CH 24

Graham He could see the twins were in the full throes of betrayal pains as he walked past them with two men. He was once again headed back into the city, to find Jessica’s phone, which Eve had taken from Jessica and tossed away. It now looked as if Eve knew what was going to happen today and was a part of it all. She’d fallen to her knees and sworn she wasn’t involved at all, knew nothing about the k********g. But nothing she could say could be trusted. They would get the phone and see just what she was trying to hide. He knew Hector was going to order the truth from her, but if this was plotted and planned by anyone, the twins knew. It could well be she was involved but didn’t know it at all. He’d learned some not-so-nice truths about his son today and, right now, he didn’t know if Gregory would or wouldn’t actively plot against his own Mate. Just because she was wolf-less, and the boy hadn’t liked that she’d stood up and tried to play at not scenting them out. She’d had some balls back then to try and get it past everyone, that took guts and only a truly wolf-less could attempt it. He’d actually thought that one thing had shown how strong-willed she was, had clung to that card and played it constantly until their own Gamma had outed her. Something she’d looked annoyed about in itself. That very thing, if his son was a good wolf, would have shown him she was not only stubborn and willful but that she could hold her own when face to face with her own Mates. Which meant she would be a good Luna, but all he’d seen was she’d humiliated him, and that all the other she-wolves in that room had found it amusing, that he’d gotten laughed at. It would actually make for a fun story to tell their pups. If things had worked out, and they’d treated her right, they could have relayed it in a loving, fun way that showed their pups how strong their mother was. That being wolf-less didn’t mean being weak-willed. He arrived at the auction house, and they were getting ready to close up, he waved to the guard. “Please, my daughter-in-law, Jessica Lane, works here and…” he sighed heavily. “She was taken clean off the street at lunchtime, I just need to check for her phone.” The guard had sighed and nodded. “I heard about that. I’m sorry this happened, and our boss did state full co-operation will be granted.” Then he brought them into the building after checking his and his men’s IDs and logging them with the security office. “Protocol,” he’d been told, and Graham didn’t argue he wanted full co-operation. “Eve is also one of the girls who got chased too, today.” “Hmm, I heard about that myself, saw her running this way.” The guard nodded, “How is she?” “Shaken up, was there anything unusual about her and Jessica’s interactions today? Eve said Jessica didn’t wait for her to go and have lunch together like normal.” Graham commented as they were walked to the employee part of the building by security. “Really? I’ve never seen them have lunch ever together. Quite the opposite, in fact. Those two don’t get along at all from my observations,” he was told. Graham sighed. “So they never had meals together?” “No, Eve is still lucky to have a job here after all the bullying that goes on between her and Jessica. Scraped through by the skin of her teeth, I believe, she had to formally apologize in front of everyone for the new boss to keep her here. Though I saw her shove Jessica over today and I’ve reported it as well. Her notice, I believe, is coming.” Graham said nothing at all, they weren’t wolves, just human security guards. They walked into Jessica’s office, and he knew her phone wasn’t going to be in there, but made a point of looking about. “What exactly are you looking for?” he was asked. “Jessica’s phone, the tracking app says it’s still here,” Graham stated. “Odd, I’d have thought it was on her when she went to lunch,” the guard commented. “Hmm, the app shows differently.” He and his team frowned as they came up empty-handed. “Is there a break room?” He asked, knowing full well it was in the bin in the break room because Hector had pulled that much out of Eve. “There is... this way,” he was told, and they walked to it. The guard stood by the door and looked about. The place had yet to be cleaned by the company cleaners even though it was neat and tidy in here. There was nothing on the tables, the sink or on the shelves. “I don’t see it,” the guard stated as Graham walked across the room to stand by the bin, and turned and looked about. He played his part by frowning deeply and then looked down at his phone as if he was checking the app. “It’s in here somewhere says I’m right next to it,” he murmured and turned about. Then looked down at the bin and sighed. “Could have fallen in there, I supposed, Do you mind if I check the bin.” “Dumpster dive all you like, I’m not doing it.” The man waved a hand at