The Pack's Hacker (by Cooper) novel Chapter 276

Cyra

Going back to the Academy was a little surreal. After the craziness of the last four days, the Academy seems calm.

Yorick and I talked last night about combining our rooms. It’s not like we’re ever going to sleep apart. We plan to speak to Alpha Nevaeh about it today. The spare room isn’t needed for someone else. There aren’t any more admissions coming this year to the Academy, but this way, we can let them know that it’s available if they need it.

The first surprise came at breakfast Monday morning. Our group was sitting around chatting about the weekend and the week to come when Megan showed up at our table.

I sigh, ready for a fight.

“I just wanted to say congratulations to both of you,” she says to me and Yorick.

I look at her, waiting for the rest. There isn’t any more.

“What’s the catch, Megan?” I finally ask.

“No catch. I was wrong to go after your mate, even if I didn’t know you were fated, you were still together. I apologize for that,” she says.

“I’m sorry, what? You don’t expect us to believe that you’re here apologizing for your actions, do you, Megan?” Piper asks her. “No, I don’t. But someone reminded me recently that I don’t have to be the person others think I am. I have the power to be the person I choose to be. I was wrong, and good Alphas acknowledge and apologize when they’re wrong. I’ll see you in class. Congratulations again,” she says, walking off.

I stare after her.

“What is she up to?” Yorick murmurs.

“I have no idea,” I say. I watch her walk past the table with her cronies, not even acknowledging their presence.

“Maybe it’s invasion of the body snatchers,” Zach whispers.

“You’re such an idiot,” Piper says, laughing.

We’ve just about finished eating when I see Hacker enter the dining hall.

“Hey, I’m going to go talk to Hacker,” I tell him.

“I’ll throw our trays away and come join you,” Yorick says.

“Hacker,” I call out. He turns, waving. He looks tired, like he was up most of the night.

“Hey, I wanted to ask you about a couple of things,” I say as he gets a tray and plate and begins piling food on it.

“There’s a possibility that I have money hidden away somewhere, money that my father put away. Stellan and Christer alluded to it, but Alpha Warren and I looked over the weekend and didn’t find any trace of it,” I tell him.

“It’ll cost you. This is personal, not for the Council,” he says, not looking up.

“I’m aware. Let me know how much.”

“How much money do you think is hidden?” he asks, still focusing on his plate of food.

“Stellan alluded that it would pay off the loan,” I say, making his hand stop partway to his plate. He turns to look at me.

“The twenty-million-dollar loan?”

“That’s the one.”

“And you didn’t find a single trace of it?” he asks, nodding to Yorick when he walks up.

“Nothing that would make us believe that there is any money, much less that much money, hidden away somewhere.”

“How would Christer and Stellan have known about it?” he asks, resuming his food collection. How does one man eat so much?

“My father, I guess. It’s the only thing that makes sense. We never heard anything on that recording that Christer had that made me think there was money hidden anywhere,” I say.

“Unless Stellan and Christer knew where to look,” he murmurs thoughtfully. “I’m intrigued. I’ll take it. It will still cost you, but since this is sort of related to the Council issue and I may have to eventually report it to them, it’ll cost less. If it turns out that it’s related to charges for either man, the Council will foot the bill entirely,” he says. “I’ll draw up the paperwork and you can come sign it tonight after classes.”

“We thought maybe this would be a good learning opportunity for Sphinx,” Yorick says, making Hacker look up at him.

“Sphinx is getting a lot of learning opportunities lately, but yeah. This would be a good one. You said there were two things?” he asks, finally moving to pay for his food. His tray now has three plates full of food.

“Is all that for you?” Yorick asks.

“I missed dinner last night,” he says.

“The second is, and I’m not sure you heard that Yorick and I took over two packs this past weekend …”

“I heard. Congratulations. I also heard they’re looking at you for C-Squad. Nice.”

“Thanks,” Yorick says.

“Well, after hearing about how weak Alpha Connor’s security is, I’d like to have our security assessed and combined. We, Yorick and I, thought that you might want to join us this weekend so you can physically see the packhouses and decide the best way to combine the security defenses and improve them,” I say.

“Sphinx is supposed to be coming to our pack to set up a room for when she’s there with my parents. It could be another learning opportunity for her,” Yorick says.

“Are you trying to hook me up with your sister, Striker?” Hacker asks.

“No, not at all. And I will warn you that I will come for you if you hurt her. And I won’t be the only one. But I know she’s extremely excited about coming to the Academy next year. She is on early acceptance and under the Tech Team’s supervision, so I thought this might be a good opportunity for the two of you to work together on a project,” he says.

He looks at us for a long moment. “I won’t know how much it will cost you until I see what we’re working with. Depending on Sphinx’s ability to assist, I can reduce that cost, if she’s willing to work for free.”

And this was our discussion last night. She’s frustrated that she can’t move past the attack. She still freezes on the sparring field when the fighting gets to be too intense.

I flick on the camera and dial her number.

She answers the phone as the camera comes on and I can see her lips pressed tightly together. Since this is important to me, I flip my camera on too so she can see me.

“Say it to my face,” I growl at her.

She looks down but stays quiet.

“This weekend. You and me. I’m pushing you past this.”

“How?”

“If I tell you how, you’ll just find a way to block me and make it harder for me. This way, you can mentally prepare to be pushed hard, but not how to get around my intervention.”

She looks back up at the camera. “Do you really think you can fix me?”

I lean forward, letting her see my irritation.

“Fixing you implies that you’re broken, Wendy. You are NOT broken. You’re traumatized and your family is using kid gloves with you. I’m about to put you in a big girl boxing ring and make you fight your way out of it,” I tell her.

“Do you think it will work?” she whispers.

“I’m not going to let you stop until it does,” I say.

“Thanks, Jude,” she says. 1

“Don’t thank me yet. I’m sure you’ll be cursing my name this weekend.” 2

“No pain, no gain, right?” she asks.

“That’s the spirit,” I say, watching as she smiles. Finally. She didn’t smile at all last night. This opportunity couldn’t have come at a better time. I was already trying to figure out how I was going to get to her so I could push her through this before she comes to the Academy next year.

“So, I’ll see you this weekend?” she asks.

“Yes, but before that, your brother and Alpha Cyra gave me a new project. Want to help?”

“Yeah, what is it?” she asks excitedly.

“Apparently, we’re going on a treasure hunt.”