Challenge Accepted

~Janessa~

I stayed home from the office yesterday. Once daddy told me what happened with mother, I didn't want to leave him. I needed to make sure that he was okay. He wasn't happy to learn that I was pretty close to death over the weekend, but I survived and nothing more could be done about it. Drake joined in with training and everyone was able to learn from each other.

I arrived at the office a bit late today. I had no scheduled meetings and Gemma agreed to be in early just in case anything came up. Katie greets me as I walk into my office. I check my email and messages. My phone beeps and I pick up. "You have someone out here. He says he is Leon."

"Let him in." My office door opens and Leon walks in looking nervous. "What's up Leon? What do you have for me?" Leon looks around the office nervously. He is sitting across from desk and his leg is bouncing up and down quickly. I'm not sure I've ever seen him this nervous before. "Uh…Leon? What's going on?"

"I…uh…I found something on the tracker that you found." I didn't really think he would be able to find anything at all so this is surprising, but it doesn't speak to why he is so nervous.

"What is it Leon? What are you not telling me?" Leon lets out a shaky breath and runs a hand through his brown locks.

"I traced it back to a company, a shell company. There was no traceable name linked to the company, but….." Leon looks down at the floor and I'm trying not to lose my patience.

"But?!"

"I was able to find the IP address. It traces back to the Crystal Lake pack," Leon said quietly. The Crystal Lake pack as in Alpha Jasper. Exactly what the hell has he been doing?

"Thanks Leon. You can go and don't worry, this won't point back to you." Leon nods and scurries out of my office passing by Gemma on the way.

"What was that about? I've never seen Leon like that." I motion for Gemma to take a seat and I fill her in on what Leon told me. "That son of a bitch! So was this whole thing a plot? Did he take the money?" I sigh and slump in my seat.

"I have no idea, but it seems like it doesn't it?" I lean my head back and close my eyes. This is too much. I swear once I put out one fire, another one lights up. I knew being Alpha would be a lot, but I didn't think it would be like this. My phone dings. "Yes, Katie."

"Um….you have someone here, but they won't tell me who they are." I look at Gemma and she nods.

"Just send them in."

_Be ready Gemma. This may be someone we don't want to deal with._

_I know. I got you._

The door to my office flies open and Jasper walks in with a smug look on his face. "Fucking Alpha Jasper," I growl out. "What the fuck are you doing here?"

"Giving you one last chance to do what's right." He turns to look at Gemma. "Leave us now." Gemma sits up straight and looks Jasper right in the eye.

"I'm not going anywhere." Anger flashes on Jasper's face and his fists clench at his side.

"I'd think carefully before you do anything. This is my business which means that people here are loyal to me. This may not be packlands, but this is still my domain. She isn't leaving, but you should." Jasper turns to me.

"You want her to stay, fine. She isn't important. You belong with me and I'm running out of patience waiting for you to figure that out." I scoff and roll my eyes.

"Did you steal my money?" Jasper's jaw clenches, but he keeps an emotionless face. "I said, did you steal my money? Did you hack into my business and take my money?"

"And what if I did? What could you do about it?" I jump out of my chair and I stalk over to Jasper. I stand in front of him and slap him as hard as I can. Jasper slowly moves his face back in front of mine and licks the blood from the corner of his mouth. "So you like it rough, huh? We can do that."

"Screw you! Get the hell out of here. From now on, you can consider us enemies." I'm shaking with anger and trying my hardest to keep Sky at bay. The last thing I need to do is expose myself at the company. There are too many humans around. Jasper takes a step towards me and breathes in.

"What's that smell? What happened to your scent?" I say nothing, but hold his gaze. Jasper grabs the back of my head. I can see Gemma hop up from the corner of my eye and she is ready to fight. I open my hand at my side signaling for her to stay put. "Who the fuck have you been with?!"

"That would be me." I look toward my office door and Drake is standing there. "I came to see if you wanted to have lunch. I guess it was a good thing I did. You can take your hands off of her now." Jasper doesn't move his hand and continues to stare at me.

"Are you serious? You rather have that insignificant human over me?" I make a fist with my open hand and deliver a punch to Jasper's chest. He stumbles a few steps and leans over to catch his breath.

"You need to leave….now!" Drake hasn't moved and Gemma is still ready to fight. Jasper stands up straight and walks towards the door. He turns to Drake.

"I challenge you to a fight to the death." Gemma gasps. This can't be real. There is no way Drake will accept the challenge.

"What are the terms?" Drake asks. Jasper smirks.

"If you win, I will leave Janessa alone and give back the money."

"When I win..." Jasper throws his head back and laughs.

"When I kill you, Janessa is mine." I shake my head. This can't be real.

"Fine." I stare at Drake hoping I heard him wrong.

"We will meet this weekend at the clearing between our two packs." Jasper looks Drake up and down and walks out of the office. Drake walks over to me and runs his hands up and down my arms. I close my eyes and sigh.

"Drake, what did you do?"