Page 17

CHAPTER 17

Soren

Frankie walked into her office without so much as a hello or good morning.

I clicked through the last of my required reading for the onboarding process without looking up from my monitor.

She walked around me and plopped down in her chair, cracking open an energy drink. She didn’t once glance at me despite the fact that I knew she could hear me clicking the mouse.

It wasn’t like I was in a corner of the room either. I set up my desk so it sat horizontally to hers and Lucy’s so I could see the both of them if I needed to.

Logging into her computer as she drained the energy drink made it look like she didn’t have a single care in the world, but the circles under her eyes said differently.

Her skin looked a little paler than normal and if I had to take a guess, I’d say she’s lost some weight too despite all the workouts she did every day.

She looked fucking terrible and I couldn’t figure out why.

Based on her tracker, she didn’t even stop at her favorite bakery on the way to work today and I did my best not to shatter yet another mouse.

It didn’t matter to me if she took care of herself or not.

If I went to get her something to eat, she’d just ignore it and I hated wasting food. It wasn’t like I could force-feed her either without getting fired.

Fuck me I guess.

I never should have sparred with her. My gut was never wrong about these kinds of things. I should have stuck to my guns and told her I’d spar with anyone other than her.

The way I’d acted – like a lovesick, feral alpha…that had to be the reason she was doing this.

Nothing I did or said to try to fix this would matter to her. I could tell that much at least. So, the best option was to act like it didn’t bother me at all.

But it was.

It was driving me fucking insane actually.

The urge to grab her face and force her to look at me was bubbling up, pressing against my skin until it felt like it was about to burst.

I’ve never had this problem before. No one’s ever made me feel one way or another about anything. The job was the only thing I’ve ever cared about, but I just couldn’t see her as a job anymore no matter how hard I tried.

It was absolutely ridiculous how badly I wanted her to look at me and see me. Just once. That’s all I needed. Then I’d have a reason to tell her she needed to eat something and drink anything other than those awful energy drinks.

And why the fuck did she always have to smell like dessert? What was that?

It wasn’t her natural scent, but it added to it so well that it made my mouth water when we were in an enclosed space like this for any length of time.

She wore scent blockers, so her pheromones didn’t fill up the space the same way they probably did in her apartment, but there was only so much you could do about a room someone spent a lot of time in over the years.

Her very essence was steeped into the walls.

Along with the very, very faint scent of an omega.

That scent disgusted me, but it wasn’t like I could do anything about it. All I could do without getting a write up was set the air filters as high as they could go and scrub the walls after hours.

It was a lot better than it had been, but I could still smell the faint scent of roses all intertwined with Frankie’s and I fucking hated it.

I sighed, annoyed with myself. This was a job. I was here to find the information I needed and get the fuck out.

Thinking about all this other shit was pointless.

And since when did the scent of a stranger’s pheromones bother me?

Someone knocked on the door and I leaned back in my chair, one hand resting on my thigh, within reach of my gun.

Out of everyone on the planet, the last person I expected to poke his head in was that alpha, Taylor.

“Hey, James. You got a minute?”

She raised both eyebrows. “Sure. What can I help you with?”

“I need you to take a look at something for me. Is that okay?”

“Do I have to get up?”

“No, I brought it with me.” Taylor held up a flash drive and waited for her to nod before entering the office.

He kept his eyes down, keeping it respectful.

Taylor didn’t acknowledge me, but there was no reason for him to. I didn’t give a shit about how he treated me, but I was very interested to see how differently he was acting after Frankie knocked him on his ass yesterday.

He didn’t hand over the flash drive though. He came around and leaned over Frankie to plug it into her computer, brushing his arm against her shoulder as he reached for her mouse.

“I need to get this client to agree to prosecute the HR manager at her company,” Taylor explained as he opened a video file. “She won’t agree and this is all I have as evidence.”

The video played and I couldn’t see what was going on, so I studied Frankie’s face as she watched it. Her expression never changed, but her eyes danced around the screen, taking in all the tiny little details and putting them together to make some sort of deduction.

I was good at my job which meant I was also good at reading people and manipulating them when necessary, but I’ve never had to solve a crime. I’ve only ever gathered intel. How it was used and what it was used for didn’t involve me.

