She nodded and picked up the phone to call Nina.
After explaining the situation, Nina got down to business and asked a million questions and promised to look into it and call her back when she found out anything.
Nick came in to tell them that a meeting had been arranged for the following day at the Pack house and Tracy told him Nina was looking into the account information.
“Whatever will we do for the next twenty-four hours?” Nick’s eyebrow rose.
“Go to Seattle so I can get my house in order and get my dog. Get some furniture for the new house. I’m calling Cade right back to arrange to come up. We’ll stay at my house tonight.” Tracy grinned and neither man had the heart to stop her, she looked so damned happy.
Chapter Six
They drove straight to Tracy’s. Nick was impressed by the explosion of color when he walked into the living room. Orange and red and blue and yellow, it should have been too much but she’d made it work. He made a mental note to let her have free rein in decorating the house.
He frowned though, as he caught sight of the dozens of pictures all over the place with her and various people, various male people. “Who are these people?” he called back over his shoulder.
“Friends and family.” She amazed him. She was one of the most efficient people he’d ever met. She’d already called a moving company on the way up and they were due to have dinner with her family at Cade’s shortly. She was looking through her stuff and distracted but still doing three things at once.
“Friends?”
She looked up and saw his look and snorted a laugh. “Yes, some of them are friends. Others are...were friends. Don’t worry—” she held back a smile “—I won’t hang them up at the house.”
“You’d better not or your eyes might get scratched out,” Gabe called out from the couch, where he’d been on the phone.
“Ha! I’ll drive over to Cade’s in my car. We’ll bring Milton back here tonight and he’ll ride down with me tomorrow morning.”
Nick stifled a sigh and just nodded. “One of us will ride with you too.”
“Why?”
“Safety.” He said it like she was simple, and she understood Nina’s frustration with Cade a lot better.
“You gonna protect me from poor gas mileage?”
Gabe watched, amused. Nick was a dumbass, handling her the way he did. Gabe had the wisdom that came with age and knew that a frontal attack was the wrong way to deal with her. Of course he wanted to protect her as well, but he knew it would happen a lot easier if it was a spur-of-the-moment thing instead of a patronizing command. Oh pup, watch and learn. He smiled in Nick’s direction, knowing he’d swoop in tomorrow, butter her up and ride back, having her all to himself.
“Enough, children. Let’s go to dinner, shall we? And then we’re going to talk about Pellini and what I’ve learned today.” Gabe stood and they all headed out.
* * *
Nick tried to ignore what an insane driver Tracy was, but it was nearly impossible with his life flashing before his eyes every three minutes. Since Gabe had been in the backseat on the way up, he rode in the backseat now and was glad to not have to watch out the front windshield as she careened all over the place.
“Holy shit, woman. You should think about driving NASCAR or something,” he mumbled and Gabe heard him, barking out a laugh.
“Shaddup, Porsche boy. Anyway, we’re almost there so you can stop digging your fingers into the seats. Jeez, I’m gonna have to charge you for the damage.”
She pulled up a long drive and approached big iron gates. “Some setup.” Gabe was clearly impressed with the situation.
“Not bad at all, huh?” She rolled down the window, keyed in a code and the gates swung open to admit the car.
Around the curve in the drive the house came into view and both men gave low whistles.
“Wow. Yeah, of course he’s a fucking amazing architect too. Can’t just be the best Enforcer. Oh no, he’s got to be superwolf. It’s enough to give a man a complex.”
She pulled into one of the garage bays and turned off the car. Turning around, she crawled into the backseat and onto his lap. “Hey, you, hot Enforcer guy with the totally hot mate. Lex has nothing on you, so stop it. I love you.” She leaned in and brushed her lips over his and closed her eyes as the warmth of contact spread through her.
Gabe growled. “Honey, this is not the time. You start it and I’m gonna want to finish it. Right here in the garage of your brothers’ house.” He turned in the seat, watching them both.
Nick laughed at the idea of getting caught in a threesome by her family.
Tracy sighed. “Okay, you’re right. But did you know that the counters at my house are about your waist height?” She said this as she got out of the car and both men groaned before following her.
Milton came bounding in as the three of them entered the house. Barking excitedly, he gave Tracy a goofy grin and head-butted her until she knelt and hugged him, kissing his head.
“Milton, my darling boy! Mommy has missed you. But guess what? We got a house just for you and you’re coming home with me tonight.” She continued to babble to the dog while both men looked on and finally up to see Lex shaking his head.
“Nick, Gabe, welcome. You two want a drink? The whole family is in there, I’d suggest a double.” Lex shook their hands and leaned down to kiss Tracy’s head. “Hey, pumpkin. How are you?”
She stood and he hugged her tight. She knew that he had to wrestle down his impulse to order Nick and Gabe out of there and make her stay so he could protect her. It touched her deeply but they both knew it wasn’t his job anymore. He stepped back and tipped her chin up to look into her face closely.
“I’m good. Despite all this other stuff, Lex, despite it all I’ve found the other parts of me. They’re good, that’s good. It’s all this other shit that sucks.”
