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COLE

A s I pulled up the long driveway to the alpha house and saw what awaited, I groaned.

“Well, shit,” I hissed.

A dozen cars sat parked around the house and on the grass in my yard.

People milled about in front of the closed garage door, waiting for me to arrive.

Every one of them was a pack member. Some I recognized on sight, others by having seen them in passing or having known them when I was a kid.

Business owners and those members of the pack who needed financial assistance.

There could only be one reason for them all to be here.

Before I even got out of the truck, they fired questions at me.

“Is the pack not paying for electricity anymore?”

“I got a shut-off notice yesterday, Cole.”

“I can’t afford to pay these utilities, it’s not in my budget. The pack accounts have always handled this.”

“Are we getting left out in the cold?”

I held my hands out for calm. “Can everyone please hang on a second?”

Because the Garrett family had always owned the water company—all the way back to when indoor plumbing had finally become standard in the 1920s—I’d decided to put a hold on all pack members’ bills until the finances were handled, but that was only a drop in the bucket compared to the electric, internet, and mortgage bills due.

This was the panic I’d anticipated. I’d hoped we’d have a few more weeks before it got too bad.

Clearly, that estimation had been way off.

At the back, I spotted the pack elders. Some of them were business owners, but the fact that they were all here meant this was serious.

I raised my voice to be heard. “Let’s talk.”

After some grumbles and adjustments, the people grouped themselves into a semi-circle around my porch like it was a stage. It did make it easier for me to see and hear everyone.

“I know you’re all wondering why your bills aren’t getting paid,” I began.

“Damn right, Cole,” a man at the back hollered. “Your daddy always had the utilities paid up on time. The mortgages, too. All he asked was us paying him a small amount of rent each month. What’s going on? Are you trying to cut that deal out?”

“No. I assure you, I am not. This came as a surprise to me, too, when I returned home. To be totally honest with you…” I took a deep breath. This was the part that was going to suck. “The pack is out of money.”

The silence that greeted that pronouncement was deafening. Many eyes stared back at me in abject disbelief and shock.

One of the elders raised his hand.

“Chuck?” I said. “You got something to say?”

He nodded. “Is this something Lance caused? Before he died, I mean?”

A grumble ran through the crowd. Not angry. More like a bunch of people had come to the same realization.

“I don’t want to speak ill of the dead,” I said, “but yes. He did. He ran through all the pack savings, and the last of what he did have is running out. It’s why many of your bills have gone unpaid.

I’m doing everything I can to rectify the situation.

You can bear with me and see it through, or if you want, you can leave.

I wouldn’t hold it against you if you found another pack that is on better financial footing. ”

Another ripple ran through the group. A lot of angry faces, but from what I could see, none of the anger was directed at me. I heard a few men curse my father’s name. As much as I hated him, it still hurt me to know that our family had let these people down.

“I knew something was wrong when Lance ran Ricky and the others off. I fucking knew it,” another man said.

“Everyone, stay calm,” I said. “I want each of you to come see me individually. We’ll go over your finances, and I’ll personally pay to get all your bills up to date. It’ll come out of my own money, my personal account. I will not let the pack fall apart or suffer from my father’s bad decisions.”

Murmurs of agreement and thanks came from the crowd, and I sighed in relief.

“Also, Trenton Monroe brought up something that needs to be discussed,” I continued. “The pack has been without an enforcer for some time now. I want you all to spread the word and see if anyone’s up for the job. I need someone soon.”

“We can have a list for you in a couple days, Cole,” one of the elders said.

“Fantastic,” I replied. “Now, let’s get down to bills. Our favorite thing, right?”

That got a laugh, and I could almost feel the tension break. A more friendly attitude started to pervade the meeting. Dodged a bit of a bullet there.

Forty-five minutes later, I had the details of all the accounts that needed to be paid.

Some of the bills were in the thousands.

It would rip a huge chunk out of my savings account, but it was a price worth paying.

I cursed my father under my breath. Not only were there back taxes and utility bills, but also reconnection fees for some who’d already had their gas or electricity shut off.

