Page 41 of Henri's Little One
“Then under the power vested in me by the State of New York, I pronounce you married under the laws of this state and those of the loup garou.”
Everyone broke out into applause as the last council Alpha was wed. The other Alphas and their Mates came up two by two to congratulate Henri and Vitas. When it was his and Etienne’s turn, Julio gave Vitas a wink. “See, I told you. You fit right in.”
While the guests were milling around Julio turned to Rene, Sean’s Beta. “Now the gods are going to start on you guys. I wonder who’s up first?”
Rene rolled his eyes.
Julio looked carefully at Henri and Vitas as they walked to the limousines, accompanied by four Betas one on each side, one in the back and one in the front. He got the creepiest feeling in his gut that someone was watching them with too much interest.
Chapter Ten
Manhattan Court House
Center Street, Lower Manhattan
Chernof sat in a new silver Mercedes on a side street right outside of the courthouse, his two Betas in the front seat. “Do you see them? My informant says they scheduled the wedding for noon. The service takes about forty-five minutes when you add the loup garou vows. That means they should be coming out of the courthouse right about now.”
“Not yet, Alpha,” Anatoly said, catching the wedding party Chernof was looking for out of the corner of his eye. He said nothing. Now that they were in Manhattan, Anatoly and Maxim intended to buy their way into Alpha Davidoff’s pack by telling him the identity of Chernof’s informant. Hughes was part of The Alpha’s household. Despite the exorbitant stipend and the salary, he was paid, he was in debt to the New York mob and needed the money his information bought to keep up his payments. He acted as a secretary to Pierre whose duties were many and varied. The Alpha had authorized Pierre to hire an assistant nine months earlier. Pierre had not done due diligence and therefor wasn’t aware that his new hire had gambling debts. Hughes was the perfect target for bribes and blackmail. Pierre had dug into his background but didn’t have the time to dig deep enough. He didn’t find his new assistant’s bad habit which the candidate kept well hidden from a surface check.
The first-time Hughes Barnaby Caron sold information to Chernof it was supposed to be a one-shot deal. But Hughes made the mistake of writing The Alpha and council’s secrets down and passing them to the Russian Alpha in person. Chernof had Anatoly take a picture of the handoff, and after that, Chernof had him. Anatoly shook his head.
Chernof knew most of what Pierre did, and that was enough for him to track The Alpha and the council. Chernof was told by Pierre when Alpha Davidoff arrived in New York and when and what Donal was before they mated. Since Julio was Donal’s friend, when Julio rented his apartment, Chernof supplied the doorman to track Alexei through Donal and Julio. As soon as Hughes saw the advertised opening he had a candidate, a rather shady acquaintance. He thought he could transfer his spying duties to the doorman and disclaim all responsibility if someone got caught. No such luck.
The apartment house’s new employee did not report directly to Chernof, instead he was paid by Hughes to make mischief. The doorman knew that Bales meant Julio harm, although Chernof wasn’t aware he was about to have a Mate murdered at the time, only Donal’s friend. He figured that harming Donal’s friend would shake Donal up and make him put the needle back in his arm. It didn’t. Alexei was too strong, and his influence strengthened Donal’s will when they mated. However, by harming Julio, he rattled the whole council by inadvertently almost mortally injuring a Mate.
Chernof’s agent followed the council to Oregon and knew exactly when Vitas arrived. Hughes went everywhere The Alpha did along with Pierre. Chernof was cognizant of when to attempt the kidnapping that the girl bungled. From Davidoff on, Chernof was informed. Maxim and Anatoly knew this was valuable information. They needed to get to Davidoff to make him aware of the situation, but to do that they needed to slip away from Chernof and that was proving to be difficult.
“There they are, you two fools—there on the steps of the courthouse.” Four Betas hustled the newly married couple into the limousine. In front of and behind each limousine sat a trio of Enforcers in Navigators in addition to the Betas that accompanied them in the limo. “Kristina is in the house. Find a way to contact her to see when the Alpha Mate will be alone. We’ll grab him then.”
“Yes, Alpha,” Anatoly and Maxim agreed.
“Take me back to the hotel,” Chernof demanded.
“Don’t you think that you should have booked a room that was less high profile than the Waldorf?” Anatoly asked the Alpha.
“I don’t care if The Alpha knows we’re in town. It’s the boy’s word against ours. He’s going to call an Assembly. You two and Kristina will testify for me, and Alpha Davidoff and Vitas will testify against me. Vitas is the product of an invalid mating, and Davidoff is a disgruntled Second. My testimony backed up by yours will carry the day. Plus, I’ll have him in my custody and claim the bite as mine.” Anatoly’s gaze slid to Maxim’s. Chernof was losing it. He’d never be able to snatch Vitas. He couldn’t get past four Betas and an Alpha.
“What if The Alpha or Alpha Giraud take this to the pit?” Anatoly asked.
“He wouldn’t dare. I’d ask to fight Henri as is my right because he took my Mate. I’m a First, I can certainly take an Eighth.”
Henri’s limousine drove out into the now heavy downtown traffic. Anatoly took the car out of park and pulled directly behind the motorcade, hoping Vitas would see them in the rearview mirror.
The Russian Alpha continued to plot. “I’ll challenge Giraud at the reception next week in front of witnesses.”
Chernof is very sure of himself. He’s going to cheat.There was a hole in the heavy traffic, and Anatoly took advantage, moving behind the limousine and ahead of the Navigator, knowing he couldn’t maintain that position. The Navigator would either run him off the road or cause a traffic accident to be rid of him. He tailgated the limousine, with the anticipation that someone would turn around.
“Challenge who, Alpha Giraud or Alpha La Marche?” Maxim distracted Chernof, sensing what Anatoly wanted to set in motion.
“Alpha Giraud, of course. He’ll be weaker because we have his Mate and will fight emotionally which puts him at a disadvantage.” The Russian Alpha preened like a rooster for all the good it would do him.
“What if Alpha La March decides to step in and take the challenge instead?” Anatoly really wished to see his reaction to that question. He hoped Chernof would be vain or stupid enough to explain how he intended to cheat.
“Then I can claim Alpha Mate Vitas because Giraud is a coward and can’t handle that big of a gift.” The Russian Alpha shrugged suggesting he wasn’t afraid of Giraud. Anatoly knew Giraud was formidable. His information told him the Alpha Giraud was their Director of Security, their Chief Enforcer. For such a job, you had to be tough. Chernof was a fool.
“There are going to be outsiders there at the reception.” Anatoly warned. He still wished he could steer Chernof away from this course of action. Both he and Maxim had unwillingly participated in some of Chernof’s horrors and he knew they would be held accountable. Anatoly shivered.
“That there will be people who are non-loup garou at his home shows another weakness, as is allowing non-loup garou to work for Garou Industries. We shall take it over once we dispose of The Alpha and his council. After that, we will fire everyone who is not pack.”
