Gamma's Energy Attracts

Part 10

Theressa’s POV

I skipped dinner at the former Alpha and Luna’s sprawling mansion. Elder D is a nice enough guy, but a bit stiff and stuffy for my tastes. I guess I lack a certain decorum, Nonna would say I lack manners. I grabbed food in the dining hall and looked around. My target wasn’t here.

I catch an elevator to the third floor. I scope out the hall in both directions before I knock on the door. I tug my shirt a bit lower, I’m not above letting a guy think he’s got a chance if it gets me what I need.  Even though I nearly killed him once, he’s not afraid of me. He’s either brave or brain dead to keep flirting with me.

I discretely sniff the air. This is definitely Micah’s room, but the smell is very faint, he hasn’t been in here the last 24 hours. Hmmm. I pop the cheap lock, I should really speak with Tucker about the security here. It’s a pretty Packhouse, but it could use some of my magic touch. I survey the meticulously clean room, not a thing out of place. The bathroom has exactly a comb, hair gel, toothpaste, and toothbrush. Nothing in the closet, only two drawers with clothes in them. One nice button-up shirt, one pair of jeans, two sets of socks, underwear and PT strip (gym clothes). He keeps a room in the Packhouse for practical reasons, but there’s no way he lives here.

I mind-link my bestie and pray Aggie’s not presently busy being pummeled by Tree’s massive branch. Tree tells her he has an apartment in the city. Looks like I’m going for a drive.

Micah lives in a low-rent district, but the doors require to be buzzed in. Even though it’s dark out, it’s still early, and with all the activity in a shared parking lot, it’s way too busy to get caught breaking in. I wait for someone to come or go. Four minutes later, a guy opens it, even holds the door for this stranded young lady. He asks for my apartment number, maybe he’ll stop by later. I smile brilliantly and freely give out Micah’s apartment number, I’ll let him handle this human looking for a booty call. I mentally snicker with my wolf about how funny this is going to be, too bad I can’t stick around too long.

A high-rise building in the city with no elevator? P*ss poor planning, I think to myself. Good thing for me I have endless stamina. I reach his door, the hallway is empty. I knock. Then I bang loud enough to wake the neighbours. Still no answer, so I assess the lock. It's not standard apartment issue, at least Micah is trying to be smart. Not good enough to stop me, but I'll give him points for trying.

Once inside, I take a sniff and look around. He’s been here in the past few hours, and the place is bare bones. I mean there’s minimalism and then there’s this.  Builder’s beige paint on all the walls, only a couch and a TV in the living room. No personal stuff, no character. There’s barely any food in the fridge, and half of it is condiments. He does have plenty of wolf-grade beer, I grab a bottle and open it with a fang. I guy like this won’t have something as frivolous as a bottle opener.

I head into the bedroom. A double bed with a rumpled bottom sheet, a pillow without a case and a rolled-up blanket.  The bathroom is bare as his place at the BMB Packhouse. On the back of the bathroom door is a mesh laundry bag, I can guarantee he’s never set foot in the apartment's laundromat. He takes his laundry to the Packhouse and the Omegas wash it for him.

I find the first interesting thing in this apartment, he has a suspiciously large walk-in closet. Even though the Elder’s Council pays well, Micah isn’t blowing his cash on clothes. Oh, and it’s padlocked, so that’s suspicious too. I play with the lock until it opens and I slide the pocket doors back. I see a tiny red flash inside of the closet. Well, well, well we have a silent alarm. This must be where the good stuff is at. I dig around a bit. A knife collection, a handgun with silver bullets. Two bottles with purple stuff, no doubt it’s wolfsbane, but I am not fool enough to open it and find out. A briefcase, zip ties and miscellaneous other crap, a couple of locked drawers. 

My ears perk when I hear footsteps out in the hallway. The walls in this place are paper thin. It makes it real easy to hear if someone is coming, but how does that not drive his wolf nuts when he’s trying to sleep?

I shut the closet door and hop onto the bed, sitting my back against the wall and I take a sip of beer. The apartment door opens and I hear his approach. He’s out of breath, he must have run up the stairs at top speed to get here so quickly. He clears all the rooms on the way to me, it doesn’t take long. The bedroom door slides open half an inch and the barrel of a gun can be seen.

“You don’t want to shoot me,” I call out sweetly.

