Forever in the Past and Forever in the Future

Chapter 123

Bronx's POV

Milo’s “emergency” was that one of the pups went “missing” when everyone was leaving the safe room. The little boy turned out to be in the kitchen where Mrs. Miller was keeping him calm with milk and cookies until his parents could track him down.

I leave the kitchen, I’m stopped by a group of guards who want to make sure I am up to speed on the rogues, they found on the northern border. I pretend to listen as patiently as possible. but I don’t really hear anything they're saying. I preoccupy my mind with Kas, waiting upstairs in the apartment for me. Saint becomes more and more irritated, pacing back and forth in my mind as the guards drone on and on.

“Alright guys. file a report, give it to Beta Milo. He will compile everything for me. Thank you for your service.” I hastily shake their hands and try to make my way back upstairs.

As I reach the bottom of the staircase, Musu and Lenora come rushing up, begging me to go to Lenora’s office. I close my eye and take a deep breath before agreeing to go with them.

“The Goddess is really testing us this time, Bronx,” Saint groans impatiently in my mind.

“You're telling me, buddy.” I shake my head even though I am agreeing with him.

“Baby, it looks like I'm going to have to ask for a raincheck,” I mind link Kas as I follow Lenora and Musu up to the fourth floor.

“Aww, that's a shame, Sweetheart,” she pouts before she flashes a dirty image of the two of us into my mind, “I mean, if you can’t make it. you can't make it. Maybe I will just have to have a party with myself up here.”

Oh. My. Goddess.

I stop at the bottom of the stairs to the fifth floor, extremely tempted to ditch Lenora and go to Kas, but Lenora grabs my hand and pulls me to her office. I give her a pleading look before I look back up the stairs with a little whine.

“Listen, Loverboy, this is important and related to your mate,” Lenora growls as she drags me. “So get your mind out of the gutter and focus for a few minutes.

“Oh, I was extremely focused until Milo interrupted me, Leni,” I grin at her as we stop in front of her office door, “It's not too late to get my focus back if you let me go upstairs.”

“Gross, Bronx,” Lenora scrunches her face back at me and opens the door with a scolding glare.

Musu puts her hand over her mouth, suppressing a laugh at our interaction. Lenora typically has a pretty good poker face, but hearing her big brother not so subtly admit he is more interested in going to mate than be part of an impromptu meeting, definitely got a reaction out of her. I give Musu a little elbow in the arm, hiding my laugh too, then hold the door open for her to enter the office.

Milo, Reggie, Ashley, and Marco are already in the room.

“Reggie, it’s good to see you. When did you get back?” I greet him before addressing Marco, “Hi Marco.”

“What? No hello for me?” Milo smirks.

“Absolutely not, "I say with a snarl, staring Milo down.

“Hey Alpha. The team got back about ten minutes after you guys released the pack from the safe room,” Reggie interrupts before

Milo makes me actually angry. I found Lenora and Musu and briefed them on the intel we could gather as soon as we could get up here.

I notice Ashley ogling Reggie more than usual. He gently squeezes her arm with a little smile. I chalk it up to them not having seen each other for a week.

“Bronx, uh, can you please mind link Kas and have her come down? We all need to be here,” Lenora commands.

“Sure,” I look at her suspiciously while she and Musu start pulling up information on their laptops.

“Are you coming back up to the apartment?” Kas asks hopefully in my mind.

“Sorry, Baby, no. I need you to come down to Lenora’s office for a meeting,” I sigh.

“Fine,” she grumbles. Fifteen very quiet and awkward minutes later, Kas makes her way down to Lenora's office. I notice she has changed out of her work clothes into jeans, our t-shirt, and hoodie. A very chill, ready to relax in front of the television or test recipes, type of outfit. I guess it dashed any hope I had of picking up where we left off for the time being. I pull the last chair at the table out for her She gives me a sweet kiss on the cheek before sitting down.

“Alright, so what's going on?" I ask, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Meet, Contessa DeCaul. She also goes by Tessa DeCaul,” Musu turns the monitor around to show a picture of Lenora.

Complete with Lenora’s signature black suit paired with a white button- down shirt, the perfect high ponytail, and red lipstick.

“Is this some sort of joke? Cause it's not funny,” I snarl. I’m not even mad about getting interrupted from being with Kas anymore.

Now I can feel the irritation of someone's thinly veiled attempt to pull the wool over my eyes.

“Bronx, that's not me,” Lenora looks at me seriously, “This is a picture from the Santoro Enterprises website. The Leadership page. This woman is the head of security.”

I hear Kas audibly gasp as she looks at the picture, “That's her.”

“How would you know the difference between this woman and Lenora, Kas?" Milo questions Kas.

“The eyes. They're the same, but they're different. Like her eyes are older than Lenora's,” Kas shakes her head in disbelief as she looks at the picture.

I feel anger bubble up as Saint takes in the woman's image who was responsible for kidnapping his mate.

A cell phone rings, pulling everyone's attention away from the picture.

Ashley looks at her phone, confused, and stands up, taking her ringing phone to the back of the room. A moment later. she comes back, “Kas, did you give someone the asylum seeker line?”

Kas looks at her fora moment. “Oh, yes. This moming, right before Tyree told me I had to leave. She is definitely a wolf. Blonde hair, blue eyes. She said her name was...uh...oh crap.”

“Tessa?” Ashley asks with a little defeat in her voice.

“Yeah. I think she said to call her Tessa,” Kas gulps with a guilty look on her face. She continues. trying to explain herself, “I’m sorry but I didn’t know.

She didn't smell like a rogue and looked like she needed help. I couldn't figure out where from, but she seemed familiar somehow, so I gave her the business card.”

“Let her come,” I say blankly. with my arms crossed against my chest.

“Bronx, are you crazy?!” Lenora snaps.

“When she gets here. escort her to the dungeon and leave her there until I'm ready to deal with her.” I snarl.

“Bronx, no! You can’t just throw her in the dungeon to rot.” Kas turns in her seat and looks up at me with tears suddenly welling up in her eyes.

“Luna,” Reggie tries to butt in. We all know Kas used to have an old solitary confinement cell as a bedroom growing up. She hates the idea of anyone having to be in a dungeon with no way to escape.

“Kas, what would you have me do? Give her the guest suite next to our apartment upstairs?” I squat down in front of Kas’s chair to try to talk some sense into her, “Baby, I need you to trust me on this. I need you to let me do this my way.”

“Alpha, before you do anything, can you please let Musu finish what she was just about to say.” Reggie interrupts again, “It may change your mind about how to proceed.”

“Sorry. Musu. What else were you going to say?” I ask. gesturing for her to continue.

“Contessa DeCaul's maiden name is Santoro,” Musu announces.