him. “You make a mess, you have to clean it up.” “I’ll be careful.” Graham nodded and took the lid from the bin. There were many food wrappers and scraps in there, but he had no choice but to go through it. It only took two minutes and then his hand landed on it, and he pulled it out. “Got it,” he stated as he shook it a bit to get rid of food residue. “Lucky the cleaners don’t come in till eight.” The security guard told him. “That looks a bit damaged.” Graham nodded because he could see that it was. Eve had tried to crush it, it seemed, which meant that yes, she was trying to get rid of evidence of some sort. The tech department would find out what it was. They left the building after they were signed out and walked away. He handed that phone right to Bale and stated, “You can fix that right.” He watched as Baled turned it over and looked at it as they got into the car; he hooked it up to his own gear and ran a program that paired it with his equipment and saw the laptop screen light up after they were driving away once more, and what appeared to be Jessica’s phone appear on it. “Jessica threatened Eve with something on her phone,” Graham stated. "Look for that." It was about 35 minutes before he pulled it up and there on the screen was a message typed out but not sent to Stephanie about Eve. ‘Luna, I’d like a new warrior to watch over me, Eve just told me my own Mates don’t want me, and they hope I’ll be snatched by rogues and killed, she’ll get to go back to sleeping with them when it happens.’ He saw Bale’s eyes move right towards him more than wide and Graham sighed and took a picture of it with his own phone and sent it to Hector. There was nothing he could say. After everything that happened today and how the twins were feeling the pains of betrayal, it really did look like an inside job right this minute. But that message unsent, and the phone disposed of by Eve herself, pointed to the fact that Eve wasn’t there to protect Jessica on purpose, had taken her phone from her on purpose, so no one could track her to wherever she’d been taken. Everything had been planned out to this very day, even that footage of Jessica and Eve told them someone was watching her, the message to go with the footage implied it wasn’t just Jessica they were watching, but the twins off pack territory. Gregory had told him he had kept all his betrayal out in the human world, at the university. There were four other packs attending that university. Hell, at this point it might not even be rogues. It could be just one of those packs, he thought about that, and put a call into Hector. “That message you received about them seeing the twins not being faithful. That means, whoever this is, was at the university. There are four other packs attending that. What if it’s not rogues, just made to look like rogues?” “You think an allied saw them and is doing what? Running a rescue mission without telling us what our own boys were up to?” he could hear the frown in Hector's voice. “Anything is possible. Are we affiliated with all four other packs? We dropped the Silver Moon years back, and their pack will attend that university. He’s… not so good an Alpha we now know.” “I hear you, but I also don’t think Jayden would snatch and grab a wolf-less she-wolf. From all we now know, he’s only interested in power, and he’s rejected all his Goddess-Gifted Mates because they were seen by him as useless,” Hector answered him. “Best we consider it being one of our Allies pulling a Luna Ranked wolf out of a horrid situation.” Graham murmured thoughtfully. “What is going on with those boys, though, that doesn't add up to an allied pack. They’d take her, I agree, but likely right to Alpha Larissa and the Wolden Council to have them force a rejection acceptance from the twins. Then the council would send her somewhere unknown to us. They don’t muck around “And no Allied can on purpose cause the heirs to our pack harm, so… I don’t think it’s anyone we know. I also doubt any Luna in a pack would allow another to mate Jessica, being she’s marked and mated, bound to two others. That kind of goes against their own principals. What is happening to the twins on and off all day is, as you’re aware, very much a rogue thing to do.” He did know that, was just thinking outside the box was all, “Alright, it might be wise to let our allies know she’s now missing and suspected of being stolen by rogues to keep a look-out for her. Send them a picture of her. See if we can bring others in.” “And tell them what exactly. They’ll opt to cancel their alliance with us once they find out the truth.” Hector muttered, “Best we handle it ourselves or end up like Alpha Jayden with no allies or only those that can’t really be trusted.” “Eve?” he asked, dropping the subject, because he knew Hector was right. “On the shaming post like all the others now,” Hector stated.