Chapter 11

Cody

 

The longer these proceedings carried on, the more I was sure that Austin’s father had something to do with this. Sure, he played the role of impartial council member and concerned father well, but I watched his eyes. Every time a piece of ‘evidence’ came up that looked bad for Caleb and our pack, Austin looked more frustrated and his father would get a small light in his eyes.

I think the fucker was enjoying watching Austin squirm. I looked over at Austin. He was a smart guy, but I think most us want to believe the best of our loved ones. I wondered if he was seeing the same thing that I was?

Pack and family were everything to Austin. It would kill him to know that his father had set up one of his pack mates and came after our pack. Aus already had to deal with an asshole of a brother and a superficial socialite for a mother, what would it do to him to realize that his father wanted him to fail?

I think part of the reason why Austin worked so hard to make this pack a success was to prove himself to his father, although he would never admit that. He had grown up as the ‘spare’ son and was kept mostly in case anything was to happen to his brother. Once his brother reached adulthood, Justin had made certain that there was no place for Austin in the pack.

Austin had gotten out of the military determined to build the family and the pack that he had always wanted. It meant everything to him when his father supported him and helped get him council approval for his new pack.

I suspected that the reason why Austin’s father had changed his opinion of Austin’s pack was because Aus was quickly becoming an influential member of our community. We had Austin to thank for our close alliance with the lamia and our pack was a strong military force. If we kept growing at this pace we would soon rival the council’s own enforcers.

“I think that was everything we had.” Mr. Zilker said with regretful tone in his voice but a smug look in his eyes. “The council is going to step out to deliberate-“

There was the sound of commotion at the door and everyone turned their attention that way. Mr. Zilker scowled at the interruption.

“See what that’s about!” he waved a hand at one of the council enforcers standing on that side of the room. The enforcer opened the door and I saw a flash of blue hair in the doorway.

I smiled to myself. Emerys had come through for us.

The enforcer spoke with whomever was out there and walked back to Mr. Zilker to murmur quietly to him.

Austin interrupted their side bar. “I believe that is our rebuttal evidence at the door.”

Mr. Zilker’s scowl deepened. “They might be our allies, but they are not wolves. This is none of their business.”

“Emerys works closely with Caleb on almost all of the projects that we do for them. I think we owe it to him to listen to what he has to say.” Austin argued.

Mr. Reed chimed in with a sigh. “Just let him in so we can get this over with. Their expertise in technology is one of the reasons why we have this alliance to begin with.” Two of the other council members agreed and Mr. Zilker was overruled.

Two of the enforcers escorted Emerys into the room and he gave Caleb a nod before sitting down at the table.

“May I address the council?” he asked politely. Several of them gave nods so he continued. “I examined the evidence that this council has provided to accuse Caleb of espionage and I have to say that it is complete bullshit.”

I did my best to hold in my snort. Trust Emerys to be blunt.

Emerys outlined his investigation and what he had found, but honestly, most of it went completely over my head. I think the council felt the same way because almost all of them had their eyes glazed over before Emerys finished. I started to pay attention again as he was winding down.

“In conclusion, I was able to track the source of the spyware to here, in council headquarters.”

There were dropped jaws all around. I wanted to stand up and fist pump, that’s what happened when you tried to mess with the Seaside Pack.

Mr. Zilker stuttered, “He must have just made it look that way.”

Emerys grinned at him. “Not unless he was here on the premises for extended periods of time over the last few months. I think his pack can corroborate his whereabouts for that time.”

“I would be more than happy to examine the equipment here on the premises in order to trace back to the real spy.”

Mr. Reed snorted. “Access to the council member’s private computers? I think not.” All of the other council members murmured in agreement.

Mr. Zilker seemed to recover from his shock at having all of the accusations against Caleb disproved. “We thank you for bringing this information to our attention and we will be looking further into it. But we just have your word that Caleb wasn’t the one who did it.”

Emerys rolled his eyes. “The only ‘evidence’ you have to show it was Caleb is that he is the only wolf intelligent enough to pull something like this off. And if I’m a liar that can’t be trusted to testify in a trial, then I’m a liar who can’t be trusted to make your fake identities and cover up your messes.”

Mr. Reed narrowed his eyes. “He is the only wolf we know who could do it. It didn’t help that his pack had reason to put him up to it. But now that new evidence has been brought to light, we will be looking at everyone in this organization.”

“I hope so,” Emerys told him. “Our alliance isn’t worth much if your organization is full of traitors.” He started to stand and then added as an afterthought, “No offense.”

I could see quite a few red faces on council members and I did my best to hide my smirk. Austin clapped Emerys on the shoulder and Caleb reached out to shake his hand.

“Thanks, dude.”

Emerys smiled at him. “No worries, wish we would have finally met in person under better circumstances.”

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Mr. Zilker heading for the door, it didn’t surprise me that he was turning tail and running away.

