Filed to story: Maleah The Angel Of Death Novel
I still had everything Dad had given me, and I kept it in a pencil case in the metal case your parents had given me for my eighth birthday. I asked her if she wanted to have them. You should have seen the smile on her face. I gave her the pencil case and a sketchbook my Dad had bought me, and we spent the next few hours drawing and talking. Her designs are more for daily wear, and my designs are more for once-in-a-lifetime events.
If I couldn’t be in the Alpha or Luna office, I would visit the kitchen and spend time with Ariel and her friends. I would even go there if my Mother was home. When I bought my first boutique, I already knew how I wanted to run my business, and I asked Ariel if she wanted to sell her designs in my boutique – something she was a bit fearful of at first. Her friends told her that they would make the clothes, so she could keep focusing on the designs.
This is what makes my boutiques so unique – each store has at least one designer, and each designer has their own unique talent in designing clothes. In some towns or cities, there are more designers that want to sell their clothes in my boutique, while in other towns and cities, I really have to look for them,” I tell him, and he tells me that Ariel used some of her money to build a house for the Omegas, opening up space in the Pack-house for unmated Warriors.
After Alpha Dax has left, Pauline hands me two files. One I place inside my bag, and the other I open to find a list with three names – designers that want to become a part of my empire, designers that hope to make a name for themselves. I read the information Pauline has gathered for me. One name I cross off the list immediately – his answer to a simple question rubs me the wrong way – and I take a good look at the other two names on the list.
“Pauline, get in touch with both of them. I think Albarr is the perfect town for an experiment, and I hope these two can pull it off,” I tell her as I hand her the file back. I give a few instructions to the construction crew, and then I leave for the hotel. I need some time alone – to shower and read the file on my next assignment. I just hope it won’t keep me from home for too long.
Maleah’s p.o.v.
I kick off my shoes the moment the door to my hotel room falls into its lock. I drop my bag on the couch in the sitting area of my room and start taking my clothes off as I walk into the bedroom. Walking into the bathroom, I am reminded of why I hate showering in a hotel room. The space is too small for my Lycan, and Fortune hates being cooped up in here for too long, so I take a quick shower before heading out into the bedroom again.
I hear my phone buzzing but ignore it for the time being. I had sent Mack a message as I walked into my room, and I know he won’t respond to it immediately. He just wants to know that I am safe. We both have a bad feeling about my Mother and Alpha Bradley and the persistent way in which they try to get me to visit them. Dax told me just before he left that two Scouts were investigating Alpha Bradley, hoping to find out why they want me to move to his Pack.
Fortune and I have been thinking about it, and one of the reasons we came up with involves Alpha Bradley’s Son. His Son is known for being a sadistic ass – he loves hurting the females he sleeps with, and whenever one of them reports him to the Council, he tells them they came with him willingly. None of the charges ever stuck, and he has gotten away with far more than he should. I can’t wait for the day someone takes him down a peg.
The other reason we came up with is financial. Alpha Bradley isn’t known for his business acumen, and I think he is hoping to gain access to my fortune as my Alpha. Maybe it’s a combination of the two reasons, and I don’t like any of them. But I wonder how Alpha Bradley thinks he can get access to my money.
After I am finally dressed, I walk into the sitting area and pick up my phone to see who has been bombarding me with messages. Fortune growls the moment we see our Mother’s name on the screen. I unlock the phone to look at the messages she has sent, and I almost release a mighty roar as I read the first one: Bradley and I are arriving in Albarr in the morning. We will meet for lunch in our hotel suite. The second message is along the same lines, but the third makes me call Mack without thinking.
He picks up after the second ring. “What happened?” Mack asks, and I can’t help myself as I say, “I need a new designer.” Mack starts laughing as I hear someone in the background ask if I ever saw Mack draw – I know he can’t draw even if his life depended on it. It was one of the things I asked him during one of our conversations in the past few days.
“I got a few new messages from my Mother. They’re coming to Albarr, and she insists on meeting for lunch. The first two messages were definitely written by my Mother and weren’t really threatening, but the other two were probably written by Alpha Bradley. Both basically say: I come to their suite for lunch, or I will regret ignoring their request,” I say, and I hear a few growls in the background. Mack is quiet after what I said.
