Chapter 26

I looked up at the building and got out of the car. It was strangely unfamiliar. I had spent two years at Club Heaven, but I didn’t remember most of it.

I remembered trying to escape several times. They caught me so easily. I had barely gotten down the street before they’d realized I was gone. They’d beat me and starve me for a week. I remember my handler complaining about me. Someone else had kept him from killing me and putting me up for sale to their sicker patrons because I was a werewolf and they would get more mileage out of me if I was alive.

“Are you ready?”

I looked at him, startled from my memories before nodding. He opened the door and ushered me inside. It was early enough that there weren’t any clients inside and the hostess looked up at us as we entered.

Her eyes widened as she looked at me then she slapped on a smile as she looked at Matt.

“Mr. Wallber, the boss said to take you to the meeting room as soon as you arrived.”

“Show us the way.”

She nodded and slipped from behind the desk. We walked across the client floor past a few men who were surrounded by familiar faces. They flinched as they saw me before turning their gazes back to the men they were serving.

I couldn’t remember their names. They weren’t from Fluorite, but I remembered how nice they had been while I was there. They’d know something about how Zoe ended up away from the club.

The hostess opened the door to the VIP room and my stomach turned. There were six young women inside. One of them was dressed in a tuxedo halter top and bikini bottoms in a mock version of a bartender’s uniform. She stood behind the small bar with a tense smile. I didn’t recognize the other women in the room.

“I’ll let the owner know that you have arrived, Mr. Wallber.”

“Take us to his office,” Matt said, turning back to the door. “These women can stay here.”

The hostess looked nervous but she turned and led us down the hallway away from the tacky decor of the club’s working floor towards the plain decor of the administrative office.

She knocked.

“What?” A man’s voice growled from the other side.

“M-Mr. Wallber has arrived.”

The door swung open and the familiar man filled the doorway. He’d lost a lot more hair since the last time I saw him.

“Well–” He drew up short noticing Matt standing behind her. “What are you doing? I told you–”

“A VIP room isn’t the proper place to sign a contract,” Matt said.

The man hesitated before nodding, “O-Of course, Mr. Wallber. Whatever you like. Cindy, go get some refreshments for our guests.”

His gaze darted to me. A flicker of regret went through his eyes as we entered.

“Mr. Wallber, I have the contracts all printed out.”

“Good. I don’t like to waste time,” Matt said as he ushered me to sit in the only other chair in the room. He remained standing beside me. I wanted to protest, but I needed to keep quiet and get whatever information I could out of this.

Matt picked up the two sets of contracts and read silently. The man kept glancing at me. His jaw clenched every time he looked at me. It seemed like he recognized me and was regretting selling me for Larry’s.

How much was he getting for Club Heaven?

Matt signed his name with a flourish, “The money will be wired to you in an hour. Before you leave, I should tell you that the money won’t be enough to cover your debts.”

His eyes widened in shock, “W-What?”

I stilled. What was Matt talking about? How did he know this man had debts? Were they to Warhammer?

“I’d suggest you take Alpha Mordecai’s deal before it’s off the table,” Matt said.

The man went pale before he stood and grabbed his bag. He hurried out of the room, closing the door behind him. Who was Mordecai? Was that the alpha over some pack under Warhammer?

“He’s the alpha of Midnight,” Matt said, evenly, folding the contract in half. He must have noticed the curiosity on my face. “He’s also connected to a lot of the lenders that he owes. It’s a terrible deal for him since it’ll enslave him to the pack for the rest of his life, but it’s better than being sold to his Fireash and Luftmensch lenders.”

I shuddered. I had heard that there was a market for men, especially male werewolves. They weren’t treated the way women were, but I bet that bastard didn’t want to find out what it was like to be powerless any time soon. How had Matt known about the deal or the man’s desperation? Were the Fireash and Luftmensch packs connected to Warhammer somehow?

I remember the emblem of the Fireash pack on the shackles, but they sold them everywhere.

How did he know about the trafficking of men? Maybe the women at the party were onto something when they were speculating about why Matt was only pretending to sleep around.

Maybe he was gay. Alyssa grumbled at the thought, but I felt a little relieved. If he was only interested in men and just using me as a cover, he’d never touch me. I’d have to find some other way to gain his trust and get close to him, but it was better than having to sleep with him. The thought of sex made me nauseous and a bit dizzy. I wrapped my arms around myself and looked for something to count while I pushed the thought away.

Matt rounded the table, “I think… we’ve reached the point where we have to talk.”

I tensed in my seat as Matt took a seat across the table. He looked at me with a business-like gaze.

“You don’t trust me, and that’s fine,” Matt said, “But you were planning to come here for a reason… Information on Trinity, I’m guessing. Maybe even information on how you came to be at Midnight.”

He’d figured it out. I suppose that his 4.8 GPA was well-earned. In my defense, I hadn’t managed to hide it well. Looking back, my intentions had been obvious. As he sat back in his chair, my stomach churned.

Now that he knew, what would he ask for in return for the information? I couldn’t pay him off with his money.

“If you wanted sex, you didn’t have to–”

“I’m not sleeping with you until you want to,” Matt said, eyeing me. “You and your wolf. Sex will never be on the table.”

Alyssa perked up, seeming more interested in the conversation now, but she didn’t tell me why.

“I told you that I want you to be mine, but that won’t happen without you trusting me,” Matt said, his lips twitched as if he wanted to say something else, but he shook his head slightly. “What is it that you came here for?”

The truth pushed at my teeth as if he was pulling it out of me.

“If I tell you,” I clenched my jaw, “What do you want in return?”

Matt hummed then his lips curved into a cunning smile. I braced myself for the worst, but if sex wasn’t something he was going to bargain for, I was at a loss for what else he could want from me.

I didn’t have anything else.

“Points.”

What did he just say? I couldn’t have heard him right.

I frowned, “Points?”

Matt nodded, “When in a relationship, you do things for your partner and you earn points.”

My face heated, “A relationship? Points for what?”

“Goodwill,” Matt said with a shrug. “Trust. I suspect that at least part of the reason you don’t trust me is because of the Warhammer pack’s reputation, but you also don’t know me. You’ve been hurt by a lot of men… A lot of men have had a lot of power over you. I admit that buying your freedom from Larry’s hasn’t helped in that regard, but I think we can get to the point where that doesn’t affect our interactions any longer.”

Matt pulled out an envelope and placed it on the table, “Open it.”

I looked down at it suspiciously, “What is it?”

“Well, if you open it, you’ll find out.”

I glared at him. His eyes twinkled with mischief. I picked up the envelope and gasped. Inside, was a driver’s license and a collection of documents naming me Renda Bradford, a member of the Warhammer pack. The birth certificate gave me a new birthday. There was a fake high school diploma and transcript. There was even a passport.

It was everything anyone would need to start a new life.

He’d given me my freedom. My heart clenched, and I looked up at him.

“Why would you do this?”

Matt smiled, “I don’t think you can start to think of me as a man rather than a john if you have no means to leave. I can’t undo buying your freedom from Larry’s, so this is the next best thing.”

I stared at him and he sat back, “You can even look yourself up in the pack database if you want, the national one, too. I’ve set up a bank account for you too and transferred money enough for you to live well for a long time.”

Alyssa growled at the back of my mind. I felt hope swelling in me. I could leave. I didn’t know how to drive, but if I showed this ID to someone in another pack’s territory, no one would even think about hurting me.

The Warhammer pack was known to be vengeful and kept careful track of their members, so it was unlikely that I would be targeted by traffickers again with this identity.

He’d given me protection. But why?

“Why?”

“Because I want to get you your revenge.”