Chapter 3: The Robbery?

Monroe showed up to the office wrapped in layers of clothes with a hot chocolate in hand. He hated the cold. It always made him want to do nothing but sleep, but Gin had called him in for a mission. So here he was being the ‘good boy’ that he was. He laughed internally at that though and took a seat in an empty chair. He wasn’t the only one there, this was going to have to be a multi person mission. So right now  there were six other’s sitting at the table, some he recognised, some he didn’t.

“How lovely for you to join us Monroe.” Gin said from her seat at the head of the table. He nodded in greeting back at her and to the others he recognized at the table.

Ginger or Gin for short was a female Alpha Lioness, she was in her early fifties and didn’t look like it. With her beautiful strawberry blond hair swept back into a messy bun with not a single grey hair, and it wasn’t because she colored it, and amber eyes with just the hint of wrinkles just starting around them, she stood six foot even and commanded the room like a proud Alpha Queen she was.

To her left as always was her eldest son and Monroe’s best friend Vincent, aka Vinny, who could have been a clone of his mother if he was female, but instead was a very attractive Omega male. He had his mother’s eyes and  hair color, today it was wild like a lion's mane short and sticking out. Monroe thought that he must have just woken up as it was 10 am. He was slimmer and shorter than his mother though not by much at 5’10”. His father, who is a house cat, was always worried as he didn’t see much of himself in him. Both of them are alpha’s so it was a big surprise when he turned out to be an Omega. He didn’t act like it often, he after all wanted to take over after his mother, his long time boyfriend and probably future husband Richard, a large and sweet grizzly bear, supported the hell out of him. He sat next to him gently rubbing his hand. Next to him was an identical bear, his twin brother Royce. 

Both Richard and Royce were Alphas and very large hairy men with resting bitch faces, they had deep blue eyes and short dark brown hair and were built like barrels with just as large arms. They stood at 6’6” and were monstrous men yet, they were surprisingly swift and both were highly intelligent; they could craft up just about any item that anyone could come up with. Across from them sat a house cat that Monroe didn’t recognize and a familiar looking Alpha dog. There was an empty seat between himself and the dog.

He was handsome with broad shoulders and well toned arms, he had to be at least 6’3” and amazing blue grey eyes with that unblemished pale colored skin that all Alpha’s seemed to have. He had short black hair and white floppy ears, the left one had a soft brown heart on. He could see his short tail half white half brown wagging as he sat there despite the fact that he was trying to look as if he wasn’t interested in any one. Monroe found it rather cute that he couldn’t hide his excitement or joy with that tail. He looked to be the muscle of the group, big and smart, it was a dangerous combination. If he had been anything but a dog he would have completely been his type. 

He was slightly biased against dogs since his first year of high school when an Alpha dog had stalked him for a month and then one day he chased him down and raped him. He then claimed that he was only following his natural Alpha instinct and that Monroe had been begging for it. He hadn’t, he had been scared the whole time as he hadn’t even been in heat then. He was thankful he’d been wearing a collar and had been regularly taking his medication so he didn’t get marked or pregnant that day. There was only one other person who had almost done the same to him, it was Tyler the large Gorilla who worked for the FBI or CIA or some ABC initial government business. The good thing was Tyler only knew him by scent, he’d been blinded by pepper spray, the only thing he had to defend himself from the attack so he could never identify him. Honestly since the incident Tyler he’d been avoiding dating and sex and his heats had been off and his doctor was worried but he didn’t tell anyone else about it, not his mother and not even Vinny his most trusted friend.

The house cat looked to be a beta, he had the charm and was that slim build you expect from a cat, his hair was as orange as were his ears and tail, he had soft blue eyes and looked like he was bored already. Monroe didn’t get a good or bad vibe off of him so for now he just ignored him. The dog on the other hand was still quite attractive and distracting as he drank his coffee, he was also now oddly sitting next to him. He had never seen him move but there he was next to him now. They seemed to be waiting for 2 more to show up, that was when he noticed Gin kept looking at him out of the corner of her eye. Vinny was seemingly falling asleep leaning against Richard. It was then when he finally caught the familiar scent just under the cologne of the dog next to him. It was JRT, he knew it anywhere. His head turned to look at the dog and Vinny’s eyes opened wide and a smirk crossed his lips as he knew what was going to happen as it was happening. 

Monroe registered this dog, this same mutt he’d seen on the plane three months ago on the jewelry heist job who was flirting with the flight attendant as the ever harassing JRT. He jumped to his feet and swung at him, catching him very unaware right in the shoulder. He should have gone for his stupid perfect face because all he did was hurt his hand on his nice hard muscles. “You fucking harassing jerk!” He spat out. As he did everyone started pulling out their wallets as Gin called the time, it had taken him five minutes and thirty seconds to recognize him. They had all betted on how long it would take him to figure it out once they had met. At least that was everyone but the dog himself, in the end it was all passed to Vinny who had won.

“Ow? Was that supposed to hurt?” He asked, looking at him with the hint of a smirk as Monroe shook his hand.

“Fucking A, what the fuck? Yes! Why is it my hand is fucking hurting?” He said annoyed. The dog then took his hand gently into his own and started to gently massage it, sparks raced up his hand like they did every time they touched and somehow he felt like he was calming down.

