Chapter 4

Marshall hadn’t realized that there was a pack meeting tonight. Waking up to about fifty messages about it, he was glad that he’d turned his phone to silent so that he could get some sleep. It had been tempting to go and make love to Meggie, but he’d been exhausted and when he checked on her, she was sleeping soundly.

Arriving in the kitchen, just as she was leaving, he pulled her into his arms and held her. Pie disappeared, and he lifted Meggie’s chin up so that they were looking at each other. Her smile nearly had him begging her for more. Smiling down at her, he asked her if she was serious about running the pack with him.

“I am. I’m as sure about that as my love for you. However, I think we should keep that part to ourselves until this crap with my family is over and done. There are a few things that came up yesterday that need my attention or I’d go with you to your meeting. According to your note, you said that you have to meet with Hamish on the land deal that he has with the pack. Is that where you’re headed?” He told her that he was, and as much as he’d like to make love to her, he had to get this settled up before the howling tonight. “Howling? Is that what you guys call a meeting?”

“Usually, it’s just a pack meeting that you and I would listen to some complaints then we’d eat and be on our way. But it’s a full moon.” She looked at him like he was stupid, and that caused him to laugh. “It’s not true about how we only shift in the full moon, but with it being there tonight, we would have a lot of newer pack members and small children to shift the first time so that the pack, all of them, are there to help with any questions. But tonight, too, we’ll introduce ourselves to the pack and then we’ll set up some times that we’ll be able to meet with people. And only at the pack house. I’ve learned this from other pack meetings. We don’t want them to show up at any time they want at our home.”

“No, that’s a good idea. I would hate to have people just showing up all the time without a good reason.” She kissed him quickly on the mouth. “We have to go our separate ways, I’m afraid. I have things to do, and I know you do as well. But sometime today, we have to bond. I was speaking to Lauder and the others and they said that we’re stronger as a mated couple. As much as I hate that being the reason, I’m sure you can understand my apprehension about going around a bunch of wolves as just little old me.”

“You’re not human anymore. You understand that, don’t you?” Meggie told him that it was Hamish that explained why she wasn’t. “Good. I would have, too, but it just seems like we’re just chasing our tails, the two of us. No pun intended. But I meant to talk to you later about it. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. We have been going in several different directions at one time about everything. It doesn’t help that we have my family to deal with. Oh, before I forget, DJ used your name as a reference for a job. With Grannie having such wonderful care, she needed to get out of the house more.”

“Luke called me after he hired her. He was pissed off—not really about me not telling him about her sooner. I had to explain to him that I’d only just met her as well.” My wolf needs just a bit more taste of you.” She pulled back from him, shock on her face. Then it occurred to him what he’d said. “No. No, I didn’t mean that. I just meant a kiss. I’m so sorry that…never mind. I’m going to leave now while I still have my head on my shoulders.”

She said his name, but he was too embarrassed to turn around and speak to her. Hurrying out to his truck, he was nearly to the meeting he was going to have with the bank auditor when Meggie reached out to him.

“You know what? That was childish of you.” He said that he didn’t mean anything like she had thought. “How the hell do you know? You didn’t let me explain what I was thinking. I did wonder if you meant for your wolf to have sex with me, but before I could discard that thought, you were running off like a kid caught with your hand in the cookie jar. Don’t do that again. Please?”

“I’m sorry.” He pulled off the road, not wanting to have an accident while he was speaking to Meggie. “I’m so befuddled when I’m around you. Not your fault, not at all. But you’re mine, and I want everyone in the world to know it. That’s not right either. I don’t want you to be disappointed in me about sex.”

“You disappoint me? How…you know what? I don’t care why you’d even think that. I love you, Marshall, and I will forever. Making love to you is going to be epic because of the love we have for each other. Understand?” He nodded and then told her that he did. More than he could imagine. “Good. Don’t leave me like that again. Just talk to me. All right?”

“Yes, of course.” Grinning, he was just about to pull into traffic, if you could call three cars a traffic jam, when he thought of something else. “I’ll be back at the house in a few hours. After that, we’ll head to the pack land, then come back to the house and use every hard surface there is to have sex on.”

