Wolf’s Bane

Meanwhile, Virgil walked, focused and determined, thinking over and over again about ways to tell his father how things really were. Also, in the back of his mind, a thought, encouraged by his beloved mate, was opening a way and was threatening to come out.

If it only had the chance to…

V, the loving mate, was a very different man from Virgil the friend, the business partner, and even more so, different from Alpha Virgil Camden. He’s known by many as a coolly calculating, ruthless man and that’s why many thought his only balance was his mate.

This is a reputation he’d have to maintain especially, if not more so, with his father, who long ago had stopped being the loving patriarch of the two boys. His senior has now become a proud man only worried about position, money, lineage, and appearances, and was warmed by very, very few things.

Virgil opened the double doors of his office, and walked in tall and proud, almost as if marking his territory.

The man he found inside, tall as him, and muscular too, was looking out the large office window towards the faraway city lights, down the valley that rested at the feet of the mountain where the very large packhouse was located.

His back was towards the door, but his sharp, enhanced wolf senses knew perfectly where his son was, even before he opened that door.

“I’m sorry for interrupting your mating night,” he carelessly said. “You could have taken a shower. I can smell it on you.”

“What is the point of this request, father? I know you didn’t urge me away from my mate just to tell me that I smell like sex.”

The former Alpha turned towards his son, both men with very serious expressions. His hazel irises, more green than brown, looked immediately at the deep blue of Virgil’s. Both pairs of eyes were cold like ice, and both were a perpetual reminder of people that were no longer with them, but whom they were not intending to forget.

V’s hair and eyes came from his mother, and it was a firm reminder of all that Henkjan had lost because of the way he had changed in recent years.

A reason, and a reminder too, of why he was even colder, especially with his sons.

Eron looked more like his father and his side of the family, and with that, V was reminded of the reason why what he was doing at the moment was that important.

“Of course not, your sex life is your problem, although one would think you don’t have one, since you haven’t had any children.”

“If that is why you called me, I will remind you, father, that’s not your, or the pack’s business. And with that, I will go back to whatever I was doing before your interruption,” V firmly stated as he tried to control his temper, especially because he knew that was not even the tip of the iceberg.

Yet, as he turned and was about to leave his office; his clasped hands were now on the expensive double door knobs, when he heard his father’s low voice behind him…

“I know about your visit to Ed Kahlagu,” Henkjan said.

Virgil clenched his hands tighter around the doorknobs, still trying to keep himself unruffled.

“I did visit him, father. I see the news travels fast around here.”

“Why, may I ask, did you do such a stupid thing?”

“Because I am the Alpha and the CEO of the pack’s business conglomerate, and as both, I thought that was the best course of action towards his requests.”

“So, you think that making a deal with such a rat is the best for our business? I don’t think you remember, because you’re still young; but let me remind you-” Henkjan started, but was soon interrupted by his firstborn.

“That he tried to throw dirt on our company’s name? That we’ve been in business for more than a hundred years, and you’re not about to let me ruin what generations of Camdens have achieved just because I’m naive and young? I’m not that young, Father, and I was trained by you, may I remind you of that as well? Also, I have to tell you that I’ve been an Alpha for a few years already, and it was your decision to pass the title to me.”

“To whom would I pass it on to, if not to you? To your brother? To any of your cousins? They’re not fit to lead a pack.”

“Then you’re contradicting yourself by saying that I am? I would think that if a person like you makes such an important decision, it is because they think, and more than think, that they are completely sure, beyond any reasonable doubt, that they are absolutely right in their choice. I don’t ask for you to trust me, because there’s no such thing when it comes to you… But I ask you right now if you can even trust yourself?”

Silence reigned between the two men for the moment. Both of them still stood tall and immovable, not letting their guards down. Their hands were now turned into fists, and the tension between them could be cut with a knife.

“Listen, Virgil, I wasn’t planning to come and have an argument with you, but why in the world didn’t you discuss your decision with me?”

“You didn’t plan to argue? You interrupt my night with my mate, demanding, ordering, and threatening that I meet with you as quickly as I can and you tell me about the obvious smell that I have because you called me in those circumstances. And then you start asking me why I do one thing or the other as if I didn’t know how to do what I need to do. Father, YOU put me in this position. YOU passed the responsibility TO ME, not so that I keep updating you, not as a subordinate, but as the person in charge INSTEAD OF YOU. Why would I go to you and tell you of each decision that we have to make both in the business and the pack?”

