Page 16 (2/2)

"Payback’s a bitch," I told him

"You can moan all you want," Curran said "The fact is you wanted the job You’re sh to hold the power You had plans for the Pack and I didn’t always agree Now you’ve got a chance to do it your way"

Magic rolled over us in a fast invisible tide Everyone paused for a e file out of his jacket and put it on the table

"What’s in the file?" Curran asked

"Are you sure you want to know?" Ji back"

Curran just looked at him

Jim opened the folder, took out a stack of papers, and passed thee "What the hell is this?"

"It’s like this," Jim said "You own too much crap You hold at least a twenty-five percent stake in over twenty-two percent of the Pack’s businesses Only a few of these businesses are established enough to be able to come up with the money to buy you out A lot of the put right back into them If we buy you out now, the way you want us to, the Pack will go bankrupt"

"That’s bull," Curran said

Ji ht have a cash flow issue, but you wouldn’t have one if you were still the Beast Lord"

Curran’s face went blank, unreadable like a stone wall Uh-oh

"Don’t testyou, this is how it is The contract you’re holding outlines our proposal Instead of a monetary payout, we offer you a business in trade for fifty percent of your collective stake now, and then, once the other businesses begin to be profitable, you can either continue to own them and collect your share of profits or sell off your stake as you see fit"

"This would make sense," Curran said, "if I had no eyes to read it or no brain to understand it Did Raphael write this?"

"He ht have looked it over," Jim said

Raphael was the alpha of Clan Bouda He was too handsoood, mated to my best friend, Andrea Nash, and a cos business If Raphael wrote the contract, it was a good deal for the Pack and a bad deal for us

We weren’t desperate for one into buying and furnishing this house I never asked Curran how h he referred to it as our money, he had earned the bulk of it before he ever ot the impression that eren’t too far from the bottom of our reserve