“I’m sorry my bunny.” He said calmly trying to coax him into sitting down again as well as calm him down. “It’s nice to meet you again, I’m Ryan.” He introduced himself as he finally sat down in his chair, calming down some. More money passed hands this time it went to Royce, this bet had been how long it would take for Ryan to calm down the tsunder little rabbit. Everyone but Monroe knew that Ryan was in love with him and knew exactly how to calm him down. Even though he was still fuming about it all there was something about Ryan’s gentle touch and his soft Alpha pheromones that seemed to calm him down quickly and that bothered him somehow.

“So what is the J And T for? Jerk and Terrible?” He asked huffing stil. 

“Ha, I’m a Jack Russel Terrier or JRT.” He told him. He gently kissed the top of his hand and Monroe pulled his hand free and stuffed them into his hoodie’s pocket. 

Ryan didn’t seem to mind though he was a little sad their bit of touching bonding time was over. He wanted to hold his hand the whole meeting but it was clear he wasn’t going to get to, he was content to be sitting next to him though. ‘Baby steps Ryan, baby steps.’ He thought to himself, he knew about the incident with the dog in school which was why he hadn’t approached him aggressively and instead protected him from the distance. He’d wanted to make him his but was afraid to scare him off, he was sure from the sparks he felt every time he touched him that Monroe was truly his fated mate. Words that were also taboo around him as Tyler had used them. He’d beaten the crap out of him when he finally caught up to him and Monroe that day, he’d been the one who rescued him. Not that he’d remember he was in a forced heat and scared at the time. Ryan had used his own pheromones to calm him down and an emergency suprecent that then caused him to pass out after that. 

Monroe huffed again and glared at his friend, he remembered none of that day just the attack and someone pulling Tyler off of him. “You should give me half.” He told him.

“Nope, but thanks I won by thirty seconds, I knew your nose was accurate and it would only take you about six minutes to figure it out.” He said putting his money away. 

Monroe sulked as suddenly in walked a distinguished monkey, one that he was familiar with. Another rival and thorn in his side but, he didn't have as much respect for him like he did Ryan as he played more dirty. His name was Louis and he was an Omega Monkey who used his pheromones and practically whored himself out. He was pretty enough with his blond hair and perfect smile and stunning blue eyes, he even had the perfect dimples that made Alphas fall for him left and right, and a slight southern accent that charmed many out of their pants. He stood at the perfect height of 5’7” not too tall but not too short like himself. Monroe on the other hand was from a small New York town and had not only a slight accent but when he was clearly angry it came out stronger, he was also blessed with the mouth that could make any New York city boy proud. He made a b-line for Ryan sitting now between him and the house cat.

‘They’ve probably fucked, hell the only person who has ever turned Louis down was Richard.’ He thought to himself because as far as he knew and that was because he loved Vinny and they were sure they were fated mates. Ryan ignored him although he was clearly pouring out his charm to the dog.

“What did I miss?” He asked.

“You owe me sixty dollars, he already punched him.” Vinny told him.

“Damn it! Was that all he did?” He said digging out the money.

“So far, Royce won the bet on how fast it took Ryan to calm him down.” Vinny added as he counted and then put the money away. 

“Fuck you all.” Monroe huffed. 

He was starting to wonder why he was here, if Louis was here he didn’t need to be the face of this mission and he was definitely not the muscle or the computer person. He looked to Gin curiously and then in walked the last member of the group, another monkey and Louis’ cousin or something like that, he looked a lot alike but he was a Beta and didn’t have the dimples but he stood as tall as Ryan, he sat next to Monroe and smiled, his name was Steve and he was average but he was good at sleight of hand and cards.

“Now that we’re all here, this is Thomas and that is Steve and Louis.” She said introducing everyone.

And then she went into the mission details, it was a small casino robbery. The casino had been won in a rigged card game and since then had mysteriously been making more profit than it should have. Their job was to prove that the house was cheating, and get the deed back to the original owner and if they happened to steal some of the profits that would be a nice bonus. Monroe sat back and listened, he’d done this sort of thing before, most of the time as a distracting player or the face but he wasn’t being given that part, and as the parts went out he had a sinking feeling he was the small flexible guy that fit into tight places. It turned out he was, his job was to smuggle out half the revenue and the deed out through the vents. He was going to have to do that part unless someone could get it out another way. Thomas was their inside man Steve would be soon working with him and Louis would be the new rich investor who would be gambling on the floor. Ryan would be his personal bodyguard and Vinny, Richard, and Royace would be behind the scenes helping them with support and camera hacking, if need be the twins could act like bodyguards as well. 

They spent the next few weeks doing recon work, Monroe went in on his own dressed as the rich little deer boy one day and then a curious college student the next day. He blended in with a bunch of kids who were there as a small class to talk about card counting and how TV makes it seem easier than it looks. They all had a good time learning about cheaters, it was a class that the casino was aware of. Monroe had taken a class like that before it had been fun for him. They paid to get in and were given fake chips just for learning to play. Knowing all of this he was more interested in the vents system, he found time to slip away and inspect the path from the plans. Something was bothering him, he could make a shortcut for the money but it would be a bit of a stretch for him, he was too short and there was no way he could jump but if he put a white vinyl roll that would match the ceiling between the two… He made up his own backup plan with Royces help. He removed a small section in the wee hours of the morning from two vents and then stuck a white vinyl bridge between the two, it would support fifty pounds or so, so bags of money could go over it easily but he couldn’t. He would have to go out the front door. He called it ‘plan Jessica Rabbit’ because he’d have to switch to a dress. He didn’t mind that he could pull off wearing a dress, the only thing was that Royce would have to deliver him the goods via a remote control car if they went with that.