Puppy Love
Chapter 46

~Liam~

Alex had completely embarrassed me.

I felt ashamed of myself and my wolf, but I understood his reasons. Josephine was my mate, and we were yet to claim her.

Her eighteenth birthday seemed a bit far, and the only solution to waiting was keeping her close.

Taking her away from me was scary.

How was I going to function without her?

I would have followed her to Mountain if that was where they were sending her, but she handled it.

Watching her stand up for herself where I was concerned made me feel like a coward.

She had told her father about us, and Lord Alexei. had given his consent after warning me. He said a lot of dangerous things on the phone, things I knew he wouldn’t get the opportunity to do because I wasn’t going to break her heart. I was incapable of it.

Josephine’s opening up to her father made me feel like a coward. At that moment, I decided I would be honest with my father too and maybe get his advice on how to handle this because Josephine’s18th birthday seemed a bit too far.

I held Josephine in my arms as she assured Alex she wasn’t leaving.

Alex was content and had receded, but I needed to replace a way to tame my wolf.

Breaking away, we looked in the direction of the others. They seemed to be earnestly conversing, so we opted to join them. I knew lowed them an apology for freaking out like that.

We walked back towards them, and I felt humiliated, but something in their eyes said they understood. I knew Justin might have explained the matter to them, but Marvin was the most shocked

“I apologise for my behaviour earlier,” I said, and Justin rubbed my shoulder.

“I understand. I was going to push back anyway, but I wanted you all to know what they wanted.

You would have heard the part where I promise to refuse if you had let me complete my sentence. I planned to call and refuse. My sister is leading the team in Mountain. I do not know why, but it seems an investigation on Kaizen and Braile is necessary, as it seems the Alphas of the islands are in on this.

That is the only way these criminals will head there to seek refuge and move between the two islands to avoid being caught. The investigation was to be ongoing alongside ours. They needed people with great investigative skills there, so they asked Josephine and Charlotte to join Elisabeth’s team,” Justin explained. I doubted it was just that, but I held my tongue.

“But Harper is better in that regard than Josephine and Charlotte. Why not send her with Gemma and Jewels? Miles is also there,” Noah complained, and he hit the nail on the head.

“That is because our father won’t let Harper out of his sight. I wonder what he will do when she replaces her mate. Will he force them to live in Volkov estate?” I said, and everyone laughed.

We all knew why Harper’s name wasn’t on the list, It was an issue she would have to address with our father. He has always been overprotective of her, and I think he won’t stop until she stands up for herself like Josephine did. Harper wanted to come to Grizlo, but I am sure no one drafted her because our father would say no.

“My father says I can stay,” Josephine shared the good news, and everyone was genuinely happy.

“I guess I will call my father on Charlotte’s behalf to speak to Uncle Vino. I doubt I can speak to him about his daughter directly. He wants her in Mountain because he knows they will be active there, and I doubt our parents are leaving there anytime soon,” Justin said, and everyone laughed.

“Leave Charlotte to speak to her father about it, Josephine said, and it was logical. Only Charlotte can convince her father to let her stay. She was almost nineteen. She should be able to push back much harder than Josephine did.

“Well, with all that said, now we can talk about dealing with the problem,” Noah said, returning to the main topic.

“I suggest we sweep the house for bugs ourselves, Josephine said, and we agreed. I was thinking that, too, but she beat me to it.

“It is also time to put Lebedev and Sokolov under surveillance. Once the staff and kappas from lucland arrive, we will put the ones at the packhouse on an indefinite leave of absence. We do not want them to have any influence on our work. We are yet to replace out what really happened, and if we do not get those people out, we won’t replace anything out. It is time to start pushing back,” Justin said.

“Will the surveillance be obvious or discreet?”

Sebastien asked a valid question because our parents must have adopted conspicuous surveillance, not knowing how far the criminal’s influence was.

“Discreet. Because I read some of Thompson’s files and found documents of some importation of contrabands through the dock, I did not understand why it wasn’t marked as a case of interest. The council implemented some trade regulations over fifteen years ago, and some of the importations are against the trade regulations. For example, certain untested and uncertified ammunition and medications are being ferried in through the ports. I suspect that is the issue

Caspian was facing, too. I do not know if we can trust the guy, but we will replace out eventually,” he said, and I was surprised at what he had found out.

