“Combination of hormones and this mating thing,
it affects us all differently.” Jasmine thought of Silas’ jealousy
over Davian and wondered if he’d ever get over that.
Jacques stepped into the room. “It’s done.
Danielle and Rone are moving Rose now. Matt and Davian have arrived
and are on their way up. Is there anything else I can do to help?”
he asked.
“Asia has the kids in the other room. I’ll be
next door with Rose and Rone. Davian will work security in the
corridor. Just check on him and Asia from time to time.” She looked
at her mom and smiled. “We are in a crisis situation and everyone
has to pull their weight. If you can move around, I want you to
check on my children.”
Victoria’s cheeks reddened as she nodded. “Of
course. We’ll help Asia inside, Damian will be in the hall and the
rest of you will be where? In your private quarters?”
“Yes, thanks, mom. Jacques.” She left their
room and checked on the children. Asia sat on an upholstered
lounger reading a book. Jasmine explained what was
happening.
“Thank you, Mistress. I will watch over them as
they sleep.”
“Don’t stay up all night, get some sleep,”
Jasmine said.
Asia smiled.
Jasmine shook her head and left the room. She
saw Matt and Davian entering the front room.
“Glad you made such good time,” she said to
Matt. “I moved Rose next door.” She pointed to the door.
“Okay.” He turned, kissed Davian and walked
toward the other room. After keying in his code, Matt opened the
door and Jasmine heard Rose scream.
Moving quickly, she waved Davian into the hall
and closed the door behind them. “You’re on security detail out
here.”
“Okay. Tell Rone, I’m here if he needs me,”
Davian said.
Jasmine nodded and stepped into the room with
Rose.
Chapter 13
Boris Lancaster knew his days were numbered but
he hadn’t kicked the bucket, not quite yet. Gone were the times
when he didn’t need much food or rest. Without eight hours of
sleep, sometimes more, he did not function well. Climbing anything
caused his joints to hurt and cold weather was not his
friend.
After the death of Gordon, by his blade,
Roderick and the others no longer trusted him. Perhaps they feared
he would accidentally kill them as well. The idea had merit.
Scattered, with limited resources, the Liege Lords no longer
functioned as the well-oiled machine they once had been. There was
a time when they ruled the world through back door deals, and had
been accepted in every court or Presidential palace. Politicians
and Generals sought their favor and paid millions for their
products, and ideas. Like sands of time, scattered across the
seashore, they were no longer seen as viable associates. His calls
were no longer returned, and no one offered sanctuary.
His thoughts traveled to Asia Montgomery and
the mistake they made in allowing her to go after La Patron. That
had been the beginning of their downfall. He never understood how
La Patron broke their control over Asia, the doctors swore death
was her only recourse, yet she lived to bring them all down. That
bitch! He rubbed the vial in his pocket. Before he died, he would
correct that mistake as a part of his legacy.
Noise from three men who sat around the table
jabbering about what they deemed a successful mission pulled him
from his thoughts. They had no idea what they’d just done and since
he needed them to assist him to reach his goal, he wouldn’t
share.
“Someone died, or something happened inside the
compound, we know that,” Crawford, the money man said.
“We can’t be sure. There’s nothing to confirm
that,” Ollie another financier with shady connections
said.
“It’s just a matter of time before we see
something. That solution will damage the nervous system of any
wolf, disabling it to the point it cannot fight the bacteria
attacking the human side,” Hickle, the biochemist
claimed.
Amateurs, Boris thought listening to their
prattle. None of them could kill La Patron nor would they ever win
against him. Silas Knight was an extremely well-connected genius
who could make all of them disappear with a phone call. Human
rights, be damned. When you held a significant portion of the
world’s wealth at your fingertips, world leaders listened. These
fools hadn’t researched their target, or if they had, they believed
the extremely limited information available about the man. Which
made his job of using them so much easier.
“You did an excellent job, Hickle. I’m sure
someone has suffered already but since we cannot directly confirm,
it makes our job more difficult.”
“What do you suggest?” Crawford
asked.
“Did you use the trace elements I gave you with
the solution?” He asked Hickle.
“Yes, Sir. You were right, the chemical
compounds worked well together and it’s the only way to deliver the
product in a stabilized manner.”
Hickle’s comment silenced everyone and gave
Boris the spotlight.