Seeing Frankie work like this may gave me a little more insight into how she thought, but it still didn’t tell me anything I could use.

“Here,” Frankie said, pointing to something in the video. “Check their company policy regarding scent blockers as well as the reason why she went to see HR in the first place. It’s unlikely she’s the only one who’s had to deal with this.”

“Right, but I need proof he’s abusing his power.” Taylor clicked on something. “This is all I’ve been able to find, but it’s not enough. I need someone to agree to come forward.”

Frankie sat back and laced her fingers together over her stomach. She considered for a moment, the light from the monitor bleaching the blue from her eyes until they looked almost white. “What was the client’s exact request?”

“Enough evidence to get them a settlement for wrongful termination, but she refused to go after him for intentionally using his pheromones in the workplace.”

Taylor stood up straight, finally giving Frankie some space.

I should really focus on memorizing the field procedures for Genesis detectives, but this was the first time in over forty-eight hours Frankie looked interested in something. There was a gleam in her eyes and a vitality to her that wasn’t there before.

“If you can’t get her to go after him, find someone else who will. If you can’t do that, create a situation that gives him the opportunity to make the same mistake and make sure you get it on camera.” Frankie studied Taylor out of the corner of her eye. “But why do you care about this? It’s not part of the job.”

“Look.” Taylor leaned forward again and I clenched my jaw, staring a damn hole into my screen. “The timestamps show this ‘meeting’ took two and a half hours. We don’t have footage of whatever happened inside that office, but I doubt my guess is wrong. I don’t want him to get away with it and give the rest of us a bad name.”

Honestly, I hadn’t expected that from Taylor, but Frankie didn’t look surprised at all.

She nodded once and refocused on the monitor. “Since this isn’t technically part of the job, you’ll have to approach it differently. You could plant someone in that company who’d be a target. Then get footage and proof of what he tries to do.”

I held my breath, wondering if this was common practice for her pack.

“Another option is to go through whatever evidence you can get your hands on and approach whoever else might have been affected. Find the one who has the least to lose and talk to them first.” Frankie looked up at Taylor and gave him a wicked grin. “You could also find something to… convince someone they should testify.”

It really shouldn’t surprise me how crafty and conniving Frankie could be, but it did.

Those raised in a legacy pack had a different perspective from the rest of us and this proved it. A conclusion that had taken her thirty seconds to reach was one I never would have gotten to since I’ve never been in a situation where I needed to.

My phone buzzed, interrupting my thoughts. The sound caught Taylor’s attention and he glanced over at me, but Frankie acted like she couldn’t hear it.

I grabbed my phone and jotted down a note about going to get coffee before heading for the door.

As long as I made it quick, she wouldn’t say anything about my sudden disappearance.

I answered the phone as I headed for the stairs, wishing my employer would remember I was working at a detective agency – surrounded by some of the smartest people in the country. If they kept calling me at all hours of the day, I was going to get caught.

“Keep it brief,” I advised as I jogged down the stairs, taking them two at a time. “I’m at the office.”

“It’s been over a week,” they reminded me, the voice modulator making it impossible to tell if they were male or female. “Have you found anything we can use?”

‘We.’ As if I was somehow invested in the outcome of all this as well.

“No, I haven’t.” I pushed through the front doors and checked traffic before making my way across the street towards the independent café everyone here liked to use.

“I was told you were one of the best.” My employer didn’t have to say anything else. I knew exactly what they meant by that.

But I didn’t respond.

There was nothing I could say and if they really expected me to find something in only a week, they wouldn’t have needed my help to begin with.

“Fine,” they snapped, clearly irritated with my silence. “I’ll be generous. If you can’t find something within the next two weeks, the job will change. Create a weakness I can use. If you don’t give me one or the other, I may just have to hire someone to make sure you don’t get any ideas.”

I stopped outside the door of the café, pissed I’d been right about this too.

This job…I should have turned it down no matter how much money they offered me. It was too late now though. I was in the thick of the kind of legacy drama I’d sworn to stay the fuck away from.

My greed. If someone was hired to find my weakness, that would be it – my desire for freedom and a way out of this shitty fucking society that measured a person’s worth by the most ridiculous things possible.

