know?”
He shook his head violently as his mind seemed to be racing a hundred miles a minute. He obviously had nothing to do with it and he was already trying to figure out who did.
“The blood pack is already at your district looking for who’s responsible-“ I was cut off by one of my warriors through mindlink.
“Luna is heading to the west border. What do you want me to do?” This just wasn’t happening. “Nothing! I’ll deal with her!” I cut off the link and quickly turned to Ryan getting out of my chair.
“If you want to help them, go ahead. I have other matters to attend to.” He nodded as he followed me out the door.
I wasn’t going to waste my time with a car. I ran towards the woods before shifting at the tree line. As soon as my paws touched the dirt I sprinted towards the west border.
I wasn’t even in my right mind anymore. My wolf’s rage was coursing through me. The thought of Cassie anywhere near that Mason guy had us both foaming at the mouth.
Soon Cassie’s car came into view. Without thinking I ran right in front of the car and shifted before pushing the hood down making it crash into the street before coming to a stop.
I walked around and grabbed her out of the car before one of the warriors came over. “Alpha. Do you want me to get a car for you?”
“No.” I was just going to run her back home so the doctor could check her.
*****
“Well she’s healing nicely. She might not have shifted yet but her wolf is definitely helping her heal.” I nodded my head at him as I looked at her resting on the bed. Why did she have to be so stubborn?
“Do you mind if I give you a quick check.”
“Yes I do. I’m fine.”
“You jumped in front of a car in your human form. The last thing you are is fine.” The doctor was the only one who could talk to me that way and he knew it. That didn’t change the fact that I wasn’t going to deal with him.
“Is she going to be okay?”
The doctor nodded his head at me. “I’m sure that once her mate stops acting like a lunatic, she’ll be fine.” I rolled my eyes at his answer. I wasn’t a lunatic but she was driving me insane.
“Look you can’t expect her to love you if you act this way.”
“No I expect her to love me because she’s my mate.” He just shook his head at me. “Listen. Just because she’s your mate doesn’t mean she has to love you. It just means that she is the best one for you as you are for her.”
I just looked at him as I contemplated what he said. I walked over to the bed and picked Cassie up as I began to walk out.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m sure she would rather wake up in a familiar place.” He nodded his head in agreement as he let me leave. I took her to the room and laid her down on my side since she liked it so much.