** Donovan POV **
After Keira had left and Marcus had taken Victoria to Avalynn, Donovan jumped in the shower once more. He scrubbed vigorously, trying to get the cherry scent off of him. No matter how much he scrubbed, it felt like he couldn't get the scent off of him.
'What the FUCK was that!?' Nolan roared angrily. 'How could you let that bitch touch you?!'
'I was asleep,' Donovan growled in return. 'I didn't know it was Victoria.'
'You should have known it wasn't ourmate!' countered Nolan. 'You let this happen, you let our mate think we betrayed her. You should have killed Victoria!'
'I made a promise to -' Donovan was interrupted.
'That promise was to keep her safe!' Nolan interjected. 'Not to mate with her! Not to let her run our pack! You were meant to keep her safe, not have her ruin our relationship with our mate.'
At this point, Nolan was pacing in anger. 'You better fix this, otherwise don't blame me for being ruthless.'
Nolan retreated to his realm, leaving Donovan alone in his regret.
Donovan let out a deep roar from his chest before slamming his fist against the shower wall, shattering the tiles into a fine white powder. He punched the wall a few more times to vent his anger.
After the water ran cold, Donovan dried off and went to grab a new set of clothes. As he stepped out of the shower, he could still smell the cherry scent belonging to Victoria.
Donovan slipped on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt before removing all the covering and pillows from the bed.
"Alpha?" a soft voice spoke up from the doorway.
"Martha," Donovan greeted.
"Do you need help?" Martha asked as Donovan made a pile near the foot of the bed.
"I need you to throw all of this out," Donovan explained, pointing to his pile. "Have Patrick bring in a new mattress as well. New pillows and sheets while you're at it. Have someone clean up the blood from the carpet if you can. If it doesn't wash out, replace the carpet."
If Martha was startled by the request, she hid it well. "Yes, Alpha. We'll get it done before bedtime."
Donovan thanked her and headed to his office to get some work done. For once, Donovan was glad that he didn't run into anyone. He was sure that everyone in the pack might already know what had happened.
It wasn't like he was hiding; he just needed time to think of a way to apologize and explain things clearly to Sabelina. He knew that this was not the time to try to speak to her. Keira might not care, but Sabelina did. Donovan wanted to make things right with Sabelina. She didn't deserve it.
*
Trying not to be distracted, Donovan powered up his laptop and worked through the finance reports that were left before his departure to the King's territory. Marcus had informed him that Victoria was the one who had managed the reports, but Donovan needed to check things.
The duplicate withdrawal from the bank account was alarming. Since Keira had set a trap for the user who was withdrawing the amount, Donovan wanted to check on the progress. If he did find something not right, he wasn't going to let it go. His pack was in danger of disbanding because the houses hadn't been built.
Donovan worked as meticulously as possible. The last report and finance review didn't match the current numbers sitting in the pack's bank account. Donovan pulled up all the account statements for the last year and began to review every single line. Knowing that everyone had kept receipts of cash purchases, Donovan also pulled those documents and input them into his spreadsheet.
His fingers raced across the keyboard as he plugged in numbers and dates into a separate spreadsheet off the books. Donovan didn't want the one responsible to know that he was looking into the pack's finances. He started with the smaller transactions, less likely to be scrutinized, less likely to have obvious paper trails.
And then he saw it.
A withdrawal of $200 from the pack's supply fund. Simple transaction. But when he cross-referenced it with the actual account ledger, the balance reflected a deduction of $400. His heart pounded in his chest. Donovan went back, eyes darting, muscles tensing. A payment of $1000 for timber for the new lodge – the ledger showed a $2000 deficit. A reimbursement of $500 for pack security patrols – the accounts indicated $1000 gone.
Keira's words came to mind. A silent partner was duplicating every withdrawal that was being made to the pack's account. It wasn't an overcharge, or a typo, but a deliberate, insidious siphon. For every dollar the pack spent, another dollar vanished into thin air, or rather, into someone's pocket.
Donovan quickly pulled up the finance records from the year before his promotion and went through those as well. Hours went by, and Donovan saw that the duplicate transactions had begun two years ago. At first, it was small amounts that seemed normal, but as time went by, it was no longer $30 or $50 that was being siphoned.
The implication was staggering. This wasn't a one-off error; it was a systemic bleed, a slow, steady draining of their collective resources. The sheer scale of it, compounded over two years, had begun to cripple the pack.
Who could implement such a sophisticated scam? And more importantly, who stood to gain from the pack's slow decline?
Donovan closed the laptop and leaned back. He knew he would need help to catch the culprit or culprits behind this scheme.
"Donovan," Marcus greeted as he entered the office. "Ava-"
Donovan looked up and motioned for Marcus to close the door behind him.
"Is everything ok?" Marcus asked, taking a seat.
"Keira was right," Donovan said softly. "I combed through the pack's finances. The siphoning began two years ago, before my promotion to General."
Marcus gasped. "How? WHO!?"
Donovan shook his head. "I don't know. We need to be careful. I will speak to the bank and file for a new account number. This one will be off the books."
"What about the programming things that Keira added?" Marcus asked curiously. "Has anything alarming happened?"
"No," Donovan replied. "Not yet, but we're going to need Keira to help."
Marcus rubbed his neck nervously. "She may not want to... Not after what happened this morning."
Donovan sighed and nodded. "I know. I will speak to her."
"You'd better admit it was your fault," Marcus suggested, standing up. "Otherwise, the pack won't last six months."
Donovan couldn't argue because he knew Marcus was right. Without Keira, the pack would fall.