Chapter 173

Grace

"Eason?" Esme said, her eyes widened. "You..."

"Sorry to interrupt the tenants of law, but this is too good," Eason said, his eyes sparkling with an almost manic gleam. Just behind him, his laptop floated in. Esme's eyes were as wide as saucers as it floated onto the table. The screen was glowing. "More importantly, it might be important for your studies and plan."

He tapped out a number on his phone and put it on speaker.

"Where's your warden?"

"Oh, probably back at the house," Eason said, bouncing on his toes. "I sort of... uhm, well, popped over here."

Esme's eyes widened just a little further.

"What the hell--"

"Later," Eason said. "I promise, later. I promise, but this can't wait. It'll hit me, or it won't, but I have to get this out now--damn it, Charles answer the--"

"Eason?" Charles' voice came through the speaker. "What have you done? George is calling me."

"Shit, uhm... tell him I'll allow him to scold me after I figure out how not to do it again, but I'll take a spanking."

Charles snorted. "I am not acting as your kink negotiator."

George's contact flashed on the screen as Warden. Then, it answered and joined the call without Eason even touching it. Esme's jaw dropped, looking between the phone and Eason. I supposed that it wasn't supposed to do that.

"Later!" Eason said before George could say anything. "I'm at Wolfe Medical. I promise to get a ride back."

".... you are in so much trouble."

He bit his lip. "Don't make promises you're not going to keep. That's just rude. Now, focus."

His screen started moving without him touching it, pulling up files as Eason started to gesture the way he did when he was over-excited about something.

"I have to hand it to myself. Really, I do. I know you asked for info about friends beyond the States. It's coming. I promise, but I stumbled upon the truth about our dear asshole, Fenris, and the President." He grinned as a report appeared on the screen. "Funny how Northfall, lycan, and witch information networks can serve as a back door into the States' firewall."

A jolt of anticipation crackled through the air. I leaned forward, trying to make sense of the document on the screen.

"What did you find?"

"Fenris' little company isn't as stable as anyone thinks," Eason chuckled, a low, rumbling sound. "His financials make Wolfe Medical and Mooncrest at their worst look like we ordered one too many dinners out. His company's been bleeding money for decades, a slow, steady gush that the President has been covering up for him."

I frowned. "But... wouldn't that make him ineligible to take over for me?"

"Yes," Esme said. "And put the President in a sticky position. Let's add fraudulent charges and... emotional distress to the docket for the hell of it."

"Add all of the charges, but hold your fucking hats for the good bit." The screen shifted around, displaying a photo of the President and Fenris. "This photo is from over fifty years ago."

I gasped. That had to be impossible. "They look the exact same!"

Right down to the slimy tilt to Fenris' lips.

"It's in an old archive of a school that no longer exists. They just so happened to have switched over to a witch network system right before they shut down." He grinned. "They shut down a year before the presidency changed hands, and I have a feeling I know why. Caldwell's father was the next President--except there isn't a record, a real record, of his father except for a very, very old record buried in another set of records that's far too old for it to be the man who sat in the office at the time."

I blinked at him. "You mean..."

"They're either not werewolves, or they have a deal worked out for the elixir like we thought." He said. "He's been changing face and coming up with a new identity every few decades. Probably coming up with fake opponents, too. I thought it best to give you the ammunition before the court date. Maybe some lightly referenced threats here and there might make it go over a little smoother, yeah?" He grinned. "You might even be able to get Fenris' company as a subsidiary. What do you think?"

I took a deep breath. "We'd have to play it carefully... but this could change everything."

I sat forward. "What exactly does his company have that we'd want?"

"Liquid capital," Eason said. "They have a few other pieces of property that might be good for Wolfe Medical, and..."

He started pacing, rattling off everything; as he spoke, the laptop's screen brought up other documents like a presentation, yet it wasn't. Esme's look of surprise hadn't disappeared as she continued to watch Eason pace back and forth. His steps barely whispered on the floor like he was still floating.

"Is that normal?" I asked.

Esme's lips twitched. "I believe you know better than me that there is nothing normal about your brother."

"Do I get to call him Twinkle Toes?"

Eason stopped and looked at me. "Only if you get me a sparkly outfit that's going to make Ethan or George want to take it off."I snorted. I heard George scoff. Then, the sound of the wind caught my ear.

"Charles?" I asked. "Are you driving?"

"Being driven," he said. "Headed to a town for some oversight."

"A town?"

"A cozy little thing nestled in the wilderness," he huffed. "Maybe a little too much wilderness."

"Planning on wrestling bears or communing with raccoons."

A low chuckle rumbled through the line. "Maybe a bit of both," he teased. "How do you feel about beat furs?

"Never had one," I said.

"You've slept under one."

My face heated, thinking back to that fur we'd slept under at his cabin. "... Yes."

He laughed. "I'll see what I can do about getting you one of your own."

"Do you think it'll take long?" I bit my lip. "Will you be back tonight?"

"I don't know yet," he said. "As for the elixir deal, I'll look into it. It's unlikely that the deal is buried very deeply."

Esme tilted her head. Eason did the same. Their flashing eyes sparkled and narrowed the same way. It was uncanny watching them, and I wondered if it was because of the magic or something else that had them taking on the same mannerisms.

Well, I suppose it had to be since Eason didn't use to make that face before the whole incident with Blood Moon.

"What else?" Charles asked. "Any other concrete connections? It's unlikely that either of them are anything but werewolves. My money is on an elixir or a long-standing ritual… Maybe even something else."

He huffed. "I suppose I'll look into that too while I'm at it."

"Why do you say that?" I asked.

"Their scent. There isn't a single potion, shapeshifting or otherwise, that could change their scent to a Lycan's nose."

"I'll look into it further. I'm waiting on the program to pull their birth records and lineage, just in case, but I think we'd be better off trying to figure out more about Blood Moon."

"I agree," Charles said. "I'll get back to you as soon as I know something."

As we hung up, I tried to hold on to the palpable energy buzzing in the room, but I couldn't. There was an uneasy, unsettling feeling in my stomach. Charles would have given me more details about where he was going usually. The few details he'd given me felt very surface. Was he hiding something, or was he just busy? Was I being paranoid?

Moon, I really hated not knowing one way or the other.

"Where could he be heading to?" I wondered aloud.

Esme hummed. "Driving distance? Probably Silverlight."

"You know the place?"

She nodded. "It's a nice little town right on the border. I know Charles spent a lot of time there over the years... Though what sort of oversight Silverlight could need is beyond me."

I swallowed, and as much as I didn't want to let myself think about it, I could hear Devin's voice in my mind telling me he was going to handle pack business and be gone for hours or days. I knew now that he'd been with Amy.

It was a traitorous thought, one that I knew was wrong, but I couldn't help it. I turned my gaze out the window. The sky was bleak with clouds. It looked like it might snow again. It reminded me of the first time I started to suspect something was up with Devin. I couldn't even be sure what it was about that day or if it had just been long enough for me to start thinking about all the little things he'd said that hadn't added up in my mind.

I knew Charles wasn't Devin. I knew that a child's actions didn't necessarily reflect on the parents. If they did, I'm almost certain I would be in the situation I was in right now, but was it possible?

Was Charles going to see his mate?