The Falcon Ridge Series Book 3 If Looks Could Kill

(Chapter song ‘Live And Let Die' by Guns ‘N Roses)

LUKE

"OK. I'm not taking the pack, but I'm not leaving either."

I open the door and stride into my dad's office after lunch.

His office is a modest one compared to the other Alpha offices I’ve seen. It’s a medium size with rather plain decorations and a simple oak desk by the window. My dad's never really been one for flare. Neither am I.

“Luke? What happened?”

He's sitting behind his desk. I walk over as he leans on it.

“This town. That’s what happened.” I clench as I sit in the chair in front of him.

“OK. You get in a fight again?” He eyes my bruised face.

“Kinda. That’s why I'm not leaving.” I sit back and lace my fingers on my chest as I cross a leg.

He nods. "That's good, son. I won't force you to take the pack, but I will appreciate you staying. What changed your mind?"

"I got mugged." I say in a sarcastic tone as I point to my eye. "This town has been swimming in the toilet for too long. It’s well past time to clean it up."

My dad chuckles. "Good luck. I've been trying for years."

I sit in a chair across from him. "I will. This has to end. I laid in the street bleeding and no one cared. That is not how a pack should be."

He sat back. "Son, I won't discourage you, but you have to know the reality of the situation. The people here have given up. They’ve given into the criminal element. It's easier to fight with them than against them. You'll have a challenge."

I lean to my father. "I've been up against some really sick fucks in the Unit. This criminal element is nothing compared to that."

My father gets up and walks around his desk. He leans on the edge and crosses his arms. "That’s true and I commend you for wanting to try, but the most important thing, right now is, are you ok?"

"I'll live." I mumble as I slouch in my chair.

The green eyes float across my memory and I feel myself get even more heated.

"What happened exactly?" He asks with concern lacing his words.

I raise a brow to him and give him a serious look. "I was blind drunk. Let’s make that very clear. It wouldn’t have happened if I was sober.”

He chuckles. “Alright, son. I won’t judge. We've all been there.”

I clear my throat. “All I remember is I was trying to get some guy to stop beating on the other guy and I got jumped."

I adjust myself in my seat hoping my dad can't read into this and think I’m some sort of pansy ass. "When I came to, it was morning."

"Did you see him? Get a look at his face?" His brow furrows.

"No." I sit up more. "He had on this really long coat with a hood. You know like something in movie and these huge thick boots. That's all I know."

He nods. "Interesting. I'd like you to see Madison before you go anywhere while it's still fresh in your mind. Maybe she can trigger something."

I stand up. "I don't know what else to tell her." I shrug.

My dad walks back around his desk, sits in his chair and pulls out some paperwork. "Just try." He raises his eye to me, grabs a pen and starts working.

I let out a grunt and walk out of his office.

People in the hall stare at me as I walk past them and hang a right down another hall of offices. I'm sure a lot have heard by now. I stop at the door marked ‘Pack House Security’ and knock.

"Come in." A woman's voice came from the other side.

I run my fingers fast through my hair and put on a charming smile.

With my cool self on display, I open the door. "Hey, Madison."

Madison Yuca. My little Asian minx. I've been trying to get this woman between the sheets since I was 17. She's hard to break, but I keep trying.

I've had so many dark fantasies about pulling that long black hair, squeezing that tight little ass, sucking on her perky little tits. Yeah, I'm a pig, but some women love that. Madison? She can't fucking stand me. Which is probably why I want to bone her so bad.

I love challenges.

She glances at me with those exotic violet eyes of hers - I’m sure they're just really cool contacts - and turns back to her computer. "Luke. Nice to see you again."

I stand in front of her desk, eyeing her ass and tits in that little, white business dress. I wonder what those long legs would feel like wrapped around my head.

I seductively grin. "Nice to see you, again." I bounce my brow.

She sighs like she's sick of my bullshit already. "Sit."

I sit in a chair next to me. "My dad told me to come. I was attacked last night."

She turns her chair to me, resting her hands on her crossed legs. "Oh my god, are you ok? I mean, I can see that you're not." She eyes my bruises.

"I'm fine. The other guy was worse." I lie. I can't seem like a pussy. "I don't remember what he looked like though. It was dark and I was really drunk."

She nods and pulls out a writing pad. "Give me every detail you remember."

