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“Alpha Markus, can I wait for you in your office while you deal with the alpha? I am having quite a lovely evening. I prefer not to ruin it,” Councilman Matthias said.
“Of course. Kelly, would you please show him to our conference room? My office is currently undergoing some renovations.” I turned to my friends when Kelly led the councilman away.
“Well, let’s get this unpleasantness out of the way,” I said, taking Celeste’s hand in my own.
Chapter thirty-two
Celeste
AlphaGeoffwashere.A part of me hoped never to see him again. I knew when we made the plan to take him down that I would, but hoped it would be from a distance while we were in front of the council.
Now, here we were, welcoming them to stay under our same roof. I snuck a look at Maya. To outward appearances, she seemed strong and unphased, though I caught how she paled at the mention of Beta Trevor, who once promised her that the moment she turned nineteen, he would be the one to sample her first. I knew she was dealing with the same inner turmoil I was, and I saw her take a closer step to Danny when we saw the SUV approaching.
‘I want a guard on Maya at all times. Beta Trevor is not to get anywhere near her,’I mind-linked Markus as I, too, took a step closer to him. Markus looked down at me, an eyebrow arched in question.
‘Do I want to know?’he asked. When I didn’t answer, he sighed.‘You will both have a guard at all times until everyone leaves. I am not taking any chances with them or anyone else who might think it wise to attack my future ranked females. I’ve also assigned Kelly one.’I squeezed his hand in response and took a steadying breath as the SUV came to a stop. The back door opened, and out came our tormentors of more than eleven years.
“Alpha Markus,” Alpha Geoff growled in greeting while he helped Luna Luisa get out of the car. Beta Trevor was helping Sandra on the other side of the vehicle.
“Alpha Geoff, welcome to Crescent Moon. I believe you have already met everyone but my gamma, Daniel, here.” Markus motioned to Danny, who just barely nodded. I knew he was having trouble controlling his urge to run up and punch the man.
“Will there be dinner?” Luna Luisa asked out of the blue.
“I’m afraid you’ve missed dinner, and the guests have all retired to their rooms for the night, but I can ask the chef to see if she can get something together for you,” I said.
“Nonsense. Celeste, you will cook. You already know what we like,” she replied, eyeing my outfit. I saw Markus wanting to respond, but I squeezed his hand to stop him. This was my battle.
“I am not a cook anymore, Luna Luisa. I would appreciate you giving me some respect while staying under our roof,” I replied back as civilly as I could muster, trying to keep the rage out of my voice while Markus beamed with pride next to me.
“But—” Sandra began, and Alpha Geoff growled at her, shutting her up and making her glare daggers at me.
“That’s fine. Can you please direct us to our suites? It’s been a long drive,” he responded, surprising me. I called over one of the staff.
“Please show Alpha Geoff and Luna Luisa to the empty guest suite, and then show Beta Trevor and Sandra to their rooms on the first floor,” I said to her, mind-linking the specific places to put them.‘And don’t let them push you around. If anything happens, come to us,’ I finished. She smiled at me gratefully and followed us in.
“The dining table is just to the left here at the entrance. Breakfast will be ready at seven. The chef is preparing dinner for you as we speak, and I will have someone deliver it to your rooms once it’s ready. Please let one of my staff know if you need anything. We have some details to go over for tomorrow so we will take our leave. For the time being, no one is allowed in the backyard where the ceremony will take place as they are still working on it,” Markus informed our guests. “Come, love, let’s get this over with so we can head to bed,” he said, and we all headed to the conference room where Councilman Matthias was waiting as a few women began leading the guests to their suites.
“Thank you for waiting, Councilman Matthias,” Markus began.
“That’s quite alright. If we’re being honest, I’ve been gathering some information on my own after your father reached out to me, and I didn’t quite trust myself to be diplomatic,” he admitted.
“Trust me, we all know exactly how you feel.” Markus sighed, pulling me closer.
“What have you been able to find?” I asked. “Maybe we can combine it with what we have before we present it to the entire council.”
“Not a lot,” he admitted. “I had one of my nephews hack into their finances. The pack business and, by default, the pack itself should be bankrupt. How they have the money to feed or pay utilities is beyond me. Their books are operating at a loss, but according to bank statements, every so often, they get large deposits made from offshore accounts.”
“We can compare them to the dates on the photos we have of the transactions. These might be payments,” Gillian said.
“We also have no record of Maya or Celeste in the pack registry. According to the council ledger, Maya and Celeste are deceased.” He frowned. “That will go a long way to damn them, but I did find one thing that concerned me about your investigation.”
“What’s that?” Markus asked.
“I had my nephew send a drone to take some pictures. While we did see some punishments that I felt were excessive, we cannot interfere with how a pack disciplines its members unless there’s proof of torture. It’s the picture we took of the girls that are a problem. While they look a bit underfed, the pictures did not collaborate what your reports claim. The pictures from the exchanges don’t really help either; they are from too far away.”
“What do you mean?” Danny asked. “The girls were starved. Every girl I saw sold was skin and bones, and some were beaten half to death. Even Maya was still very underweight when I met her.”
“The pictures we got using the drones don’t show that.” Councilman Matthias pulled out a tablet and showed us. The girls definitely looked a lot better. “And the council will be looking to see the girls themselves.”
