Werewolf ceo 4, p.6
Werewolf CEO 4, page 6
But then it hit me.
This couldn’t be real. There was no way we could have missed the explosions that had caused the mass destruction I was looking at. Buildings blazed with red fire, and black smoke started to drift through the streets like a thick fog. The screams of terror of the humans being chased and hunted down below me grew louder and louder and made my ears ring. Then the helicopters in front of me pointed their spotlights right at me, and I had to cover my eyes with my hand again.
This was what New York would have looked like if the Guild had won. If we’d lost the battle at Central Park, and Arlo and Hamish had been successful, this was what would have happened. If we hadn’t intercepted the trade-off, if Katie hadn’t diffused the bombs, they would have decimated the city, and from the rubble, Z-TECH would have risen like zombies from the grave.
This had to be a dream. I had to wake up. I had to--
“Josh,” a voice rasped in my ear, and I whipped around, only to see no one there.
My girls were still dormant in bed, and the room was completely empty. The spotlights lit up the entire space, despite the pitch-black, burning night sky that glowed with red embers from the fires.
But there was still no one there.
I let out a shaky breath as I slowly turned my head back to the window, only to stagger back in horror.
In the reflection of the window stood my parents, floating above the hundreds of stories below. I turned to look behind me, but the room was still empty, and when I looked back, they were even closer.
Their bodies were mangled and burnt, and I could see their skin peeling off their exposed muscles. Their eyes glowed bright green, and their loose jaws snapped at me. These weren’t my parents. They were lifeless puppets, with loose limbs and deformed bodies. It made me want to hurl, seeing them like this, and I slapped the side of my face in an effort to wake myself up.
“Look, Josh,” my mom rasped out in a gravelly voice that wasn’t hers. “Look at it.”
“Look at the bloodshed,” my dad growled as he snapped his head to one side, and I could see the bone in his neck sticking out like a sharpened stick.
“Look at the chaos!” my mom demanded.
“No.” I shook my head and squeezed my eyes shut. “No, this isn’t real!”
“But it is,” Dad said in an even deeper voice. “And it will be.”
“No, no, no, I stopped the Guild!” I shouted, and I glared at their corpses still staring at me hollowly through the glass. “I stopped this from happening!”
“Look at it!” my mom roared like a demon. “Look at it, Josh!”
“Look at it!” my dad chimed in, and together they created an unholy chorus of terrifying voices that weren’t human.
I covered my ears with my hands and kept my eyes squeezed shut, pleading with myself to wake up. This was a dream. It was just a horrifying, crazy nightmare, and all I needed to do was wake up.
I gritted my teeth as their voices pierced through my skull, and I felt a roar rip through my own throat as I tried to block out their demands.
“Get out of my head!” I yelled. “Get out, get out, get--”
My body lurched forward, and I was suddenly sitting upright in bed gasping for breath. The sun was beaming in through the open windows, and New York was no longer on fire.
“Josh!” Emily said in a panicked tone as she bolted upright, too, and put her hand on my shoulder. “What happened?”
Mia and Hallie quickly woke themselves up from the disturbance and sat up with confused frowns on their sleepy faces.
“What’s going on?” Hallie mumbled as she wiped the sleep from her eyes. “Is everyone okay?”
“I…” I struggled to catch my breath, and my chest heaved up and down. “I had a… a nightmare.”
I kept my eyes on the city outside, just to make sure I wasn’t imagining that it was back to normal. It had felt so real, and yet I’d known it had to have been a nightmare when I was in it.
It didn’t make what I saw any less terrifying, though.
“Hey, you’re okay,” Emily said as she softly started to rub my back up and down. “Do you wanna talk about it?”
“I…” I trailed off again as I still struggled to find the words.
The dream had thrown me for a loop, and I felt like I was still stuck in that weird limbo in my mind. But I could feel the heat from Emily’s palm on my back, and I heard the sounds of everyday life coming from the streets below us.