The color of someone’s eyes? Really? That was how we were all supposed to know our place in society?

And if you had the power and strength but not the corresponding features, everyone lost their minds and tried to crush you into nothing because they feared what they didn’t understand.

I turned and leaned against the brick wall, pulling a cigarette out of my pocket and lighting it just to make my presence here look more natural. I held it up to my mouth, but I didn’t inhale.

The line stayed silent and I didn’t have to look at my phone to know they were still there, waiting for me to say something in response.

Finally, they couldn’t handle it anymore and a tiny red dot appeared on my chest. “Answer me, you mongrel.”

You never asked me a question, so what exactly do you want me to say? I didn’t say that out loud though and inhaled the cigarette smoke as I took my time responding.

“I’ll see what I can do,” I finally said, going with the most ambiguous response I could think of.

There was always the chance someone was watching me. Like that pink-haired asshole.

“You will get it done,” my employer told me, their tone making the statement sound like a threat. “I won’t hesitate to pull the trigger if I need to.”

Flicking the ash off the cigarette, I looked up at the roof of the building to the right of Genesis to see a sniper set up in broad daylight, like they weren’t the least bit worried about getting caught, and if they did, they knew they’d get away with it.

Ballsy, but stupid.

If that sniper tried to shoot, I’d shoot right back and I was positive my aim was better than theirs.

“Don’t worry.” I took another drag of my cigarette. “I’ve never been fired and I intend to keep it that way.”

I hung up before they could make another idiotic threat, annoyed that I couldn’t just quit. I could try. Could return the money and disappear, but there were always fail safes against that kind of thing with these people.

Stamping out the cigarette, I tossed it in the ashtray on top of the trash can and ran my hand through my hair as I considered my options.

There weren’t many and they all sucked.

Heading inside, I let the sounds of grinding beans and people chattering wash over me. The smell of coffee was strong with an edge of sweetness from the various syrups they used. It wasn’t too hot yet, but the air conditioning was already blasting.

I rolled my shoulders back and stepped to the side, eyeing the menu like I didn’t know what I wanted to order just yet.

My employer was getting impatient which didn’t bode well for me or anyone else involved in this shitty power play.

Something was happening – something that made them feel like they were running out of time.

I didn’t think it was because Francisco was going to step down as the alpha of the Lopez pack either.

Was it because of Frankie’s engagement to River? Was it more serious than I originally thought? Had they finally set a date for their wedding?

I slipped my hands into my pockets and tried not to let that bother me. It was all speculation anyway.

Worrying about her marital status wasn’t something I could afford to do. What I really needed to be worried about was how I was going to get what I needed to finish this job without too much issue when she wouldn’t even acknowledge my existence.

Getting close to her was impossible and if I couldn’t do that, I was going to have to risk getting caught to start digging into any and all tech she used.

Even that might not be enough.

Someone like Frankie wouldn’t keep something that could be used against her on a digital device, but there was a chance I could use whatever I found to lead me to a real flaw.

Their breakfast menu caught my eye.

Maybe I should get a bunch of those breakfast sandwich things and put them in the breakroom. If she didn’t know they were from me, there was a good chance she’d eat one.

…dammit. I really shouldn’t be worrying about her.

What was I going to do about this? How was I going to treat this as nothing more than a job? How the fuck was I going to uncover her flaws and weakness and then hand those over to someone who was going to use them against her?

I couldn’t walk away from this like I usually did. I couldn’t hand over the intel without wondering what they were going to do with it and how it would affect the people involved.

There was a very real possibility that when it came down to it, I wouldn’t be able to go through with this and if so, what was I going to do about it?

How could I walk away unscathed? I highly doubted that was possible, and even if I did, someone else would take my place.

I stepped up to the register and gave my order to the beta behind the counter.

Acting normal was easy. A habit. I left after paying and leaned against the wall near the bar where they’d place my order, knowing my presence was barely noticeable despite my size and designation.

That was something I used to be grateful for, but now that Frankie was the one acting like I was nothing more than a potted plant, I fucking hated it.

I was an idiot for thinking I could still treat this like a normal job.

Nothing about this was normal and I had to figure out what the fuck I was going to do about it before the decision was made for me.