I told her everything. She wrote down all my words. "Is there anything else. Tattoos, scars, jewelry..."

My mind flashed. I squint and put the bridge of my nose in my fingers as I try to clear the fog.

I remember fists flying and grabbing the guy. I lower my hand and look at it. My finger caught something. Something shiny. It broke off and flew off somewhere. My ear twitches as I remember the tinkle of metal hitting the asphalt.

A clue to my payback.

"Luke?"

I shoot my head up to her. She arches a brow and I smile. "Uh... nope. That's it. Don't remember anything else."

She picks up her pad, scans my statement and presses her lips together. "It's not much, but I'm pretty sure we can develop some sort of description from this." She stands and offers her hand. "Don't worry, Alpha. We'll find this man for you."

I stand, take her hand and shake it. I let go and lean on her desk with my Alpha charm up front. "Say... How about you and I go for a couple of drinks tonight. You can share how the investigation's going then we can pick my brain back at my room." I flash her another charming smile.

She smirks. "I think you need to get some sleep. Clearly, that guy thumped your head a few times too many."

I push off her desk. "Can't blame a guy for trying."

She quickly chuckles. "No. I guess you can't."

"Later." I give her a salute and head out.

I walk back up the hallway with my hands in my pockets. I pass a door just as Gavin came out of his office.

He stops and thumps a file on my chest. "Hey. You remember something?" He looks back at Madison's door.

I push his arm back and look at the floor as I walk. "Naw. I was just telling security what I know. They said they'd investigate.”

I slam the back of my hand on his chest and stop him. I thumb over my shoulder. “Hey. How'd you hit that? I've been trying to for years and she won't even touch me. I swear she's stone cold."

Gavin laughs. "Well, it helps not being a dirty bastard."

I tick my head. I mean, he's not wrong. Not like I'm shy about who I am.

"I'll get her someday." I grin.

Gavin shakes his head. "You coming to the meeting?"

We continue walking as I scrunch my brow. "What meeting?"

Gavin points to the files in his arms. "The pack meeting. We hold them every couple of weeks."

He talks in a tone that says I really should know this by now, but I don't because for the last six months, I'm usually passed out sleeping it off somewhere.

I contemplate then shrug. "I got nothing better to do so, I guess so."

After stopping at a few more offices, we walk into to the conference room.

All the heads are here. My dad, Bobby, Madison, our trainers, Tyrone and Richie and some people from finance who I don't know. It's a big meeting.

"Glad you all could make it." My dad says in a gruff voice.

He looks at me and almost smiles. I’m sure he’s just as shocked as everyone else who seems to stop and stare as I take a seat.

He takes his seat and leans on the table. "So. We have a problem. A huge one. If you haven't heard, my son was attacked last night while in our downtown core."

The room mumbles and I hear Richie snort.

I raise a brow as I kick back in my chair. "You got something to say?"

Richie leans back, flexing his giant arm muscles and crossing them across his chest. "Just that if you were sober for 2 seconds, maybe the guy wouldn't have been able to paint the sidewalk with your face."

Tyrone grins and nudges him with his thick arm and they fist bump.

The two of them are solid walls of muscle. They train everyone who wants it at the pack house. They're also two of most cocky douches in the building. They like to poke at me saying the Unit training I got was pretty much pussy training. So, when I say they love this, I mean it.

I turn my chair and lean on the table. "Why don't I show you just exactly how I fight when I'm sober?" I grit.

He snorts. "Yeah, right." He glances at Tyrone.

"Alright, you two. Knock it off."

I turn my eyes to the door as Lucy walks in, scolding the trainers.

She sits beside me and drops her stuff on the table. She smiles at my dad. "Sorry, I'm late."

I lean back in my chair and put my hands behind my head. "You're not late. Rich, here, was just about to prove how small his roid dick really is."

Richie's jaw ticks. He held his fist in his hand in front of him while Tyrone doubled over with laughter beside him. I shoot him a smug smile and wiggle my brow as Richie smacks Tyrone.

"You knock it off, too." She hits my arm, knocking me off balance and shooting me forward in my chair.

"Watch it." I growl.

She rolls her eyes. "Please." She pulls her chair in. "Sorry, dad. Please continue." Lucy, always the suck up.

My dad clears his throat. "Thank you. Now, my son has informed me that although he still doesn't want his position as Alpha, he does want to help us with the Lycans. So, I want everyone in this room to help my son with whatever he needs. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Alpha." The room answers.

