Page 82 of Noah

“Hello, we were told about the discovery inside your unit,” Mallen said in his deep voice and gestured to the end of the hall.

Noah trudged inside and assumed a stance behind Adrienne when she sat. Mallen, Drey, and Nick took spots close together and Briar whispered something inside Drey’s ear.

Noah watched Mhane narrow her eyes at him as she sat. Briar just winked back, and she huffed.

Adrienne’s hands clenched on the table, and she spoke, “We. It’s both of ours.” She looked at Mhane for support and he ground his teeth. Mhane nodded as if she understood the silent question. “We inherited the house as well as whatever was inside. I hadn’t been there for years.”

Before she could finish Drey held up his hand. Noah’s fingers found Adrienne’s shoulders and he massaged them, trying to ease the tension. Mhane followed his movements.

Drey said, “We know what you know Adrienne. What I’m trying to figure out is why Mhane hasn’t sorted the drugs out before. You said you didn’t want the authorities to believe you were involved?”

Mhane craned her neck and popped her lips. Noah could feel the lie before it left her lips, and he growled as Drey slammed his fist into the table.

Adrienne jumped, but Mhane was as cool as could be. She didn’t flinch, if anything her muscles coiled, and she shifted her body to readiness. Noah’s jaw almost dropped, and appreciation lit Briar’s eyes as he observed Mhane’s look of readiness to take on the Alphas.

Ballsy move. And mercy for Briar if he even thinks about trying it with that female.

“Don’t even think about lying, Ms. Havors,” Drey said with a warning growl.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Mhane replied sweetly but none of them were fooled.

“Mhane,” Adrienne whispered, and damn if the heartbreak in her tone didn’t hit everyone there. “Please.” Adrienne gestured weakly with her hand to the Alphas. “Tell them.”

Noah waited and held his breath.

Mhane sighed and crossed her arms. She locked her feet around her ankles and leaned back slightly. “I have a troubled history with drugs, and I knew if I went to the authorities, it wouldn’t look good.”

Mhane refused to look at Adrienne, even when she made a soft sound of concern. Adrienne instead lifted her arm and clenched his hand over her shoulder.

Looking for support from her mate. He stood taller.

“What history?” Drey asked and he peered at her with heavy eyes. “Only the truth will help us. Tell us what we need to know. What could harm us?”

“I was hospitalised twice for drug overdoses when I was a teenager,” she answered. Adrienne gasped and put her hand over her mouth. “When I received a letter a few weeks later telling me dad had died.” She glanced at Adrienne.

Mhane’s back straightened. Stealing herself she said, “I came to the storage unit expecting to find Adrienne and her Mum clearing it out and maybe it would help me to recover if I could reconnect with my family.” Mhane laughed harshly.

“Baby sister.” Adrienne let go of his hand and reached across the table to her. Mhane shook her head and looked at Drey.

“You don’t know how tempted I was. When I opened the unit, it was all on the shelves, not piled at the back. It looked like heaven, these miniature piles of gold that had fallen into my lap.” Mhane sighed. Her eyes held a whisper of that heaven.

Mhane might be surprised but Numbers in this room understood. Drugs worked through their systems faster than they would humans and he assumed that her withdrawal would be much worse than they could have imagined.

“I had no idea,” Adrienne said with a wealth of sympathy in her voice.

“Why should you? You didn’t know me.” Mhane made a pained face. “You still don’t.”

“Don’t say that.”

“It’s true. I could have been accused of drug-running for him. Being involved in whatever he was. And if the people that he was moving those drugs for…” She shrugged and pursed her lips, her eyes haunted. “If the people who knew about those drugs linked me to it, then I could end up back in a dark place I don’t want to go down. I tidied it all up without taking any.” She added the last part like she thought they were going to accuse her of using it.

“Okay, so no one has touched it since then?” Adrienne asked.

“No. I covered it up and hoped you might turn up. To start with I visited almost daily, then weekly. Eventually, I just moved close to town and got an alert set up so it would ping an app on my phone.”

“Weren’t you worried about someone showing up looking for drugs?” Drey asked. He was assessing Mhane like he was trying to digest what parts of her story to believe.

“Of course, I was.” Mhane laughed, though her smile was brittle. “Why do you think I learned to defend myself?”

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