“Alpha Dax is in Albarr, and he will stay until they’ve left Albarr again. He will go to that lunch with you. If they try to refuse him, he’ll tell them they can only see you in his presence. He is your Alpha, and with the stunt they tried to pull, he has every right to doubt their intentions,” Mack says, and I smile as I tell him I look forward to seeing the look on my Mother’s face.
We talk about why I need a new designer, and I tell him I have a solution, though I don’t reveal exactly what I have in mind for my latest boutique.
“Did one of the Scouts find anything?” I ask him, but as I suspected, neither has reported back yet. I tell him about the explanations Fortune and I came up with.
Alpha Dillon asks how I figured that out, and I reply, “As a businesswoman, I hear quite a bit about Wolves and Lycans in the business world. Even if their business isn’t related to mine, I do listen very carefully to what’s being said.”
After finishing my call with Mack, I order room service. I don’t feel like going down to the restaurant, and it will give me time to write out my plan for the boutique. This will be the first boutique where both males and females can find outfits for special events or everyday life. I grab my laptop to outline how this might work. I’ll need to discuss it with the designers to see if my idea can actually work and if I need to adjust the boutique layout or contract terms.
I have just finished dinner when my phone rings, and I sigh in relief when I see Pauline’s caller ID. “Hello, Pauline. What can I do for you?” I ask, and she asks if I’ve read the file on my new assignment. I confess I didn’t take the time to read it yet. “You might want to read it as soon as you can. I know you’ll take this assignment without hesitating. You would even take it if you were asked to do it for free.” Pauline says.
If Pauline says I’d do an assignment for free, it has to be a damn good assignment. I tell her I will take a look at it immediately before I disconnect the call. I grab the file from my bag and sit down on the balcony as I open it. I read through the first few pages to get an idea what the assignment is about.
Fortune growls in my head the more we read, and I realize Pauline is right – I would have done this assignment for free. I almost let Fortune roar out loud when we read who our targets are.
Maleah’s p.o.v.
I have always known that these two were trouble, but reading through the file on three of their victims, I now know that the world doesn’t know the full extent of their crimes. I am going to make sure they pay for what they have done. That it also solves a personal problem is a huge plus, and I start to think about where to start – how to get this assignment done as soon as possible.
I need to plan this carefully. I don’t want to push either one of them into hiding, and as I read about the Council’s way of handling this matter, I get a feeling that someone is covering for them. Fortune and I have had a suspicion for ages that someone in the Council is responsible for the cases that get thrown out for various reasons. If this assignment can lead me to the right Council Elder, I will not hesitate to bring him down.
A message comes in from Pauline: both designers will meet with me in the morning. I send her a message back in which I explain that we need to plan my new assignment carefully. I need to know the next time either one of them is staying in a public place, and if I can provide myself with an alibi if I ever need it – something I learned years before I took my first real assignment.
Luckily, my work always provides me with an alibi. Carrying out my assignments while I make public appearances has made sure no one ever suspected me. No one has ever questioned me during all these years. I doubt anyone will be able to make the link, and I know that I am grateful for all the gifts I have gotten – each of them helping me to carry out the task at hand.
I know I need to make sure that this plan is even more waterproof because I know that if someone uses their brain, they will figure out the identity of the Angel of
Death. Two names in particular jump to mind, and I am surprised that one of them hasn’t asked questions yet – after all, he knows me better than anyone alive. I am trying to figure out if he might suspect something – after all, I am my Father’s daughter.
Growing up, I always had an interest in any murder case that ended up in the news, always wondering if my Father might have something to do with it or if this one was not related to our Pack at all. Dad always made sure that I didn’t hear too much about what he did for a living. I doubt Mother would have kept it from me, as she would use anything she could to turn me against my Father.
That train of thought brings me back to my Mother and Alpha Bradley. I wonder if he took her as a Mate because of me, and if he did, then what is he expecting to gain out of it. My Mother isn’t the nicest person to live with, and I doubt she will change for the likes of Alpha Bradley – even though I understand that as an Alpha, he can make her do whatever he wants.
Because I doubt there is a Mate-bond between them, I know she will have to comply with him if he gives her an Alpha order. A true Mate-bond would be the only thing that could stop him from using an Alpha order on my Mother, and with everything I know about Alpha Bradley, there is a very slim chance that he would take a Mate with a true Mate-bond.
