Alpha's Faire

XXV

It didn't take Jacob long to find a photo. In fact, by the time that the supply team was finished with setting up the supply closets and even organized them, Jacob had texted him. Raphael knew it was Jacob before pulling out his phone. He resisted the urge to check. If confirmed now, Raphael would just storm off to Dr. Lewis, potentially make a scene. No, he needed to wait until the team felt comfortable going to set up their rooms.

Thankfully, he didn't have to wait long. The team had finished in record time, but yet still, he found himself itching to be alone. Raphael looked around at his surroundings. The compound didn't appear to be that large at a first glance. In fact, one could argue it was the middle of fucking nowhere.

The four buildings were centralized on top of a hill in the middle of a field, surrounded by a black metal fence. Every single building could be argued as contemporary and modern, with glass facades and color blocks along the sides. Each building was color-coded, probably to help the younger children know where they were at all times of the compound. This was enhanced with the use of color-coded paths on the sidewalk as well. The schoolhouse and main office was the largest building on campus. It was essentially white, but it had a large side of red tiles that shifted from red to orange in the light. It was called the Rhodes Academy.

Meanwhile, the dormitories were both cool shades, blue and purple. The blue dormitory was known as the Moon House while the purple one was known as the Knight Dorm. The Moon House was home to younger children under 12 and the Knight Dorm was host to 12 and up. Each was white with the appropriate accent tiles.

That left the Jonathan Lewis Medical Center. It was decorated in golden yellow and orange. It shined in the light much more than the other buildings, and Raphael could guess that it even glowed in the darkness of night to allow children to find it in emergencies. It was 4 stories tall with several patient rooms and wards. It was also meant to be a training center for the older occupants of the orphanage. It held teaching laboratories and training facilities for nursing and first aid skills. The educational materials were placed immediately in storage upon arrival.

Each building was within a radius of 2 miles, with the farthest distance being the schoolhouse from the dormitories. The Medical Center was in between the dorms and the school as a good go in-between.

Raphael glanced around him. He was outside the Academy's playground on campus. Each building had its own attached playground and area for the children to either hang out or play. The Moon House, additionally, hosted an indoor play park as well for rainy days. Raphael had to admit that this was well planned out and designed to give every child a happy childhood. It was probably the most sophisticated and top-rated orphanage in the world.

He found a spot in between the Academy's greenhouse and the playground, out of sight from the organized chaos of everyone running around and setting things up. It was abandoned for the most part, with everyone either at the medical center or the dormitories. To the few that walked back and forth from the other buildings, Raphael was just checking his phone, not uncovering Dr. Lewis's biggest secret.

'You've got to be fucking kidding me; Jacob sent to him. His gray eyes narrowed and he almost broke the phone as the image loaded to reveal a very familiar face. Her lilac hair pulled into a side braid, her ears now pointed, and her skin was much paler, but it was indeed the same woman. Her deep sapphire eyes bore into the camera with a very familiar expression—annoyed. Her full pink lips twisted tightly as her eyebrows furrowed down at the camera. It was almost as if she were about to flip off the cameraman.

The image came from the Hollow Oak pack. Jexanna Aurlea Domitia Lewis requested permission to cross into their small borders to catch a bounty. After filing a paperwork request to Hollow Oak, she did not bother to wait for them to process it. Within an hour of the submitted request, she was found trespassing on the property dragging a knocked-out troll behind her. At that moment, Jexanna could have chosen to portal out of the territory, but instead, she transported her bounty out. When asked why, she replied with a snort, "Like I would let you collect my bounty."

Raphael smirked. It sounded like her. His eyes glanced over her name, Domitia. Domitia was a very old fae family, once rulers of the Fae people. He nearly dropped the phone. She was technically fucking royalty. Normally, every time a fae royal was born, they were plastered all over the media. But not her. No wonder she was kept secret from the world. She was half-human. Even if she were royalty, no one would want to let the world into her little secret. And if her mother's name was Domitia, then that probably meant Jacob's little theory was correct. Raphael growled lowly, resisting the urge to destroy his phone.

She was the black market dealer. He was sure of it, and why did he know this? Aerin Domitia Trellis was her brother. And the man kept her little side hustle as the dealer, a secret. He lied to the FLA and his face. That bastard.

Raphael looked away from his phone and around his surroundings. Dr. Jess Lewis—no Dr. Jexanna Lewis had been indeed the bane of his existence for the past several years. And all this time, she was under his nose. He probably even passed her in and out of the FLA Headquarters several times. This whole time, she was just out of reach. And it annoyed the fuck out of him.

But it also begged the question, why was she a bounty hunter to begin with? By his calculations, she had probably made around millions in the human currency over the years on the black market. It wasn't like she needed the money to work as a bounty hunter. He ran his fingers through his hair and breathed in. The clean air drew up calming scents of lavender and wheat. The campus was peaceful, too peaceful for a black market drug dealer to call home.

Raphael's eyes shot open. This was where her money went. She poured it all into the orphanage. She created a haven for unwanted children with money from illegal dealings.

Fuck. Raphael's heart raced as he realized that everything she did, was selfless. By Werewolf law, he was entitled to everything she made because it was based on stolen Whitehaven property, which was partly why he wanted to find the dealer in the first place. His pack was entitled to the money. It was theirs by law. But she didn't even save it for herself. She gave it away to orphans.

How heartless would you be to take away this place from the most neglected and abandoned children of the world? It was a good power play. One could almost argue that the orphanage was probably just a front, a tax shelter for the money. But Raphael could see the amount of expense spent on it, she probably donated every cent back into the orphanage because she cared.

How the hell was he supposed to get mad? If anything, his respect for the woman grew, which frustrated the hell out of him at the same time. What was he going to do now? His phone vibrated in his hand once more. The time to pick up Yvette was in an hour. The dinner would almost be pointless now. He had all of Dr. Lewis's secrets, well most of them. So what was the point?

But it would allow him to see Dr. Lewis, which was what he wanted now. He wanted to see her. He wanted to play his next move strategically. He wanted to take their game to the next level. After all, he now held an edge over her. Raphael straightened his posture and breathed in before heading towards the dorms to get to his assigned room.

One thing was certain. Raphael Stone wasn't going to let her slip away.