No screams, and no roars. It was just the everyday hustle and bustle that I was used to.
“How fast did I fall asleep last night?” I asked after a few moments of calming myself down.
“As soon as your head hit the pillow, you were out like a light,” Mia said.
“We thought you were playing around with us, because you wouldn’t wake up for anything,” Hallie added.
That explained why it had felt like it was real. Because in my head, no time had passed from when I’d laid down and closed my eyes. I’d gone straight into the nightmare, which was pretty concerning. I was no sleep expert, but I was pretty damn sure there was supposed to be a period in between falling asleep and dreaming.
“And you guys didn’t have any bad dreams?” I asked as I tried to figure this all out.
“No, we slept fine,” Mia said as her brow furrowed in concern. “Josh, what did you dream about?”
I ran my hand over my face as I replayed the horrific things I saw in my head. I needed to tell them. If I didn’t, it’d just eat away at me, and I didn’t want to let this bother me any more than what it already had.
“New York was on fire,” I said after I took a deep breath. “The bombs that the Guild had planted had gone off, and Z-TECH freaks were running rampant. I could… I could hear the screams of the people caught in the crossfire.”
“Jesus,” Emily mumbled.
“But that wasn’t all.” I shook my head and swallowed the lump in my throat. “I saw my parents. They were in the reflection in the window, but they were corpses, juiced up with whatever Arlo injected himself with.”
“Josh, I’m so sorry,” Hallie whispered as she put her hand on my thigh and squeezed.
“They were, uhh… they were taunting me,” I said as I ran my hand through my hair. “It was really fucked up.”
“It sounds like it,” Mia said with a sympathetic look. “But it was only a dream. As awful as it sounds.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” I said as I let out a deep breath. “Worst dream I’ve ever had, but you’re right.”
“I’ll put on a pot of coffee,” the blonde said as she leaned over and gave me a kiss. “It sounds like you need it.”
“Thanks, Mia,” I said with a weak smile. “The show must go on, right?”
“Yeah,” Emily said with her brow still furrowed. “But just… take it easy, okay? I know what having nightmares like that can do to you, and it’s not fun.”
I reached for the hand not on my back and interlaced our fingers before I squeezed it. Emily had been through a lot, and no doubt everything Drake put her through plagued her mind sometimes. I hated to think about what that asshole had done to her, but if anyone could understand what I’d just gone through, it’d be her.
“I’ll take it easy,” I said and brought her hand up so I could kiss the back of it. “Thank you, Em.”
“Don’t thank me for looking out for you,” my mate said with a soft smile.
“Well, I’m gonna do it anyway,” I said as I forced myself to climb out of the bed with a grunt. “I’m hoping a shower will wash away the memory of it all.”
“We’re right here if you need us,” Hallie said.
I winked at the brunette before I walked into my en suite, and then I closed the door and let out another long breath. This was one hell of a way to start my day, and I was still kinda out of it. It felt like I hadn’t slept at all, which made sense considering in my head I’d still been watching New York burn only a couple of minutes ago.
Time had warped, and I was struggling to wrap my head around everything that happened. But I needed to get my head in the game. I had the treaty meeting today, and there was still plenty of business stuff and research I’d need to get done.
So, I turned on the faucet to let the water warm up a little. I stretched my arms out in front of me before I stretched them above my head, and I groaned as I felt my muscles shift and my bones pop. After I felt like they’d loosened up enough, I cracked my neck from side to side, only to wince at a sharp pinch coming from the left side.
I frowned and walked over to the mirror. There was nothing there, but when I ran my finger down the thick muscle, I felt something stuck to me. I used my fingernail to slowly peel whatever it was off. I frowned as a small clear square came off, and I stared down at it in confusion.
It had been completely unnoticeable on my neck, and when I brought it up to my nose, I couldn’t smell a single thing.
No Rest For The Wicked
The words spray painted on the wall flashed in my mind, and it was like a missing piece of a jigsaw puzzle was finally slotted into place.
