Page 56 of His Temporary Alpha Mate
“Spice, don’t forget who feeds you!” I called. “In the office, Deke.”
“It’s me who feeds him,” Larken said, snatching Spice from Deke and heading to the kitchen. He was all rumpled from sleep but he looked better than before. Though he was out of danger, he still had to take it easy.
Deke tried to follow Larken to check on him personally, I halted him and took the maps.“Thanks for these.”
“No, thank you for taking this off my plate. Oh, a guy called for you. I gave him your cell. He’s going to call back.”
“Did he say his name?”
“Nope. Just that he knew you from a while back and saw what was happening on the news. Said he wants to help out.”
Suspicious. Most of the people I’d worked with before were contacts from my old life when I worked with my birth pack and the pack we were absorbed into. Basically, no one I would want to speak to.
Sure enough, my cell buzzed with an incoming call from a familiar number.
“Now, the Head Enforcer told me someone I knew would be calling, but I can’t think why you’d be the one, Gerry.”
“Is that how you greet an old friend, Dalton?” Gerry’s smarmy voice was still as grating as it used to be.
“Friends? Is that what we were?”
“Oh come on, don’t be like that. I’m offering to help your pack with your problem.”
“At what cost, Gerry, huh?”
“Friends rates, of course.”
“Right. As if I believe that,” I scoffed. There was no way I was taking part in any schemes Gerry had going on.
“Come on, Dalton. You know I’ve got the people to cover your routes. Or did you need some cash for a hellhound? I hear their portals don’t fuckwith tech as bad.”
“How? No, nevermind that. Just how am I going to pay you for this? I imagine you don’t want cash.”
“Nah, nah. Just you to do some jobs for me like you used to. Work the market, clean up some money.”
“Break the law,” I said dryly.
“Dalton, come on, you’re the best in the business.”
“I’m not in the business.”
“Not anymore, but that can change. What I’m offering could really help your pack, especially with the legal trouble. We know how to grease the wheels of justice.”
“Pay people off, you mean?”
Goddess it was tempting. A few simple jobs and I’d get the money to help the pack. We wouldn’t have to send our people out to risk their lives. We wouldn’t have the mayor and the police breathing down our necks.
Yet, I couldn’t bring myself to agree. Just where would it end? There would always be an excuse to fall back into those bad habits. I’d kept a clean record, kept myself above board all this time. There was only one choice.
“Sorry, Gerry. Not interested.” Then I hung up the phone and blocked his number for good measure before I could change my mind.
I’d find a way out of this while sticking to the rules. I’d laid out a new path for myself when I’d come to Sweetwater. Now I was going to stick to it.
First Heat
Dalton
“Are you sure you should be going into the office today? You look a little pale. Should I check your temperature?” Larken fussed, even though he was still off work, injured.