“I love that idea. I’ll tell Pie that we don’t need her tonight, and I’ll have us a nice platter of finger food. All right.” He told her that he’d pick up the champagne. “Good thinking. Okay. I love you, Marshall.”

“And I love you, Meggie, mine.”

He was in a better frame of mind when he got to Hamish’s house. They were going to work out the deals that the pack was going to do for Perry Industries, the new name that Hamish had come up with concerning personal projects that he had going on with the town. Which would include the pack and the land that they’d been using for over a couple of decades.

“I know that we talked about having the pack work on the trees that are fallen in the fields that we want to put grazing animals on, but I think for as much work as I can see that needs to be done, I’m going to pay the men and women that work for me too.” Marshall didn’t say anything but thought of all the implications that having money would have on his pack. “What would you do? If you had all the land that we’ve been talking about?”

“It is a great deal of land, Hamish. But to just…Don’t donate it to the pack, even for the work that’s being done. I think they would expect you to do more for them. We need jobs, which is what we should be focusing on. I know that you’re expanding, but that’s only going to be about fifty people, correct?” Hamish said that would be the max that would be working for him. “There are two deals that I’ve been working on with the people that I invest for. Two of them are looking to expand to a much larger plant than they have now. One of them is the manufacture of paper bags. It doesn’t seem like a great deal of work would be done here, but he employs nearly three thousand people. Paper bags are a large industry. Not to mention, the expansion is going to include things like recycled paper towels and napkins as well as cleaning materials such as wipes for larger spills. I think this would be the perfect time to invest in the future. I’m not saying that you haven’t. You have more than anyone I know, but instead of handing over the property, let me talk to some business partners of mine and see if we can get one of them—hell, maybe even both of them to come here and hire some of the locals. Just building the plants will make for a great many jobs.”

“I like that idea. Very much so.” Hamish made himself a note on that. “What sort of businesses do you represent? I assumed that it was simply individual people who didn’t know how to invest.”

“It is for the most part. That’s where the biggest part of my money comes from. I get a percentage of what they make, and it works out well for us. A lot of my own investments are startups from long ago. I’m betting that you have the same kind of investments as well.” Hamish said that he did, but he was also getting paid really well for being the king of vamps. “Since I trust you with this, Meggie and I are going to take the pack. We don’t want anyone to know outside of the pack meeting that we’re having tonight. She doesn’t want it to get back to her family. And she’s going to retire at the end of next year. We’re going to work on having a baby between now and then as well.”

“Congratulations, old man. That’s wonderful news.” He smiled then, and Hamish asked him what was going on. “You have that look on your face like you did when we were younger. What’s up?”

“Nothing. It just occurred to me that we’re going to have to deal with the president soon. And when we do, Meggie might well not retire. It’s funny, I’m seriously deranged for saying this, but it is funny how things seem to work out.” He said that he didn’t understand. “Meggie wants to be in the White House someday. This is going to make it so that she’s on the lips of every person in the world. How she saved the United States from a crooked jackass that is going down in a ball of flame.”

“You think so?” He said that he did, and he knew how to do it now. “Good. Do you need any of us to be there?”

“Yes, all of you. But especially you because I believe that you and Lauder have the most varied magic.” Hamish nodded, then smiled, too. “Yes, I’m betting that he goes down in a huge fucking flame. I hope so anyway.”

“If you have a plan, then I’ll make sure it happens.” Marshall told him the basic part of the plan. “Christ, that’s brilliant. Hell yeah, I’m on board with that. I think that Lauder is as well. She has a feeling that once you go down, in his plans that he’s going to try and take down the rest of us as well. He has an issue with her working and us being as wealthy as we are. I don’t understand that logic at all.”

“Me either. Unless he wants someone with more…no, there is no one as good as she is at her job. It’s also one of those specialized jobs that needs a certain temperament for it. Not everyone can go into murky water and dive for bodies. Not only that but doesn’t she have like ten degrees?” Hamish’s chest puffed out like he was a proud pappa.

Smacking him around and having a bit of fun with the old vampire, the two of them worked on the businesses as well as his plan for taking down the president. It was going to be epic, he thought.

