bChapter /bb244 /b

Cyra

Alpha Quirin is… Intense. There really isn’t another word for it.

“I understand more than anyone else here what it is like to be alone when you meet the Hills. I was an only child until Alpha Harold band /bbLuna /bFarrah adopted me after the death of my parents when I was fifteen. Then, Henry became my brother. But as I’m sure you’ve noticed, we are nothing alike. The Hills are loud and boisterous, but they are loving and passionate when ites to family. They’re a lot to take in at first, but they are definitely worth it,” he says.

His intensity doesn’t lessen, but it does shift when he looks at his mate and the scowly face he maintained while we talked breaks into a smile as she walks up.

“Alpha Cyra, you are joining us for lunch, aren’t you?” Luna Kennedy asks.

“Yes, I would love to. I’ve really missed Yorick,” I say, turning to look at my mate who is hugging his sister,

“And we have a lot to discuss. It might be a good idea to invite the Tech Team to join us as well, since they are helping to get information about your alliance bond, Alpha Cyra,” Alpha Quirin says. “Wouldn’t you agree, Connor?” he asks, looking over my head.

“I absolutely would, Quirin,” he says as I turn to look at him over my shoulder. I step back to include him in our mini–circle “You’re not alone anymore, Cyra. Yorick should havee to us the moment he realized you were in an alliance bond against your will, but I understand his need to make his own way in this world. Now, however, you have the full force of three packs behind you.”

I smell his bamboo scent a moment before his armse around me. “Well, first, I had to get Cyra to agree to not reject me. Then I had to make sure that she couldn’t live without me. Now, it’s time to act,” he says, kissing the top of my head.

“I’ll go ask the Tech Team to join us for lunch. I think the time to start nning is now and I’d like to know what they have in mind that might keep us from going to war,i” /iAlpha Quirin says, before walking over to talk to the group.

“Are you doing okay?” Yorick asks in my ear.

“Yes. It’s a lot, but it’s good. When are youing back to the Academy?” I ask him.

“I thought I needed to go home to get my things, but Connor called one of the warriors and they are already packing up my car to bring to it to me.”

“Nice,” I tell himi, /iexcited that I won’t have to be away from him.

“Of course, if my clothes aren’t here by tonight, I may have to sleep in the nude,” he says, grinning at me.

“Oh you will be anyway, Alpha. Well, the nude partb, /bnot the sleeping part. You have a lot of making up to do.”

Yorick rides with me to the restaurant, but when we arrive, Luna Yara hooks her arm through mine. “I’d love it if you’d sit beside me during

lunch. I want to get to know you a little bit betterbi,/i/bi” /ishe says.

“I’d like that too, Luna,” I say, thinking that the group may want or need my input on the direction they are nning since it is my fath Sten that they are making ns against. So, I’m not sure how much time I’ll have to get to know her.

When we sit, I’m sandwiched between Luna Yara and Yorick.

“Where’s Tracker?” I ask when Hacker and Hijack join us.

“She’s taking a couple of days off,b” /bHijack says. I did notice that Raptor was in the court room today, so I’m bguessing /bbthe /bbtwo /bbof /bbthem /bbare /b

bChapter /bb244 /b

bgoing /bbto /bspend some time together.

Hacker and Hijack sit next to each other and almost as if the’s already part of the team, Wendy elts beside Hacker, I notice the outer fri children, Yana, Wade, and Yvonne, all sit among the others at the table, acting as if Alphas Quirin, Henry, and Harold, as well as Cuma Puran really are part of their family.

While we wait to order, everyone thats happily, excited that Yorick will be able toe back to the Academy.

“Tell me about yourself, Cyra. Have you always wanted to go to the Academy?” Luna Yara asks me.

“No, Luna. I actually applied to give myself a reprieve from the alliance bond. Imagine my surprise when I ended up finding Yorick, Isay turning to smile at my mate. He grins at me, then turns back to the conversation he’s having with Luna Farrah.

“May I ask where your mother is in all of this?” she asks gently.

“She died when I was young, Luna. It’s just been my father and I for most of my life.”

She smiles at me in a way that feels very maternal. It simultaneously warms my heart while making it feel like it’s breaking for the rtionship that I never got to have with my mother.

“Well, I could never take the ce of your mother, but once all of this is settled, I would be happy to act as a mother figure in your life if byou /b

want one.”

“I’d like that very much Luna. I see how happy your family is and…” I fight against the tightness in my throat. Yorick reaches out to squeeze my hand. “My father isn’t a very loving man. I mean, he’s always made sure that I was taken care of, but it’s nothing like what I see in your

family.”

“Well, not all men can be like my Warren,” she says proudly. I see him nce over to us and smile before turning back to his conversation with Hacker and Hijack. “He’s an amazing man, Alpha, mate, and father. I’m proud to say our sons take after him.”

“Your daughters do too,” Yana cuts in.

“Yes, my daughters do too,” she says. “Only Kennedy is like me, interested in medicine. The rest of my children follow in their father’s footsteps of being very intelligent, very powerful fighters.”

“Well, I don’t know your other children enough to say, but I do know Yorick and based on how you described your mate, I’d say he’s just like his father,” I tell her proudly, just as our food arrives.

