Alek

The wooden door groaned open as I pushed against it. Fourteen concrete stairs later, I had descended into the basement of Treasure Adventures, where Peter, a long-time clerk and an intern at Aurum Venari had told me Norvin was busy inventorying crates of treasure stashes. "Running inventory" was usually code for attending to AV business, but in this case, I found him with pen in hand, counting sacks of fake doubloons. He kept going for a while as I stood silently watching.

"I'm surprised Peter let me in," I finally said. "Did I just walk into a trap?"

Norvin paused a moment, wrote down something on his clipboard, and then turned to me.

"The door is always open for my prodigal son. There's no trap; just business as usual. Don't expect a feast though."

"I'm not returning to the fold," I said. "Nothing is usual about this. And I'm not your son, prodigal or otherwise."

"No." Puffy bags under his eyes gave him the look of an aged rock star whose partying days had finally caught up to him. I hoped, in all my pettiness, that I was a small reason for the exhaustion he bore. "I suppose you never were my child, Alek. Doesn't make the betrayal sting less."

My inclination to tell him off was tempered by the knowledge that he wanted me to respond with hostility so he could justify a harsh retaliation. I'd pleaded with Verity and Flora to stay in the car for this very reason. They didn't need to witness a potentially volatile interaction... or provoke it.

"Can we talk?" I asked him.

He tapped his pen against a box of costume jewelry we used in the Heiress's Missing Fortune hunt, wrote something else down on his clipboard, then walked past me and plunked himself onto the leather couch in the room's meeting area. As I sat down opposite of him, I noticed beads of sweat forming along the neckline of his collar. Either his pants were belted too tight, or he was nervous.

"Did you lose your phone?" He asked.

"Why would you think that?"

"I've been calling and texting you for two days. No response. I figured the only possible explanation you wouldn't communicate with me in a timely manner was that your phone went missing."

As if on cue, my phone beeped from my back pocket. "I guess I found it."

He nodded. "Maybe we should cut the crap now, Alek."

"That'd be nice."

He folded his hands in front of him and made an inverted V with his index fingers. "Why are you protecting a werewolf?"

"Glad to see we're getting right to it, but here's the thing: Verity's not a werewolf." Not a normal one, at least.

"Bullshit. She's been seen. Four legs, fur, golden eyes."

"Who supposedly saw her?"

"Besides you?" He laughed. "You know who."

"Your henchmen are making this claim, I suppose."

"That's a derogatory word that has no place in Aurum Venari. They were just doing their jobs, protecting out interests." He leaned in. "Whose interests have you been protecting? What were you doing?"

"My job. Protecting Verity."

"You know damn well your job isn't to protect her. Christ's sake, Alek, she's the daughter of your parents' murderer. I'd ask what you were thinking, but..." He gestured crudely to my crotch, "I think I know the answer to that."

"It's not like that."

"Then tell me what it is like." He unlaced his fingers and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "What's it like to betray the man who raised you. Or the organization your parents helped build and in which you spent your whole life a part of. How's that feel?"

I failed to suppress a smirk. There was certainly betrayal going on here, but it wasn't my own. "Pretty damn good, actually."

"Unbelievable."

"All I want is the truth."

We stared at each other, each of us refusing to look away despite the awkward tension rising between us.

"You know, Ruth and Mitchell were hellbent on writing you off."

"Ruth and Mitchell, huh." Norvin didn't talk about them much. Their positions and even their geographical locations were a well-guarded secret. "You went right to the top with this."

"I had no choice. Verity Jayne was supposed to be dead already."

I sat back, pressing the nail of my index finger into the flesh on my thumb to keep me from jumping up and throttling him. "Why?"

He looked at me like I'd sprung an extra head. "You shouldn't have agreed to this assignment if you couldn't follow through with it."

"I never wanted to take this assignment in the first place. You pressured me into it." I paused to steady myself. "You've been lying to me."

He raised an eyebrow. "Have I? Since when?"

"Since my parents were killed."

"Oh. Going way back, are we? What exactly do you think you've uncovered that has suddenly turned me into a liar?"

"Turns out, its not sudden at all," I said. "I was there. At the AV clinic at the same time Verity and her mom were there."

His eyebrows raised in surprised. "You remember that?"

"I've always remembered bits and pieces from the day it happened. Their deaths I mean."

His shoulders relaxed. "Well, then, of course you were there. Until your babysitter took you home."

"That's not what I'm talking about, Norvin. I was at the lab repeatedly, wasn't I? Not just to visit my parents either. Tell me why."

He let out a long sigh. "Your parents worked long hours. They wanted to see you, so your babysitter often brought you to the lab. Your mom set up a play area in her office. You had books and building blocks, and all kinds of model cars you used to race around. I stepped on one once, lost my balance, and almost hit my head on a desk. Your mom yelled at me for swearing in front of you."