He nodded and looked over at Nick and Gabe with a slight narrowing of his eyes. “Come on in then, let’s get everyone a drink.”
Nina held back and hugged Tracy. “I’ve found some stuff, sweetie. I don’t know if Nick is going to be happy about it.”
“Oh god, that bad?” Alarm raced through her.
“I don’t know. It’s dodgy, no doubt about it. But let’s talk it out. Gabe told Cade that there was some stuff about Pellini he wanted to discuss. I think we need to lay it all out on the table and see what we’ve got.”
Suddenly Gabe was standing there, having sensed her distress. “Honey? Is everything all right?”
“I don’t know, Gabe. Let’s go in and eat and then we’ll see.”
* * *
Dinner was a fairly raucous event. The very long table was lined with every Warden sibling and his or her mate, if there was one. Tracy’s parents and grandmother were there as well as her niece and nephew and three cousins who were part of Cade’s security detail.
The din was pretty deafening at times, and it amused Tracy to watch them all in action and Nick’s and Gabe’s response to it all. Nick seemed to be at home around such a loud table but there was sadness around his eyes. She hoped very much that they could figure all this out to save his family. Gabe seemed entertained and slightly overwhelmed. She realized that she didn’t know much about him and resolved to draw out his story. It brought home just how new their relationship was. The beauty of the mate bond was deep love and connection but she didn’t know either one of her men very well.
The men decided to clean up after the meal and the women all headed into the living room to wait for them to discuss the whole issue of Pacific and Pellini.
Tracy took Tegan aside and asked her about the house, and as she’d predicted, Tegan was interested but insisted that she pay for it.
“Why? He was your grandfather too. He only left it to me because you all ha
d places to live.”
Tegan rolled her eyes at her little sister. “He left it to you because you loved it and because you took such good care of him and of that house. And you’ve spent a lot of time and money on it since you moved in. He left me his ’56 Caddy and the rest of us got things that meant a lot to us. You have a new life starting up and you’ll need the money.”
In a family of blonds, Tegan and Layla were the only ones who’d inherited their maternal grandmother’s fiery red. Her green eyes and the jut of her chin were pretty much the same stubborn set that the other Wardens had though, and Tracy sighed seeing it.
In the end, they decided to have Tegan rent to own the house and pay more as she could. Both of them felt like they’d won something in the argument and the house stayed in the family.
When all the males came back into the room the amount of testosterone hit the roof, and all the mated females wore secret smiles and squirmed a bit.
Gabe settled in on one side of Tracy and Nick on the other. She felt utterly safe snuggled between them and Milton lay at her feet. A girl could get used to all this male adulation. She shot a grin at Nina, who snorted a laugh.
“I’d ask what that was about but I really don’t want to know,” Cade muttered dryly. “So we’ve established that Tracy, Nick and Gabe have a tri-mate bond and we’ve allowed Grandma to crow about it and I’m sure that Mom is so pleased she’ll give those of us who are yet to be mated a break for a little while.” He shot a hopeful look at his mother, who waved him off.
“Anyway, Gabe has some things to tell us about the Pellini Group before Nina tells us what she found out about the Pacific Pack bank records that she illegally hacked into earlier this afternoon.” With that, Cade shot a glare at Tracy, who gave him a discreetly raised middle finger as she scratched her nose.
Gabe sat forward instead of standing up. This was his family now and he didn’t want to push his rank. “As you’re aware, the Pellini family has found the ear of the Second in the National Pack. I’ve been more and more concerned by this in the last six months as I’ve seen the Pellini people have more of a say in Pack business. This makes me very unhappy and I’ve been concerned as I watched them get their claws into the National Pack. But I’m Third—” he shrugged “—and what the Second does is something I need to be careful over. And it’s something that Pellini has used in his whisperings to the Second. He’s made me look like a traitor and someone out to usurp the Second’s position. So each time someone comes to me worried about the situation, I have to reassure them.”
“But you don’t feel very reassured?” Cade asked.
“No. No I don’t, and my being away right now only exacerbates things because I’m a voice of reason in the Inner Circle. When I’m not around, it makes it easier for the Second to get to the Alpha.”
“Well, we’ve had our share of worries. As you probably know, we’ve had our own problems with the Pellini family in the last few years. We can never seem to get enough on them. Even after we had the run-in with them that got Carter executed and dumped on our land, we couldn’t prove that they were the ones behind the stolen virus or the hit. And we don’t know if they reproduced any of the virus to use later. So you can understand our concern that suddenly a murderer and criminal like Warren Pellini has the ear of one of the most powerful wolves in the country.” Lex took a drink of his beer.
“I can’t go into all of it, but there have been some less-than-ideal business decisions made because of Pellini’s involvement. People who’ve confronted him on it have been fired or challenged or threatened. I’ve been threatened but my position is more solid than a lot of others because the Alpha trusts me greatly. But he also trusts the Second.
“So what I’d like to do is find out where the Packs are on this. I’ve spoken with Great Lakes, Shasta, City of Angels and Golden Gate and they’re all with me. I hate to put you on the spot but this is a serious situation and will only get worse until we get Pellini out of there.”