“Guys!” I called out as I went back into the bedroom with the clear square still stuck to my finger. “Look.”
“What is that?” Mia asked with a furrowed brow as she walked in from the kitchen.
“This was on my neck,” I said as I held it out to her. “Right where the mystery person from yesterday slapped me.”
“Holy shit,” Hallie said as she shot up out of bed and rushed to my side. “He put that on you?”
“It all makes sense now,” I said as I gritted my teeth in anger. “‘No Rest For The Wicked,’ remember? He put that on me, and I had one of the worst nightmares I’ve ever had in my life.”
“But, why?” Emily’s perfectly plucked eyebrows pulled down into a sharp ‘V’ shape as she climbed out of bed, too.
“It’s a targeted attack,” I said. “They’re toying with me.”
“So, it’s Z-TECH?” the cherry-haired Beta asked. “For sure?”
“Who else could it be?” I asked. “Who else have we pissed off?”
“A lot of people, probably,” Hallie snorted before she grew serious again. “But Z-TECH is the most probable.”
“Plus, it sounds like them to make something as sinister as this,” Mia said as she inspected the small square. “An invisible patch that plagues those wearing it with nightmares? Yeah, that sounds like the same guys who made zombie werewolves for fun.”
“So, whoever was at the press conference must work there,” Hallie said. “And they’re clearly ballsy enough to step into the limelight if it means getting to you.”
“Which we could use to our advantage,” I said. “There’s still a chance to lure him back out.”
“That sounds risky,” Emily said as she crossed her arms. “Who knows what else he’s got up his sleeve. Literally.”
“Emily’s right,” Mia said. “We shouldn’t rely on this guy showing up again. We need to do our own digging first.”
“But where would we start?” Emily asked. “You said there was no trace of the guy who ran from the press conference.”
“She’s not talking about him,” I said as I realized what Mia was getting at. “She’s talking about somewhere we have direct access to.”
“The one place where the only person we know who was affiliated with Z-TECH was,” Mia said.
We needed to go to Arlo’s watch shop.
Chapter Five
I quickly went back into the bathroom and took a shower while the girls got dressed for the day. It was still pretty early in the morning, so the plan was for us all to head to Arlo’s and get back to our respective works before noon. That way Mia and I wouldn’t miss the treaty meeting, and Emily and Hallie wouldn’t get fired from their own jobs.
After I was done in the shower, I quickly got dressed into one of the new blue suits Mia had picked out for me, and I called Victor as I was tying my dark blue tie. I put the wolf on speakerphone so I would have free hands and placed it on my dresser.
“Good morning, Josh,” Victor said after a quick clearing of his throat. “Is everything alright?”
“Hey, Vic, Mia and I won’t be coming in until the meeting at noon,” I said. “We’re gonna head to Arlo’s watch shop.”
“I see,” Victor hummed. “Are you sure you’re ready to do that today?”
“The hooded figure at my press conference was definitely someone from Z-TECH, Victor,” I said as I finished up my tie. “He stuck something on my neck when I grabbed hold of him, and I had one of the worst night’s sleep of my life.”
“Stuck something on you?” the old wolf asked in an alarmed tone. “Do you still have it?”
“Yeah, Mia does,” I said. “Why? Can you test it in the lab?”
“We can certainly have a look at it,” he said. “I can’t promise anything, though.”
“We’ll bring it in,” I said, and Mia nodded at me before she rushed into the kitchen, probably to find something to put it in. “I’ll see you later, Victor.”
“Good luck, Josh,” he said before he hung up.
I slipped my phone into my pocket and quickly put on my shoes. Arlo’s watch shop was located in the Upper West Side, which was my territory now. We’d taken out the rest of his and Russo’s packs, so I didn’t have any concerns about them causing any issues. Besides, the rest of the treaty packs and I were all on the same page now, and figuring out who the hell Z-TECH were was at the top of all of our lists.
