Page 79 of The Alpha's Second Chance Mate

“What?” I stood from my seat, my inner wolf snarling. “He called you?”

“He did.”

That fucker had no reason to be talking to my mate. Not on the phone, not in person, nothing.

“What did he say?” I snarled through gritted teeth.

“Mostly, he was being a creep. He’s been checking up on me, apparently. He knows most of my history.”

Rage surged through me, and I lifted a fist, ready to send it crashing down on the table. I desperately wanted to break something, but I reined my anger in and lowered my hand.

“He said some other things, though,” Avery went on. “About what happened with Farrah yesterday.”

“Yeah? Gloating over his little show?”

“Sort of, but it’s what he said about why he did it. He said, ‘Consider it a favor for Dallas.’”

Ice flooded my veins. Dallas? Had he asked Kyle to fuck with Farrah? I didn’t want to think about that. Sure, he didn’t have a good opinion of our family, but Farrah had tried real hard to bring him into the family fold. It hurt my heart to think that meant so little, that he was bitter enough to use scare tactics like a butchered wolf to screw around with her, and by association, me.

No, it couldn’t be. He’d already tried to help us. Why would he torture an animal to scare us, if he was trying to help me get out of this situation?

“I can’t see Dallas asking for something like that. If he was so pissy about the past, why did he warn me? Why’s Kyle knocking him around? This doesn’t make any sense to me.”

“Me neither,” Avery said. “But it’s what he said.”

“I’m meeting up with Trent in an hour. We’ll talk about it, see if we can come up with anything. I may need to try to make contact with Dallas. Get his side of the story on this.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

“It’s fine. No need to worry about it. I promise I’ll get all this sorted.Eventually.”

“If you say so,” Avery said. “I trust you, but it’s still freaking me out. I don’t like that asshole calling me on my personal phone.”

“The security system is armed, right? House is secure?”

“It is, but I’m about to go to the store. Ashton is eating enough to feed an elephant. I’m out of food already, and Ijustwent grocery shopping.”

The thought of Avery going out alone after getting a cryptic call from Kyle didn’t sit well with me.

“Hold off for a bit,” I said. “I’m meeting Trent in about an hour. We’ll be near the grocery store. Can you wait until then?”

“Yeah,” she sighed. “It’s gonna take me an hour to write the grocery list at this point.”

“Text me when you’re on your way, and when you get inside the store. I’ll head that way once you get there.”

We ended the call, and I sat in the office for a long time, staring unseeing at the walls. Threads weren’t coming together like they should. This whole situation, which had looked fairly simple from the outset, was getting murkier the more I uncovered. Lots of money was missing, and the gambling story was looking flimsier by the day. There was no proof that Dad had flushed it all away. All I’d found were some receipts and his browser history showing he likedto gamble.

The sheer audacity of the aggression with which Kyle was pushing us didn’t make sense, either. Money was important, yes, but I’d already said I would pay.So why was he still threatening us? He was acting like we’d missed a payment deadline or toldhim to fuck off. This all appeared personal in some way. Money, of all things in the world, was one of the mostimpersonal things I could imagine. And in the middle of it all was Dallas.

I met Trent at the barbershop, my head still swimming with questions. The barber, an ancient man named Claude Shipley, was a human who had a good relationship with the pack. The man had been old even when I’d been a kid, but his little barbershop was an institution in Harbor Mills.

“Afternoon, Claude,” I said as I walked in.

He was just buttoning the cape around Trent’s shoulders as I walked in. “Good day, Cole. How are you?” the little man said.

“Better than I deserve.” I eyed the man and glanced around the building. The three of us were totally alone.

“Got something on your mind?” Trent asked.

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