“How did you know this? We went through the documents together,” I asked him, and he nodded.

“We went through the documents from

Thompson’s home office, thinking that was where he used, but after breakfast this morning, I found some documents in a hidden safe behind a wall picture in the library of the office at the packhouse. It also did not seem like a feature that

came with the building orginally. The paint and cement on the wall felt new and recent. He created it specifically for those files. I was going to request we go through them when the call of the event that happened on Sam Street came in,” he said, and I could understand why it skipped his mind. The news of Sam Street and the bugs had thrown him off.

“Do you think Thompson was helping them ship in contraband through Grizlo?” I asked him, and he sighed.

“It was either that or he was on to them. I am not sure. We can’t know until we investigate thoroughly because I replace it confusing that he will help them yet take his Beta, gamma and delta to the docks to investigate illegal activities. It really doesn’t add up. Someone isn’t telling us the truth or giving us the entire story,” Justin said, which was the most plausible reason.

“I think we should start at the docks then. We need first-hand eye witness,” I said, and Noah shook his head.

“See how well that went for the people on Samy

Street. I know we want to solve this case, but let’s not endanger any more lives,” he said, making a valid point, but we could not progress without information.

“You are right, Noah, but we also can’t just hope to happen on information that will help. We have to seek it out,” Josephine argued, and he agreed.

“I didn’t say we shouldn’t question the people at the docks; I just meant none of us should do it. If they are monitoring us, then they will know our every move. Why not send kappas that will be arriving from Mountain and Lucland to do the investigation while we do other things to throw the spies off,” Noah said, defending his statement.

“If we are doing that, then we have to make sure that certain kappas do not come to the packhouse and actually settle at the docks gradually as civilians, maybe within the space of a month, so it isn’t sudden and suspicious. They shouldn’t be many, and they should look like ordinary people coming from anywhere but Lucland, Mountain, Gad and Greenville.” Marvin said, and he made a. lot of sense. If the kappas come to the packhouse before going to their assignments, the criminals might put them on their watch list. The fact that we were clueless about the extent and reach of the enemies meant we needed to be extra careful.

We agreed on our plans, and I called Mirabel to return to serve us food.

Justin enjoyed the food so much that he offered

Mirabel a job at the packhouse.

Josephine and I were excited, and she secretly told me she hoped she could leave with Mirabel when all this was over. I was sure it would be to a house we would share together anywhere she wanted to live.

After sunset, we returned to the packhouse with the plan to sweep the house of bugs in the near future, but not immediately.

We did not plan to do it immediately so the criminals wouldn’t know we were on to them. We planned to leave the bugs active so we could give the criminals false information and direct their reaction.

It was a risky strategy, but it would help us catch Lebedev, Sokolov, or whoever is behind this shit faster. It also meant we had to mind what we

.

discussed in the packhouse, except for my make-out session with Jo. They are welcome to listen.

The idea alone was hilarious. One thing I was certain of is that there were bugs in all our rooms, and they were placed before we arrived.

We arrived at the packhouse and found Charlotte cuddled in Caspian’s arms on the couch in the common room, watching an old polo game that was played yesterday. They seemed more into each other than the game itself, so they stirred when some of us walked in.

When we entered, Charlotte was surprised to see us, and Caspian stood up to greet us respectfully.

I could tell the guy was walking on eggshells around us.

Hopefully, we deem him trustworthy soon so he can be more comfortable. I could see that Charlotte and Caspian were embracing their bond, and a longing sank within me, hoping time would pass by quickly so I could embrace mine.

A little romance between Jo and me will do for now. Hopefully, Alex does not lose his shit again.

Staring at Charlotte, I realised she had no clue what her father had in store for her; we all left the common room, leaving her, Justin and Caspian. I did not want to be privy to that conversation, but I* hoped Uncle Vino would agree for their sake.

“Are we doing a movie tonight?” Josephine asked while we headed up the stairs, her hand in mine.

I knew I was holding on tightly and couldn’t blame myself for it.

Lord Alexei had almost taken her away.

Unlike Charlotte, who could decide and say no,

Josephine wasn’t yet of age.

Had her father not understood, he would still have the right to take her away from Grizlo. I was grateful her father had respect for her and trusted my intention.

“Of course,” I said, and the glint in Josephine’s eyes indicated she wanted more than the movie. I was more than willing to comply.