Page 47 of Howling Mad
“Romantic sabotage?”His eyebrows lift.
“You’d be surprised how often clients try to undermine each other’s matches.”I smooth my dress on its hanger.“Red once had to ban three puma shifters from the agency for sabotaging each other’s dates.Fur was flying everywhere.Literally.”
His smile fades, replaced by something more serious.“Finley, you don’t have to fight this battle for me.I can handle Claudia and my father.”
“I know you can,” I say, placing my hand on his chest and feeling his steady heartbeat beneath my palm.“But you don’t have to handle them alone.Not anymore.”
The look he gives me makes my knees weak, like I’m the most precious thing he’s ever seen.“What did I do to deserve you?”
“Must have been something terrible in a past life.”I rise on tiptoes to kiss him quickly.“Now, let’s get ready.I want to arrive early enough to secure good seats for the show.”
The morning passes too quickly.After a tense breakfast, where Michael’s father is conspicuously absent, we make our way to the main lodge for the business meeting.Eleanor joins us on the path, looking elegant in traditional attire but with distinctly troubled eyes.
“Be prepared,” she murmurs, walking close enough that only we can hear.“Heath has been unusually involved in the financial presentations this year.He’s never shown interest before.”
“Because he’s using Claudia to make a point,” Michael says grimly.
“A point?”I ask.
“That I abandoned my responsibility to the pack, but I can be replaced,” he says.“I suspect he wants me to fight to reclaim my place and figures this will jar me into doing so.”He snorts.
As we enter the great hall, now rearranged with tables facing a presentation area, I spot several older wolves huddled in conversation, occasionally glancing our way.Michael’s hand tightens around mine in a silent request to ignore them.
We choose seats near the front but off to one side, making us visible without being directly in the line of fire.Eleanor sits beside me, murmuring brief explanations of who’s who in the pack hierarchy.I listen with half an ear, my attention focused on mapping escape routes and identifying potential allies should things turn ugly.Eleanor seems to be the only ally, dang it.
The room grows quieter as Alpha Dexter enters with Michael’s father.At least today, they’ve eschewed the ridiculous bear pelt capes.His gaze sweeps the room, lingering briefly on Michael with an expression I can’t quite decipher before moving on.It makes me shudder slightly.
Then she arrives, and I swear I can hear dramatic music swelling in the background.
Claudia Hayburn enters the hall like she’s walking a runway, not attending a pack business meeting.Her dress probably costs a fortune, and the sleek black material is perfectly tailored to her statuesque figure.A fur coat—ironic, given that she can grow her own but chooses to support killing other animals by buying one—drapes artfully over one shoulder.Her smile reveals teeth so white they could signal aircraft, and she air-kisses everyone within reach while somehow managing to look down her nose at them simultaneously.
Most outrageous are her gold-plated wolf claw nail extensions that click menacingly against the leather portfolio she carries.The sound sends an involuntary shiver down my spine, like claws on a chalkboard.
“Is she for real?”I whisper to Michael, unable to contain myself.
His expression is a remarkable study in controlled neutrality.“Unfortunately, though she is a bit more ostentatious than she used to be.”
Claudia takes her place at the front of the room, setting her portfolio on the presentation table with a flourish.When Alpha Dexter introduces her as “a financial prodigy from our sister pack,” she manages to look both humbly appreciative and smugly confirmed in her superiority.
The presentation begins with the alpha droning on about the pack’s declining investment portfolio.The numbers aren’t good.They’re getting decreased returns, have taken risky positions, and are utilizing outdated strategies.As he speaks, I feel Michael tense beside me, his posture growing more rigid with each slide.I wonder if they’re using some of his previous advice, but I can’t imagine this pack ever really allowing Michael to show that side of himself enough to help with their finances.He’s probably just irritated they’ve let it get to this point without asking him for help.
Finally, Dexter yields the floor.“And now, Claudia Hayburn has generously offered to share some innovative strategies for revitalizing our pack’s financial position.”
She seizes the floor with practiced ease, her voice carrying that particular timbre of someone who believes they deserve everyone’s attention.“Thank you, Alpha Wilson.It’s an honor to be invited to share my insights with such an esteemed pack.”
She launches into her presentation, and within minutes, I find myself doing double-takes between the slides and Michael.His face has gone completely rigid, jaw clenched, and a muscle tics in his cheek.The scent of his anger—like ozone before a lightning strike—grows stronger with each passing minute.
“What’s wrong?”I whisper, keeping my voice low enough that only he can hear.
“These are my strategies,” he whispers through clenched teeth.“Every single one.The market diversification model, the staged investment approach, and even the risk assessment matrix.I developed all of this during our relationship with the plan to present them to the pack, but Father made it clear he didn’t need my input then.”
I stare at the presentation in disbelief.The slides show complex investment models that Claudia explains with rehearsed confidence, but she glosses over a lot of the actual details.I don’t know much about it, but I can tell she’s skimming the surface.
“She’s presenting your work as her own?”My whisper comes out more like a hiss.
“Work she dismissed as ‘too human’ when I first developed it,” Michael confirms, his scent shifting subtly with rising anger and disbelief.“She said pack investments should follow traditional models, not human market theories.”
The territorial violation sends a surge of protective rage through me.My wolf stirs beneath my skin, bristling at this theft.It’s one thing to challenge someone directly but another to steal their intellectual property and present it as your own, especially when the one you stole from is in the crowd!
