“Shut the front door,” I said with a surprised laugh. “No way.”
“Yes way, and he can hack into anything,” she added with an evil little smirk.
“Outstanding!” Dwayne shouted. “We can metaphorically slice your father’s financial balls into confetti with Junior’s help, and then I’ll mind meld the stinky butt jammer when his army turns on him. And then of course, we can confetti his testes for real.”
“Okay, those visuals are a little much, but the general idea is fairly brilliant,” I said as I put down my tub of frozen sugar and started pacing next to Essie. “Money is paramount to my father’s operation and I’m more than sure most of it’s illegal. Destroy a Dragon’s hoard—destroy a Dragon. If we can fracture his army, I have a real chance of taking him out. Is Junior really that good?”
“Junior is better than that good,” Essie promised. “Tomorrow morning is the beginning of the end of Daddy Dearest.”
“I think I love you,” I said as I tackled Essie and Dwayne in a hug.
“Just don’t tell Hank,” Dwayne advised with wide eyes and a barely disguised smirk. “He’s a little possessive of me.”
“Oh my hell, Dwayne, you are going to drive me to drink,” Essie griped as she giggled and punched him in the arm.
“Got ya covered,” he said as he handed each of us a full bottle of very fine wine.
It was the best damn bottle of wine I’d drunk in 499 years.
Chapter 2
“It’s been about a month and a half and I’m pretty sure my balls are gonna explode,” Junior lamented as he moved around the Sheriff’s office like a bull in a china shop.
My doubts about his ability to lead much less hack into an empire and bring it to its knees came roaring to the forefront. Junior was a hot mess on a sharp stick.
“Junior, I’m gonna need you to focus here and get your brains out of your crotch for a few hours. Can you do that?” Hank asked as he ran his hands through his hair in frustration.
“Of course I can focus,” Junior huffed. “I just wanted you to know the state of my purple nuts. Not to mention Sandy’s wearing a goddang miniskirt today.”
Junior and Hank were brothers—gorgeous and powerful Wolf Shifters. Hank had been the Alpha of the Georgia Pack until very recently when he and Essie went to work for their Council. Now Junior was in charge. I wondered at the wisdom of having a horny and destructive Wolf as Alpha, but again, I was not here to judge.
“Being as I’m not the only one standing in the office, the state of your testicles is not appropriate conversation,” Hank replied wearily.
Clearly Junior kept his brother apprised of his explosive man parts. As amusing as it all was, I didn’t have time for this. Essie, Dwayne, Hank and I had come to talk to Junior and it wasn’t proceeding like I’d hoped.
“I’m sorry,” Junior apologized to the room. “It’s just that I’m a recovering manwhore and it’s been hard.”
“Pun intended?” Dwayne inquired seriously.
“What?” Junior asked, perplexed.
Shit. It was going to take a lot to convince me he was MENSA.
“Ignore the Vampyre,” Essie said as she physically sat Dwayne down in a chair and then did the same to Junior who was almost twice her size. “Sandy is into you, you just have to keep your thingie in your pants for a few more weeks and then she’ll go out with you.”
“Are you sure?” Junior asked. “I catch her looking so I’ve been flexing a lot, but she won’t really talk to me about anything other than work.”
“Um,” Essie said as she tried not to laugh. “Don’t flex, just act normal around her.”
“That is normal for Junior,” Hank informed his mate with a headshake and a chuckle.
“Alrighty then.” Essie bit back a giggle. “Just keep doing what you’re doing. If your banana sack blows you’ll grow another one back. Probably bigger,” she added for good measure.
“Sweet Jesus on a rollercoaster, that is the best news I’ve heard all week. Would it be offensive if I told Sandy the good news about my man tool?”
“Um, yes—extremely offensive,” Essie told him with a snort. “Do not share with Sandy. It will not help your cause.”
“Good to know. So what can I do for you good people?” Junior inquired.
I was kind of done with the niceties and the discussion about Junior’s reproductive organs. I needed to get down to business or make a new plan. Seth would be here in a few hours and he was my plan B. I had no intention of letting Dwayne help me seduce Seth into becoming my mate, but I wasn’t above getting a few pointers.
“Can you hack into bank accounts and drain them completely leaving no trail?” I asked Junior bluntly.
“Just US bank accounts?” Junior sat up straight. His expression went from dopey to intelligently curious.
“No, there would be stock portfolios and offshore accounts as well,” I replied.
“What about land holdings? Other investments?” he queried as he went behind his desk and fired up his laptop.
“Investments, yes. What can you do with land?” I asked, confused.
“Well, if I drain the accounts and hack into the property deeds I can put them up for sale. We then buy them with some of the funds we drain. And the kicker would be we turn around and resell everything, unless you wanna keep the land,” he explained logically, as if anything he was saying was even remotely logical.