Page 123 of Knot Her Beta

“My first boss always insisted on keeping copies of everything.” I smile despite myself. “He said you never know when clients will demand proof of how their money was spent years down the line.”

Another stack follows.

“This one’s for buying him out of the house.”

The amount still turns my stomach. Years of savings and working side jobs. Every spare dollar I’d managed to put away, and still, I needed a second mortgage.

“And these are…” I pull out two more carbon copies clipped together. “The sponsorship fees for Mark and Jacob that I paid.”

From his spot at the counter, Leif raises an eyebrow. “The two Alphas Auren cheated on you with?”

My shoulders slump. “It wasn’t cheating. I knew he was bringing them home. I made them breakfast, for fuck’s sake.”

“It was cheating,” Jared grits out. “He had you so beat down that there’s no way you would have objected. Anything to make him happy.”

“It was cheating,” I agree, because even though I had allowed it, I had objected.

At the beginning.

“But it made sense at the time, when Auren said I was too busy to help run the pack, and that he needed more Alpha support.” I shake my head. “I paid the sponsorship fees because he insisted Mark and Jacob were necessary for the health of our pack.”

Grady turns over one of the pages beneath the checks. “These look official.”

I shake my head. “I don’t know how he did it.”

I slip the receipt free. It sports a county seal embossed in the corner, a receipt number, and a clerk’s signature. Everything about it appears legitimate.

“He gave me one every time he filed something.”

“Except he never filed any of it.” Jared’s jaw tightens. “The snake was probably sleeping with someone at the registrar’s office, too.”

I flinch. “Probably.”

The color drains from him, and he hurries over. “Em, I’m sorry. I’m just so angry right now.” He nuzzles my cheek. “None of this is your fault. He had years to manipulate you, and pheromones on his side, and he’s objectively very pretty in a breakable kind of way.”

“It’s okay.” I reach up to run my fingers through Jared’s hair. “I was young and an easy target, desperate for a pack.”

“You’ll have a pack.” He peppers kisses over my neck and temples. “The right one. Grady and Dom are going to see it through. Right?”

“Right.” Dominic goes through everything. “But the checks aren’t enough.”

Jared and I separate, and dismay settles over me at the sight of all my evidence, but Jared’s the one who asks the question on both our minds.

“Why not?”

“Because all they prove is that you paid him.” Grady turns to Leif. “Go hook the printer back up. We need to print the bank records showing every one of these checks cleared and that Auren deposited them.”

I look down at the neat stacks covering the table. “If the Registration Office says they never received the filings…” I tap the forged receipts with one finger. “…then Auren didn’t just lie to me.”

Dominic gives a chilling smile. “He stole the filing fees and forged government receipts. That’s illegal. He’s not getting away with this.”

As I work on printing out everything Grady and Dominic say I need, a knock sounds on the front door. Everyone freezes for a heartbeat as we all have the same thought. But surely Auren wouldn’t show up now.

Jared starts to stomp toward the entry before Leif pulls him back and goes to answer the door instead.

Blake sweeps into the cottage, two foil-covered trays balanced on his forearms, his brown hair loose around his shoulders. “Food has arrived.”

Holden follows with a handled bag that releases the scent of roasted garlic and sourdough bread. “If our new pack members won’t come to the feast, then the feast will come to them.”