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Damon nodded tersely. “He’s a founding member of OCG and I’ve heard the name Maven used before, but only in whispers. I thought it was some kind of kinky gentleman’s club.”
“I wasn’t sure.” Max looked fierce as he gripped Damon around the neck. “They all use one word code names. One thing I am sure of, though, is you are nothing like your father.”
“Damn right,” Hunter growled.
“I heard the word Maven whispered once, but they shut up quickly when they noticed me hanging around nearby,” Pala said, dragging all the attention in the room to him. He shifted as though he was uncomfortable under the spotlight. “It was the main scientist who ran the lab underneath the Palace talking to one of his team.”
“Are the code names you found, Mike, Alfa, Victor, Echo and November?” Everyone turned to look at Sam now, heads moving with the conversation as if we were all at a tennis match. One with a lot of frowning faces.
“Yes.” Max looked shocked as he nodded.
“My gramps left me a letter with the communication equipment we took from the farm.”
What letter? Why hadn’t Sam told me, and where the hell had he been hiding it since we got back?
Lexie, Pala, and Dave all looked at me, but I could only shrug. It wasn’t like Sam to keep anything from me.
“My gramps said to beware the Mavens. He had been trying to track them and take them down, without success. Gramps suspected they had recruited my brother Ben and worried it would compromise his cover. He shut down his equipment so Ben couldn’t find or use it. He dated the letter the day before he died and they took Maia.”
Fuck. Sam and Maia shared a look that was laden with grief, but I think it was more for their gramps than their brother.
Sam turned to us, tearing his gaze from Maia. “I only just read it before we came down. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you guys about the letter, but so much was happening when I found it and when we got back. Part of me was half afraid to read it, too. I had no idea what was going to be in it.”
He’d gone out to shower alone before we left earlier and we’d all felt a surge of emotion from him. We’d figured he just wanted a few minutes alone to grieve quietly.
“You don’t have to report everything to us. That’s not how a pack works. If you want to read a personal letter by yourself, there’s nothing wrong with that. We’re here to support you,” Lexie said as she ran her fingers through his hair, before she took his face in her hands and kissed him gently. He tightened his grip on her as if he was worried she’d disappear suddenly.
“Did your gramps know who the members were, Sam?” Max asked.
Sam nodded, resting his head on Lexie’s shoulder and closing his eyes for a moment, as if he was steeling himself for what he was about to say. It put everyone on edge.
He grit his teeth, and Lexie gently stroked his back. “Rohan & Sirena’s dad, the CEO of Alpha Tech, the CEO of Integral Mining, and,” he paused there for the briefest moment and his eyes flicked across the table, “Hunter’s dad.”
“What the fuck?” Hunter growled. “My parents never gave a shit about me, almost turned me into a ghost. Now you’re telling me they’re part of some super shady, underground corporation that controls everything?”
He shook his head almost violently before he stopped abruptly and slumped slightly. “Actually, that kinda fits. They’re psychopaths, completely unable to care about other people.”
Maia leaned into Hunter from where she was back perched on Leif’s lap, wrapping Hunter up in her arms. He took a deep breath of her hair, while Leif wrapped them both in a bear hug. This place and all the hugs. They were growing on me. I felt like I’d finally found the place I belonged, just as the world had gone to hell.
Sam was watching Hunter with an almost curious expression on his face, which had me puzzled.
“What about Damon’s dad?” Max asked.
“It sounds like he’s not part of the inner circle. It explains why he was so keen to promote Damon’s friendship with Hunter when they were young,” Maia said.
“But they never really socialized with each other, or Damon’s dad,” Hunter said, almost absently, his face still buried in Maia’s hair. He looked confused.
“That fits too, doesn’t it?” I argued, thinking out loud.
“You’re right, it does. If the shadow group were using Damon’s dad as the front man with the government consulting contract, they wouldn’t draw attention to themselves by associating with him publicly.” Max had a frenetic, yet glazed, look in his eyes as he spoke, as if he was building connections in his head.
“That’s only four names, though, Sam. Who was the fifth? Did the letter say?”
“Nothing gets past you, Dio.” Sam looked across at me with a sad smile. “Our gramps was the fifth,” he added, almost bluntly as he shifted his gaze to stare at Maia. She gasped and spun around to face him fully, dropping her arms from around Hunter.
“No. He couldn’t be. He was a beta and they’re all alphas. Why would they include him in their secret squirrel crap?”
“Holy shit,” I breathed out and slapped my hand on the table, startling everyone.