Mia returned with the clear tab in a Ziploc bag, and she tucked it into the pocket of her black blazer. Emily and Hallie were ready to go, too, so we quickly headed to the ground floor and got into my Porsche.
When we pulled up to Whitlock’s watch shop, it was like looking at a ghost town. To every passerby, it just looked like a closed shop. But little did they know that this place was now permanently out of business and would never open its doors to another customer again.
I don’t know what would happen to it now that Whitlock was dead. Maybe his wife, who he treated like shit, would be able to sell everything inside and make off with a huge check. She deserved that, at least, for putting up with him for god knows how long.
If he didn’t have a wife and there was no one to take over his assets, I assumed it’d probably fall down to me since I claimed his territory. I’m sure there was a whole secret wolf division out there that saw to those sorts of things, and Victor probably had the best werewolf lawyer on speed dial just in case.
Right now, though, we needed to raid this place for any clues on who was behind Z-TECH, and where we could find them.
I parked the car opposite the shop before we all casually walked over. The huge double doors were locked, of course, but there was a wooden board taped to a hole in one of the glass windows, which must have been where Finn had thrown a rock inside the other night.
I glanced around to make sure no one was looking before I quickly pushed hard on the board until it gave way and allowed me to stick my hand in. Then I fumbled for the lock and quickly twisted it before I pushed open the door.
There was no jazz music playing as we stepped inside the opulent shop, nor was there the lingering smell of whiskey that assaulted our nostrils. The watches lay dormant in the various cases, untouched and unbought. The place was silent in an almost chilling way, and I almost expected ten armed wolves to pop out of one of the dark corners.
But there was nothing.
No alarms, no guards, not a single piece of security or protection for what used to be Arlo Whitlock’s personal haven. He had been super protective of this place, and when I’d got Finn to throw a rock through his window to stop him from finding me in his house, he’d gone damn near crazy to make sure no one was actually inside.
We really had taken out all of the Guild. Otherwise, some of his cronies would have been protecting this place as their last stand.
“Creepy,” Hallie said as she walked to the counter and rang the small brass bell.
“Very creepy,” Mia said, and she folded her arms over her chest like she was trying to make herself smaller. “Where should we start looking, Josh?”
“Upstairs,” I said as I eyed the staircase in the far corner of the room. “That’s where his office is.”
“Lead the way, Alpha,” Emily said and held her hand out.
“What? Are you too scared to go up first?” I smirked as I started to walk toward the stairs.
“You’ve been here before.” The cherry-haired Beta shrugged. “So, lead the way, St. James.”
“Sure,” I snorted and put a bit of distance between us as I started to walk up the wooden stairs.
I couldn’t hear or smell anything coming from the other floors in the building, so I wasn’t concerned about anyone lurking around the corner as we made our way up. For some reason, the gold-framed paintings showing an array of violent scenes of wolves tearing sheep and humans apart became all the more chilling. Far more than when I was first here. Now that I knew the kind of man Arlo Whitlock truly was, and what he had planned, I couldn’t help the shiver that ran down my spine.
Once we reached the landing, I walked us down the darkened hallway toward Arlo’s office. The golden braziers were unlit, which made it almost pitch black thanks to the lack of windows. If I was still a human, I’d have been fumbling around in the dark, but thankfully I could still see where I was going.
We eventually reached the wooden door at the end of the hall, and I pushed it open, which revealed Arlo’s empty office.
His desk was still sitting in front of the huge window that flooded the room with the sunlight outside. Bookshelves lined the walls, and the two leather chairs in front of his desk had been knocked over. Apart from those, everything looked in place.
A full glass of whiskey was left on his desk, as well as a few papers, which I immediately walked over to. Unfortunately, they were nothing about the Guild or Z-TECH, just invoices that weren’t of any use to us.
“This place is big,” Hallie said as she looked around at the towering bookshelves. “Are you sure there will be something in here?”
