Chapter 9

(Chapter song ‘Welcome To The Party' by Diplo)

OLIVER Jane.

I know it’s a bullshit name. Aside from being a name most use as aliases, it just doesn’t fit right with me. I feel it inside. It’s wrong. I know she’s lying, the question is why.

I do know she needs me. She may not like it, but if assholes are gonna be pushing up on her like that, I need to be there to set them straight. I need to make it clear to the boys that she’s under my protection. Which means more trips to the bar for me.

I also need to know what she’s hiding. She’s suspicious of me. I can see that. I don’t think she’s afraid of me. I got the sense that she can hold her own in a fight even though she’s a tiny slip of a thing. She just has this toughness about her. I like that.

Tapping my paperwork at my desk, I’m completely lost in the thought of her skin, body and attitude. Why does she turn me on so much?

A knock on my door breaks my thoughts. I raise my head to see Bastian filling the frame with his smug ass.

“We need to have a discussion.” He lifts his chin and puts his hands in his pockets.

I go back to my paperwork. “What about.” My disdain for him laces my tone. I don’t need his shit.

He casually walks in, straightening his tie. “About you putting three rogues in the hospital.”

I don’t even flinch. “You got your answers.” I dot my I's and cross my T's. “How doesn’t matter.”

“It does, Oliver. We have a code to uphold.” He states.

I raise my head and arch a brow. “A code they don’t give a shit about. It’s not threatening. I am."

I put the papers in my out box and stand. Doing up my suit jacket, I walk around my desk. “Read the reports.”

He puts himself in between me and the door. “I read them. The issue isn’t the information. The issue is how it was extracted. This violence you use is not what we do here. We have respect for those in our custody.”

“Respect for filthy, murdering, pieces of…” I start to raise my voice.

He raises his hand. “They have rights, Oliver.” He says.

I narrow my eyes. “They have a right to breathe. That’s where it ends if they want to be difficult and fight back.”

“Your skirting a fine line, Ollie.” He warns quietly.

“I’m getting shit done. If you idiots thought like me, more lives would be saved.” I grit.

I shove past him and he grabs my arm. He peers into my eyes. “I won’t save you if the tribunal decides to investigate.”

I get in his space and puff out my chest. My lip curls as I imagine grabbing that man bun and slamming his head into the floor.

“In case it's slipped your mind, Bastian…” I get real close. “I am the tribunal.”

I eye him, rip his arm off and leave.

Yeah. The tribunal could open an investigation, but I know they won’t. They don’t have the balls to do it. They know what I’m about. They also know that even though the rogues were hospitalized, I was still within the confines of the law when dealing with aggressive prisoners. They won’t go there.

I’m doing what they all wish they could. As long as I don’t kill anyone outside of a pack war, they will turn their heads.

This is my prison. If Bastian thinks he can run it again, I can show him how wrong he is. Rogues don’t need cells, they need graves. The fact that I even have them here is a huge piss off to me. It’s like having an insult to your species thrown in your face on a constant basis and you can’t do anything except make the fuckers as miserable as possible.

Fuck, Bastian. He needs to stay in his cushy Head Alpha position. He doesn’t want to poke or I’ll poke back harder.

I walk through the halls to the prison entrance. As I stride up to the desk, the soldier hands me the reports.

I bite my lip and breathe out my anger as I read the intake list.

“Everything OK, Alpha?”

I slowly nod. “He’s here.” I grind and toss the report back.

I take a minute to compose myself. Fixing my shirt, jacket and tie, I walk to the Incarceration Area. I fix my hair and make myself big.

In my entire life, I never thought I’d be put in this position at all. We were tight. Way more than Ian. I don’t know what happened, but somewhere he got lost. I know my father is fully responsible for that, but it takes a special mind to make the decisions he did.

I hate to do it. I kills me inside. But justice is blind. She doesn’t care about blood and the punishment has to fit the crime.

I walk through the cell blocks to a protected area of the prison. This is for prisoners who wouldn’t be safe in the general population of the prison. I suppose it’s needed in some cases, but in my mind, you should face all the music.

I slowly walk to his cell.

He comes into view and I feel sick. I haven’t seen him in 15 years and forgot how much he looked like me. I hate that.

His head rolls to me and he stands. He’s extremely thick like me and looks just as dark and threatening. He rubs his black, curly hair as he strolls to the glass.

He has that criminal look they all have. He leans on the glass as I look him over. His eye is turning black and his cheek is cut. It looks like he already got a welcome gift. “Ollie.” He nods in a voice that’s almost as deep as mine.

I lift my chin and put my hands in my pockets. “Andy.”

He tilts his head slightly like a caged animal. I can see it in him. “You know I didn’t do this.”

I scratch my temple. “Really.”

He squints. “Yes, really. I didn’t do this.”

I step to the glass. “The evidence says otherwise, you sick fuck.” I snarl.

