I wait for Alpha Toth and Rook to make a decision. I’m not sure what they’re debating, until Rook says, “I could pull the fire alarm.”
“No, I think we can be more subtle,” Alpha Toth says, staring at the door. “I have something I could discuss with her. I’ll call her into my office.” He looks at me. “Will ten minutes be enough?”
I shrug. “It should, but I can’t be certain once I get sucked in how long it’ll take to come out again.”
“We’ll come knock on your door when we’re done,” Rook says to Alpha Toth. “Stall, if you need to.”
Alpha Toth nods my direction. “Work quickly, Miss Jacobs.”
I’m a little surprised he’s giving me the trust to snoop. “As fast as I can,” I assure him.
Rook and I back down the hall and duck out of sight to wait for the accountant to leave her office.
“So, you see visions?” Rook asks as he peeks around the corner.
“Sort of. I call them psychic imprints, but it’s basically glimpses of the past, yes.”
“That’s got to be convenient.”
I shake my head. “Not always. I can’t control when I pick up an imprint, and I can’t help what I see. I can’t always pull myself out of the visions, either. The stronger the imprint, the more I’m stuck waiting until it’s over, and the sicker it makes me.”
Down the hall, a door opens and closes. When we hear a knock on another door, Rook peeks around the corner again. “Come on. Time to do your thing.”
I shake my head, chuckling as Rook lets me into the office. The room is tiny compared to Alpha Toth’s office, and overcrowded with filing cabinets along the back wall. It has a small desk crammed into one corner, but at least it’s neat. Toth’s accountant is meticulously organized. I swipe my hand across the filing cabinets on my way to the desk and immediately get pulled into a really strong vision. I groan as I settle in to watch Ms. Accountant get banged up against her filing cabinets.
My knees buckle when the vision ends, letting me get back to reality. Rook catches me and helps me sit in the desk chair. I lean over, moaning lightly and willing myself not to puke.
“What’d you see?”
“A lot more than I’d have liked to.” He waits for me to expand. “Let’s just say you aren’t the only one who’s noticed Ms. Thang’s voluptuous curves.”
Rook rears his head back, blinking at me in disbelief. “Holly’s getting it on in her office? Up against the filing cabinets?” He eyes the cabinets in question with newfound respect. “Whoa. That’s hot.”
I snort. “Not really. What was that? Four minutes total? Five? She totally faked it. I hope her lover is better between the sheets.”
Rook moves to sit on the edge of Holly’s desk, smirking. “So, you get sex visions?”
I roll my eyes. Of course he’d focus on that. “Unfortunately, those are what I get most. Imprints are like emotional residue. The higher the emotions flying, the stronger the imprint. I try to get out of them, but again, the stronger the imprint the more I get stuck.”
“Oh, come on, you don’t like it at least a little?”
“No,” I say flatly. “Now shut up, and let me work.”
Rook frowns, but he moves off the desk and goes to stand silently against the office door. I look around and figure my best bet is the computer. Mouse and keyboard, it is. Moving one hand over each, I instantly know I’ve found what I’m looking for.
Mr. Slim Shady’s hands shake as he slides the mouse over the pad. He clicks on a locked file. When it asks for a password, he unfurls a small paper and types in a long, complicated password. It seems to pull up a list of bank accounts. He clicks the first one on the list and transfers one hundred dollars from that account into one that was also written on his paper. Once the transfer is complete, he continues to go down the list of accounts, doing the same thing with each one. There must be thirty or forty accounts. When he’s finished the whole list, he logs out of the computer and leaves the office.
“Oh, man,” I moan, leaning my head down on the desk. “I’m gonna hurl.”
“Are you okay? You’ve been under for a good twelve minutes.”
“Seriously? No wonder I feel like shit. Damn, that was so boring.”
“Can you move? We need to get out of here.”
“You might need to help me walk, and I might puke on you, but yeah. Let’s get out of here. We’ve got exactly what we need.”
Rook walks me out the back door of the clubhouse, toward the Huron River. The fresh air helps clear my nausea and headache. I crash down on a bench on the water’s edge with another moan. My eyes fall closed while Rook texts Alpha Toth. “Are you okay? Do I need to get you help or anything?”
“No.” I grunt. “It’ll pass. Just give me a couple minutes.”
“Alpha Toth is on his way.”
We sit in silence a couple more minutes, until Alpha Toth’s gruff voice says, “What’s wrong? Is she okay?”
“I’m good,” I promise. “It’s passing already.”
“What is it?”
“My body’s natural reaction to sucking up psychic imprints. It’s a bitch, but we got what we needed. Sneaky McSneakerson is our guy. I just watched him skim one hundred bucks from every different pack account you have and deposit it into one personal account.”
Alpha Toth growls. “That fits.”
“Fits what?”
“The money’s been disappearing in such small amounts, it took us almost a year to notice.”
“A year? That’s a nice little chunk of money, then.”
“The money’s not the issue. He’s been robbing the pack for a year. He’s going to pay.”
“They,” I say. “I’m assuming he has an accomplice. He got that key from somewhere, and he was relieved when it worked…like he was nervous it wouldn’t. Then he got the password to Holly’s computer from somewhere—had it written down on a piece of paper. The personal account number, too. And overall, he was just too nervous to be the brains behind this scheme. My guess is this was the first time he’s had to be the one moving the funds. He’s got someone helping him. It could be Holly, but I wouldn’t know unless spending some time with one or the other, or both of them. Though, I doubt it’s her, considering she’s polishing the filing cabinets with a different man.”
When I quit talking, I wait for a reply but am met with silence. I open my eyes and rub my temples. “What?”
“What do you mean, you could get more if you spent time with them?” Rook asks.
I blush. I don’t want to tell them I can read minds. Them knowing about the visions is bad enough, but mind reading makes people really uneasy. No one ever trusts a mind reader. “I can pick some things up from people, too, not just objects. But it has to be skin-to-skin contact, which could be hard to do if we’re going for discreet.”
Rook and the alpha share a look. “The pack social?” Rook asks.
Alpha Toth nods. “Could be hard to get her there without raising suspicion, though.”
Rook shakes his head. “She saved Maya. She could be an honored guest.”
“Oh, yes, that’ll work perfectly.”
I’m falling behind. “What will work? Honored guest at a what?”
They ignore me, of course. Alpha Toth nods, as if everything is settled. “You’ll have to keep a close eye on her, but make sure you aren’t stepping on your brother’s toes. I know what she said, but she got him here for the first time in thirty years.”
My brain stalls at that. “Thirty years!” I cry. “He said it’s been a few, but thirty?”
Rook sighs. “Werewolves live a long time. Thirty years isn’t as long to us as it is to you. Still, it’s a long time to go without a pack. You accomplished something big, Nora. I didn’t think anything would ever bring Wulf back.”
I’m stunned, but I feel awful at the same time. Why did Wulf agree to come here after so long? Was it my whacked out allure that had him jumping through hoops for me? I don’t get it, but he and I are going to have a long chat. “Oh, that little liar,” I grumble, getting to my feet. I’m ready to stalk back into the gym despite my headache and upset stomach. “Excuse me, gentlemen, I need to go kill myself a Wulf.”