“Oh, I can tell I’m going to like you a loti,” /ishe says quietly before thanking the waiter for her food.

“Thank you, Luna,” I say.

“For what?” she asks.

I frown, about to answer, when Yorick leans over. “Mom mumbles all the time. She doesn’t realize that she’s doing it. She didn’t mean to say thatst part out loud,” he says.

“Which part?” she asks, looking at Yorick.

“The part about liking my mate a lot,” he tells her, grinning at ihis /imother before turning his grin on me. “I like her ba /bblot /bbtoo/b. bI’m /bbkeep /bhe says, stealing a kiss before turning to his food.

As soon as the waiters are gone, the Alphas all sit forward, as if they have been waiting for this moment.

“Now, I’d like to know what the Tech Team thinks they are going to do ito /ikeep us from going to war,” Alpha Warren says.

Chapter b244 /b

bHacker /band Hijack both turn bto /bme.

b“/bbWhy /bare you looking at me?b” /bI ask them.

b“/bYou signed the confidentiality agreement with us. It’s up to you whether or not we can discuss anything rted bto /bbthe /bbproject /bwere working on for you with this group,” Hacker says,

I look around at the expectant looks on the faces around me.

“They can’t help us unless they know everything, Cyra,” Yorick says to me. “You can family.”

I look at everyone again, then back to the Tech Team.

“Okay, tell them.”

trust my family and everyone at this table is considered

Hijack leans forward, giving a quick summary of how they got involved and what they have found so far. “I followed the moneyb. /bAlpha bQuirin/bb, /bI understand that you have a substantial amount of

imoney /iat your disposal,” he says.

“That’s correct. I’ve already offered to give Yorick

twenty million dors needed to pay off Alpha Arden’s debt.”

The other Alphas all nod as if this ismon knowledge.

“Quirin has always been such a lovely young man,b” /bLuna Yara says to me.

There are some snorts and a lot of smiles at the table.

“I wouldn’t go that far Luna, but I have learned the value of love and being part of a family,” Alpha Quirin says. Luna Yara frowns, then leans

over to me.

“Did I say that out loud?”

“Yes, you did, Luna.” I wonder if she’s always been like this.

“I really have to get better about that,” she says.

“So, you followed the moneyi,/ii” /iAlpha Warren says, getting everyone

back

on track.

“Correct. It turns out that Alpha Christer isn’t as wealthy as you are, Alpha Quirin. He had to take out a loan in order to buy out Alpha Arden’s

debt.”

“And?” Connor asks.

“His packnds aren’t as wealthy as yours,” he says, looking around the table. I feel like I’m in a ss at the Academy with the instructor waiting to see who catches on to what they are saying first.

“He didn’t go through a bank,” Wendy and Quirin say at the same time.

Hacker and Hijack smile at Wendy and her quick wit.

“Correct. He had to go through a loan shark, one who is charging him a LOT of interest. One who would be happy bto /bbget /bbhis /bbmoney /bbb /bbuyout, since Alpha Christer is starting to struggle to pay the monthly cost of the loan.”

“How did he not know that he couldn’t make the payments?” Alpha Henry asks.

“I don’t think he took the hefty interest rates into ount. bAny /binterest ion /itwenty million dors is going to be ba /bblot. /bbA /bbone /bbpercent /bbinterest /b

bChapter /bb244 /b

brate /bbwould /bbe btwo /bhundred thousand dors a year. A loan shark is only going to make bit /bbmore/b, Hacker saysbi. /i/b

“Fifteen percent, to be exact,” Hijack says.

b“/bThree million a year? Is that right?” I ask.

b“/bbIn /binterest alone,” Hacker says.

Holy shit! Christer is going to bankrupt his pack

pack just for this alliance bond.

“I’m sorry, I’m not sure I understand why the loan being held by a loan shark matters,” Alpha Harold says. I’m d I’m not the bonly /bbone /bwho doesn’t get that part of it.

Quirin turns to look at Yorick and I. “We buy embezzlement,” he begins.

out the loan with the requirement that we get the evidence that he obtained about byour /bbfathers /b

“Not necessary. I can pull it out of his data files and delete them so he no longer bhas /bess.”

“What if he saved copies?” Connor asks.

Hijack merely raises an eyebrow. “My codename is Hijack for a reason, Alpha.”

b“/bYou’re a little bit scary,” Connor says, frowning.

“Once we own the loan and have those documents, WE own your father, Alpha Cyra, and Alpha Christer no longer has the ability to bhold /bbyou /bountable to the alliance bond,” Alpha Quirin says, redirecting the conversation once again.

“What about my father?” I ask.

“ording to the agreement, Alpha Christer will provide the evidence of your father’s wrongdoing to the Council and take your father’s pack to war if he doesn’t uphold his end of the bargain. I would suggest that you submit the information to the Councilb,” /bHacker says. “Based on what Hijack has found, Alpha Christer could also be found liable for not submitting the information to the Council in the first ce and then trying to force Alpha Arden to basically sell his daughter to pay for his debts.”

“The Council doesn’t respond fondly to either of those things,” Hijack adds.

“And if that fails?” I ask. “What if that’s not enough to sway Alpha Christer?”

“Then, we go to wari,/ii” /ievery Alpha at the table says in unison.