Tyrone leans on the table. "We can start by getting rid of that bullshit Unit training. You join us next week." He points to me then taps the table with his finger as I side eye him.

One chick from finance spoke up. "We can release more funds to up security. That way we can hire more staff for the station downtown."

"Yeah, what she said." I snap my fingers and point to her. Everyone turns their eyes on me. "What I like the idea?" I hold my hands out and scan the room.

They all cautiously turn back to my dad.

“I can see how that will help. Develop a budget and have it on my desk by Monday.” He instructs.

“Yes, Alpha.”

I bounce my fingertips together while twisting and leaning back in my chair. "Do we know where the Lycans are held up?" I ask.

Madison plays with her pen in those sexy slender fingers. The corner of my lip lifts as dirty thoughts run through my mind. "No. We have yet to pin anyone down to figure it out. They're good. Their actions are not really something you'd expect out of typical gang members."

"We need to hit the streets. Rough things up. See what shakes loose." I suggest.

Lucy eyes me. "Why are you so interested all of a sudden?"

I turn to face her with a glare. Why is she calling me out? "Because. It's gotten out of hand and I want to help."

She shakes her head, folding her arms. "No. I'm not buying it. You've been in plenty of fights and it's never stopped you from leaving before. What are you hiding?"

All the eyes turn to me again. I fucking hate that she's pulling this shit right now. "Nothing! I just want to help." I rest my arms on the table, looking around the room. "Is that so hard to accept."

Bobby scratches his head. "Kinda."

I point to him. "I will beat you."

Lucy leans on the table. "Look. It's great you want to stay and help. Awesome, actually. But if you're hiding the reason behind it and it’s important to this pack, you need to tell us."

I chuckle nervously. "Swift, I don't have some ulterior motive here. Jeez."

“If you say so." She ticks her head and puts her hand up to me.

My dad continues. "So, in the coming weeks, I want reports on my desk for ideas on how we can improve things in this town. I also need the PR department to make statements to give to the pack. It's time they know their Alphas are doing something. We need to give them hope here. Luke, I know you don't want to be involved, but I'd like to make a public statement and it would mean a lot if you were by my side as Alpha son."

I nod. "Tell me when."

"Ok. Heather, would you make an appointment with the decorators. I think it's time my son took his rightful office." He looks to a tiny brunette a few chairs down from him.

"Yes, Alpha." She writes some things down.

I look at her and him. "Uh... I don't need an office."

"Nonsense." My dad waves me off. "It's right next to mine. It'll be easier to talk with you."

"Ok." I lean back, feeling weird.

I’m not sure what he expects me to do with it. I don’t know the first thing about officing. I barely know anything about adulting.

My dad looks around the room. "Does anyone else have anything to add as far as security goes?"

Everyone eyes each other in the room.

He nods. "Ok. Moving on. I need to discuss these financial reports. Where are we on the budget?"

I zone out for the rest of the meeting. The business end of a pack isn't something that interests me anyway.

Instead, I think of emerald eyes.

As I watch Lucy talk, I’m hit with a waft of her perfume.

My mind flashes and my nose fills with the scent of flowers. I look down and concentrate on it.

As I remember, I'm sure it was a strong scent of flowers because I remember thinking how weird it was to smell flowers in an alley filled with garbage.

I'm knocked out of my thoughts by Lucy hitting my arm. "Hey, the meetings over. Coming?"

I look around and people are already leaving the room. "Uh, yeah. Sorry."

I push my chair back and stand. "Hey, are there any like flower shops downtown?"

Lucy snorts. "No. No respectable shop owner builds downtown. It's filled with drunks."

I stuff my hands in my pockets as we turn into the hallway. "Oh. ok."

"Why?" She asks.

I shake my head. "No reason. I just thought I smelt flowers before I got jumped. I don't know. It just sprung to mind. My heads still foggy."

She shrugs. "Weird."

"Yeah." I disappear into my thoughts again.

It had to have been coming from the hood and you know what? I think I liked it.

Even now, the thought of the scent fills me to the core.

As I turn to the stairs, I feel a little smile cross my lip which should start to concern me because I’m starting to find things I like about a dude.

I shutter at the thought and climb the stairs.

I need to start my search pronto before this gets any worse.