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“We’re meeting Davina and Brody, but we probably want to keep this one confidential.” My sister was chief financial officer and shared my hot-headed nature, and Brody was chief security officer.
Both were needed for this meeting because the next company I had my sights on was a big one — Gold Moon Inc.
My company wasn’t the most popular in town. As far as most people were concerned, we acquired companies we wanted, chewed them up, extracted any financial benefit we could, and spat out the pieces. Apex Asset Management was a corporate marauder.
In some respects, that was true, and the profits paid for Lycan Heights and the other accommodations the members of Silver Claw pack needed, in nearby Pointsville. Not all of my pack were city-dwellers.
In truth, though, we targeted companies whose illegal activities gave shifters a bad name — the companies thatneededto be shut down and dismantled. That I could make money from that endeavor was mostly a happy accident. And a fortuitous one. It kept us all chugging along nicely. That was also Apex’s biggest secret. The justice we doled out wasn’t known by anyone but my team and me.
But it allowed me to stay on the right side of law enforcement and act out my Batman fantasies — the brooding superhero with the vigilante justice leanings.
Jackson fell into step beside me and we took the elevator down the fifteen stories to where the town car was waiting. A short ride later, and we were in another elevator going up.
A lot of my life seemed to consist of standing around in small boxes that went up and down, magically depositing me on different floors of my two buildings.
Davina and Brody were already in the meeting room when we entered, and my sister flashed a smile so quick that if I’d blinked, I would have missed it.
“Gold Moon Inc. Really?” She raised an eyebrow as she waited for my answer. “Joseph Everly isn’t even in his grave yet, never mind cold.”
“Best time to strike,” I said. “The company will be in disarray.” There was no room for sentimentality in my business, but Davina knew that, and her hungry smile in reply was particularly predatory.
Once we were aware there was a company flying under law enforcement radar and we were able to substantiate the rumors, we struck. Then, as soon as I had people on the inside and we’d gathered the appropriate evidence, we turned over the responsible parties to a government contact, made the money we could, and moved on.
We ticked on like that, and the rest of the world remained unaware because we were assumed to be simply a corporate juggernaut, only in “taking and breaking” for the money. It all worked very nicely.
“So what do we know?” Davina asked.
I pulled the file from my bag and flipped it open, despite already being aware of everything it contained. “Well, they’ve had a massive spike in revenue recently.” That was usually the first sign that things weren’t exactly on the up and up, and one of the things that Apex monitored for. “It’s a mid-sized company, so a revenue of millions is to be expected, but this is just—”
“Way too high,” Davina finished, and I nodded.
“Yep. Way too high. Add the rumors about shipments changing to include illegal weapons—”
“How do we know that?” Brody was curious rather than accusatory, but he was always on alert every time weapons were mentioned.
I shrugged. “Some get lost, others get stolen, and if you’re listening in the right shadows, you hear the right things.”
“I’ll put more men on it,” Brody murmured.
I nodded. “Good idea.” Both of my buildings were heavily guarded and we had the artillery power to ensure our safety, but we were never over-confident, which helped. “There’s definitely something fishy going on at Gold Moon. Even Everly’s death is suspicious.”
“Oh?” Davina raised her eyebrow again. It was her go-to expression. Very few things truly fazed her, and she usually remained calm. Even her rage was cold, which was an excellent cover for how dangerous she truly was.
“Lycan Flu,” I said, and it was enough.
Everyone at this table knew Lycan Flu wasn’t something you just contracted going about your business in Carwyn City.
“I assume he hadn’t been to Arizona recently?” Jackson asked the obvious question, even though we all could guess the answer.
Lycan Flu was only carried by ticks from the Donora Summit area of Arizona, and even then, it was rare. Any shifters visiting the volcano knew to be on alert, and most people didn’t take the risk. No one bothered with the pilgrimage for the onyx jewelry that allowed us to shift into our wolf form and back in full clothing. We had the jewelry brought to us. It was safer that way.
It didn’t make any sense that Joseph Everly, CEO of Gold Moon Inc., would have been on a wilderness holiday, either. And certainly not one that would have put his life in danger.
Something definitely didn’t add up.
“If he went to Arizona recently, it’s not a matter of public record,” I said. “But I think we can safely assume he did not.”
“So what’s the plan going forward?” Jackson held his hand out for the paperwork so he could take a look.