This was going to be a royal headache to get sorted, and it was all on my shoulders.

As everyone departed, a small contingent of elders remained behind and approached me.

“What other problem do we have now?” I asked. “A plague of locusts? Pestilence? River turning to blood? What?”

One of the elders, Ernest, chuckled. “Nothing quite that bad. We have a list for you for the enforcer position.” He passed me a piece of paper with two names and phone numbers printed on it.

I blinked at him in surprise. “Already? That was fast. You guys didn’t even talk to anyone.”

Ernest shrugged helplessly. “Honestly, those two boys are the best options we have out of the men we think would say yes. Not many more in town would be up for the job, I don’t think.”

Clifton Vonn and Tyler Barron. I recognized those names.

Clifton and I had been in the same class in high school.

He’d been the second-string quarterback from freshman year on.

Tyler was a couple years younger than me and had dated one of Farrah’s friends in high school for a bit.

Neither stuck out as enforcer material, though. Not from what I remembered.

“Thanks,” I said. “I’ll get with Trent and see what we want to do.”

“We’ll let you get to it, then,” Ernest said.

The group of elders dispersed to their cars, and I sat on my porch steps, exhaustion seeping into my bones. But I had more work to do.

I stood, then went to the office and set about paying as many of the bills as I could online.

As my bank account slowly dwindled while I worked, my mind kept going back to everything I’d learned and heard since being back.

None of it made any sense. The sheer amount of money that was missing could have vanished through sports betting, true, but it seemed unlikely.

The receipts I’d found didn’t account for the millions of dollars that should have been in the pack accounts.

I eyed my father’s old laptop that sat on the far side of the desk.

It was locked, but the password was scribbled on a taped-down piece of paper inside the top drawer of the desk.

After I paid all the bills, I pulled the computer over and booted it up.

Once I’d typed in the password, I scanned the different files, searching for more proof of my dad’s bad habits.

Maybe he’d bet a million bucks on the Super Bowl or something?

While I searched, I texted Farrah.

Cole: Random question. Was the pack in financial hardship when you moved away? Or was it still good?

Farrah had stayed behind a bit longer than I had. If things had been going bad for over a decade, that would explain the missing money. Betting and losing slowly over fifteen or sixteen years might do it.

Farrah: Nope. Everything was still great when I moved out. No issues I was aware of.

Another dead end.

Cole: Thanks anyway.

I skimmed more files, searching for some trail to follow.

Part of me hoped I might find some hidden account no one had known about.

That would be great . Boom, here’s all the money .

But if that was the case, then why was Kyle pushing for payment?

If Dad had the money hidden somewhere, why wouldn’t he pay?

No. That would be too easy of an explanation.

Nothing stood out, so I went to the web browser and pulled up the search history. As I did, I prayed to God I wouldn’t find any links to porn websites. The last thing I needed was to imagine my father jerking off to videos of lesbian college girls.

The first thing I found seemed to enforce the gambling story.

Page after page of gambling and betting sites.

Poker sites, betting sites, even online fucking slot machines.

I pulled up his accounts at each one and found his purchase, loss, and win histories.

It was over fifty grand, but nowhere near what the pack was missing. Where the fuck had it all gone?

My phone buzzed with a call. It was Trent.

“Hey, how’s it going?” he said as I answered.

“Great,” I said sarcastically. “Fucking villagers with pitchforks were hanging out in my driveway when I got home. They threatened to string me up and tar and feather me if I didn’t get their bills paid.”

“That bad?”

I groaned and slapped Dad’s laptop shut. “Not really. I did have to dole out about thirty thousand dollars in past-due bills, though. That hurt like a bitch.”

“Well, I do have some good news, if you want to hear it,” Trent said.

“Anything to get me out of this funk.”

“Got a call from the realtor I picked to handle the sale of the places out west.”

Sitting forward, I clutched the phone tighter. “Do we have any buyers interested yet?”

“The Hewlett brothers. They made a full cash offer for everything.”