Sold To The Billionaire Alpha
Chapter 47

Fox:

Bisa had the best perfume in the world. I did not usually notice things like that but hers was otherworldly.

“You smell really really good,” I could not help but say.

It just slipped out as she was leading me down to the lab. She smiled knowingly. I supposed she got that all the time.

“Thank you,” she said softly.

Silence.

“What is it?” I said, making conversation.

“I beg your pardon?” She asked confused.

I snorted with laugher at her formality.

“What perfume is that?” I asked.

“Here,” she said.

“Here by who? Estée Lauder?” I laughed at my own joke.

She gave me a blank stare. She knocked on the door she had been showing me.

“This isn’t a lab,” I commented.

“We’re going straight to the source,” she said.

“That b***h,” I recalled.

She smirked.

“This is where Mavis Burnside hangs out. It’s a fancy master bedroom and ensuite master bathroom that used to belong to the assistant of the assistant of the old Alpha. Lazy Staff members made it their unofficial staff room where they avoid work,” she explained.

“The old Alpha’s assistant had an assistant?” I wondered out loud.

“Being Alpha is a tough job. It’s too much for one assistant unless they’re just excellent. You’d make a great assistant to Alpha Orion with your magic and all. It’s prestigious and it pays loads and wizards are shoe-ins for positions like that,” she said offhandedly.

“You trying to recruit me?” I asked, smirking.

She banged on the door.

“MAVIS, I KNOW YOU’RE IN THERE! AND IF YOU DON’T TALK TO US, THE NEXT PERSON YOU’LL HAVE TO FACE IS ALPHA ORION HIMSELF. DON’T MAKE ME TELL HIM AND SEND HIM DOWN HERE!” Threatened Bisa.

This was the loudest I had heard her speak. She was usually soft-spoken. I chuckled. The door swung open and a girl with a mop of salt and pepper hair and cat-eye glasses stood there, swaying slightly in the doorway. I smelt alcohol. She had been drinking during office hours? Good grief.

“Oh please! Lisa! You can’t send the Alpha anywhere! You’re a f*****g kitchen servant!” She spat.

I inhaled sharply. I snapped her glasses in half at the nose bridge.

“What the f**k?” She yelled, taking both halves of her glasses off. “s**t! Cheap piece of crap! That human b***h from the eye store swindled me! I bought these off her! They’re days old! Con-artist!” She muttered, walking into the room.

We followed her in. There was a chandelier overhead that was on and casting a dim light on a truly splendid bedroom fit for royalty. There were about a dozen staff members hanging out in the old bedroom. One sat at the vanity, three sat on the edge of the bed, two sat on a loveseat, some were cross-legged on the floor. I smelled cigarette smoke, alcohol and sweat. Classy.

“What do you want, Lisa?” Barked Mavis, sitting down in a chair near a huge chess set and trying to tape her glasses back together.

“Speaking of cons, we know you tampered with Orchid’s paternity test results,” said Bisa.

Mavis laughed coldly.

“Prove it. You playing detective to earn extra points with the new Luna. Get a grip, Lisa!” Said Mavis.

I rolled my eyes. I’d had enough of this looser being rude to Bisa. I wanted to let her be assertive but I would handle this from here.

“Mary-Sue and Mary-Beth implicated you. I have this recorded and Alpha Orion has already heard the recording. He specifically hired me to crack this case. I’ve faced demons ok. I don’t have time for your bullshit. Admit it and give us details so we can right the situation. You’re guilty. That’s done. Signed, sealed, delivered but you can lighten your sentence by cooperating,” I explained dryly.

She stiffened. She put her glasses on shakily. The other staff members all froze. She got up and ran. I made her slip on the nearby rug. The best magic looked like an accident in my opinion. It was better if people didn’t realise how many spells you had actually casted. She hit her huge forehead on the wood. Splat. I actually felt bad. Bisa rolled her over. The other staff members ran.

“Do we need them?” I asked quickly.

Everyone was about to have an accident if Bisa said yes.

“No,” said Bisa.

I let them leave and slammed the doors shut.

“You’re doing that? All of it?” Realised Bisa, looking at me in awe.

We stared at each other.

“You really know how to clear a room,” she said lightheartedly.

I smirked. I snapped my fingers and Mavis woke up.

“Don’t run,” I said.

“Ok,” she gasped.

She remained lying on the floor with her palms up like she was under arrest.

“I did it. I switched the samples,” she confessed. “Don’t let Alpha Orion snap my neck,” she cried.

“No promises,” I said bluntly. “But this is a good start. Details. Now!”

“Mary-Sue or Mary-Beth, I don’t really know the difference,” she admitted.

“Nobody cares about them,” I said dismissively. “Get to the good stuff!”

“They asked me to make sure it was negative. ‘You are not the father!’ That bit,” she said.

