Meat

Chapter Twelve

The drawer needed jiggling before it slid open, papers crunching and pulling in the runners. It was so full that, when it was fully open, Carson had a hard time keeping it all inside as he rustled through the papers, scanning each sheet. It had to be in here somewhere.

The study had once belonged to his father, their last alpha and owner of the house. When he'd died it had been passed to his two children, though Carson had not lived here in a long time. He was happy to leave the farm to Jemima and he helped out when he could. Truth be told, he was sure that, had he decided to live here full time, he and his sister would have killed each other long ago. And that wasn't even mentioning Kaleb.

As far as he could see the papers in the drawer were in no particular order. Most of them were order forms and invoices for produce from the farm. Shoving the drawer back into the desk, Carson hit it to close it all the way. A piece of paper tore and Carson grabbed the loose section, shoving it into his back pocket and growling under his breath.

The rest of the drawers were much the same. Invoices and packing orders were shoved into every nook and cranny, receipts jumbled in with little care. Yet, after searching the entire desk, he'd not found what he was looking for, the information he knew his brother in law wouldn't have thrown away.

"What're you doing?"

Carson spun on his heel. His nephew, Vince, was standing in the study doorway, his shoulder against the wood and his arms crossed over his chest. His watery blue eyes were narrowed to slits and his lips pressed so hard that they disappeared from his tanned flesh.

"Just looking for something."

Turning away from him, Carson went to the bookshelf and pulled out a large file. He held it against his stomach as he opened it up, but from the amount of dust on the top, it had not been used in a long time. Carson brushed his hand under his dust filled nostrils and snorted.

"This is about the vampire, isn't it?"

The next file was just as dusty and even more useless: Names and addresses of pack members so old that Carson didn't recognise them. He glanced over at his nephew.

"What, you gonna go running off to daddy?" he asked, shoving the file back on the shelf.

Vince pushed himself off the doorway and strode into the study. Taking out the file Carson had just put away, he moved the other and slotted it into the correct place.

"That really who you think I am?"

"Well, you're not a wolf," Carson said.

Vince yanked his hand away from the file as if it had burned him. He stared wide-eyed at Carson as he backed away. Carson groaned. Turning back to the door, Vince was half into the corridor when Carson managed to grab his arm.

"Vin, I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean... Shit, it was a low blow. I didn't mean it."

Vince's jaw tightened and he ground his teeth as he looked back into the office. Tugging his arm from Carson's grasp, he moved past him and shoved his hands into his pockets, rocking on his heels.

"What you looking for?"

Pack children were always difficult in some way or another. Personally, Carson liked them best when they didn't know what was going on, when their lives were just like every other kids'. They played and threw tantrums, but he didn't mind that as much as the whining when they didn't turn quickly. The longer they knew what their family was, the harder it was that they weren't included. Some turned quickly, making their first transformation as they hit puberty. The last time that had happened, the kid had been pretty obnoxious about it, especially since his brother didn't make his transformation until seventeen.

Vince was different. The kid wasn't really a kid anymore. He was an adult, fully grown, and still hadn't turned, if he ever would. Carson had heard about it happening sometimes, kids who split off from their family when they turned out to be human. Vince, on the other hand, was family. He'd seen how hard it was on him as each full moon came and went with no transformation. It was time they started facing the facts, but no one wanted to believe their alpha's own son was human.

But Vince still was his nephew. His only sister's son. If he couldn't trust him, then who?

"Information," he said finally. "Fucking fed up of sitting on our haunches waiting for the vampires to strike."

"What if they don't strike at all?"

"They will. Whether it's today or a year from now, they'll realise their advantage."

"Advantage?"

Carson sat on the edge of the desk and rubbed his hands over his face.

"The vampires can build their ranks faster than we can. Much faster. Even if we bit a load of guys, it would be another month before they transformed, and six before they were ready to fight. The vamps... well, you heard what happened right? One of their newest, barely a week old, massacred a whole coffee shop."

"Yeah, I heard," Vince said. "Gotta say, it'd be nice to have that sort of power."

Frowning at his nephew, Carson wondered how often Vince had thought about something like that, about asking to be turned instead of waiting to see if it happened. He wondered if his nephew had ever thought about leaving and seeking out an easier life somewhere. He didn't dare ask the question.

"Sure it would, but if they can do that after a week, why should they be afraid of us?"

"Are they afraid of us?"

"No, and that's the problem, ain't it," Carson said.

Vince perched on the arm rest of a comfortable chair and frowned at his feet. Drumming his fingers against his knees, he knocked his heel against the chair leg.

"So what do we do?"

Carson smirked.

"We strike first," he said. "We put those bastards on the defensive so they can't target us."

"How do we do that?"

Getting up off the desk, Carson went to Vince and laid a hand on his shoulder. His nephew was built like a brick house. If he ever turned, he'd be a contender for Alpha within a few years. Yet, Carson found he didn't mind that so much. It was better it was in the family. Vince would have been the third in the line. First his grandfather on his mother's side, then his father, then him. A perfect little dynasty.

"I might have a way to change the balance of power to our favour," he said. "If I can find what I'm looking for, the drainers will be running scared before they know what happened."

"And what are you looking for?"

"An address. I know your dad has it somewhere."

"Address for who?"

Carson went back to the desk and picked up the rolodex. He was sure that it only held names of suppliers and customers, but perhaps Kaleb had been sneaky in hiding in plain sight.

"It's in the city, and it has all the power we need to turn this around."

Frowning, Vince leaned forwards onto his knees.

"How can they help?"

He put the rolodex back in place and returned to his nephew. He grabbed both his shoulders and crouched down to look at him.

"You help me, Vin, and I'll make sure you get all the power you want. These guys are protective and vengeful. If a vampire makes a wrong move against them, they'll declare war. We side with them against the vampires, and they'll do whatever we want."

Vince didn't look convinced but a flush of blood came to his cheeks. How long had he been thinking about ways to get power?

"How is that even possible?"

Carson grinned.

"What has your father told you about the others?"