Betrayal - The Matlock Pack: Book Two

Chapter 13 - Takeshi

Saturday 23 January

~*Takeshi*~

“They can’t have just disappeared.”

I paced my office, feeling everyone’s eyes on me. As soon as the sun breached the horizon this morning, I had called them all in for a debrief, demanding to know where Tatum and Zelda had gone.

“They seem to be masking their scent,” Charlie said, leaning against the wall to the right of the door, her hands clasped behind the small of her back. “We can’t track what we can’t scent. It’s like they wanted us to know who had thrown the rock last night, but nothing else. We lost them once they breached the creek at Horseshoe Bend. There are suspicions that they’re circling Lake Eildon.”

“You know what Eildon is like at this time of the year. Too many humans for a thorough search,” Kelly said from the other side of the room, his arms crossed and wearing an annoyed scowl. “They’re brazen, I’ll give them that. That many human campers? I’m surprised we haven’t had any sightings go public.”

I growled. “That’s the last thing we need right now. Have we got anyone we can spare to run interference with the media?”

“I’ve been in touch with my usual contact,” said Charlie. “She assures us we’re in the clear and that she’ll be in contact if anything changes.”

I let out a huff. “I don’t like it. They’re too close to the Borderlands. If they head south-west through the Rubicon, they could by-pass us north of the Borderlands between Buxton and Taggerty and jump across to Kinglake territory.”

“If they do, we’ll be ready for them,” Kelly said, obviously confident in his team. “Once we tracked them to Horseshoe Bend, I put the order through to up our numbers at the Borderlands.”

“But will it be enough?” Kennedy asked. He pointed at the large map sprawled across my desk. “We’re being hammered by attacks at the south of the Borderlands between Toolangi and Chum Creek. It’s almost like they want us there to create a division in our ranks.”

Kelly glared at his husband for questioning him. “It’ll be enough. We’ve trained for this sort of thing. They won’t get through.” He puffed his chest out to make himself appear bigger in the crowded office.

Kennedy gave him a small smile. “I’m not arguing with you, babe. Just pointing out that we’re thin on the ground.”

Appeased, Kelly relaxed his shoulders and returned Kennedy’s smile with a warm one of his own.

My mind raced with all the different scenarios that could play out over the next few days. We’d been lucky so far, but I wasn’t willing to rely on that luck holding. Every one of us was running on very little sleep after last night and was more on edge than anybody would have liked to be.

Personally, I was thankful that I’d received as much rest as I had after last night’s incident. Casey had ushered Mac back to his car and seen him off, but Mac had returned with his dad less than forty minutes later to board up the broken window, with the promise of a more permanent solution in the coming week. I hadn’t requested the help, but was very grateful for it.

There was one thing that still bothered me, however. “Casey? Is there any scope in the curriculum to bring the mind-link training forward?”

The ruffle of paperwork sounded as Casey found what I was asking after. “Maybe. It’s usually taught in the second year as part of Trail and Hunting, but we might be able to squeeze it in as part of Cyber-Security.” He turned to Charlie. “They’re both your topics, Charlie. Could you swing it that way?”

Charlie tilted her head to the side as she thought, her brow furrowing. “It’s possible. I’d have to move some assessments around and separate the part-timers from the full-timers, but it could work.” She aimed her shrewd gaze at me. “You worried they could be attacked out in the field?”

I nodded. “They seem to be getting bolder. Kadin and Bells were lucky last night when they were able to make it back to Building Two.” I walked over to the map and studied it. “If either had been taken, we wouldn’t have known about it until today, and by then it would have been too late. We need them all capable of mind-linking sooner rather than later.”

Casey and Charlie looked at each other, then at me. Charlie looked determined while Casey looked worried, but it was Casey who gave the okay. “We’ll make it work.”

“Good,” I muttered, my eyes returning to the map to study it more. I ran my finger along the southern border of our pack lands. “Do we know where Spence is?”

Silence filled the room.

“Don’t all talk at once, folks,” I said, waiting for any kind of response. When none came, I continued in a low voice. “I’m assuming from the lack of response that we don’t.”

The silence in the office was so loud it was deafening.

And infuriating.

“Okay, where and when was he last spotted?”

Kelly found his voice. “We tailed his brother and sister-in-law on the fifteenth to a restaurant in Healesville. They were there with Spence for a couple of hours. One of the tracking team remained behind to trail Spence but lost him just shy of Castella after he turned west into Kinglake territory.”

“Fuck.” I took a deep breath to relax my tense shoulders as I followed the roads Kelly was describing. “Do we have confirmation if he’s joined James?”