~*~

“Let me see if I can have one of your relatives pop me in and back. I have several meetings today, and I have to be there.” Michael couldn’t wait to get his hands on the note that the bastard Douglas had kept. The man had a hard time keeping a job. Why the fuck did he have a contract on him. And not only that, why did he sign it. He realized that he either missed something or she wasn’t talking to him. “MJ, are you still there?”

“Yes, of course. I was just waiting for you to contact one of the family members to get you here and back.” He said that he’d make the call and get back to her. “All right then. I’ll be waiting. My dad has a lot of paperwork on him that his family is finally going through. There are several more things that he saved that I think shouldn’t have been promised to him.”

Sitting down, Michael asked what they were. “You know what? Why don’t you just let me go over the paperwork? I’m sure that you have enough on your plate with all the things that are going on around there.” She told him it was no trouble that her dad was going before the judge in a few days. “All the more reason for you to let me just go through the things. That way, you can have more time to concentrate on getting him out of jail. His brothers, too, I’m assuming.”

“I got it. I’ll hear from you soon, I’m guessing.” She hung up. MJ had never been a ball player with him. She’d do her job and do it extremely well. But she’d not do anything for him that was outside her job description. And certainly nothing illegal. Damn, but he hated her.

Putting his own phone on the desk, he tried to make busy work for himself so that he’d be in the big room, the room that no one dared to record. The only pictures that he would allow were the ones that his staff took. He thought that was the best way to deal with things. Then he’d signed a contract with a bigger fucking idiot than his own dad had been.

He’d figured out that MJ had a family after she’d been in college. She’d been training for a promotion. And she’d done so well that they fast-tracked her to be a General with Distinction. She’d not only made the other men in the class look like total buffoons, but she had also graduated at the top of her class, several points ahead of the closest candidate that was in the graduating class with her.

But she wasn’t a person that you could approach about certain jobs that he wanted done. Like the assignation of his running mate. His sister and her family. He wanted them all dead, as they had all become an embarrassment to him while he’d been in the office. Christ, having a family was the worst thing that could happen if you were a politician.

His phone ringing had him cursing up a blue streak, something his stupid father used to say, and he had to breathe several times out his mouth and in his nose before he felt calm enough to take the call.

“I’ve been thinking that I’d like to take a short trip.” Rolling his eyes, while putting a smile on his face so he didn’t give away his anger at his Vice President, Collin Court. A stupider name as he’d ever heard. “I’ve been invited to some friends of mine home and I’m going to make plans to go there next week.”

“Next week? Whoa there, buddy, we have a country to run. Not to mention, it’s an election year. I’m going to need you around here for the duration of the month.” He had to look at his calendar, not having a single idea what the date was. “I’m afraid that you’re going to have to cancel those—”

“No, no, that doesn’t work for me. So I’m not going to cancel. You seemed to have a handle on everything. I’ll see you in a few days.” Putting the phone back down on his desk, Michael started to shake. His anger was so much. Picking up his pillow on the couch, he screamed into it until his throat hurt. What the fuck was going on? Wasn’t he the fucking president of the fucking United fucking States?”

His head was hurting so badly right now that he had to go up to his rooms to lie down. He could barely see with the black spots that were there, as well as his belly. It was never upset unless he was stressed out and was giving him fits as well.

“One thing. I just want one thing, and I know that things will go according to plan.” He took two pain relievers and laid on the bed. So happy that his wife wasn’t there. She’d be on his shit about the upcoming visit from foreign dignitaries. Not that he had any idea who was coming. He never bothered with that crap until right before. Then he’d blame his staff if it didn’t come off the way that he wanted.

After about twenty minutes with no relief, he called Hamish Perry, a bigger dork than even his father had been. Dad had been able to work a New York Times crossword puzzle in less time than anyone he knew, but the man didn’t have the first clue about how to run a successful country. He told him before he’d ever run that you have to be honest with the people that vote you in. And more honest with the ones that didn’t. Like the cursing a blue streak, it was just another one of his platitudes that he spouted off like gospel. The idiot.

