Page 7 of An Uncertain Claim

As I passed Peyton’s room on the way to the kitchen, I paused and cracked her door to find her fast asleep. Despite my anger, I was glad to see her resting. I also needed to check in with my Beta and find out how the fuck that psycho had found her.

My keys, wallet, and phone were on the island when I walked into the room, most likely delivered by one of my enforcers while I’d been in the shower. I’d just picked up my phone when Tanner contacted me through the pack link.

Alpha, you need to call me now.

I hit the speed dial for my Beta.

He answered immediately. “We have a big fucking problem. Apparently, we didn’t find all the holes Dexter punched in the system.”

“I’m fast approaching my limit with that kid,” I snarled. “One more thing and I’m going to hunt him down and kill him.”

“One thing at a time, Nate.” Tanner didn’t sound all that convinced we shouldn’t proceed with the plan to eliminate Dexter.

“When we let him go, I didn’t suspect for one second that he had done it on purpose, but now I’m starting to question that,” I admitted.

“I’ve had Lisa digging into it. She agrees with our assessment.” He sounded hesitant.

“But?”

“I’m also of the opinion that it was an orchestrated attack on our system.”

I blew out a frustrated breath and pinched the bridge of my nose. “How can it be both?”

“Lisa had one of the other techs combing through Dexter’s history.” Everything done on a KBO computer, down to the keystroke, was saved on our servers, and there were security cameras on nearly every inch of the facility. “She found some of the chats where people suggested the other ‘shortcuts’ he tried. She thinks if she keeps digging, she’s going to find someone who gave him this one as well.”

Lucky kid,I thought. He didn’t realize that Tanner had just saved his ass. We’d hired Dexter because of his potential, but sometimes book smarts didn’t equal common sense, something he clearly lacked.

“Keep me updated. Was information being siphoned through the glitch you found today?”

“Someone tried to access some heavily encrypted files the day Dexter took the firewall down. But they couldn’t get into them, and we had the patch on fast enough that they wouldn’t have gotten much anyway.”

I nodded, even though he couldn’t see it. I’d already been aware of that information.

“As far as I can tell, no one tried to slip in through this hole until today. I don’t think they knew it existed.”

“What did they go after today?”

“That’s what has me most concerned. They went straight for your security system, Nate. They only toughed that.”

My hand tightened around my phone so hard I heard it crack. It wasn’t too bad because I could still hear Tanner talking.

“They disengaged the house system after you left this morning.”

Son of a bitch.

My mind replayed the confrontation with Peyton, and I wanted to bang my head against a wall. I’d been so angry and scared that I hadn’t considered the possibility it might not have been Peyton’s fault. I’d lit into her when she’d been in no condition to argue with me or set me straight. That was the whole reason I’d chosen that moment. My wolf sensed my conflicting emotions over the scene, and he warily retreated to see how things played out.

It had been more years than I could remember since I’d experienced guilt. I’d learned to accept the reality of any situation. Feeling guilty wouldn’t fix things. And it would impede my ability to compartmentalize the brutal things I did in the name of justice and morality. So, instead of wallowing in guilt and regret, I learned from the mistake and did everything I could never to make it again. As an Alpha and head of the SCA and ISC, I didn’t have time to go over every wrong decision, so I studied my options before making them to avoid the problem altogether. I’d been confident in my choices and actions for so long, perhaps it hadn’t occurred to me I could be wrong in my conclusion. The assumption had been understandable considering Peyton’s history, but I should have stopped to make sure I’d been right before I yelled at her about it.

However, even if I accepted my choices and moved on rather than dwelling on regret, I had always been willing to admit to my mistakes and learn from them. I couldn’t ask it of my people if I wasn’t willing to do the same. I knew I’d been a bastard to Peyton, and I owed her an apology. When she woke up, we’d talk about everything that had happened. But first, I had to deal with the bullshit at KBO.

“We moved it to a more secure server, one that hasn’t been tampered with,” Tanner informed me. “It won’t happen again. But you might want to get here ASAP and take a look at the problem. I’ve plugged it, but it’s so convoluted, I can’t quite figure out how to untangle it so it’s permanently fixed.”

I glanced at the hallway and knew I couldn’t leave Peyton alone. “If you think the patch is enough for the moment, I need to be here with Peyton. He broke her jaw in a couple of places, so she can’t ask for help or call someone on the phone. Someone needs to be here to help her.”

“Yeah, it can wait. But why not assign Jase or Asher to stay there and watch over her?” Tanner asked.

“Because she’s my mate, asshole,” I growled automatically. My wolf grunted in agreement. The idea of either of those two, or any male besides me, watching over her had jealousy clawing at me. “She’s mine to take care of.”

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