Auctioned Mates Revenge
Chapter 53

against

Ben?

My head was spinning as I stared at Matt. How much money was that? How much money did he have? How did he manage to get a hold of all of Warhammer's industry like that? Why didn't he just pull all the companies out of Warhammer if he had such a grudge What did it mean that Ben was the alpha of a pack that his family didn't found? Who founded Warhammer then?

"How does that work?" I asked. He seemed surprised.

"How much do you know about the Interpack agreements?"

I winced. I knew a bit, at least the important ones for Fluorite, but my family owned the land and the businesses. We just ran them for the benefit of the pack. The Fluorite family had always been that way. "Enough."

Matt's lips twitched, "Alphas have reason to give businesses a certain amount of slack with regards to their taxes because businesses can move local when they wish, but there is no reason to move a business out of Warhammer, just in. Taxes, incentives, etc. And accepting a business that would move out of Warhammer territory into another pack's territory would be asking for Ben to put up sanctions against them."

Ben, Mordecai, and Uriel all structured their taxes so that domestic entities within their packs were taxed less than those who were considered foreign entities.

"All that's required to be a domestic entity is that the owner has to be a pack member or have a pack profile, or the business has to sign a formal agreement with the pack's government not to move for a minimum of twenty years. The longer the better." I nodded. It was mean, but I understood enough.

"But and alpha's possessions automatically become pack assets for as long as they're alpha. It's a covenant that makes sure that if the alpha makes money, the pack will thrive. Keeps selfish assholes from establishing packs for ill gain." "So, Ben wants you to be alpha."

"He does... then he most likely wants to kill me." His grin turned feral, "He'd have a hell of a time trying though."

I thought of Ben's wolf form and nodded shakily, "I agree."

Matt sat up, his eyes glinting with pride, "Any other questions?"

"Then, it's important that you remain a non-candidate in the eyes of the public," Grace said. "Since Warhammer has such a grip on the continent. The Interpack Authorities would intercede if he tried to declare you alpha." Matt nodded.

"Well, honestly, you could have been doing a better job," Grace said. "Tabloids can be bought. You need someone to spread rumors."

He snorted, "Are you offering?"

Her face turned bright red, "Well... we're in the position to kill two birds with one stone."

I took a deep breath, "We can... talk about that later, I think. My head is... spinning. What did you two replace out last night?"

"That Justin's full of shit and he's nervous," Matt said. "Someone's applying pressure on him to do something about me in Midnight and the economy. I guessed Mordecai, but I'm not convinced."

I groaned, remembering the conversation I'd overheard, "Right. About that. Part of the reason I ended up with Mordecai was because I got trapped in a storage closet-"

"What?" Matt growled, "With who? How-"

"By myself," I said, placing a hand on his shoulder. He went rigid under my touch as I sighed. "I was hiding from Andrew and Ja-his father- they were talking to Justin about crashing Midnight's economy or ending up dead." Matt smirked, "Did you tell Mordecai about it?"

I nodded, "It seemed the right thing to do."

I smirked remembering the conversation, "He was... taking jabs at me, so it felt appropriate to return the favor."

I'd felt powerful even as I played uncertain about telling him.

Matt laughed, "You beautiful, reckless woman! I guess I really do need a stronger stomach. He had to bring you to his table to return the favor. Him and his strange sense of honor."

I lifted my head at the compliment, grinning. His laughter was infectious.

"I was planning on planting the seeds of doubt in Mordecai about his and Ben's allegiance, I didn't expect Ben to be dumb enough to be plotting against him." He frowned and laughed harder, "Or better yet that idiot son of his!"

He threw his head back and I stared at him, amazed as his laughter took on an almost wolfish bark. Alyssa growled with pleasure and desire at the display. I looked at Grace who seem entranced as well. Matt slipped off his stool. "Good job, Renda, he's probably foaming at the mouth now," he chuckled. "What else, darling? It seems like you got more information than we did."

My cheeks heated at the nickname as I slipped out of my seat, "So much happened to me. That was near the end actually. I'll be back."

