Chapter 119

Cody POV

I pulled into the airport parking lot in Billings, parked my truck and ambled up to the pick up area. I chose a corner to lean back against the wall and watch for Beta Roger to come out of the secure area behind the security checkpoints. It wasn't long before I saw his tall frame and long dark auburn hair he had always worn. Beta Roger had always looked more like he belong in a biker gang than sitting behind the books he read all the time. That much I remembered about him. He was quiet, intelligent, a reader of books. He could recite our history as if he was reading straight from the pages of our archives. But he was intimidating in appearance. Tall, muscular, long auburn hair he kept pulled back most of the time, tied with a leather strip. He had his black leather jacket slung over his dufflel bag that he carried in one hand, his tattoos on full display. I watched as people moved quickly out of his way and had to chuckle. The guy looked intimidating, but he was a big teddy bear. It's probably why his mate was the petite daughter of the pack doctor in Idaho Falls. She was barely five feet tall and rumor had it, she kept him in line with just a look and a smile. He was putty in her hands. They had seven pups, so my guess is that they spent a lot of time together.

I pushed off the wall and walked toward Beta Roger. I wasn't short, but he towered over me a good six inches. As soon as he saw me, he walked toward me with hand outstretched. "Beta Cody, good to see you," he was quiet so as not to alert any humans in the area of our titles.

"Sorry to call you here on such short notice, but it's important." I gripped his hand and gave him firm handshake. "Let's talk in the truck on the way back to the ranch, shall we." I turned and walked towards the door, Beta Roger close behind me.

We walked out to my truck, Roger tossing his bag and jacket in the back seat before climbing into the front passenger seat. "My mate wasn't to happy about my up and leaving so quickly," Roger admitted. "Lucky for me, she's slow to anger." I chuckled, trying to imagine that little tiny woman being mad and ever inflicting any harm on this giant of a man.

"Apologize for me." I told him as I put the key in the ignition and started the truck. We had roughly forty minutes to get back to the ranch. I could at least get some questions out of the way. "I want you to know that the council is at our pack right now. Not just your Alpha, but the entire council will be here by tomorrow morning. We have uncovered some interesting things, which is why you're here."

Roger furrowed his brow. "I'm not sure I follow. I had nothing to do with any of that mess, wasn't here for the search, any of the investigation. None of it." He pauses. "Michael isn't in trouble is he? I know his mate was a prisoner in that dungeon."

"Michael? No, not at all. He's been extremely helpful and cooperative. It's more about Alpha James," I tell him. "He's involved more than we first thought."

"How so?" Roger asked skeptically. "Is this beyond council involvement?"

"It is way beyond the council. In fact, let me ask you something." Roger nods when I look over at him.

"Most council members are retired. Yet he's on the council and still running the pack? How is that possible?"

Roger shifted in his seat before answering. "He had an older son from his first mate. His first mate was murdered, and that was never solved now that I think about it." Roger rubbed the back of his neck as he thought about his next sentence. "Anyway, his son was away at training when it happened. When he got home, he blamed his father for the murder. No one ever understood why. Ryerson, that was his son, took over the pack two weeks later when James said he was putting in for the council position. He got the position and everything was going fine, until Alpha James announced he was going to take another mate. His had only been dead a few months. This was when those mating agreements first starting occuring. He agreed to take a mate who was barely nineteen years old. Younger than Ryerson. Her mate had died in a battle or something. Next thing I know, this young she wolf is moving in, mated to James a week later. She bore him a son a year later. The one you know of that is thirteen."

This was some story he was telling me, and one I hadn't heard. As he told me though, I vaguely recalled Alpha Gabe telling me that Ryerson took over the pack, but then two years alter, Alpha James was back as the Alpha. Not much was said about the how or they why. Where was Ryerson now?

"Okay, and Ryerson, where is he?" I asked.

"Dead."

"How?" I asked.

Roger exhaled. "Alpha James killed him, said he was a traitor and he couldn't have a traitorous son running his pack. He said he had another heir who could take over when the time came. I am not really at liberty to say how it happened, the council came and did a bried investigation, but it seemed that if there was anything illegal or unsanctioned about the act, James hid it well."

"What do you think happened?" I asked.

"Personally, I think he found something his father didn't want him knowing about. I remember the day before they had a confrontation, Ryerson came to me and asked me if I knew anything about the trade agreements that our pack had. I didn't and told him as much. I told him that his father didn't include me in the financial decisions, nor was I in the books at all. He had told me that it shouldn't be that way, the Beta is to be involved in all aspects. When you called and started asking me questions today, a light came on. Whatever you think you found, might be what Ryerson found too. The next day, they were arguing in the Alpha's office, Ryerson tried to walk out, when he opened the door and went to leave, Alpha James stabbed him from behind with a knife laced with wolfsbane. Ryerson had fallen to the floor, the tip of that knife had pierced through his back, clean out the front of his chest. Alpha James flipped him over and ripped out his heart with his claws. He did this with his secretary, his wife and myself standing in the hallway, witnessing all of it. He told us that is what happened to traitors and that he was taking his pack back."

My mouth hung open in shock. He killed his own son, and for what? Even Beta Roger wasn't sure what for. If I had to guess, he either found financial trails regarding the trafficking or it had something to do with his mother. Maybe it was intertwined. This plot was growing thicker and sicker by the minute and I had a feeling that Alpha James was the center of the story.