“Ok. Did they say why?” I asked.

“They didn’t want the new human Luna to gain such powerful wolf allies. The Hawthornes! That’s an Alpha lineage! An old one. It legitimises her and the faster she got back a positive paternity test, the faster she would come to be under Alpha Thaddeus and company’s protection. He’s close with Alpha Maze. Berryndale and Marigold are huge. They didn’t want her to be in such a powerful position,” explained Mavis all in one breath. “Oh God, it’s not treason on my part, is it?” She asked, widening her eyes.

“Luna Orchid is now missing so things don’t look good for anyone who had anything against her,” I said honestly.

Mavis started hyperventilating. Bisa rolled her eyes.

“Did they pay you?” Asked Bisa.

Mavis stopped hyperventilating to roll her eyes. What an actress!

“Do you think I’d put my job on the line for free?” She said.

“How much?” I asked.

Silence.

“I’m tired. Maybe, Orion should take over from here,” I said offhandedly.

“Five hundred thousand dollars,” she said. “Half as an incentive and the other half after the job is done. I already gave my two weeks’ notice!” Cried Mavis. “I was so close! I was almost home-free. Got my money and was about to dip! I should have just left with no explanation immediately but that would have been suspicious,” said Mavis, lamenting to herself.

“Well, at least you have money for a good lawyer,” I said, looking on the bright but dim side.

“Lawyer?” Chuckled Bisa. “This is Alpha Orion. Most things don’t go to trial. He just…handles it. He’s like Alpha Felix,” explained Bisa. “You get trials with Alphas like Alpha Alex, he’s by the rule book, and Alpha Calix, oh, he’s a sweetheart! Alpha Maze would probably let you go to trial.”

“You have an extensive knowledge of Alphas!” I said, impressed.

She nodded.

“I know who you are,” she said. “I’ve realised it now.”

I raised my eyebrows.

“The Great Wizard who helped Alpha Jessie and Luna Jamie,” she said.

“Those are my good friends,” I said softly, nodding. “And I only became Great Wizard on the Witching Council recently when the previous one retired a few years after he was Jamie’s examiner.”

“Examiner?” Questioned Bisa.

“For the Mother title of her coven. She had a contender. You can challenge for the Mother and Great Wizard titles. It stays in families if there are no serious challengers. Not like Alphas where it’s lineage all the way,” I explained, getting sidetracked by Bisa’s curiosity.

Her ability to distract me easily was reminding me of someone.

“Who was her contender?” Asked Bisa.

I stared at her.

“It’s not important,” I said. “We have a job to do,” I said sternly.

Bisa frowned. I wanted to say something nice or funny to lighten the mood again but it took everything I had just to keep the memories at bay.

“Mavis, what did you actually do?” I asked.

Mavis stared at me, still lying on the floor.

“With the samples?” I prompted.

“Oh,” said Mavis. “I replaced Talus’ sample with DNA Orchid could never be biologically related to,” she said.

“Who?” Asked Bisa.

Mavis smirked, pleased with herself.

“Alpha Orion. I got a strand of his hair from a brush in his mother’s quarters. Those fated can’t be biological relatives so I knew the test would now be negative,” she explained.

Pretty smart, actually.

“What were you doing in his mother’s room?” I asked.

“I just…snuck in,” she lied.

I smelled a lie!

“It’s that easy, huh? To sneak into a former Luna’s heavily guarded room. You just walk right in?” I said incredulously.

“Yeah,” she said, sitting up.

She was sweating, beads of perspiration forming at her temples.

“Tell the truth,” demanded Bisa. “Did the former Luna have a part to play in this?”

“How dare you?!” Exclaimed Mavis indignantly.

“Spare us the melodrama,” I hissed, getting impatient.

I gripped her shoulder and looked inside of her mind. I saw flashes of the former Luna upping the ante, promising an extra million dollars to mess up the paternity test like the Marys had asked but to never implicate her name. Mavis could sell out the Marys if necessary and the former Luna promised to have her people break Mavis out of the dungeon if things went south but she was never to reveal the real orchestrator.

“The former Luna payed you a million f*****g dollars extra to do this and never sell her out even if the test was shown to be incorrect. She even brushed Orion’s hair for you when she went to visit his office. She supplied you with fool-proof negative match DNA,” I surmised.

“That’s more than enough,” said a voice.

I looked up and the former Luna was standing there. I always lost spatial awareness temporarily when deep-diving into a mind. She had snuck up and grabbed Bisa. She was holding an elongated silver-tipped claw to her throat. All of her claws were tipped with silver.

“You make one wrong move and I’ll rip her throat out,” threatened Orla, her eyes black and her canines bared.

Don’t be scared, ok, I said to Bisa telepathically.

