Brother Wolf

Ch 17 Arrangements

Those directly concerned with Maximus's case gathered in the living room.

"I heard back from the regional lawyer I hired," Ed informed us. "We worked things out with the judge that will be handling this case. Because the boys were minors during most of the time involved, and Maximus still is, the judge agreed to seal the records."

Mac gave a satisfied grunt. I breathed a slight sigh of relief myself. The FBI man looked between us, while Lone Wolf stood casually behind Maximus. Maximus, on the other hand, stiffened up. I knew the teen felt responsible for his pack and feared to lose them.

"Each of the boys will have to do a recorded interview," Ed continued. "We convinced the judge it would be easier on the kids if Brother does them. The DA is getting a list of questions ready for me. We won't bring the parents in until the court date unless we need parental consent for anything before that. For now, we convinced the judge to award Brother temporary supervision over all of them, except Michael, while they transition back from thinking of themselves as werewolves."

"Why not Michael," Maximus asked. "He's part of..." Maximus fell silent.

"Michael was technically an adult when you kidnapped him," Ed explained. "He has the right to speak for himself, but he's agreed to stay with the group for now. He'll be doing an interview with Brother too."

I understood Maximus's sudden reticence to claim Michael. Maximus had accepted Michael into his pack while Michael was still human. Jax had been the one to bite Michael, making him Michael's direct alpha. Plus, now that Michael was free, combined with my laws, Michal could choose to disassociate himself from all of them, despite his ties to Maximus's pack.

"I've also got an accountant researching your finances, so you don't lose your building to back-taxes," Ed went on. "If we can find something along the line of a will and proof of lineage, that would help."

"I am the royal heir. Everyone knows that" Maximus said, offended that anyone would question his status or ownership of his territory.

"No one denies your claim," Ed reassured him with a smile. "It's the legal aspects of it, getting it established in the courts. Paper documentation is important."

"Do you know if there are other records like the journals Jax found," I asked Maximus.

Maximus glanced briefly at Lone Wolf before turning back to me. "Alpha kept me away from my home because of the dead. He had Lone Wolf block the alpha apartments. I don't know what's there."

"How many dead are we talking about?" the FBI man asked, sliding off his sunglasses to gaze questioningly at Mac, then Lone Wolf.

When Lone Wolf didn't answer, I volunteered, "From what I understand, there was a war."

"They destroyed most of the bodies before I arrived," Lone Wolf finally supplied.

"Destroyed how," the dark-suited man demanded.

It's the wrong question, I thought, as I focused on the word most.

"Cremated 'em," Jax said from the kitchen. He slid around the corner from where he'd been hiding behind the wall. He had an old, leather-bound journal in his hand.

"Kid," Mac threatened, holding out his hand for the book.

"Try," Jax said softly, "and I'm out the door with it. You'll never find it."

It wasn't until Mac lowered his hand that Jax turned to Stan. "You're FBI, right?" He waited for the man's nod before continuing. "Alpha Alexander convinced them to grow marijuana, and maybe other plants to make drugs too. He told me about it. They made a deal with a gang, getting a cut of the gang's sales in exchange for the gang having a sanctuary in the pack's territory. Things went south."