“Excuse me for a moment. I want to have a word with my father.” Austin murmured quietly.

I made a move to follow him, but he held up a hand with a sad smile. “Thanks, Cody. But I need to do this alone.”

I frowned but let him go. His father might try to take Austin down a notch or try to get to him through the pack, but he would never harm his son. At least, I hoped not.

Trevor stopped Austin as he started to walk away. “I think you should take Cody. It’s not out of line to have a second there to back you up. You know your father won’t be alone with lamia in the building.”

Austin reluctantly nodded in agreement and I followed him to his father’s private chambers. We spoke to the enforcer posted at the door, who then let us in.

Mr. Zilker was sitting behind his desk and pouring himself some bourbon. “Austin, I thought you would be celebrating with your wolf.”

Austin narrowed his eyes. “You shouldn’t be surprised that I would want to have a word with you.”

Mr. Zilker poured some bourbon for Austin and slid it over the desk. He ignored me, which I was used to.

Austin stalked over to the desk and placed his hands on the top, leaning forward. This put him in a dominant position over his father. Mr. Zilker didn’t react except to lean back in his chair and take a sip of his drink.

“What was this about?” Austin growled. It looked like he had noticed his father’s reactions.

Mr. Zilker laughed. “Are you accusing me of something, son?”

“Right now, I’m asking.” Austin told him quietly.

The two of them locked eyes and neither moved. I took half a step forward and Mr. Zilker’s eyes shifted to me, breaking their standoff.

Mr. Zilker swirled the drink in his hand. “I did my job when presented with information about one of your pack members, I wouldn’t want to be accused of favoritism.” He said smoothly.

“Then you wouldn’t mind letting Caleb or Emerys take a look at your computer?” Austin challenged him.

Mr. Zilker’s eyes flicked away for a fraction of a second before returning to Austin. That was all of the confirmation that we needed.

Austin straightened slowly, never taking his eyes from his father.

“It’s not what you’re thinking,” Mr. Zilker said casually.

“What were you thinking, framing one of my wolves?” Austin asked angrily, his patience wearing thin.

“I suspected of one of our own council members of being a traitor, so I hired a human to make something I could monitor them with.” Mr. Zilker stated, swirling his glass casually.

Our eyebrows rose, involving a human in this was a huge violation of everything the council stood for.

“Only I had access to the data that the program collected.” Mr. Zilker hastily assured us.

“How can you be sure? All of the data could be just as easily transmitted to them!” Austin burst out.

“Relax, the human involved was eliminated.” Mr. Zilker shrugged.

“Eliminated.” Austin stated flatly.

“One day you will understand that the fate of our kind is more important that just one human or one wolf.” Mr. Zilker told him arrogantly.

“I fail to see how you blaming Caleb for your own wrong-doing is what’s best for our kind.” Austin said angrily.

“One of the council members caught on to it. I couldn’t risk them finding out my involvement and Caleb is the only wolf that would have the ability to create something like that.” He told us dismissively.

We both just stared at him. Unbelievable.

“If I had blamed the lamia or the humans it could have resulted in a war.” Mr. Zilker told us. “Think rationally for a moment and not with your emotions.”

Austin sighed, realizing that his father would never admit he was wrong. “Did you find anything to show that any of the council members was a traitor?”

“No.” Mr. Zilker stated thoughtfully. He sat down his glass and stood. “But everything ended well for your wolf, so you are free to go.”

“No.” Austin stated simply.

“No?” Mr. Zilker laughed.

Austin took a step closer to his father. “I need you to understand something. You don’t ever go after my pack.”

I swallowed a little nervously. Austin was challenging his father directly now, shit was about to get real.

Mr. Zilker just smiled at him.

“I’m not a pup any longer. You need to realize that our most powerful allies are our allies because I want them to be. My pack is one of the most powerful military forces that the wolves have. I think you forget what it is that my pack does for our income.”

Mr. Zilker’s smile faded and his eyes narrowed. All pretenses of the kind father were dropped, and we could see the coldness in his eyes.

“I think you forget who you are talking to, pup.”

“I know exactly who I am talking to, now.” Austin replied coldly.

A knock at the door interrupted their standoff and Mr. Reed entered the room. “Austin, glad to see your pack was innocent. I need some time with your father to decide what our next step is.”

“Of course,” Austin said smoothly. “I’ll leave the two of you alone.”

Mr. Reed gave him a nod of thanks and we made our way out the door. I could see Austin seething as we gathered up the rest of our wolves and made our way out to the vehicles. Caleb was almost giddy with relief, smiling happily at his freedom.

I was relieved that our pack was safe for today, but Mr. Zilker was a powerful enemy to have. Especially when we had information that could harm his standing in the council. He was never going to just let this go. We had better be prepared for him to come after us even more strongly next time.