Lex took a quick look at Cade, who gave a small nod. “We’re with you. What do you need?”
“Right now, nothing. I’m hoping this will be bloodless and reasonable. If I can go to the Alpha and show him that the Packs of the nation are concerned about Pellini and want him out, I believe he’ll make that happen.”
“Okay. We’ve got your back.”
He turned to Nick. “And Pacific?”
Nick shrugged. “I can’t speak for the Pack, obviously. But if you’re asking what the Enforcer thinks, I think the Pellini family is bad news and they endanger all of us. If the humans had any idea there was such a thing as werewolf organized crime it could lead to some very frightening times. Ben was antsy about it the other day. Asked me to feel Cascadia out about the situation. But he said he didn’t want to take sides. In my opinion, it’s a bad idea. But we haven’t discussed it as a Pack. With things so bad right now, I don’t know what to say.”
Gabe scrubbed his hands over his face. “I understand your predicament, Nick, I really do. But it is important. For precisely the reasons you bring up. The humans are suspicious of us as it is. This is something I’d like you to look into soon.” He sighed.
“Well, this is probably a good time to bring up what I found today.” Nina pulled some papers out of a file folder on the low table near the couch. “I did a basic search through the transaction records for the past three years. I looked into Pack accounts and the personal accounts of Sarah and Ben as well.”
Nick looked up sharply but said nothing.
“I’m sorry, Nick. I just thought it would be wise to cover all the bases. I looked at yours as well.”
“Nina!” Tracy objected. “I didn’t ask you to do that.”
“I know you didn’t. But damn it, you’re in danger down there and there will be an accounting. And I don’t feel guilty about watching your back, I’m your best friend and big sister and that’s what we do. In any case, Nick is all clear. He’s a very nice prospect, Trace. He pays his bills on time and has a very nice nest egg. Way to go.”
Tracy lost the edge of her anger and rolled her eyes.
“But I can’t say the same of Ben and Sarah. Or rather, I can now, but about eighteen months ago things got very tight. They have a nice living. She brings in nearly two hundred grand a year and he pulls in about the same from the Pack. But there’d be times when there was nothing in the account and they were overdrawn. She took out large cash advances on their credit cards until she maxed them out. Then everything was fine for a few months and she’d pay back the credit cards and the accounts and then it would happen again. Only, Pack money began to ebb and flow on her schedule.” Nina handed the papers to Nick, who stared at them, shocked.
“And then, about six months after that, huge amounts of money started moving through the Pack accounts. And then payments made to three different companies. Always the same three companies. In really large amounts. I haven’t been able to find out much about these companies, though. One is a place that makes plastic. Can’t imagine why the Pack would have paid nearly half a million dollars to a company that makes plastic in the last nine months. Can you?”
“I don’t know what the hell any of this is.” Nick stared at the paperwork in front of him. “I’ve never heard of any of these companies. They aren’t Pack businesses.”
“Well, and I don’t mean to brag, but I’m pretty slick at finding things out and I hit a major brick wall here on these outfits. They look like fronts and well, naturally my mind jumps to who we all know who runs front businesses.”
“You are so bent,” Lex murmured, a gleam in his eyes as he spoke to his wife.
“Easy there, Scooby. Let me finish here.”
Gabe laughed as Lex snorted before kissing her neck and leaning back to listen.
“Are you saying my Pack is doing business with the mafia?” The anguish in Nick’s voice was clear
.
“I’m sorry, Nick. Even more specific, I’m saying your brother and his mate appear to be laundering money through the Pack’s accounts for the mafia.”
“How can you know? You’re a gardener!” Nick stood and began to pace. Lex growled but Nina patted his thigh.
“I am now, yeah. But let’s just say I have a colorful past and leave it at that. Enough color to know what this is.” Nina looked to Gabe. “Not enough to prove it in a court of law, of course. But common sense can tell you something that you need to back up with months of investigation.”
“This can’t be happening. Things were so simple a week ago.” Nick sat back down.
“It’s got to be connected,” Gabe said. “Pellini is working to expand his power. Damn it! It’s hard being away right now. The other wolves in the Inner Circle are very concerned and I’ve gotten calls from some of the other Packs I mentioned, they’ve seen an increase in the presence in certain problems associated with the Pellinis. Just like this one. I need to get back out there and continue to monitor this.”
Tracy closed her eyes as guilt speared through her. He was there because of her. If it weren’t for her, he’d be back in Boston taking care of business. Nick was going through this because of her presence in his life. She fought back tears of frustration, not wanting to lose it in front of her family.
“Excuse me a moment.” Gabe turned to her and took her chin in his hand. “What is it?” His voice was gentle in contrast to his normal voice of address, which was more formal and cool.
Tracy blushed red. “Nothing. God! Don’t let me interrupt you.” The last thing she wanted was to be a bigger distraction than she was already.
“Don’t lie to me. I can feel that you’re upset.” His eyes bored straight into hers.
“I can feel it, too. Come on, baby, tell us,” Nick tried to coax her gently.
“She feels guilty!” Nina said it like any idiot could have figured it out.
“Why on earth would she feel guilty?” Gabe turned back to look at Nina.