Auctioned Mates Revenge
Chapter 94

Matt's

POV

I collapsed into my seat and listened to Mordecai pour us drinks as the captain got ready to take off. If I didn't have to stand in front of a news reporter again in life it would be too soon, but I was glad for it. Mordecai sputtered and laughed, "What a f*****g dumbass!"

I looked at him, "What's going on?"

He offered his phone, "Ben's a dumber son of a bitch than I thought! Oh, moon. I didn't think it was possible."

I sat up and took the phone.

Alpha Wallber names son, Wade, as the pack heir.

I set my jaw glaring at the news. That little son of a bitch was named heir to my mother's pack? I'd f*****g kill Ben. Over my dead body that little shit would ever be alpha.

"I should have sent him crashing into a gorge."

Mordecai grinned, "Hmm, would have been cleaner, but think about what we wouldn't have been able to achieve!"

He laughed, leaning back, "I wouldn't worry about Wade. The little shit is probably black and blue after that shit he pulled."

"He's not dead is my problem."

Mordecai hummed, "Your mother would say that patience is the key to a good hunt."

My lips twitched and nodded, "Fine. Screw Ben and his stupidity. Let's talk about the stockpiles."

Mordecai laughed, "Well, what do you want to talk about? How pissed off Ben's going to be in a few hours?"

I laughed, "No, what we're going to do with it all."

"I would have thought you would send it all to Blooming Vibes or Touissant?"

I considered it, "Blooming Vibes doesn't have recipes. They only distribute the product."

Mordecai hummed, "Sounds like you should talk to your Fluorite princess."

I nodded, thinking about Glenda. I hadn't wanted to leave her in Midnight, but if there was anything I could count on it was her safety inside Mordecai's stronghold. Besides, she wasn't in any shape to go anywhere and she seemed attached to looking after her sister and the other girls.

I couldn't deny her that.

As soon as the Inter-Pack Authorities snatched the land rights to Fluorite from Warhammer, Ben would be singing a different tune, but I had a feeling he would do something else before hand.

Naming Wade the heir was a distraction tactic. We flew back to Midnight and headed to his house as soon as we landed.

"Come with me for a minute," Mordecai said as we entered, "I promise not to keep you from your love long."

I followed him down the hallway to his private office. I had been inside the room at least once as a child. My lips twitched a little. There was the faintest scent lingering in the air that reminded me of my mother. Maybe it was some flower that was in her favorite perfume or something.

I found the bouquet of Angel's Trumpets and thought back to my childhood. My mother had a green thumb. She had a small garden at the Warhammer Estate. We'd help her in the garden sometime. "Angel's Trumpets...."

"Yeah, damn hard to keep alive up here, but they smell nice." He opened his side drawer with a key he pulled from around his neck and settled behind his desk. "Your birthday's coming up, so I thought I'd better give you a good gift. The big two-five, you know?" Twenty-five was more a big number because of the age restrictions on being an alpha.

"It's weeks away."

"It's a week away, Matt. Honestly, you're worse than your mother was. I don't want to forget to give it to you." He pulled out a box and slid it across the desk. "Don't go opening it early though, hm?"

I looked at him and opened the box. Inside was a black flash drive. I glanced up at him.

He smirked, "Just in case I'm not around to answer all those questions you have, I didn't want you to think I was trying to cheat you."

I narrowed my eyes, "Why wouldn't you be here to answer my questions?"

He lifted his shoulder, "Shit happens in war. Uriel's joining me for dinner. Are you coming?"

I nodded, "I want to check on Glenda first."

He waved me off, "Yes, yes. Young love. Go on. We'll be out by the pool."

I turned to leave, tucking the box in my pocket.

There was something behind his words that made the box feel heavier than it was. I carried it with me down the hall until I reached the rooms where Glenda and the other women were. Most of them looked to be under the age of sixteen. Laughter came out of the room. I knocked and it went quiet.

The door opened and Glenda looked up at me. Her eyes were clear and full of recognition. I could smell her wolf surfacing more, but she still wasn't strong enough to shift, I didn't think.

She stepped out and closed the door behind her before wrapping her arms around me.

I growled, rubbing my face in her hair and squeezing her close. She smelled so good even beneath the pain and the medication to help ease her agony while she healed.

"I just wanted to check on you. How have things been?"

She nodded. She hadn't said much of anything since I got her and her sister out of the house.

"I'm going to eat dinner with Mordecai and Uriel if you don't want me near."

"... come back."

My lips twitched and I pressed a kiss to her head, "Always. Are you staying the night with your sister?"

She shook her head and trembled, sniffling into my shoulder, "S-She still won't say anything."

I nodded, stroking her hair, "She and the others will be taken care of, you have my word, okay?"

I pulled back, cupping her face, "You won't be separated again if you don't want."

Her eyes watered and flickered with light as she nodded and tilted her face up, asking silently for a kiss. I pressed our lips together gently before bumping our nose together. "I will see you after dinner. Be sure to eat, okay?"

She nodded. I released her and she slipped back into the room.

I turned away and headed out to the pool. Uriel and Mordecai were seated at the table. She twirled a glass of wine. Her eyes stopped on me and widened.

"I haven't... seen you since were a young boy," she looked at me. "Goodness...You take after the Hammers don't you?"

My lips twitched, "Good to see you too, Uriel."

I sat and leaned back, "It is... odd to be sitting here."

"I assure you, Ben has never sat as a third to this table, so don't feel strange," Uriel's eyes turned misty. "You are simply... taking your mother's seat so to speak."

I met her gaze, "You were close with my mother."

She smiled, her eyes twinkling. "Sharon had a lot of friends in a lot of places. She was smart. A great luna..."

I glanced at Mordecai and sat back, "Tell me what you get out of dragging Ben down from his pedestal. I don't fully understand Mordecai's motivations, but I trust them."

"As you should," Uriel said with a sly smile, "You are a very special young man."

I felt like she was seconds away from pinching my cheek.

"The answer is simple. I feel as though it is a bit obvious by now.... Ben has my son."

I frowned, "Your... son?"

"Yes," she said. "We were in Warhammer when he was just a child and we were attacked. Ben was trying to kill me at the time, but he managed to take my son."

Her eyes misted over, "I don't even know where he is. I know that he is alive, but... all my attempts to replace him have been thwarted. I got the sense that he was being hidden somewhere in Warhammer territory, maybe moved frequently." "What's his name?"

"Raphael," she said. "He took after his father. Pretty in a dangerous way."

Mordecai laughed, "You always preferred men who were prettier than you."

She shrugged, "And you have always preferred blondes."

I sat back, "Do you have any leads? A photo maybe? I could cross-reference Warhammer's registration records."

Her eyes widened, "You have access?"

I chuckled and opened my phone, "I run the pack's registration system."

Her lips twitched, "Yes, I suppose you are your mother's son, aren't you?"

She pulled a locket out of her shirt and over her head, handing it to me.

The photo was old. He couldn't have been more than six years old in the photo, but I recognized him. He didn't look much different, if taller and dreamy-eyed from the number of drugs that had been pumped into his system over the years. "What's wrong?"

"He's called Oliver these days."

She gasped in horror, "What?"