“Our spy swears he hasn’t.” Charlie walked over to the map and pointed to a road veering south from the Kinglake route. “We think Spence was aware of our tail and turned towards Steels Creek to end up in either Yarra Glen or Christmas Hills, knowing they wouldn’t follow him into Kinglake territory.”

I stared at the winding road she was pointing at. Even though it began in the Kinglake pack lands, it quickly veered back out and skirted the boundary for several kilometres, before ending back in a more built-up human area. “Could be,” I murmured. It’s definitely something I would have done if I were in his position.

“We’ll keep an eye out for him, Takeshi,” Kelly said. “We have Warriors patrolling that side of the border regularly. If Spence pops up, we’ll know.”

I nodded absently and scratched my chin, cursing that I hadn’t had time to trim my stubble earlier. It was getting too long for my liking and desperately needed a tidy up. “Any update from our spy about Nat’s allegations?”

“Not yet.” Charlie sighed and returned to her spot at the wall. “James seems to have his pack well segregated. They’re having trouble finding the right people to talk to.”

I looked up at her sharply. “Don’t let them ask too many questions. As much as we need this, I’d rather have a living spy over a dead one.”

She pressed her lips into a firm line and nodded. “They’re aware.”

“Let’s keep them aware,” I said firmly. I knew spy-craft was deadly, but they’d done good work for us in the past. I’d rather pull them out of Kinglake and reassign them if things started getting too risky.

“Yes, Alpha.”

My phone sang out an alert and when I pulled it out of my pocket, I discovered that the time was later than I had realised. “Okay, folks. I have a meeting I need to attend.” I picked up the map and started rolling. “You all know what you need to do. Let me know if you run into any roadblocks.”

The room filled with a chorus of “Yes, Takeshi” and “Yes, Alpha”, before they all shuffled out. I put the map away, locked my office, and headed for my apartment. My guest was waiting for me at my front door when I arrived. “Sorry, Amittai. We had a slight crisis last night that needed fixing.”

He waved his hand in the air to dispel my apologies, his steely grey eyes piercing my own, but warm in their forgiveness. “I saw the window on my way over. Rogues?”

I opened the door and gestured for him to follow me in. “Not exactly.” Letting the door close by itself, I headed for the kitchen. “You want a drink?”

“Sure.” He settled his lanky form at the bench, leaning on his right elbow and letting his left arm stretch out to hold the edge of the bench-top. He was wearing his usual attire—a navy business jacket over a wide-necked black t-shirt, and dark grey acid-washed jeans held up by a weathered dark brown belt. I knew the scuffed black boots he wore were steel capped, a habit he’d gotten into when he was a teenager after he discovered he had no wolf. It was one of the ways he could protect himself while wolves who didn’t think too highly of him surrounded him.

A firm, well-aimed kick to the groin with steel capped boots would bring anybody down, human or werewolf alike. That instinct had served him well over the years.

His sun-kissed brown hair hung in waves well past his shoulders and hid the earrings I knew he had in each ear. The only grey was in his well-maintained, but slightly scruffy beard; a sign that he was getting older, just like me. The sole visible hint to his artistic side were the multiple random necklaces slung around his neck made up of coloured rocks and string the thickness of heavy-duty shoelaces. He kept the tattoos that adorned his weathered skin well-hidden to keep his working life private.

I couldn’t blame him. Some things were best left private, especially when you traded in secrets.

I held up a bottle of red wine for his approval.

His eyes widened, but a smile slowly unfurled across his face. “So early?”

I shrugged, but grinned cheekily. “It’s been a long night.” I grabbed a couple of wine glasses from the overhead cabinet and poured. “Don’t tell Auden. She’ll kill me.”

He chuckled his deep, throaty laugh that I remembered so well from when we were younger. If anything, it had become deeper and throatier over the years. He swirled his wine, sniffed, then took a sip. “You’ve always had a taste for Penfolds, haven’t you?”

“Can’t go wrong with a good Grange.” I sipped, then settled the glass flat on the bench and rested the stem between two outstretched fingers, circling the glass occasionally to swirl the contents. “Talk to me about Tate. How’s he doing?”

“Good.” Amittai lifted the glass again to take another sip. “He’s settling in nicely with his new curriculum. It’s only been a week, but I can already see that he’s got skill with anything to do with computers. If he had a wolf, I would have recommended him to train as an investigator.”

I raised an eyebrow. “He’s that good?”

He nodded. “I’m glad I’ve got Charlie helping to train him. She’ll challenge him more than I can in that arena.”

The wheels started turning in my brain on where we could aim Tate’s education. He could become an incredible asset to the pack. “His blindness isn’t hindering anything?”