“Hamish, it’s Michael Lowery. I have some paperwork that I’m to pick up from MJ and was wondering if your sister-in-law could help me out with that.” He asked him if he wanted her to bring it to him. “No, no. That’s all right. MJ has other things for me to get and I want to make sure that she has it there for him. Can’t be too careful about going places nowadays. Don’t you think?”

“No. I have no trouble getting out and about. If you want to not leave your home, I can have MJ mail it to you. That way, you don’t have to get out in the public that put you in that office.” There was a tone there, but he couldn’t think what he’d be pissed off about. He’d given the fool everything that he wanted about tax breaks. Or someone did. “That’s what I’ll do for you. Have her send them to you.”

“I’ll get them.” He had to inhale and exhale three times before the smile, painfully so, was back on his face. “I just wanted to have someone pop me there and back. It’s all right if she doesn’t want to do it.”

“I’ll ask her.” There was a great deal of silence on the other end for about ten minutes before Hamish answered him. “She should be there now.”

“Yes, I see her.” Before he could hang up the phone, however, he asked the man if things were all right. “I heard that you were running on the next ticket for town mayor, Hamish. Do I need to be looking out for my own job?” Michael tried to laugh it off, but it didn’t sound like he’d been able to pull it off to his own ears.

“I guess time will tell if you have to watch out for your job, don’t you think?” No laughter. Nothing that would indicate that he’d been joking around. “I have to go, Micheal. I’ll speak with you some other time.” Then the line went dead.

“Twice in one day, someone hung up on me? What the fuck is going on?” Getting him a glass of Brandy, he glanced at the clock and saw that it was only a few minutes after noon. Taking a deep swallow, he was enjoying the burn when Becka cleared her throat from behind him.

He’d forgotten that she had come to get him. In those short seconds, he did not remember that someone was in his room and had spouted off about being hung up on. But she didn’t comment on it, nor did he. Just getting to the house to get what he needed from MJ was all he needed right now.

When she wrapped her arm around his waist, he thought that she was holding him just a little too tightly. But before he could comment, even if he wanted to, they were in a jail cell. No, not in, he realized, but close to one that was holding Douglas Brandon.

“Hey there, boss man. Whatcha doing here? I messed up a little on the other one.” Michael turned to see if Becka was still with him, but she was gone. Thankfully. “You all right? You’re looking a little packaged if you ask me. What’s up?”

“What’s up is that I have to clean up the mess that you made.” He wasn’t sure if the cameras that were down the long hall were actually recording or not. There wasn’t any light on it to give him any idea. So he whispered his side of the conversation with the man. “How the hell was she missed? I told you exactly what to do? Did you hire Chummy or not?”

“Yes, we sure did. Since he was willing to do what you wanted, we kept some of his money from him. Told him that he’d have to contact you if he wanted the rest. Me and my brothers, we had expenses, and we sort of ran short with meeting deadlines. My grannie’s house, it was closed off from us when you said that once my daughter was taken care of, you’d make sure that we all had it. You didn’t come through for us?”

“Really? Well, in the event you didn’t remember, you didn’t come through for me either. I do believe that MJ is still running around like she’s gotten lives.” Douglas told him that she was just a regular person with only one life. “I know that, dumbass. I was…never mind. I don’t have the paper and crayons that it would take to explain it to you.”

He’d heard that saying a few weeks ago and this was the first time that he’d been able to use it. Quite proud of himself, he asked him if he was going to take care of their arrangements or not.

“I’m a little indisposed right now. They trussing me up like a turkey in here. Can’t even get my damned grannie to come here and get me out.” Michael’s headache had turned into a migraine. Now, he was sick with it more than before. “What’s eating you anyway? I told you that I’d get it done, and I will.”

“Good. And thanks for keeping that paperwork, too. Your daughter has it in her possession. Do you have any idea how much trouble that is going to get me into if it falls into the wrong hands? Plenty, that’s for sure. Now I have to go there and—” Something occurred to him. “Why was I brought here? I’m supposed to be at your daughter’s home, not here.”

