The air in the study stilled.
James just said how he knows that something was fishy with Marcy and George, and he was not wrong.
Damon, Talia, Maya, and Caden were looking at James, and all of them wondered the same thing: how much did he know?
Damon's expression didn't crack as he asked James, "What are you trying to say?"
"I'm saying that they didn't go sightseeing and you are trying to cover it up.", James responded with confidence.
"That's a serious accusation. How about you explain what gave you the courage to say something like that?.", Damon spoke icily, releasing some of his aura as a warning.
James shrunk a little, feeling as if someone pressed on his shoulders, but he was determined to move on with his plan. Besides, it was too late to back away.
"They didn't join us for dinner. Your Beta made sure that Nora was away for the afternoon while I was stuck in training. Why would Marcy spend a day with George when her goal for coming here was to get close to you? And you said that she might be away longer. Assuming that my sister wanted to see something, she wouldn't go with just George, and she would definitely be back by now. She came here to be your Luna and she can go sightseeing later. But even if my sister would do something like that, George is a different story. He always followed orders and his orders were not do to anything that would jeopardize Marcy's chances to become your Luna. With the two of them alone for a prolonged period, it will create an ambiguous situation." James ended by giving Damon a knowing look.
Damon looked at James in a different light. A dimwitted teenager was actually quite observant.
By now, Damon confirmed that James wanted something. If he already had all those things figured out, he would alert his father, if he wanted to, yet he didn't.
"I also doubt that you want to make my sister your Luna.", James said, and his eyes moved to Talia. "Even a blind person would see that your attention is on Miss Talia. Mistresses stay invisible when the wife is around, or in this case, the future wife, yet you are acting like my sister doesn't exist. Even if you don't want to make my sister your Luna, you shouldn't provoke her openly. My guess is that Miss Talia is to you more than a mistress." James looked at Damon and smiled cockily. "Feel free to interrupt me if I am wrong."
Damon waved at James to continue. "I am interested to hear what else you have to say."
James raised his hands, palms toward Damon. "I didn't come here to provoke you."
Damon leaned over his executive desk, closer to James. "And why are you here?"
"I will keep my assumptions to myself, as long as you give me something in return.", James said.
Damon couldn't believe it. Was he being blackmailed?
"And what is to say I won't kick your ass into the dungeon?"
James was alerted. "There is no need for hostility. You need me."
It was Damon's turn to be surprised. "I do?"
"When George doesn't give his daily report tomorrow morning, my father will start asking questions."
Damon expected that Alpha Edward will keep tabs on Marcy, but he didn't expect daily reports. This might be a problem. But the bigger problem right now was the pompous teenager who caught onto something, and Damon needed to settle things with him first. "And you will go against your father and help me?"
"This is not really against my father. It's just giving you extra time to deal with whatever you are facing. If you can't fix it, my action will only delay my father finding out the truth, and if you fix it, then no harm will be done. In the meantime, I can give reports instead of George. George is my mentor, and he was never good with electronics. I know his passwords and style of writing."
Looking at James' annoyingly confident expression, Damon regretted allowing the group from the Red Moon pack to come here. Surely, just rejecting them from the start wouldn't be this complicated. In less than a day, Marcy and George were bedridden, James was scheming something, and Damon had a feeling that the fourth one (aka Nora) will also cause trouble. During the whole dinner, she was smiling and looking his way, even though he didn't spare her a glance.
Damon was tired of playing games, so he went to the point. "What do you want in return?"
James' face exploded into a grin. He was waiting for this. "I will fake George's reports, and you fake mine."
Damon didn't get it. "Fake what reports?"
"The training ones." James turned to look at Caden. "Create reports on how I am doing great, but not too great. If it's too good, my father will want a demonstration."
"You want to skip training.", Caden concluded.
"You can call it that way if you wish.", James said to Caden, and turned back to Damon. "Assign one or two warriors to drive me around when I need it. I don't have a driver's license and I want to check out Darkbourne and human city. I won't cause trouble. I want to visit arcades, interactive museums, shopping malls, and anything that can be interesting for a teen like me. I have a list…" James reached into the back pocket of his jeans and placed a randomly folded piece of paper. "After breakfast, I will send a report to my father. If you want me to put anything specific in the report, let me know. After that, I will head out and return in the evening. I expect that you give me a credit card for expenses or some cash. If I use my card, my father will find out about it. In exchange, I will make sure that my father doesn't suspect a thing."
Damon looked at the paper that had a number of places like a bowling alley, skydiving center, and go-cart, and he realized that James wanted to have fun outside Alpha Edward's grasp.
James remembered one more thing. "Oh, and if this lasts more than a few days, I want a television and a game console in my room, to keep me busy."
"You are not going to ask what happened to your sister?", Damon asked.
"No.", James said without missing a beat. "The less I know, the better. However, be aware that my father invested a lot to make Marcy your Luna. If you plan to get out of that, you better prepare a good exit strategy and watch your back. There are people in your pack that are supporting my father's agenda in making Marcy your Luna."
Damon frowned at this. He knew about Elder Charlie and Elder Samson, but why did James sound like there are many?
"Do you know who from my pack is involved?"
James shook his head. "I found out this much by pretending to be stupid. George might know since he is the Commander who came to escort my sister here. I'm sure that my father gave him special instructions, but how special… you will need to talk to George about it."
James looked at Damon expectantly. "So? What do you say? Do we have a deal?"
"What about Nora?", Maya asked.
"What about her?", James responded with a question. "She is Beta's daughter no one cares about, and she cares only about herself. To be honest, I can't stand her. If Nora goes missing, people will assume she ran off with some high-ranking member. If you want, I can include that in one of my reports…"
