Allegiance of Honor (Psy-Changeling #15) - Nalini Singh Page 0,91
if he did, Lucas would do what he had to do to control the other alpha. “You blame DarkRiver for the deaths of your packmates?”
Eyes now a pale greenish brown with an elongated black pupil, the alpha bared his teeth. “It all began with you!” he yelled. “You and your Psy mate.” He spat on the floor, as if he’d tasted something foul. “Without you, the Psy would’ve remained in their world and we would’ve remained in ours. Safe.”
This wasn’t the time to tell the ocelot male about the rot in the PsyNet and how it had infected Psy minds. The outbreaks of insanity had been inevitable. It was Sascha and other empaths like her who’d stopped the massacres from being even worse. Without the domino effect of Sascha’s defection, those Es might’ve never awoken in time.
“You hired mercenaries to kidnap my child,” he said, a heavy feeling in his gut.
A sly look flitted over Monroe Halliston’s face as the healer lifted a trembling hand to her mouth, while both soldiers visibly blanched. “Prove it.” It was a challenge.
Chapter 26
“DO YOUR PACKMATES know about the two million dollars you transferred into an offshore account in the Caymans?” Lucas asked. “The mercenaries tell us that the full fee was four million.” An irresistible amount. “That second payment would’ve cleaned out your pack’s savings.”
The ocelot alpha curled his lip, but the healer spoke before he could spit out further insults.
“How could you?” It was a shaky whisper. “That money was the only thing we had left to give the cubs. Their parents are gone, their grandparents are gone, their friends are gone! At least with that money, they could have a good life, have choices!”
Baring his teeth at the elderly woman, the alpha said, “Shut up and get out.”
He didn’t seem to notice the reaction of his soldiers, but Lucas did. The two were staring at their alpha not only in shock . . . but also in disgust. The healer was sacrosanct in a healthy pack. No one, no one in Lucas’s pack, would ever get away with insulting Tamsyn. He might disagree with her at times, might even get angry with her on very rare occasions, but even he would never talk to her in that ugly tone.
“No!” The healer’s entire body trembled as she came to stand next to Lucas. “You don’t get to give me orders anymore. I don’t know who you are, but you are not my alpha!”
Hissing and growling, the ocelot alpha attempted to get up, chair and all. Lucas slammed him back down but didn’t speak. Instead, he gave the healer the chance to say whatever else she needed to say.
When Monroe Halliston ignored her to shout, “Get this traitor out of here!” to the two other dominants, they didn’t respond.
The once-alpha had lost them.
As if realizing that at the same time, the older man began to yell. “You’re fools! Don’t you see what he did? He opened the floodgates and we were caught in the flood! Your brothers and sisters and parents would still be alive without him! My mate would still be alive. My son would still be alive!” Another growling snarl. “Why should he get to keep his mongrel child while my son lies dead?”
Lucas’s claws sliced out but he forced his enraged panther into patience. There was more here than met the eye. Monroe was too unstable to have pulled off what he appeared to have pulled off. First of all, according to the conversation Lucas had had with Bastien prior to leaving for Texas, Monroe couldn’t have done the financial maneuvering involved.
“He doesn’t have the skill,” the man in charge of DarkRiver’s financial assets had told Lucas. “The steps it took to move that money from the Caymans’ account without leaving any kind of a trail? It requires years of experience and an in-depth knowledge of banking systems.”
Bastien had thrust a hand through the dark red of his hair, his green eyes sharply intelligent. “To put it another way—you couldn’t do it and you’ve got way more financial expertise than the ocelot alpha. The only person in San Francisco who could is talking to you right now.”
And since Bastien’s level of expertise was in no way common, it was highly improbable that Monroe Halliston had simply hired someone. Especially when Bastien had found zero indications that the ocelot had paid out any money but the two million down payment to the mercenaries. No one that good would work for free.