Page 7 of Wild Omega

She shrugs. “The office smelled like eucalyptus, I guess.”

I click my fingers, trying to tease out the buzzing thoughts swirling in my brain. “Walk me through this. The IT guy came to help you with the missing printer connection. He fixed it, you left, then what?”

“The drivers were still installing so I went to the break room.”

“And got a coffee?”

“No, the floor was wet, so I went to the vending machine in the hall.”

“The floor was wet?” I straighten. “As in, it’d been mopped?”

She nods. “There was a slip hazard sign up too.”

Dammit. How could I have been so stupid? I hold up a finger to stall her, already dialing my paralegal. The line clicks on. “Hale, it’s me. Pull up the staff file for the cleaner on Ms Felton’s floor. The IT guy was the red herring.”

“Do we have a name?”

I point at Ms Felton. “Name?”

“Clark Saunders,” she supplies, eyes widening.

I check Hale heard, then add, “Tell me how many performance bonuses the guy got. I’ll stay on the line.”

“On it.”

Cardboard scuffles and paper rustles. The fact he can find the right box quickly is a testament to how good he is at his job. I’ll definitely keep indulging his requests for interns to shift the case files in and out of his office annex in the future.

Ms Felton presses her fingertips to her lips. “But aren’t we too late for that? Clark already testified.”

I shake my head. “I can get any staff member from the floor to the stand. I just need a reason.” I hiss at my foolishness. They put him on the stand to testify that no maintenance issues occurred in the building, and I didn’t dig too deeply because I thought they’d be trying to hide whoever was involved.

Hale hums down the phone line. “Okay, I have the file. It’s pretty thick. I can see twelve, no, fourteen bonuses here. Could be more.”

My heart pulses with a rush of adrenaline as I catch the scent of my prey. “How long was he employed?”

“Four years.”

I whistle.

My client chokes. “One per quarter? That’s outrageous. He’s not even part of the client teams.”

I smirk and lift the phone. “And they really left this in discovery?”

“In tiny print,” Hale confirms. “Not in the staff files, but in a generic document from the accounts team. Everyone divided into batches.”

I grunt. Somebody screwed up big time. Or thought I couldn’t possibly find it among all the boxes they sent. But they don’t know how fast my paralegal can read. “Send the list of dates and amounts to the courthouse within five minutes.”

“Will do. Oh, and I’m sending another little present with it you might like.”

I push away from the window, knowing that whatever it is, Hale has my back. “Ms Felton, I’m going to need you to tell me everything you can about working with this cleaner, including what’s normally on his cleaning cart.”

She nods and straightens her shoulders. By the time the runner brings me my printout, I’m vibrating with excitement, and the energy doubles as I see the gift Hale sent over.

Ms Felton shrinks back. “You’re alpha-ing up.”

“Sorry, ma’am. I am an alpha after all, and it’s hard to control.” Sure, my scent leaks a little when I’m excited, but the truth is the faintest touch of alpha presence does wonders in the courtroom, so I’m not trying to hold back.

Judge Harmon narrows his eyes at me as we reconvene. “Well, Counselor?”

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