“Might be because I wanted to see you. We need some bail money, or we’re going to have to cut our losses and talk to somebody else about this stuff going on.” Micheal asked him if he was trying to blackmail him. “I don’t know what that means, so I’m going to say no. But I do need us to get some money. And since you like living up there in that big house, you can spare a man a few hundred, can’t you?”

“So you are blackmailing me. Well, I don’t even have my own credit cards now that I’m being paid by the government. You’ll have to wait on payment like everyone else.” Christ, he was going to puke all over the man. “I have to get out of here before someone finds me. How do I get in touch with that Becka person.”

“I don’t know, no Becka. You might want to ask my brothers. They’re better with ladies than I am. They got moves and stuff going on that I guess women like.” Grinning, the man showed just how often he’d been to the dentist, too. Never. “If I want somebody, I just stand up and yell. That gets them to me quick enough.”

He’d try anything to get out of this place. Looking around, disturbed by the cameras again, he turned his back to the one that he was closest to and yelled for Becka. When she appeared right in front of him, he was ready to blast her for leaving him in such a state, but she put her hand over his chest, and they were moving again. This time to the proper place. Or so he thought.

“This isn’t her home. I’ve been to her house numerous times. This is a palace compared to where she’s been living. Where are we now?” Becka told him that he was just where he wanted to be. In the home of MJ.

Pointing in front of her, she disappeared just as he heard from MJ. She’s been in the office, she said and hadn’t realized that he’d arrived. His first thoughts about her was that she’d changed. There was…well, there was a kind of glow about her that made him think that she’d had work done. Why she’d do something like that when he thought for certain she was the most beautiful woman in the world. Her sister, too.

“I’ve been going through my uncles’ and father’s paperwork. DJ and I have been anyway. And there are a lot of things here with your signature on them. I wouldn’t have believed it if I didn’t know that they’re your signature. But here you go.” He took the papers, a thick stack of them. As he went through them, he asked her if she was still looking. “Not anymore. With DJ’s help and grannies, we got everything sorted out and have some things that my father is going to have to pay for. Unpaid bills aren’t the only thing that he’s behind on.”

As he was sorting through them, he didn’t want to have his unpaid bills but thought that it would look better if he had them. Asking her for them, she told him no. Not anything else but just a simple no.

“You do remember that you work for me, don’t you?” She said that she worked for the government, not him solely. “Be that as it may, I would still like to see what else your father’s been about since he’s forged my name on documents.”

“I can give you copies of those too if you wish, but I’ve already taken care of the bills, and the other things are going to—”

“Copies? These are only copies of the paperwork that you were to give to me?” She said that she didn’t want the originals to fall into the wrong hands. “What does that mean? I’m the president. Why would you think that they’d be falling into—just give me the originals, MJ. I’ve had a very stressful day, and I don’t feel like getting into anything with you right now.”

“No, I’m keeping them. You never know when they might come in handy.” He asked her what that meant. “Just that. You know me well enough to know that I don’t mince words when I’m speaking. I’m keeping the originals and that’s final. I’ll give you copies of the rest of the paperwork should you wish it, but I’m keeping everything. Also, you might want to remember in the future that all cameras work at the police station. What is it that you and my father have going on? You don’t have to tell me. I’ll ask him. Or have my husband ask. He’s really good at getting people to tell him what he wants to know.”

“You’re not married. I would have been informed.” She asked him who would inform him of something so personal as her getting married. “MJ, you’re starting to sound a bit suspicious about our relationship. Has that father of yours said something to you? I have a right to know.”

“You would think that wouldn’t you? What do you think about it, Marshall? Does he have a right to know that the two of us are married?” He just knew that Marshall Morton was behind him. He’d been trying to recruit him too to do some dirty work for him. But to no avail.

Putting out his hand, he was left hanging when Marshall asked him why he was harassing his wife. Calling out for Becka, the seemingly only sane one in the bunch, he was backed into a corner and told to sit.

Compulsion nearly took his head off. It was so strong. Marshall told him that he wasn’t to lie, ever again was going to have him in deeper shit than having paperwork around that he’d signed. Christ, oh mighty? Someone was out to get him today, and he couldn’t understand why.