The door slams open and he appears in the doorway, still aiming his peashooter at me. “Who says I don’t?”

“I said so. I love the Lone Wolf aesthetic you have going here. It’s very you. It could use a personal touch though, perhaps a picture for the walls? You could make it practical, you could always hide a safe behind it.” I smile and sip my beer.

“Next time you break into my apartment and get into my bed, could you at least have the decency to be naked?” Micah gives me a lopsided grin. “I'd love a chance to change your mind about a lot of things.” He means my disinterest in him, or any man for that matter.

“I’m offended that you only want me for my body,” I feign disgust. “Shall we get down to business?”

“Now your talking!” His voice growls softly and takes a step towards me. Micah has the deepest green eyes I’ve ever seen, and then his wolf pushes forward and they take on a gem-like quality.

“Down Boy! Let’s grab another beer.” I follow him out of the bedroom.

He doesn’t have a kitchen table or even any chairs in his kitchen so I lean against the counter while he gets out two more beers. He’s even kind enough to open my beer for me, with his teeth, confirming my suspicions.

“To what do I owe this pleasure? I’m sure you didn’t stop by just to get drunk,” he says before downing the entire bottle.

“Astute observation, my good wolf. I’m hoping you have some insight on the previously less-than-honourable doings of the Council. Elder Darryl has asked me to look into some files, it appears a number of their ‘gifted’ have a habit of disappearing."

His gaze shifts back to the fridge, and he grabs another beer. He is purposely not looking me in the face when he says, “That’s a shame. I’m not sure you’ll have much luck tracking them down.”

“Oh, why’s that?” I say coyly as I wait for him to guzzle that second beer before I step right in front of him. I ain’t gonna let him lie about something so important.

“Those she-wolves weren’t meant to be found, that’s why. There is no point in chasing your own tail.” There’s a hard look on his face, it messes with his boyish good looks making him look older and possibly as cynical as me. 

“I thought you were trying to turn over a new leaf? Caly’s working this case, what would she think about you hiding sh*t from her? She stood up for you!” I need to remind this motherf*cker who he’s dealing with here.

“I am trying to turn over a new leaf, that’s why I don’t want to get involved in any more fake bullsh*t, Terrier.” He meets my eyes and his icy glare bores right through me. “Did Elder Darryl or Alpha Caly actually send you, or did you decide to come here on your own?”

I take a second to ponder which answer will take me further. Invoking the name of my Queen might make him less hesitant, but I decide to go with the truth. “I came on my own. I don’t need you to do anything yet. I just want some information. I wanna know what you know about how and why the gifted were shifted from Pack to Pack.”

“Let’s say hypothetically someone from the old regime of the Elder’s Council was looking into gifted she-wolves.”

“Giles,” That friggin’ prick had his dirty fingers stuck into everything. I take out my knife and twirl it between my fingers. I can’t help it, the fluid motion as it slips between my fingers soothes me and helps me think.

“Don’t assume, it wasn’t just Giles,” he snaps at me. Well, excuuusse me for interrupting storytime. 

“Any of those old bast*rds still with the Council?” Not that I trust anyone, ever, but it would be helpful to get an idea of who to watch more carefully.

“Not any you could prove. Those proven were dealt with, you know this.” I nod my head waiting for him to continue. “First of all, there are two types of she-wolves in the gifted category. There’s the girls that are generally helpful to a Pack and then the task-orientated type.”

“So the Amperes and Healers versus the Foreseers and the Seekers?”

“Intelligent and so beautiful. Tell me why my dream she-wolf is deadly and not interested in c*ck?” I bet his smile drops lots of panties, but he ain't getting into mine.

“Deadly is just as good as smart and pretty, I’ll have you know. I worked hard to become the total package you see before you. It’s also not my fault you were born with an unnecessary appendage.” I take a meaningful glance south of his belly button.

“How drunk would you have to be to consider it?” He gives me a smirk and a playful wink. His dirty blonde hair hangs just over his eyes. The boy needs a haircut, those eyes are his best feature.

