Page 52 of Protected By Artemis

“Yeah.”

Xavier blew out a breath. “Oh, thank fuck. You were in such bad shape I thought you’d be in a healing coma for a month. It was a good thing Artemis arrived to heal you.”

He ignored the tugging in his gut. “I’m glad you’re here. I was just about to run over to your cabin. I think we might be getting some good news about the bombing.”

Xavier’s face lit up. “Really? Well, then, you’ll love what I’m about to tell you.”

“What is it?”

“We caught one of the guys who set the fire.”

“Really?” He clapped Xavier on the back. “Good job. How did you find him?”

“Thank you, Alpha. As you know, after the bombing, I doubled up our patrols in our territory. While you were helping get the people out of the lodge, I alerted the guards on duty, and they searched all over and found a guy running through the woods. They hunted him down and then locked him up in the community center basement.”

“Excellent.” Fury burned in his chest. “Has he confessed yet?”

“Unfortunately not. Not yet, anyway, but we’ve only been withholding water and food so far. The real fun hasn’t begun yet.” An evil grin spread across his face. “I thought you’d want a go at him first.”

“Oh yeah.” He cracked his knuckles. “I’ll make him talk.” Xavier may have to hold him back. “Let’s go?—”

“We’re here,” Artemis announced as she came down the stairs, Hephaestus following behind her while a third figure trailed behind.

“Apollo?” Cade said as soon as he spied his brother-in-law. “What are you doing here?”

“Hephaestus called to tell us he had important news about the pack, and Geri threatened to leave Olympus,” the god of the sun said. “As a compromise, I said I’d come here and keep her updated on what’s happening.”

“That’s fine, whatever makes her happy.” He turned to Hephaestus. “What did you find?”

A satisfied smirk broadened across the god’s face. “Everything.”

“Everything?” Cade echoed. “What do you mean?”

“He broke into Arcane’s servers,” Artemis beamed. “And he found all the evidence we need.”

“And then some.” Hephaestus placed his laptop on the coffee table. “There,” he said, pointing to a blank wall, where an image appeared out of nowhere.

“Whoa!” Apollo said. “Is your laptop projecting directly on the wall?”

“Yeah. I made it myself.” Hephaestus tapped a few keys. “Took a while, but my program managed to break into their firewall this morning. But once I got in, I got ahold of everything—emails, texts, and, more importantly, bank records. Even from personal devices of everyone from the mailroom clerk to the CEO.” Various windows popped up on the wall. “It’s all there.”

Cade couldn’t make heads or tails of any of it. “Can you explain it? And is the Yukon pack involved at all?”

“No, not directly,” Hephaestus began. “They sent a proposal to Daniel and Mallory last year, and after some negotiation, Mallory agreed to sell to them about two months ago.”

“What?” Cade asked, incredulous. “Their pack has owned that land for over two hundred years. Why would she do that?”

“They’re in a lot of financial trouble.” Hephaestus tsked. “Daniel convinced them to invest in what turned out to be ascam business a couple of years back. Anyway, Mallory agreed to sell off most of the western part of their land. Then Arcane started going farther, buying up the surrounding land?—”

“Until they reached ours,” Cade said. “They began to get more aggressive about a month ago.”

“Exactly,” the god added. “And when you refused to sell, they decided to send a message. I have the proof, including messages between all the C-Suite executives, the CEO, and the peons who hired the goons that sent the bomb to you. I also have all the money transfers Arcane routed through various shell companies, including payments into Swiss bank accounts tied to the bombers.”

“Aren’t those private?” Xavier said.

Hephaestus only smirked.

“This is it,” Artemis said, clapping her hands excitedly. “We have the proof we need.”

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