"That's it?"

He lifted his hands, palms up, then set them down on either side of him. "What more is there?"

"You really aren't going to tell me, are you?"

"Tell you what?"

"The truth."

"Everything I just said is the truth. Your toy cars were a menace."

"If I ask you to tell me all the reasons I was at the lab, what was happening to me during the hours I spent there, and you told me I played with model cars and read picture books, that's not exactly the whole story is it."

"Alek, you were always safe." He leaned forward again. "I made sure of it."

"What does that mean? Safe from what?"

His next words were cut off when the door banged open, and two sets of feet plodded down the stairs. Red faced, Flora dashed over to Norvin, who stood as she confronted him.

Verity looked at me and sighed. "I tried to stop her. I really did."

"You think I was going to wait outside while this guy," Flora held up a shaky finger and pointed it at Norvin, "held my mom as hostage."

"Hostage?" Norvin scratched at his beard. "Now, I truly am clueless. Who's your mother?"

Flora turned her wrath on me. "You haven't talked to him about my mom?"

"I was working my way to that."

"What's wrong with you?" She turned back to Norvin. "What's wrong with everyone here? I don't even care about whatever vampire resurrecting zombie apocalypse séance fuckery you're into. Whatever floats your boat. But give me back my mom. She has nothing to do with this."

Norvin took a pair of glasses out of his front pocket, put them on and studied Flora's face. All for show, of course, as he only needed them for driving. "Wait, now... of course I recognize you. You're Flora Marquez. Your mother, Val, used to work for me."

"For fucks sake. I know that! Why did you kidnap her?"

"I haven't kidnapped her. You're mistaken. She was a valuable, albeit short term employee. Quite dedicated. Brought in lemon squares for my birthday."

"I'm not asking you for a reference check. I want to know what she has to do with these two." She pointed at me and Verity. "And why that would make you take her."

Norvin sighed again. "How many times do I have to say that I haven't taken her. We're getting nowhere with this." He turned to me. "Can you call her off?"

"Call me off? Am I a dog?"

"Flora's not wrong." Verity spoke for the first time. "You do have something to do with Val's disappearance." She narrowed her eyes. "I can smell your lies."

To my surprise, Norvin's countenance changed with her words. He took a step back.

"Alek, I'm going to ask you to escort these young women out of here. Now."

"What if we don't want to leave? What happens then?" Verity came to stand by Flora's side.

Norvin held his ground. "You don't want to know."

Verity didn't like this response.

I'm going to unleash my wolf.

Her words struck me. She'd let down the barrier and forced a connection.

Sorry, I know you don't want me doing this telepathy thing, but I need to say things to you, privately. Stand back.

"Don't," I said out loud.

"Don't what?" Asked Norvin.

I tested out my own connection to Verity. He knows you're a werewolf, but not that you're... special. We need to keep it that way for now.

A pause. The tension had us all on a tightwire. If Verity fell off first, she was going to land on four padded paws.

Okay, fine. I can do this another way.

"Tell us where Flora's mom is," Verity said, "or I'll use my platform to expose Aurum Venari and what it did, running highly unorthodox and dangerous medical experiments on children."

"Experimenting on children?" Norvin clucked his tongue. "Do you have any proof of that? I'm betting not."

Able to contain her wolf but not her wrath, Verity lunged at him. Stepping between them, I caught her wrists. Don't give him justification for what he's longing to do to you, Verity.

Verity shook in my arms, then stilled.

"Just look at that. You've been able to pacify her." Norvin chuckled. "Alek, my boy, you must be magic in the bedroom for her to forgive you for everything you were planning."

"Shut the fuck up, Norvin," I hissed.

Verity pulled away from me. "Planning? What does he mean?"

Flora tugged her away from me. The two women stood arm and arm.

"Oh, so you didn't tell her." Norvin laughed again. "Interesting."

"I'm warning you, Norvin." He's just trying to get a rise out of you, Verity. Don't let him.

"Then tell me what you were planning? She said out loud for all to hear. "Why did he say it like it was so ominous?"

I put a barrier up before my brain could spill the truth. It was better to filter it, get it to her in small chunks.

"All I knew when we first met," I said, "was that you might be dangerous."

"Stop sugarcoating it." Norvin gave Verity a pitying smile. "He was planning on killing you, dear. As soon as he had proof of what you are. And when he comes to his senses, I expect he'll follow through with that."

____

Author's Note: Given how this chapter ended, it's no wonder Alek hadn't wanted Flora and Verity with him when he confronted Norvin. How do you think Verity is going to react to Norvin's claim that Alek was meant to kill her (and still might!)?

Next week is a big holiday here in the US and I have lots of cooking and baking to do on top of my day job, but I will do my best to get the next chapter written and out to you on time!