“Dream on, my liquor tolerance is endless. I can keep up with the boys, and the boys at BP were professional alcoholics for years before our Luna arrived. There isn’t enough beers in the world to make me wanna sleep with you. You do want to be careful getting drunk around me, if I let you take me to bed you might wake up with one less appendage.” I make a move to throw my knife into the general groin area, but he stops my hand.  I knew he would catch my wrist, I telegraphed that move and let him catch me. I need to encourage him to keep talking and it makes a male feel powerful when he thinks he’s got the upper hand, so I let him win this round. I make sad, sexy pouty lips at him to make my ‘defeat’ more believable, and he lets go of my wrist. 

I start to prompt the convo, “That doesn’t explain the movement. They moved anyone they could get their grubby paws on. I could see why a Seeker would move around looking for work, but not someone like…” I stop myself.

“Like Caly? Stop pretending that she’s not the main reason you still work for the Council.” Micah sighs and lowers his head, giving it a shake. “When a gifted pup is born into a Pack, their Alphas want to naturally hold onto them, protect the Pack, whatever. Caly has a positive talent the Pack can use, maybe in more ways than one. It makes the desire to hold onto them even stronger.”

“Darius didn’t keep Caly because she was special.” I know this for a fact. He's the most on-the-level guy I ever met.

“He genuinely cares for her and him being a decent Alpha made it harder for certain Elders to get access to Caly. He wouldn’t loan her out, wouldn’t take a payout. He had the money and resources to protect her. He was in a good position to keep her. It didn’t stop the Elders from feeling she was being underutilized, she could be doing far more with her talents. Things people would pay for, and they weren’t making any bank off her sitting at her Packhouse or off at school. It was in their best interest to move her to a place they could control.”

“What about the other chicks?”

“Not all Alphas are millionaires like Darius and Stab. Not all Packs have a team of warriors or at least well-trained ones to keep out persistent attackers. A lot of Packs struggle, the first thing you do, if you are in a bind, is to sell off what you can. A gifted she-wolf can be an asset or bargaining chip. Some Packs don’t want the hassle of keeping someone with such unique needs. The more Pack hopping the girls do, the less they are seen as Pack members, and more seen as independent contractors. They don’t sell ‘em outright, they profit over and over again by leasing ‘em like f*ckin’ shiny new cars. 

You think Caly came up with the idea of those 'working contracts' on her own? Why she demanded them, even from her Mate? She knew what the Council wanted her to do, how they played the game. She made Alpha’s Stab and Tucker sign on the dotted line to make sure the Council couldn’t move her without a lawsuit and a big @ss headache. The Council doesn’t like to p*ss off the rich and powerful of our world.” 

Our Caly always was a smart cookie.

“Okay, I have 200 plus wolves to find. If they were leased out as you say, why do their records just stop? Surely they are tracking them somehow."

“There’s records, they just happen to be at the businesses that took them in. They would give some bullsh*t excuse to the family or Alpha before moving them far enough away to avoid being caught. Lay low for a bit, build new fake identities, then find a buyer when the time was right.”

“Is that where WIC comes in? Some of the she-wolves with the strongest talents…” Micah does get the jump on me this time, his body presses me against the counter and his hands clamp one around the back of my neck and one over my mouth.

“Shut your F*ckin’ mouth, Terrier. You gotta death wish??” He hisses out in a whisper. I push just the tip of my blade through the fabric of his jeans and he hisses when I make contact with his skin, but he still holds on. “Put that fuckin’ knife back in its holster, I ain’t going to hurt you.” he growls and bares his fangs.

I try to talk even though he’s holding my mouth. My wolf gets an idea and forces my mouth open wide. I bite hard enough to taste blood as I sink my teeth into his digits. This time he lets go and jumps back out of the reach of my blade hand, this time I was swinging for real.

“Touch me again, and you’ll have more holes in you than a pin cushion!” I snarl and I pant heavily, keeping Enyo from making good on my threat. I feel the hair on my arms raise and fur starting to sprout. I try to remind her it's bad form to kill your co-workers.

“Take my advice and drop your search. Don’t get involved with them, and keep my name out of your mouth. I don’t care how sexy your ass is, I won’t let you drag me down with you!”

“Fine. This discussion is not over, I’ll see you tomorrow at training. If you don’t show up. I will track you down, believe that.” I use my werewolf speed down several flights of stairs, I'm about as fast as a blur. The halls look empty, and even if someone did happen to see me, the lowlifes living here are probably drunk or high this late in the night. They’ll think they are trippin’ balls.