Auctioned Mates Revenge
Chapter 70

Wade's

POV

As soon as I got the casts off, I would replace some way to get back at Matt for the humiliation of having to go to Mordecai's house on a crutch. The bastard had the nerve to make fun of me at the same time. Why father seemed to be so focused on that f**k-up, I didn't know and I didn't care. He'd think differently when I got Mordecai dragged from his seat as alpha and took it over on my own.

All I needed was for Justin to do his job and get Matt out of the way. Any trouble with the Interpack Authorities would cause an uproar across the world. Matt hadn't used the contact at Grave Mouth yet, but it was just a matter of time if he planned on re-opening Club Heaven.

It was annoying that he hadn't gone into the details about what he planned to do with Club Heaven.

It didn't matter.

It wouldn't be a big deal as soon as I got rid of Mordecai. My father thought it was best to preserve the balance of power on the east and west coast, but I knew better.

Mordecai wasn't interested in balancing anything between the two of them. With half a chance, he'd take over Skyfall and Frost Melt if he could. Skyfall didn't have anything of value to offer other than control of the land and a cheaper method of transportation between Warhammer and Midnight.

Ben said that he'd placed Calvin in charge of developing something there, but it had been three years and he had nothing to show for it.

Calvin and Andrew sat across the table from us as Ben sipped from his mug. Mordecai had been nice enough to give us a space to use in Midnight to conduct a bit of pack business.

"Well, have you bought what you needed from the auction yet?" Ben asked.

Calvin grimaced, "There wasn't an auction."

He glared, "What do you mean?"

"According to that idiot in Green Bow, Blooming Vibes is no longer a Green Bow business. Someone must have offered him a deal outside of Green Bow and the auction."

Ben's nostrils flared with irritation, "And? Who owns it now?"

"I don't know. No one has said anything. If it was Devereaux, he'd probably be celebrating the victory!"

Ben's eyes hardened as he glared at Calvin, "It will be fine then. Whoever owns it now will surface soon enough, anyone who knows how valuable Blooming Vibes is will be broadcasting it soon enough. What about your development?" Calvin looked at his son before clearing his throat, "The development is going a bit slow, but-"

"Slow?" Ben growled, leaning forward, "The only reason why you're in the position you're in right now is that you seemed to be useful to me. Don't make me rethink that decision with that bullshit! If a child can develop a comparable product in a matter of a few years, you should be able to do it in less than half the time, yet here we are. Three years with nothing to show for it!"

Ben sat back, "How much of the surplus do you have left?"

"Maybe four months," Calvin said tensely. "Letting it go on auction at a trickle has been a good decision."

He set his jaw, "And what of the cultivation in the south?"

Calvin shook his head, "Even the people you hired can't explain it. They've planted all the seeds, but the quality is nowhere near the same."

"You have nothing to show for it?" He hissed, "What about the trials?"

"The Interpack Authorities' report has come back, but it's a no-go."

"What about Devereaux Botanicals?"

I listened with a half ear. It was clear that the conversation wasn't going to go anywhere since Calvin and Andrew had nothing to show for all the time that had gone by.

It probably meant that they didn't know about the other auction held in the south selling a stockpile of Blooming Vibes products. It had been clear that this was the last of the completed products from the source.

I hadn't gotten a chance to call Justin yet to check in with how he made off with the auction. That should have been a day ago, but I wasn't up to taking a call from him around my father.

When Ben dismissed them, he dismissed me as well stating he had calls to make. I left the building and found someplace to sit out in the park before calling Justin.

"How much did you end up spending?" I asked.

"Nothing," he growled.

"What do you mean, nothing?"

"They sent out a last-minute memo that the supply was gone. It had been bought. All of it. But they wouldn't say who. I waited for Blooming Vibes to tank, but they're still in business."

I grit my teeth, "Call Blooming Vibes and offer them a contract."

"I did," he said. "The customer service department from the clerks to the CEO stated that the rest of their stock was in reserve for an already established contract.

I hung up, gritting my teeth and trying to think. Sinner's Haven was losing money, quickly, due to all the people Justin had to pay off about his dealings. It needed to be profitable soon. The whores that he hired weren't enough to entertain customers. I knew Ben had a plan to crash Midnight's economy for his own ends, so all of the moves I was making would be hidden by his.

I called my contact in Skyfall regarding the shipment of raw materials for development, but it was clear that everything Calvin told my father was just the surface.

"We haven't been able to get a hold of most of the materials for the more popular recipes," she said. "I'm under the impression that while Calvin and his son aren't as in the know as anyone was led to believe."

"What do you mean?"

"Neither of them know anything about the balance of chemicals in the plants. They've hired extra scientists to try and replicate the recipes."

That would be useful. Knowing that Calvin, or whatever his real name is, had lied to Ben for the past three years would be good blackmail. "What else?"

"They were recently in Frost Melt."

I frowned. Teagan hated my mother, but it was only because she felt she should have been next in line as luna of Warhammer. The idiot didn't realize that my mother wasn't the type to work. She was luna in name only, and my father preferred brunettes after getting rid of Matt and Joel's mother.

"For what?"

"They weren't there for long. They met with Gordon, the owner of Zima Distillery and the alpha."

What would Calvin want with a master brewer? Furthermore, why did they seem to act like strangers at the dining table if they'd met before?

It seemed suspicious to me.

"Keep an eye on Calvin and his son."

"There's something else," she said. "Andrew seems to have taken a liking to a woman named Renda. They met at Matt's party a while back and have since become friends on social media. I'm not sure if there is anything else to read into it, but it would seem like there likely is." "Keep an eye on that as well."

I hung up letting my mind turn over everything. I knew that Mordecai didn't think too much of me. He was too busy doting on Matt to care about me, but that was fine. He'd think a lot more about me when I was the reason he was no longer alpha of Midnight. Ben would change his mind and I'd lord it over Matt until the day I finally killed him.

My phone rang and I answered it. "Hello?"

"You asked me to keep an eye on the movements of Devereaux Botanicals," the voice said without inflection. It was scrambled to keep their identity a secret. "They just received a large shipment from another Warhammer port. The packing slip was non-lethal and a larger quantity than usual."Posted by Ebookex.com

I narrowed my eyes, "It arrived by a truck?"

"By plane."

I cursed. The only thing that Devereaux received by plane were ingredients. That would explain why Calvin couldn't get anything to experiment with. Those bastards of Luftmensch and Fireash were going to pay for this shit. It was Ben's fault. He shouldn't have given them such free reign over the situation. Who knew what else those greedy bastards had stowed away and what they'd been doing with it all this time?

I thought to contact Ben about it, but that would show my hand and draw too much attention. Besides, it wasn't my problem that Ben couldn't control the people he hired.

"Is there a chance to destroy the parcel?"

"It's under Warhammer Guard."

Of course, it was. Ben was invested in keeping Felix's company producing for as long as it took to build up the operation in Skyfall, so he could get something else firmly under his control.

"Keep me updated about anything else."

I hung up and glared.

Why could nothing go my way?