Page 213 of Claimed By the Rival Alpha
“From what I see, that shouldn’t be a problem. It’s not that the markets aren’t making any money; their sales are just lower than expected.”
“You said it might be more than just the markets, so where else have we been losing money? I could totally see Gregor or Troy stealing money from the infirmary or the gardens, for example.”
He snorted. “So could I, but it’s not quite that. It’s not just one account that’s missing money—it’s all of them.”
I tilted my head. “What do you mean?”
“It’s not unusual for a pack to have multiple accounts; the Wargs have one for payroll, one for renovations and general packupkeep, and one for emergencies. Everything else is a surplus. It’s easier to keep it all separated because then you can see what you have in each account to take care of specific things. It can get confusing looking at the whole sum without some organization.”
“That makes sense.”
“The Kings work the same way, though they work with larger sums of money and have more accounts. Someone has been taking medium-sized sums from each account and citing ‘taxes’ for these withdrawals. The money that’s moved into this supposed tax account is never the same amount, and the funds are never withdrawn at the same time.”
I was starting to feel cold even though the water was still pleasantly warm. “And how much money is in the tax account?”
“It should be close to two-hundred-and-fifty-thousand dollars.”
“Why ‘should be?’”
“I can’t find the tax account in any of the documents, so I don’t know the exact amount.”
“Wait, what do you mean you can’t find it?”
His expression darkened. “It’s not connected to any of the main accounts. These withdrawals go back at least five years, but the tax account is hidden. I can see the discrepancies and the reasons given for the withdrawals, but I can’t find even one official statement that shows the tax account exists.”
My heart started to race. “I don’t even want to imagine what someone could do with a quarter of a million dollars. But Night, you have to give it to me straight.”
He ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “Bryn, I don’t want to stress you out any more than you already are, but that money is more than enough to start a new pack.”
“Oh, shit,” I whispered. My blood chilled thoroughly.Troy. “Do you think Troy has the account?”
“That’s exactly what I’m afraid of, but without knowing more about the account, I can’t say for sure.”
“Who else would have access to these accounts?” I asked.
“I wish I could tell you, but I don’t know how the Kings operate. My pack had an issue with theft under Pete, so when I took over, I made it so only the council, the elders, myself, and Dom could access our accounts. I’m hoping the Kings work similarly.”
“I guess we’ll have to ask the council if they know anything about it.”
“That’s what I want to do today, but I can’t do that without you present,” Night said. “I hate that I have to ask you to do this when you should be taking it easy, but we should get to the bottom of this as quickly as possible.”
“I agree,” I said, setting aside the documents. “Let’s do this now.”
His eyebrows knitted together. “If you’re sure you’re feeling up to it, we’ll do it. I wanted to give the doc a visit and see if everything’s okay with you and the baby, but perhaps we should do that another day.”
I shook my head. “No. We’ll see Dr. Stan after we’ve seen the council. Making sure the baby is healthy is a priority, but I want to confront the council about this.”
No matter how horrible I felt, I couldn’t keep sitting on my ass when there were so many unknowns. If Troy had access to that tax account, there was no telling what kind of evil he’d do with that kind of money. If he had been squirreling funds away all this time, I had no doubt he’d use them to benefit his feral army.
The thought pushed me to my feet. Startled by the sudden movement, Night reached out to steady me, but I was already standing on the bath mat and reaching for my robe.
“Bryn, it could be taxing?—”
“Night, I don’t care. This might explain why the ferals were so willing to risk their lives to help him escape. If they’re on Troy’s payroll, we’re probably in for more attacks.”
His lips pulled back into a snarl. “Shit. You’re right. We needed to get to the bottom of thisyesterday.”
I nodded. “Let’s get going.”