I went to my room to grab my clutch and started to explain my encounter with Sean after setting his card on the table. Then, I pulled out the note from Chloe. Grace's jaw dropped and Matt's eyes were wide as I explained the encounter in the bathroom. "That's when I got pulled along with Mordecai and they were talking about the Fluorite stockpile."

Matt frowned, "Stockpile?"

I nodded, "Fluorite had stores. Whoever's controlling it has been auctioning It off. He mentioned Devereaux Botanicals buying the last obscura rosa and cannabis sativa. Another ton of aquaria flora went up for auction, but they didn't say where. They mentioned Felix and his Warhammer contacts..."

I looked at him, expecting him to explain. Matt smirked, "I'll explain. Go on."

"They said Devereaux Botanicals would tank if Warhammer couldn't get the fields back up or no one managed to replace the supply. Warhammer would absorb it as a favor. Perfect Face has announced that they're going out of business, and the miners they hired keep causing collapses."

Grace poked me in the back, I looked at Grace who gave me an expectant look, and I realized what I might have just hinted.

Shit, so much for my cover. The only thing I would hope was that he hadn't noticed the slip.

Matt hummed, "They're not wrong for the most part... What's aquaria flora?"

"River flowers."

He nodded, "Good to know. I need to make a call."

He picked up the note and opened it, scanning the page before taking it with him.

"We were right," he said in passing. "I guess I'm enough bait."

Grace's jaw dropped open as he grabbed his phone and went to the balcony with the note.

I looked at Grace, "Bait?"

"I thought Chole had some sort of goal, a plan. I guess she just happened to get a good shot at freedom."

Grace shook her head, "You have crazy good luck."

I glowered at her, "Good luck? My left foot."

Grace chuckled and pat my shoulder, "If things keep up like this, it'll get easier."

I hoped so. Matt came back inside grinning.

"You are going to be dangerous when you actually learn to be sneaky," Matt said. "Felix is a good friend of mine. I've known him since I was a kid. He owns Devereaux Botanicals, a... botanical genius. He knows about the auction and is on it. He didn't know there would be river flowers there, so he'll cut me a deal for Club Heaven."

"A deal?"

He grinned, "He may have also tipped me off about where, when, and how to get around these problems Chloe listed out for me."

He gave me the page, but there was it that seemed coded. I frowned and glanced up at him.

"You said you were terrible at puzzles."

He laughed, "It's not a puzzle. They're prescription lines."

I frowned looking down at it, tilting my head, "Prescription lines?"

He hummed, "It's a form of shorthand that bar, pubs, and recreational lounges use to keep track of supplies. We call them prescription lines or codes because they used to be only sold as prescriptions. The drug underground uses the medical codes still." I was a bit impressed that he knew anything about the underground aside from human trafficking.

He pointed to the first line, "This is 10. This is kilograms. This is a code for a blend produced by Blooming Vibes."

I looked at the letter and number string, turning over what I remember before it came to me, "Red Haze?"

He smirked, "Yes. Red Haze."

"10 kilograms is a lot."

"That's a standard packaging unit for a stocking deal," he pointed to the symbol on the far end, "This means five."

I eyed the line, deciphering it, "Five ten-kilogram packages of Red Haze for... seven thousand?"

"At most, yes. This list is how much Justin is planning to buy, from what source, and for how much." Matt grinned, "Based on the amounts, Justin plans to go to Blooming Vibes and buy the rest of their warehouse. Sinner's Haven is planning to expand into recreational drugs with a grip on the market since Devereaux Botanicals doesn't have equivalents of all these quite yet."

I looked down the list and barely kept from smiling. Devereaux Botanicals might be good at creating their recipes, but they would never recreate these. Blooming Vibes didn't own the recipes to any of these blends.

The Fluorite family does, and I would never reveal the recipes to anyone. It was the same with Perfect Face. Everlast owned the recipes for their nail color, but there was no point in getting them without the Fluorite mines and refining process. Matt grinned, "But what kind of competitor would I be if I let that happen? Shall we go visit the owner of Blooming Vibes, ladies?"