Page 29 of A Little Red
“I think he means a political super PAC,” said Liam. “Political Action Committee,” he added when his brother’s face remained blank. “You want to put the will of the wolves into political play?”
“Yes,” said Albert grinning, his incisors long and sharp. “Oh, yes, I do. The fucktards have been mucking it up for too long. Someone should be speaking for the beasts of the field and woods. And I think we’re the beasts to do it. We should start putting some of our leverage and funds into action on a national scale. That’s why I want to talk to you. You understand the human systems. You’ve used them to put down warlocks. This last ten years it’s been amazing. I think you’re personally responsible for breaking up more circles than any wolf in history. And you’ve barely had to cover up any bodies. I’ve started implementing a lot of your strategies in Oregon. I’ve got a couple of pups in law school right now. It’s damn hard for them, but they’re going to do it. I think we need to move in that direction.”
“If you’re looking for allies,” said Liam slowly, “you won’t find one in my mother. Her approval of my lifestyle is tenuous at best.”
“I understand,” said Albert nodding. “It’s like that all over. Your mother’s generation doesn’t want to change. I feel like my generation had to pick up and move and migrate and fight and we’re more used to things going off the rails, but hers had everything handed to them. They expect that everything should keep going that way if they keep doing what they’ve been doing. Life has never worked that way, but try telling children that. And unfortunately, there’s not enough of my generation left. But regardless, you let me worry about your mother. This is me feeling out the lay of the land and getting the ball rolling. You just keep doing what you’re doing.”
It wasn’t until they’d tucked Albert into his hotel that Paxton and Liam had a chance to speak privately.
“The old man is nuts,” said Paxton.
“Sounded perfectly sane to me,” said Liam.
Paxton let out a rattling snort. “Of course you think he sounds sane. He sounds like you when you’re drunk. Only he’s actually serious. A Supernatural super PAC? What would we do with that?”
“We would fund candidates that would do what we want them to do,” said Liam.
“That’s… fucking vampire shit,” said Paxton.
“And notice how the vampires always seem to be doing fine?” objected Liam. “Mom controls our little neck of the woods, but wouldn’t it be better if wolves could travel on greenbelts across this entire country? Wouldn’t it be better if we didn’t have to worry about oil pipelines across our territories?”
Paxton’s head cocked. “Well, yeah, but what can we do about those kinds of things?”
“We can fund candidates who make pipelines illegal! We can fund infrastructure projects that include wildlife conservancy. We could fund scientific research into green energy. We could partner with local tribes to make sure burial grounds are safe. We could do…” Liam saw Paxton’s furrowed brow and gave up with a sigh. “We couldbeso much more,” he muttered.
“I have a hard time thinking like that,” said Paxton. “I want things for our pack, but it’s hard for me to apply those same wants to packs beyond ours.”
“You’re not the only one,” said Liam, with another sigh.
“You’ve always been better at the big picture stuff,” said Paxton, frowning. “Is what Albert talking about really possible? Could we make life for wolves better across the entire country?”
“Yeah,” said Liam. “Yeah, I really think we could. It might even be better for humans too.”
Paxton didn’t say anything, and Liam tried not to feel defeated as he made his way back to his apartment. He had a pack, but sometimes he felt very much like a lone wolf.
Episode 15
Debt Collection
Scarlet
Scarlet filed the last of the paperwork and turned to Liam’s desk. He honestly did not give a shit if she ever tidied his office. He hadn’t even when they weren’t sleeping together, but she knew the other secretaries gave his desk the once over and then gave her the eye. As if she was personally responsible for his periodic stacks of files. Today he’d dropped off an armful and then dashed out for a meeting that he was already twenty minutes late for.
She sorted through the stack and frowned. The files weren’t from Fosters. The files appeared to be background checks and debt records on eight men she’d never heard of. She ran a quick search on the company name at the top of the forms and realized that it was a debt collection company. At the bottom of the stack was a printed receipt. Liam had bought the debt of the eight men in the files. He was now owed a rather enormous amount of money. She took another look at the files. The credit card debt on the greasy looking Sam Hubbard was so large that it made Scarlet’s heart beat faster just looking at it and it wasn’t even her debt. Liam could bankrupt every single person on his desk if he wanted. She couldn’t imagine why he would want the debt of a bunch of people with icky Nazi-looking tattoos and ties to the Temple of the Unified Vision. Whatever that was. It sounded like a Masonic temple for optometrists, but, if the photos were anything to judge by, these were definitely not optometrists. They look like a bunch of redneck low-lifes Scarlet would have avoided on the street.
As she and Liam had become closer, she had become aware of certain black holes in his life. He didn’t like to talk about his family and he didn’t talk about the things he sometimes had to do for them. She had thought that it was some sort of strained relationship with his mother and since it wasn’t like she could talk about her parents with any openness, she’d let it go. But she had assumed that his work was an open book.
She looked at the files again and felt a tremor of unease. Ever since the misunderstanding about the SWOT reports, Liam had been everything she could have wanted. A drawer had been emptied at his place, there was a space for her toothbrush in the bathroom, they went running in the mornings and he talked about things they were going to do in the New Year. She felt like, if their jobs hadn’t been in the way, he would have been totally open about dating her. But she didn’t know what to make of these strange files. Feeling guilty, she hastily put them back as she had found them. Maybe she could ask Liam about them later.
After lunch the files disappeared and a week later Scarlet still hadn’t come up with a way to ask about them. As they approached Liam’s pre-Christmas, long-weekend hunting trip with his family, Scarlet decided to let it go. Liam was perfect. The files were weird, but he probably had his reasons. Reasons that were none of her business. Just like Azure’s emails with spell-casting andother-friendly recipe tips were none of his business. She kept meaning to get Azure to take her off that email list, but sometimes the recipes were really good. Liam had his stuff and she had hers. It made her sad that their things weren’t ever going to meet, but she had to keep a level head. Liam was extremely supportive of her—as supportive as a human could be. She was going to have to be OK with that.
Besides the hunting trip was of far more concern. It would be four whole days without Liam and she was already sad about it. He’d gravely said that he wouldn’t even text her because there wasn’t any cell service on his family’s property, but he’d had the worried look that said he thought she would be mad. She wasn’t mad. There wasn’t anything he could do about cell service, she was just going to miss him even more because of it.
“Hey Scarlet,” called Emma, as Scarlet came out of the copy room. “Is Mr. Grayson still in? His calendar says he’s out tomorrow, but I really need the expense reports signed.”
Scarlet checked her watch. “He was sticking around for some meeting with Grant and then he said his cousins and brother were picking him up. I don’t think they’re here yet, so he can’t have left. Do you want me to shove those under his nose before he leaves?”
“Yes please!” exclaimed Emma. “That would be a big help.”