She gave a fraction of a nod. I was momentarily shocked at how easy it was to reach her with my telepathy. Our minds linked effortlessly. I could not think about the implications of that right now.

A sly smile spread across my face. Former Luna or not, she was no match for me. She had no idea!

Orchid

When I came to, I found myself in a cage. Deja vu. This cage was larger than the one in the cellar at the Caro house. There was enough room for me to stand up and walk a few feet in either direction. The metal cage was just three sides because it was against a concrete wall. I checked: I kicked and punched at it in case it was board. There was a bench against the wall that took up half the width of the cell. I sat on the bench with my back against the wall. I was in a dimly lit basement where there were a lot of large objects covered with white sheets. Statues?

“HELP!” I screamed.

“HELP! ORION! TALUS! ROSE! ORION!” I screeched.

“That’s not gonna get you anywhere, Babe,” said a familiar voice.

Him. The Devil. My Ex.

He was coming down the staircase at the far corner of the room. I wondered about the layout. That staircase led up to the ground floor most likely. This was underground. I looked for those tiny windows at the tops of basements that exit to the lawn outside. Spotted one! It was boarded up. It should be easy enough to remove the boards and smash through once I mangled this cage somehow. I looked at the bracelet. It had left a pink ring around my wrist. My other hand was free. One super strong wolf hand was all I needed. I could make do.

“Don’t even think about it, Babe,” he said, reaching the foot of the stairs.

I sighed. I refused to even entertain him. I was not going to speak to him. Conversations with him were a dead-end. He was useless then and he was obstructing my almost happy new life now. He came closer. I kept my eyes on him in case he had a weapon.

He was about six feet nothing. He was technically five-feet-eleven and a half inches that day he had asked me to measure him. He had been obsessed with his body. He had been into bodybuilding but all the recreational drug used had stopped him from reaching peak fitness. He had olive skin, brown eyes, jet-black shiny straight thick hair. When he was angry, he narrowed his eyes and set his jaw. He was not doing that now. He seemed buff right now which meant he was not doing drugs heavily for the time being. He would get skinny if the drug use got out of control. His face would get puffy if the drinking got out of control but it was chiseled. That was good. He would be less aggressive if he was almost clean. He was never completely clean but he was decent enough when he stayed away from the hard stuff. It was the cocaine use I could not handle. He had also destroyed my room once during a bad acid trip. I had made him promise no more acid and no more cocaine. I did not mind the occasional alcohol or weed as long as he did not get belligerent-then-blackout drunk or sky-high.

“You’re not gonna say anything to me,” said Jaawws

My Ex’s name was Jaack Howward. Yes, everything there was spelt correctly. Two As, two Ws, double personalities. Two of everything. Thus, his nickname was also spelt with double letters. Jaawws. Strong, dangerous, brutal, filled with bloodlust, could smell b***d in the water. He loved picking up girls with insecurities and issues and exploiting their weaknesses.

“You don’t have questions?” He asked, sitting on a stool in front of the cell.

There was a light directly above the stool like a spotlight so everything was cast in shadow but him. f*****g narcissist.

“Guess I’m talking to myself,” he said with a shrug, lighting a blunt and taking his grey pinstripe blazer off.

He had a black muscle top underneath. My eyes widened. He was the most muscular I had ever seen him. He caught me looking and sneered. He flexed. I shut my eyes. Ugh. I wouldn’t even look at him. I heard his hyena-like laugh. His laugh was so much higher pitched than his voice. He was a hyena masquerading as a lion. I slowly opened my eyes and he offered me the blunt. I shook my head. He raised his top to show off his rock-hard abs. I rolled my eyes. Orion was way hotter. He started doing something on a glass table nearby. He was cutting a line. He rolled a bill tightly and used it like a straw. He snorted a line.

“You never got high with me. Ever! Years we were together and not once did you get high with me,” he complained.

f**k you! We couldn’t both be high. I was the one taking care of you, cleaning vomit, bringing the bucket by the bed, putting the wet cloth on your head, bringing you painkillers, water, food. I refused to tell him any of this. I just answered him in my head. There was nothing that irked him more than being ignored and feeling unimportant.

“You’re trying me, Orchid,” he said. “But it’s not going to work. I have big plans. Big, big, big plans. You wanna know something?”

I rolled my eyes yet again. I could not help it. He chuckled. At least, he was not being aggressive and he was keeping his distance. Despite the line he ingested, he seemed in control of his temper.

I spoke too soon. He came closer. He literally crawled up to the bars and held them, putting his face between the two he was holding. He laughed at me. I just stared at him. I knew him too well to be baited. He would spill more if I seemed disinterested. His ego had to win me over. He needed a captive audience. Did I really just say captive audience? Pun intended.

“I knew before you did,” he whispered conspiratorially.

Um, what? I furrowed my brow.

“I knew that you weren’t human,” he said, grinning.