Filed To Story: Their Bullied and Broken Mate by Teri Petry
My face started to burn with fury. Did Jace do that? If not, he knew who did. I told Henry I would order him some lunch too, and we would go through the footage together. He disconnected the call, and I placed an order for him as well. I walked to the small bar in my office and poured myself a glass of whiskey. I drank it all in one gulp, and slammed the glass back on the counter. I stepped out on the balcony to get some fresh air, and in the distance I saw Micah’s boyfriend, Scott and Jace speaking. I linked Timmy’s second in command, Ryan, and asked him to grab another warrior and apprehend the two sneaky men. I told him to put them both in the cells, and to make sure they weren’t near each other. I will be going to speak to them later.
Henry finally arrived, just as our food had. He gave me the sd card, and I inserted it into my laptop. I placed it at a faster speed so that the footage would kind of speed through. About 15 minutes in, Henry yells, “Maddix, Stop! Look. There are 2 figures right there and one of them has something on fire. Watch.” Sure enough, there were two males, and one of them was holding a lit torch. The other was carrying what looked to be a baseball bat.
They entered Coffee & Thyme and were in there for a short amount of time. They both ran out of the establishment a short time before there was a small explosion. That must have been when the alarms sounded. The explosion is what caused the offices and Nick’s Place to catch fire. When the men ran out of the bistro, they ran straight into the children’s home. They must have encountered Henry and his mate, because they weren’t in there long at all. Henry said he remembered the explosion, and then the scramble to try to get Celeste awake and out of the house. He said the last thing he remembered was covering his face with a handkerchief to stop the smoke inhalation, and then the next thing he knew, he was waking up in the hospital. He said he didn’t even see who hit them. I zoomed in to see if I could get a glimpse of the faces as they ran out of the bistro, and there, plain as day, were Jace and Scott. I looked at Henry and said, “Call George, have him and Ryan meet us at the cell house. Time to confront the trash.”
Truth and Consequences
*MADDIX POV*
Walking through the cell house, the only sounds that could be heard was the clacking of my shoes on the tiled floor. I was a man on a mission, and I was focused on getting answers. I started to roll up my sleeves as I was making my way to the holding unit, and my eyes never roamed anywhere but straight ahead. The smell of the cell house always made me sick to my stomach.
We kept everything spotless, yet it still had the slight metallic smell of blood permeating the air. Even through the bleach. I was walking so fast that Henry and Ryan had a hard time keeping up with me, but they held their own in keeping up. I walked into the guard room and grabbed the keys from their desk. No one spoke to me, only watching me with every move I made. I knew my aura was intense at the moment, but I had no intention of pulling it back.
Standing in front of Jace’s cell, I held out my hand for the photos of him and Scott that I had printed out. I held one up against the glass without saying a word, and Jace’s face went white. “Alpha, I…I can explain. Please, just allow me to tell you why. I had no choice,” he begged. My glare pierced through him, and all I said was, “Speak.” He fell to his knees and started to babble. “Alpha, it was Scott’s idea. He is your daughter’s father, and he was about to run away from his responsibility. He said that if you found out he was your daughter’s biological father and that he had raped Micah, you would kill him. Hazel hadn’t paid him for the work he had just completed at the bistro, so he went in to confront her. She said he would have to wait for her funds to hit her account the following Friday, and he flipped. He attacked her, and then torched her bistro. I know what I have done is treason, but he threatened my mother’s life if I didn’t cooperate. My mom is really weak from my father’s passing, and she wouldn’t have been able to fight back. I had to save her life,” he sobbed.
I didn’t feel sorry for him. He could have come to me and I would have helped. I am not like my fathers or my mother when it comes to those who make the choice to betray their pack. Betraying the pack is just like betraying their alpha. I take it personal.
I asked him why he attacked Henry and his mate, and he said he didn’t. He said that it was also Scott who attacked my Gamma. I felt as if he was being honest, but his punishment would still be the same. We have guidelines for different types of crimes, and specific punishments for those crimes. Treason, arson, and assault were serious charges. He was just as guilty as Scott just by being present. Luke would be here in the morning for the pack meeting.
Even though I have found out who caused the fires, I had other questions that needed answering. There had to be others who knew I was searching for my daughter’s birth father. Yet, everyone I asked told me they had no clue who it could be. It was obvious to me that this Scott was bad news. He was there when my sister was dosed with Wolfsbane, and if we hadn’t found the witch, and she had admitted to adding Wolfsbane to that potion, could he have done something to her? Jace just said he raped Micah. I need to have Alette talk to her. She is in Seattle with Lette, and hiding. That tells me something bad has happened.
“Jace, I appreciate you being truthful. However, you know that I have an open-door policy, and you could have come to me at any second to tell me what Scott was up to. You also know that I have a zero-tolerance policy. I am not like my dads and give second chances in serious situations. You will be sentenced for your crime accordingly, but you will tell my cousin, Luke, the same thing you told me today in the morning. If he senses deception, I will bypass all guidelines and sentence you to death. Keep that in mind,” I told him. I knew I was being overly ruthless, but three people could have died in the fire. Two businesses were destroyed, years of pack information were destroyed because of greed and selfishness. He nodded his head in understanding and I turned on my heel and walked away. Next stop, Scott’s cell.
“Scotty, Scotty, Scotty…. You have been a very bad boy, haven’t you? Care to explain this?!?” I yelled as I slammed the picture against the glass of his cell. He smirked at me, and said “You can’t prove that it is me, that could be anyone.” I shook my head and ran my hand through my hair. I started to chuckle and said, “I had a feeling you would say that. So, I took the liberty of zooming in and printing that out as well. Is this better?” He took a closer look at the picture, and he knew he was screwed. You could see the cogs of his brain working overtime, and again, he started to smirk. “What about it? She should have given me my cash,” he said.
I punched the glass and fully released my aura. Everyone around me fell to their knees and bared their necks to me. “WHAT ABOUT IT?!?!?!?! YOU HAVE GOT TO BE FUCKING KIDDING ME, RIGHT? YOU NEARLY KILLED 3 PEOPLE. YOU CAUSED MAJOR DAMAGE TO 2 PACK FACILITIES, AND YOU’RE STANDING IN FRONT OF ME BEING FLIPPANT ABOUT WHAT YOU DID?!?!?! DO YOU HAVE A DEATH WISH, SCOTT?!?!” I roared. My wolf, Franz, was begging to come out, but I knew if I allowed that, people would be hurt. Franz even scared me when he was angry. Scott’s eyes went wide with fear, and he started to apologize.
He begged for mercy, and I replied to his pleas. “You will get zero mercy from me. You showed no mercy to Hazel, Henry or Celeste when you assaulted them, and caused them to lose precious things when you started that fire. You showed Micah no mercy when you raped her. Did you?” Shock washed over his face when I revealed I knew about what he did to his supposed girlfriend. I hardened my stare, and he cowered before me. “You will be tested tomorrow for deception. I hope you aren’t as stupid as I think you are, and try to lie,” I said coldly.
I left him to think about his wrong doings, and I walked back to my office. I needed to be alone, and eventually call my sister. I wanted the truth from her and Micah, and I was going to get it.
Confronting my Follower
*Alette POV*
New Book: Returned To Make Them Pay
On her wedding anniversary, Alicia is drugged and stumbles into the wrong room—straight into the arms of the powerful Caden Ward, a man rumored never to touch women. Their night of passion shocks even him, especially when he discovers she’s still a virgin after two years of marriage to Joshua Yates.