“Not that I’ve noticed.” He c****d his head to the side as he thought. “He knows his strengths and leans into them well. Sure, he’s not as strong or nimble as he should be, but I get the feeling that’s more to do with no-one bothering to work around his blindness, rather than any lack of enthusiasm on his behalf.”

I let out a low grumble of annoyance. I knew how much his parents had pushed Kadin to train with Spence. They could have done the same thing with their son. Instead, they had completely ignored him and his needs. No wonder Kadin was so protective of him.

“The couple of quick gym sessions I had with him, he was eager to try out everything I set him. I just need more time. He won’t know himself after a few months of training.”

I took another sip of my wine. “You’ve got as much as time as you need. Push him; find out what his limits are. I’ll talk to Charlie about focusing her sessions on tech.”

Amittai inclined his head in acceptance. Silence fell between us for a minute before he continued. “He’s still reeling about the way his parents treated him last weekend,” he said quietly, shuffling his glass from side to side on the bench. “It was a real gut punch to him for what they did.”

I let out a long breath as I watched sadness overtake my friend. “You think it’s history repeating?”

He shrugged. “Kind of. He’s luckier than me in some ways. He’s got his sister looking out for him, as well as you, me, and Charlie. I only had your family.” He raised his glass to me in thanks. “He won’t have to go through his last year of high school as a leper like I did.” He let his head droop as he swirled the rest of his wine. “From what I can gather, he didn’t have too many friends in school, so he doesn’t think he’ll be missed.” He paused. “I don’t think his sister knows that.”

I felt my teeth grind. “Let’s keep it that way.” Goddess only knows Kadin had her own issues to work through without adding that little morsel to chew over.

He nodded in wholehearted agreement before swallowing what remained in his glass. “I assume you want to also know if I’ve found out anything about mark cover-ups or removal?”

I raised an eyebrow at him. “You’d rather tell me than Kennedy?”

He chuckled. “No offense, Takeshi, but I’ve known you a lot longer than I’ve known your Beta.”

I let out an amused huff. “Fair enough.” I swallowed what was left of my own wine and held the still open bottle up to him to ask if he wanted a second glass.

He shook his head. “Thanks, though.” He pushed his empty glass to the centre of the kitchen bench. “I’ve made some quiet enquiries. There are several artists in Victoria like me who specialise in tattooing wolves, but only a couple I think could fit your criteria of dealing specifically with mate marks.”

My ears pricked up at the news. Maybe Kennedy was onto something when he suggested tattoo cover-ups.

“One works on elaborating sorrow marks as a way to help a wolf mourn their mate. Her work is incredible, and she’s very approachable. The other has the skill you’re looking for, but his work is a lot broader than the first. I’ve never met him, so I don’t know what his temperament is like.” He pulled his phone out and tapped away before showing me the screen. “Here are some examples from the first artist.”

I flicked through her online portfolio. Amittai was right; the work was astonishing. Most of her tattoos were flowing creations, circling around and blending seamlessly with the distinctive black mate marks, before curving along the collarbone and shoulder to extend down the upper arm, torso and back. Her designs reminded me very much of art nouveau works.

Once I handed the phone back to him, Amittai tapped again to bring up the other artist, then swivelled the phone back to me. “Here’s the other artist.”

I frowned at what I was looking at. These designs differed completely from the previous artist. Where the first artist was all curved lines and soft fades, this artist was hard angles and geometric designs. There didn’t seem to be a theme with his tattoos other than the stiff edges; each design was completely different to the last. The skill it took to complete these designs shone through the screen, though. Out of the two options, this artist was much more likely who we were looking for.

“Can you send me the links to both their portfolios?” I asked as I handed his phone back to him.

“Sure.” He tapped away at his phone for a few seconds. “Sent.”

I felt my phone buzz in my pocket, letting me know his email had come through. “Thanks.”

“No problems.” He pocketed his phone, then looked at me with narrowed eyes. “I won’t ask what you need this for, Takeshi, but be careful. The state council does not look kindly on the practice of tattooing marks, for obvious reasons.”

I swallowed heavily and nodded. “Thank you, my friend. Consider your warning delivered.”

He stared at me long enough to make me wonder if he was looking directly into my soul. Finally, he broke eye contact with me and let out a satisfied huff. “Okay. Now that business is out of the way, can I ask you for a personal favour?”

“Of course.” I grabbed both glasses and rinsed them in the sink. “What do you need?”

Amittai started fidgeting. “It appears I have a neighbour up on the fifth floor.”

“Mm-hmm.” I placed the glasses in the dishwasher and stood at the kitchen counter with a raised eyebrow and my arms spread wide. “Like you, she is providing specialised training to a pack member this year.”

“Right.” He rolled his head around his shoulders nervously. “Could you introduce me to her?”