Hollie looked at the lieutenants and saw them avert their gaze. They turned away and pretended they hadn’t seen or heard anything.
Hollie almost snorted in derision. What a bunch of cowards.
Jasper moved from his father’s side, his beady eyes gleaming with menace. He grabbed Hollie by the collar and snarled in her face. “What did you say?”
“I said even a toothless little grandmother...” Hollie began calmly.
“Are you calling my father a liar?” Jasper roared. “Are you saying that our Alpha lied?”
Hollie clenched her fists and teeth to stop the vehement answer from bubbling up from her throat.
Yes! Yes, he is a goddamn liar. And he’s just acting like a toddler, throwing a tantrum to try and confuse everyone. He wants to keep the atmosphere tense and chaotic.
Jake groaned loudly and wheezed to his lieutenants, “Call the pack doctor. I can feel a terrible pain in my gut...”
Hollie rolled her eyes. “How can you feel pain in your gut when you are gutless?” she mumbled.
Jasper’s claws dug into her neck. “What did you just say, mongrel?” he spat.
Hollie stared up at him in disgust and defiance.
“If Alpha is sick, his sickness isn’t caused by those potato patties,” she answered in a clear, calm voice. And he’s not sick. He’s faking it.
Hollie flicked her gaze to Jake, and saw the anger and hatred burning in his cold, shrewd eyes.
She was right. He clearly wasn’t in any sort of pain at all. He was putting on yet another act.
Hollie sucked in a sharp breath as she stared at the lieutenants in the room. All the senior lieutenants were here. They were discussing something, something important just before she was brought into the room.
The Alpha was trying to cause all this drama to divert attention away from the topic at hand. The lieutenants had been about to find out the truth about something.
Jake and Jasper couldn’t afford to have the truth come out.
This was nothing but a diversionary tactic.
Hollie was the patsy.
She was the half-breed, the mongrel who couldn’t shift.
No one would object to her being scapegoated.
All the ills of the pack could be blamed on her, and once they got rid of her, it would seem as if the problem had been solved.
“I think we can all see the situation clearly now. Hollie has been sabotaging our food,” Jake said to the lieutenants.
“No I haven’t!” Hollie exploded. “What are you...”
Jasper’s hand tightened around her neck and choked off the rest of her words.
“It’s clear what she has done. This half-breed traitor has been siphoning money from our food budget and using inferior ingredients to prepare our meals. We have our culprit, gentlemen. You were asking how such large amounts of money could have just disappeared...” Jake smiled and raised his wine glass triumphantly. “You have your answer.”
Hollie’s immediate thought was: I thought you said your gut hurt. But now you’re smiling, talking and drinking. Can’t anyone see through his pretense?
She wasn’t even paying attention to his words. It was like watching an actor on a stage. His performance, however bizarre, was hypnotic.
“Here’s what happened,” Jake went on smoothly. “This thief in our midst has been inflating the expenses and falsifying the accounts.”
Hollie gasped as the words hit her like a sucker punch.
So there it was. The charge, the indictment, the noose around her neck.
She had been brought up here for the slaughter.
The lieutenants had discovered that monies were missing from the pack accounts and had brought the matter up. Jake and Jasper decided that they needed a scapegoat.
The scapegoat had to be a dispensable and isolated member of the pack.
No one would defend her.
No one would miss her when she was gone.
She would be silenced and buried, and the truth would be buried with her.
“No!” Hollie shrieked. “I did no such thing! Your accusations are groundless and ridiculous. I don’t even have any access to the accounts! Clearly it’s someone in authority, someone with access to all the information and accounts, who did this. It’s someone who has the power to cover everything up. Someone like...”
She stopped suddenly.
And the silence was deafening.
All the senior lieutenants were throwing surreptitious glances at their Alpha and Beta.
Jake and Jasper were the ones in absolute control of all the various businesses owned by the pack. They controlled the flow of information in and out of the pack, and not a single cent could be taken out of the pack accounts without their endorsement and approval.
“Shut your mouth, mongrel!” Jasper shook her violently. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. This bitch spreads lies and falsehoods to smear the good name of our pack leaders. She should be severely dealt with,” he declared loudly.
“Remove the thief from our presence,” Jake said, waving a hand.
“I’m not a thief,” Hollie shouted. “You know I’ve spoken the truth...”
Jake threw her a pitying look and addressed his lieutenants, “My son will take care of the problem. Now that we have eliminated the thief and the threat, all is well.”
With a hearty laugh, he raised his wine glass in a toast, “To the prosperity of the Black Blade pack!”