Omega

Chapter 9

The elders did not decide on anything, which was not surprising. In the end, I said that they should think about it overnight and we'd reconvene tomorrow. It was not unusual for a pack to take a couple of days to respond to threats from other leaders.

Something that Konrad said was bugging me, so I decided to do a little research. Dad kept a computer at the packhouse but rarely used it. He had an office near his bedroom that he used to keep all the records and whatever else it was that he did for the clan. If he included me in any of that, I'd know but he didn't and that's why I was sitting in the car, completely drained and lost.

It was standard for a wolf family to remain in the home together until the children mated. Our house wasn't overly large, but it was big enough that we had our own little areas. Stephen commandeered the area downstairs that was almost like an oversized granny flat while I lived upstairs with dad. Well, used to.

I hadn't gone through anything. There hadn't been any time to properly mourn, go through their things. For all I knew, Stephen could have left food on the counter. There was probably rotten food in his fridge. I was not looking forward to cleaning it out.

Turning off the engine, I leaned my head back and sighed.

"You will figure it out. Something will happen to alter everything, and it will work out in a way that doesn't end in countless lives lost."

But sitting in the car wouldn't help. Grabbing my bag, I hit the door remote and locked the car.

Climbing the internal stairs, I flicked on the lights and looked at the alarm. I could have sworn that I set it this morning.

"Good evening."

I screamed, turned, and threw my bag. Konrad ducked, narrowly being clobbered by a large projectile that was open. A few items from inside my bag got him though.

"Okay, so I should have warned you, but I didn't want you to tell anyone."

"What if I wasn't alone? What if I had pack members with me?"

Konrad shrugged and began picking up the things that had dropped all over the floor.

"I'm not going to lie to you, Megan. I have you under permanent surveillance so I knew that you were alone."

"Why?" I asked with a groan.

"Because, like you said earlier, you should have been in that car."

I stared at Konrad.

"Are you saying that someone wants me dead?"

"If our surveillance is correct, yes."

Placing my bag on the lounge, Konrad walked into the dining room. It was a room that was dated and in desperate need of a revamp. Dad was never interested in doing anything to the house because my mother was the one that furnished it, and I think that he believed it would be a crime to remove her memory like that.

Flicking on the light, Konrad pulled a chair out and waited. On the table was a folder. I could already see that it was full.

Konrad sat on the chair next to me and placed his hands on the folder.

"I approached you the wrong way. I can see that now. When I went to the Midnight Festival, it was just a night to let loose with the boys. There was a future for me that was beginning and I wasn't sure if I was ready for it. My goal was to wander through the festival, sow my seeds with a pretty lady and reassure myself that everything was going to be okay. I promise you that I had no idea who you were."

Konrad opened the folder, tucking it behind. Then he handed me the first item, an email. It was from my father to Konrad. I read through it, completely shocked. My father sent Konrad an email telling him that he intended to take over Black Ridge land because there were certain land interests that he wanted to purchase.

"When I got that email, I was stunned. I'd been raised to believe that when an alpha decides to extend his territory, he does it with bloodshed. Getting that email from Anders was somewhat refreshing but also daunting. Like you, I didn't want to hand over what was my birthright. If you turn the pages, you'll see the corresponding emails."

The next one was Konrad's response, politely saying that he appreciated the kind offer but wanted to retain the land that belonged to his family. Then my father returned with an email that was even more shocking. A compromise.

My father offered to be the owner of the territory, and in return, Konrad could keep his pack and they could stay in the territory without issue. As surety that the West River would not attack, he offered his daughter as a mate.

"That bastard," I hissed.

"Keep going."

Turning the page, I found that Konrad had accepted the deal.

"Why did you accept without meeting me?"

"Because I had Anders Nolan breathing down my neck. I knew what would happen if I told him to go away. You know, exactly what you face with me breathing down your neck."

It was the end of the emails, so I put it aside and waited for the next piece of life-altering nonsense. I could not believe that my father had basically sold me to another leader. It wasn't surprising though. He saw me as worthless so I guess that keeping a displaced leader subdued would have given me some form of value to the pack.

"We heard about the accident through the grapevine. My beta insisted that we investigated because it seemed,"

"Strange that a car would have an accident on a straight piece of road, no structures or objects in the way, no evidence of any form of external interference, no witnesses, and the street cameras were conveniently damaged earlier in the day?"

"Yeah, that would be it. Look, we had the means to do the snooping. We've got a retired detective in our elders, so he looked into it. The case is going nowhere because there is no evidence. Someone planned it with extreme precision to the point where they also cleaned the scene after as well. There was one thing though. Have you seen the post-mortem report for Stephen?"

I frowned, wondering where it was.

"It arrived. I put it on the counter at the packhouse before the wake and then I forgot about it."

Did someone pick it up and put it aside for safekeeping, or did someone just take it? I had no idea.

"My guy said the cops were pretty forthcoming with the information and were annoyed that they couldn't figure out how the accident happened. As for Stephen, that was obvious."

Konrad handed over the post-mortem report for Stephen. It said that he asphyxiated.

Tears formed in my eyes as I looked up at Konrad.

"He survived?"

Konrad nodded sadly.

Yes, Stephen survived the crash only to have the killer suffocate him. The report said that there was bruising around the neck and the pattern was of two hands.

I wiped away the tears, unable to read anymore.

"When he came back with that, we knew that something bad was going on here. We didn't want to get involved, but my beta pointed out that it was only a matter of time before they found the emails. What they could do was any number of things but we figured they'd either go ahead with the offer or start a war. He suggested a show of dominance and yes, the funeral was a bad time to do it but nothing says arrogant jerk than crashing a double funeral, right?"

"Oh yeah."

"Do you know the real reason?"

I shook my head and then looked at the picture he handed to me. It was the two of us, that moment when he took my hand and kissed the knuckles.

"It was to make sure we had the right person."