Alpha’s Hybrid Cinderella
Chapter 49

"Alpha. We have a report from Medea City."

"Medea?" The man framed in the moonlight considered the word, then chuckled. The rays beaming in through the crystalline glass wall were so beautiful. What an excellent idea to remodel his office. It put him in a good enough mood to talk business even in the middle of the night. He turned and gestured at the man to join him in the seat opposite his, on the other side of the desk. The Delta hesitated, but the older man motioned again with an impatient wave and nod.

"Hurry up, hurry up. I'll even pour you a celebratory glass. I just opened a bottle of Scotch."

"Uh... Thank you, Alpha."

The gentle clink of glass filled the quiet of the office for a moment, then the wooden rubbing of chair legs against the hardwood floor. The Alpha settled into his leather office chair and sighed, wonderfully comfortable. "Now, now. I see you're worried about something, Leonard. Don't tell me our plans have gone awry?"

"Alpha Matthen, I'm afraid the news isn't good... Our plans haven't necessarily been derailed, but with so many checkpoints set up all over Medea City, it's only a matter of time before they expand and go to the neighboring cities as well. That's all Scarlet territory already, so we have no way of blocking it."

"You say that like Scarlet is the enemy," Matthen clucked. "We're Scarlet too, you know. Soon, it'll all be mine, like it should be."

"Yes, sir, of course. But I mean..."

"Don't be disappointed, Leonard. I expected obstacles in my path. Evan being the head Alpha of all of Scarlet is only a temporary wall - I've already put everything in motion that will hand over control of the entire pack to the Josephs. At last, I'll have what I deserve."

"Yes, sir."

"But in the event that things get unpleasant, make sure to keep Ken distracted. I can't have my son being caught up in the mess if we have a disaster to clean up, understand?" "Yes, sir, I do."

"And in the meantime, make sure to tighten up the security detail. I was worried at first that he would get emotionally tangled up with that Claudia half-breed, but this works out exceedingly well now that things have come to this. We have every excuse to get close if Ken continues to see her, and then we'll strike when we have all the information we need. She's Evan's weakness. Ken will clear the path for us to get to her, without ever knowing."

"I also have an update on that situation as well, Alpha."

Matthen raised an inquiring brow.

"It seems that the hybrid rebuffed Ken's attempts. Your son is now 'just friends' with her, officially."

"I don't believe that. My son is not a 'just friends' type." Matthen rolled his eyes and turned his chair so he could look out the glass wall. "I've always reprimanded him about the trail of broken hearts he leaves behind him without a thought, but in this case, we'll let him do as he wishes."

"He really is attached to the hybrid. He will be distraught if anything happens to her."

"Of course, but at the same time, I can't have my son being seen in a relationship with a half-breed, can I? This is killing two birds with one stone. We'll arrange a neat little accident to get rid of her and Evan together, if possible, but separately if not. Ken will never know what happened. He'll attribute it to the poor designs of fate and get over her eventually."

"Yes, Alpha."

"Are you still disturbed with my leadership, Leonard? I remember not so long ago, you had your doubts about my methods."

"Sir, that was over ten years ago. I would never doubt you now."

"Enough with the flattery. I keep you close because of your doubt, and you're an excellent devil's advocate. Don't worry. I'm not looking for an excuse to discipline you, so speak openly. I'm in quite a good mood."

The man bowed his head, relieved.

"Now, then. I know you've been holding back. What's the actual news? Tell me all of it."

"You're already aware that Evan has ordered his subordinates to search the entire black market that spans Dark Moon territory and all the cities bordering it..."

"Yes. He sent that notice to secure funding for the search. I know that already, go on."

"I have reason to believe he's withholding information from you as well. The Joseph family has always handled much of the financials in things like this, since your line has been native to the Scarlet pack for generations. It only makes sense that you would know every detail. But I received a call today saying Evan approached the White Moon pack yesterday and proposed some deal... an exchange. I believe he's drawing on their funds for secret objectives. Ones only he knows about."

"And he conceals this from me. I see. After all, if he asks for one hundred percent of the funding from me, or from the Glilies, or from any family within Scarlet, we'll all find out eventually. In other words, he suspects those closest to him even within the pack" "Yes, sir."

"Well, we expected that too. He's a bloodthirsty brute who doesn't deserve to be the head Alpha of the pack, but he was born to a clever father who also got in my way constantly." Matthen's gaze hardened. "They both have a deadly fault. They don't know when to stop when they're ahead. If only his father had listened to me, he wouldn't be dead now, would he?"

"It is a shame we lost Adrain after we invested so much into him, sir."

"Indeed. I'm still livid. And if it's the last thing I do, I will humiliate Evan, make him beg and bleed, and step on his neck as I rise to become the new Alpha of the entire pack. And I'll be far better at it than he ever could be. All he does is conquer packs with force. Why is he so unintelligent? If he would lift the senseless ban on drug trading, we would already be so wealthy that we control everything by default."

"You did mention his father had those... pretentious morals as well. Evan was old enough to learn from him. He wasn't too young of a child when the incident happened, after all. He would remember his upbringing."

"Inconveniently. But soon, with Evan gone, I'll pick up where I left off with Adrain. And this time, I won't have to go through a middleman - I'll be the head Alpha myself."

Matthen whirled around in his chair and slammed his fist on the desk. Leonard jumped, but the older man paid him no attention.

"This settles it," he said decisively. "No accident. I'm not patient enough to waste even more days of my life waiting for the right chance. I've invested enough to make this happen regardless of weather, fate, or the Moon Goddess herself. I'm going to make this happen on the schedule I decide."

"Sir?"

"Car accident, house fire, suffocation after falling asleep in a garage, could have been anything. We've had our pick of the litter through the years for our enemies. But it's always taken time and so much effort to make the arrangements. Not this time." Matthen paced back and forth behind his desk, eyes ablaze.

"We can afford to be aggressive and clumsy this time. Not my style, but it's in our best interests to make this speedy. And who'll investigate after he's killed? Evan is the only one who would look closely into his own death. Once he's out of the picture, no one will be in the way. Yes. That's right."

He stopped and turned to Leonard, a wicked smile on his face.

"Our time is here. The Joseph family will be at the top. No more hiding in his shadow as we handle his business, his money, his influence. We have the power now. We've had it for a long time already. And it's time he learns that, don't you think?" "Yes, sir. I agree."

"I still want to get rid of the half-breed. Moon Goddess knows Ken will jump at the chance to bed her if Evan's out of the picture, and I don't want to deal with any scandals. I bet she's a w***e who'll try to get pregnant as quickly as possible to get her hands on our money, since she's probably doing the same thing with Evan already."

"He has been giving her an enormous amount of money and gifts."

"I'm aware! It's practically our money, and he fritters it away on buying her trinkets and filling her bank account. Enough. She needs to die with him, and it'll be more realistic anyway with multiple casualties."

Matthen grinned as he stared out the glass wall, admiring the view below.

"Yes," he said. "It'll all be over soon."