Page 212 of Claimed By the Rival Alpha
I sat up, wiping away the suds that clung to my chin. “Did you read my mind?” I asked, resting my arms on the rim of the tub. “I was just thinking of asking you to bring me something to look at.”
He chuckled as he bent and kissed my forehead. “Are you so bored that youwantto look through these old receipts and invoices?”
“It’s not about boredom; it’s about getting things done.” I gestured for him to sit. “Sure, reading a book is nice, but we need to get this done. These old ledgers will help us understand the pack better.”
Many of the complaints I’d read involved issues with access to resources. I’d always been under the impression that Kings lived luxurious lives, but in reality, it was just a front. Most of that money had ended up in the pockets of either high-ranking families or the Redwolfs. Many of the issues could have been addressed with a simple reallocation of funds.
Night moved my mug so he could sit on the stool. “You’re supposed to be relaxing.”
I scoffed. “As if I could focus on a bodice-ripping romance in the middle of all this chaos.”
He smiled and brushed the back of his hand across my cheek. “Fair enough. It’s impossible to get you to slow down. Paperwork shouldn’t put too much of a strain on you.”
“Right.”
“So, how are you feeling?” he asked.
“Like crap,” I said with a sigh. “It’s like I’ve got a bad flu with all the aches and pains and vomiting but none of the sneezing and coughing.” My body already felt like it was carrying the weight of two, but the baby wasn’t much larger than a pebble right now.
Night frowned in sympathy and peered into my mug. It was almost empty. “I’ll make you some more tea. Will that help?”
“Thanks, love. I’m still a bit queasy, so that’ll help a lot.” I glanced at the envelopes. “What did you bring me?”
“Oh, right.” He looked like he’d just remembered why he’d come up here. “A wolf dropped these off. They need your signature. He wanted to bring them to you directly, but”—he grinned and showed his sharp canines—“I told him that wasn’t necessary. I’d bring them right up to you myself.”
I snorted. “Uh-huh. And I’m sure you terrified the guy in the process.” I noticed the papers stuck out of the envelopes. “Did you trip and open the envelopes on accident?”
A mischievous glint flashed in his eyes. “Well, I admit I was a little curious about them. Imighthave taken a peek before coming up here.”
I raised a brow. “And how long have you been sitting on these important documents?”
He tried to look innocent, but with those sharp features, the attempt fell flat. “No more than an hour.”
I knew he was joking, but a new worry formed in my chest. Night was not the alpha of the Kings, so his seeing the documents wasprobably against pack law. Allowing a once-enemy-pack’s alpha to look through these documents was likely very ill-advised. Hopefully, the council wouldn’t find out how much Night was helping. There hadn’t been any pushback thus far, and I hoped things stayed that way.
I dried my hands on the towel. “Alright, hand them over.”
The documents were approval requests for repairs within the pack and checks to pay the shopkeepers and workers. I signed the papers with the pen Night handed me. At least I was doingsomethingproductive.
“By the way,” he said, “I found some irregularities when I went through the ledgers.”
“The ledgers? You’re already looking through those?” I’d set those aside to look over tomorrow or the day after. He’d moved through the documents quicker than Tavi and me.
My emotions must have shown on my face because he gave me a gentle smile. “I’m used to looking through these sorts of things, and I know what to look for. Don’t be too hard on yourself, Bryn. You’re still getting the hang of all this.”
“Right, yeah, of course.” I tried not to feel like a little girl who was more out of her depth than she’d thought going into all of this. I should’ve been the one who had discovered the irregularities, not Night. “What irregularities did you find?”
“For the most part, everything was as I’d expect, but the Kings have been making slightly less of a profit than expected for a pack this size.”
“Less of a profit,” I repeated. “Is that due to the markets bringing in less money, or is it because Gregor and Troy spent more of the pack’s funds than they should have?”
“It’s hard to say for sure, but I think it’s probably a bit of both. Starting in January, it looks like the market sales went down at a steady rate. They were probably neglected when Gregor became sick. Sales took a major dip a couple of months ago, and I’m sure that’s because Troy didn’t bother to keep things up and running.”
“Okay. Could we check in with the shop owners and see what they have to say?”
“Absolutely. I think we ought to ask them how well their sales have been lately.”
I nodded. The commons was where packs made their money. If the shop owners weren’t bringing in the profits we needed to see, the pack as a whole would suffer. “Does the pack have enough money in savings to handle payroll?”