Henkjan knew this situation was not going in his favor. He was blinded by the illusion of power and responsibility that he once had. As the new Alpha, he owed that respect to his son, yet he would never admit to the mistake he just made even though he knew that his son was right.

“I had to come and tell you, at the earliest, so you can still undo the business you made with him. You must remember what happened back then,” the father told his son firmly.

+++

“It is a pleasure to do business with you, and I am very grateful that you took time from your very tight agenda to come and see me, CEO Camden,” said a man with a deep but squeaking voice that almost sounded like a big rat…

“How is it possible that a person can have such an annoying voice?” Henkjan thought while shaking the man’s hand, carefully keeping a poker face while wondering in astonishment at the sound that was easily mistaken for screeches of a car’s brakes that urgently needed to be replaced.This content © Nôv/elDr(a)m/a.Org.

Edward looked back at him as if waiting for an answer, even if there was not a question. Just then, the man who was the Alpha at the time noticed that he didn’t pay any attention to whatever protocolary bullshit the man in front of him was telling him as a meeting closure.

“Thank you very much for the invite, Mr. Kahlagu. We hope that this project will bring many benefits to all of us involved,” the very seasoned, experienced man would say without even blinking and making it look like he was paying attention.

All the other attendees to the project presentation meeting had left the room already and were having final talks with allies, old friends, or future business interests among the attendees, and more than once looked back inside the meeting room, where Edward and Henkjan would still be talking,

Henkjan’s back was towards the door, which was purposely left open, and the other man, facing them, had a mischievous smile.

That insignificant moment, where the former Alpha and the former Mayor were talking by themselves, was going to be trouble for the former but he wouldn’t know this until shit would hit the fan.

The investors agreed and signed the contracts handed to them by the mayor. Extremely long contracts full of legal loopholes that their lawyers would fail to detect, or be paid to oversee.

SilverClaw would not only be investing but it was agreed that the construction company branch would take care of the building of a very modern metro city, much like the one that would be built years later and Henkjan’s son, Virgil, would agree to be part of it without telling his father.

The place was planned to be as ecologically friendly as possible, as it was supposed to come to modernize a small village in the middle of a mountain.

A village where the inhabitants had also been tricked to give money and/or property, promised to be their investment for the buildup of the “Dream City,” that was the name that the governor gave to the project.

“I’ll wait for the contract to start the construction, of course. My lawyer will meet with yours as soon as you let us know, as we agreed,” Henkjan said.

“And for sure you’ll hear from us, at the earliest, my dear friend,” was Edward’s answer, still smiling like the Grinch when he put together his plan to steal Christmas.

But the construction never started.

After months of comings and goings between SilverClaw’s and the Mayor’s lawyers, because the construction contracts were wrong, each time in a different part, there was never an agreement.

The investors called for an emergency status meeting, and this time, Henkjan offered SilverClaw’s local installations to hold it, but when they were all reunited, the mayor was nowhere to be found.

“Boss,” one day, not long after the status meeting, the CEO’s assistant gave his superior a very concerned look. “There are at least ten lawyers waiting for you downstairs. They say that SilverClaw took the money for the build of the ‘Dream City’ Project and never started the construction.”

“WHAT!!!?” was the furious answer from Henkjan.

At least he had proof that they never got one penny from that money.

“Call our lawyers immediately, and cancel my meetings, events and whatever is planned for the next week, at least. I’m not attending anything else until this is solved.”

“Yes, sir, immediately.”

Most of the investors were big names in their country. Almost luckily, SilverClaw was the only one that was international, allowing them to take the blow without killing their company. And of course, this was the very reason why the mayor had insisted so much for them to be part of his fraudulent project.

“That damned rat… he’ll pay for all this!”

It was more than a week in the end, and most of the investors chose to go to court, trying to get their money returned and refunded. However, since there were several loopholes in the contract, they couldn’t get anything back.

Nothing was proven against SilverClaw, but their image was deeply scarred, and Alpha Henkjan could never forgive himself for trusting Kahlagu so much.

And yet now, his son was doing business with the rat again…