He steps back and points to me. “They’re lying. They asked for it.” He growls.

I nod and stand smugly. “No bird on the fucking planet asks for that, Andy.”

“Yeah? These ones did.” He grits.

“No. They didn’t. You’re a fucking coward and a disgrace to this family.” I make my position well known.

He growls at me and narrows his eyes. “You have to let me out.”

I smirk. “I don’t have to do anything, Andrew. Especially for low life wolves who attack women. You know who else doesn’t like people like you?”

“Who?”

I tick my head to the prison. “Them.” I step even closer and lock my eyes with my little brother. “I would rather see you dead, but watching you rot in my prison is just as sweet.”

“You can’t keep me here.” He says low.

“Not only am I keeping your disgusting ass locked up, I’m revoking all protection orders and moving you to general population.” I chew my cheek as I gauge his reaction.

He tries to growl, but it doesn’t work. “You can’t do that.”

“It’s my prison, Andrew. I can do whatever the fuck I want.” I sneer.

“Ollie…” I see a hint a fear peek through his tough guy exterior.

I turn and walk away.

“OLLIE! YOU CAN'T DO THAT, OLIVER!!”

I hold up two fingers as I walk off the cell block. “WELCOME TO THE PARTY, BROTHER!”

The corner of my lip tips up as I approach the guard. I stop and aide eye him. “Make sure he gets extra yard time with the rest of the trash.”

The guard ticks his jaw and nods I clap his shoulder and walk out with my little brother screaming out protests as the doors close.

I may not be able to kill him, but I know several would mess up for what he did. If he gets hurt, well…

I didn’t see a damn thing.

****

After the talk with my brother, I need an outlet. I head across the unit, passing soldiers who give me looks.

I’ve heard the whispers. How I or my pack shouldn’t be here. How I should be on the same list as Torrent and the Dragons. Whatever. If they want to see me as a villain, I don’t fucking care. I take my job seriously and am not a fucking joker like Jackson or the rest of them.

I don’t even know why I get so much flack. Fucking Drake is just as deadly and they don’t want to put his Tarzan ass on a watch list.

I need to clear my head. Bastian has created a ick I need to get rid of.

I walk into the weight room and there’s a bunch of guys in there lifting.

I approach the benches and one of the guys doing curls looks up at me. I eye him and he drops his weight.

He gets up and goes to leave.

I snap my fingers at him. “Eh!” He turns back. I point to the bench. “Clean it!” I growl.

He gives me a dirty look, but then sprays it down and wipes it off.

I glare at him. “Thanks.”

“No problem." He grumbles.

“And rack your weight!” I bark as I go to the other rack with the heavier dumbbells. He again shoots nastiness my way and snatches his dumbbell off the floor.

There’s no reason for not practicing proper gym etiquette.

I grab two forty pound dumbbells and proceed to pump out the frustrations Bastian delivered. As well as erase my puke of a brother from my mind.

I was in my second set of reps when River walked in with Grey and Wes.

They take benches and start whatever it is their doing.

I concentrate on my bicep flex control and can hear them talk.

“Do you have a cure yet?”

“I think so. These chemicals are hard to break. I’m not even sure they’re real chemicals.” River says.

“They have to be. You can’t just…make up chemical compounds.” Wes says.

Grey sits down. “Are you new here? We can make anything up. Dude, your mates a Fairy.”

“A nymph.” Wes growls. “Stop calling her a fairy.”

“Whatever. The point is, before we knew she was thing, she wasn’t. Chemicals can be the same.” Grey scoffs.

“I get that, but what I mean is, there’s something about the structure that doesn’t look like a chemical, but like some sort of biological thing.” River says.

Wes stops his work out. “You mean like a parasite?’

“No. Like a virus. Rogue Sickness is already a virus, but this Croak-R is like a sort of anti-virus. It’s structured like a virus, but has a chemical reaction that seems to change the original strain to something else. I don’t know. It’s so confusing.” River rubs his head.

I switch hands and continue to eavesdrop.

“What do the rogues have to say?” Grey asks.

“Well, those that could talk, say this has something to do with some lab and the library.” River glances my way and I pretend I’m not paying attention.

“What about the library? When are we going to be let in to see what we can find?” Wes asks.

“Yeah. I’m sure the answer to the crazy virus thing is in there.” Grey adds.

River nods. “And we could if they could find it.”

“They still haven’t found that thing?” Wes asks.

River shakes his head. “Nope and until Phoenix does, we have to use what we got.”

I’ve heard enough. These assholes just don’t know how to handle the situation. They shouldn’t be here bitching, they should be in Phoenix demanding answers. Will anyone listen to me? No. Their stupid politics are always better.

Honestly, why even cure them? Seems like a waste of energy when you have lycans and Michael running around. Just kill them and move on. Done deal.

I know that’s what I’m doing. The rogues come around my pack, I’m exterminating every mother fucking last one of them.

You can bank on that.