Chapter 133

Draven’s POV
The week had been absolute chaos.Nate still hadn’t managed to schedule an appointment with his uncle from the Lunar Medical Center, since he was at a werewolf medical conference in Geneva and wouldn’t return until the following week. ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ.net
It was already Saturday, and we had our scheduled meeting about the company’s audit. Alpha Arthur had news.Almost everyone had already arrived at my penthouse, including Caroline, with only Arthur and Clara running a bit late. Besides Caroline and me, Ryan and Kyle were also present, along with the tech specialist Leo, and two more wolves from Arthur’s investigation team.
“Caroline, thank you for coming,” I said, approaching her as she sat on the couch. She looked beautiful in a flowing floral maxi dress, but she didn’t seem to be feeling well. Alaric immediately perked up at her presence, concerned by her pallor.
“I know you’ve been following the audit reports, but now in the final stretch, we thought it was important for you to be here.”
“Don’t mention it, Draven,” she gave me a weak smile. “I’m eager to finally uncover everything and put an end to these traitors’ schemes against the pack.”
In wolf society, betraying your Alpha and pack was one of the most serious offenses.
“Carrie, are you okay? You look a bit pale.”I couldn’t hide my concern.She looked like she was in pain, and it wasn’t because she was in my house.
“My stomach hurts,” she said, wincing. “I must have eaten something bad.” The pain on her face made Alaric stir inside me, worried about her.
I sent Carlos,my housekeeper, a quick mindlink asking for tea. He hurried to the kitchen and came back with a hot cup and teapot on a tray.
Carlos stepped forward with the cup. “These herbs are from our old lands, miss.” He shook his head with a gentle smile. “You young wolves and your fast food. No wonder your stomachs get upset.”
“You’ve got me there, Carlos.” Caroline’s whole face lit up when she smiled. “Thanks so much.”
Carlos nodded and went to get the door.
Everyone in the room went quiet when Clara and Arthur walked in holding hands. The way they were grinning at each other said it all.
“Why’s everyone staring?” Arthur laughed. His gray-streaked hair and Alpha presence usually made other wolves nervous, but not today.
Ryan smirked. “It’s because Clara makes you look less scary, Alpha Arthur. Maybe you should keep her around to soften that Alpha glare of yours.”
“That’s the plan,” Arthur said softly, his eyes stuck on Clara like she was the only person in the room.
After we all did our pack greetings, I couldn’t wait anymore.
“So when’s the mating ceremony?” I asked.
“Don’t be so nosy!” Caroline bumped my arm. Her touch sent sparks through my whole body.
“Hey, we all wanted to know that!” Kyle jumped in to back me up. “Even you, Carrie!”
Caroline gave us this sneaky smile. “Who says I don’t already know?”
“Okay, spill it.” I looked between Clara and Arthur. “What’s she hiding?”
Clara touched the fresh mark on her neck. “They know because they helped me get ready for the mating ritual yesterday. Gave me some good advice too.”
“Wait, the whole inner circle knew?” Ryan put his hand over his heart, pretending to be hurt. “And here I thought we were your trusted pack members, Clara!”
“Don’t be such a grump, Ryan!” Clara laughed. “Arthur and I went out for dinner last night and decided to give ourselves a chance at happiness. Yes, we’ve completed the mate bond.”
We all broke into happy howls.One by one, we stood up to congratulate them.
Arthur had been in love with Clara for about thirty years, but when they were young, they couldn’t be together because first mate was basically another Ella and wouldn’t accept the rejection. My Goddess, I was heading down the same path.
“Alright, enough gossip!” Arthur clapped his hands together, making us all laugh. “Let’s talk business.”
The meeting got serious fast. Arthur showed us what they’d found this week.During the meeting, Arthur presented us with the week’s report. They had identified five directors involved in the fraud, including Howard and the accountant Gilbert. The commercial director,operations director,and administrative director were also involved. These were all important strategic positions held by wolves who had been with the pack’s business holdings for thirty years or more.
Besides the directors, each department had three or four employees participating in the fraud, receiving a percentage of the diverted funds. One of them had made a mistake, and we had a way to catch him – he was the weak link in the group.
“We should approach him and use him as an informant,” Arthur suggested. “Offer him a deal that would keep him from being banished as a rogue.”
I nodded,”Make it happen.”
I was shocked by the amount of money that Arthur and his team had discovered was being diverted from the pack. It was a fortune. Arthur also provided me with a list of business alliances with other packs that were being sabotaged, manipulated to leave us and sign with another pack’s business holdings.
“This rival business is registered under human strawmen’s names,” Arthur explained, “We’ve discovered they’re linked to Howard.My investigators are still gathering evidence, but they’ve already identified that these strawmen are reporting directly to Howard.”
“So he’s not just stealing from the pack, he’s actively working to weaken us?”I growled.
“Exactly,” Arthur confirmed. “But there’s more. They’ve also been quietly transferring ownership of several key properties in your territory.”
This news hit me like a physical blow. Territory was everything to a wolf pack. These weren’t just business assets – they were part of our heritage, our identity, places where generations of our pack had run and hunted.
“How the hell did they manage that without me sensing it?” I demanded, my Alpha voice making everyone in the room lower their eyes.
“They did it slow, using human companies,” Arthur explained. “On paper, you can still use the land, but you don’t own it. If they’d kept going, they could have taken the pack away from you.”
We spent the next hour analyzing the report, clearing up doubts, and brainstorming ideas to get everything we needed.
“There’s one good thing,” Arthur said, his gray eyebrows pulled together.”They stopped stealing about two months ago. Don’t know why, but everything’s clean now. No weird activity at all.”
“Thank the Moon for that.” I rubbed my face, feeling exhausted. Inside me, Alaric was snarling with rage at the betrayal.
“That’s all I have about the audit.” Arthur paused, his face turning grim. “But we need to talk about your parents’ accident.”
I’d gotten some investigation results of my own. I knew now that my parents hadn’t died in an accident,they’d been attacked by rogue on purpose.