“Indeed, the reason we are at a point of
indecision is simple; we need two ingredients. Well, two people.
Both of which have cameras embedded in their eyes and who also have
the ear of La Patron.” Boris pulled out a remote control and
clicked. Fortunately he backed up many files to his personal cloud
before Hawke destroyed the lab and today they came in
handy.
A picture opened with a view of a man and woman
sitting in a room quietly talking. Boris pushed a button and the
conversation between the two Brits flowed into the room. The camera
moved closer. A gloved hand pulled out a pistol and shot each
person at point blank range and then walked away. The camera showed
every detail of the escape.
“This is what we need, someone inside so we can
see and hear what’s happening through their eyes,” Boris said when
the screen darkened. “Asia and Hawke, both have these cameras
installed. It’s a simple matter to activate them but it must be
done manually.” Photos of Hawke smiling in the now destroyed lab
and Asia when she worked for the Liege, filled the
screen.
“How do you propose we do that manually?”
Crawford asked.
“Capture one of them, I place the device on
their forehead and it will restart the camera.” Prepared to deceive
them, he pressed the button and a picture of the device filled the
screen. “This is what’s behind their eye. It was surgically
installed and every once in a while emits a weak signal, that’s how
I know the device is still lodged inside both of them.”
“So we create a situation, one of these two
will be sent to correct it and what? We hold them long enough for
you to restart the camera and then allow them to return to West
Virginia?” Ollie asked, his voice full of skepticism.
Boris nodded. “It’s the only way I can think of
to get the confirmation you need to gather funds to expand your
project.” He didn’t bother looking at any of them, the familiar
pungent odor of their greed filled the room.
These men thought to force La Patron to pay
them large sums of money in exchange for a formula that only worked
on some full-bloods, not all and hadn’t been tested on half-breeds.
Of course they weren’t aware of this information and Boris wouldn’t
share. When they contacted La Patron, they would discover dealing
with a wolf as old as Silas Knight was unlike dealing with human
men. They threatened his pack and the penalty for that would be
their death.
“There was a bomb scare in Virginia recently; I
heard Knight was somehow involved,” Crawford said
slowly.
Boris hadn’t heard about that and looked at the
man. “A bomb? What kind of bomb?”
“Don’t know. It filled the news for several
days, some government-hating guy walked into a BigMart with a bomb
strapped to his waist and killed everyone in the store. Hundreds of
people died.” He looked at Boris as if he should know or care what
happened in American news.
“I would like to see anything you have on that
bombing,” Boris said.
“Google it,” Ollie said. “It’s in the news.” He
turned to Crawford. “I’m not sure about kidnapping these people and
playing with gadgets in their minds. We need to look at another way
to confirm if this works the way we think.”
“Did your people take care of the delivery
men?” Crawford asked.
“Yeah, that’s done,” Ollie said.
Crawford nodded and looked at the screen again
where Asia and Hawke’s picture were displayed. “I’ll get back with
you on what we can do,” he told Boris.
“Yes, thank you,” Boris said dismissing them as
he stared at the images of the two people who cost him everything.
Hawke and Asia - their deaths would be sweet and painful. Maybe he
would take Damian and the little brat, what was she called? He
couldn’t remember. Had Hawke bonded with those two? He doubted Asia
had. He shook his head at the absurdity of it all. Mates, Hawke and
Asia, who would’ve thought it could happen? He had ordered the
beheading of her first mate, at least they thought he was her mate.
Maybe they’d been wrong or maybe she could have more than one mate.
Nevertheless, for what those two had done to him and his empire,
they would die. He again patted his pocket with the vials of
poison.
He smiled thinking of his latest discovery of
an old lab and the caged inhabitants. They would do well. All he
needed was a clear shot to bring them down. He fingered the small
packet of pills in his other pocket. Excitement spread through his
chest, soon he would have Asia and Hawke where he wanted them. The
price would be high but he would gladly trade his life to see them
dead.
Chapter 14
Silas, Hawke and Dr. Passen continued the
search for answers regarding Froggy’s death. Cameron sent a message
that there had been no reported losses in the state. Silas hadn’t
reported the outbreak to his Alphas but had been monitoring their
channels for other cases. There had been none. It seemed this
deliberate attack was aimed solely at him. If his pups and mate
weren’t on the grounds, he’d welcome the challenge.
Thinking of his mate, he squashed the
irritation of her disconnecting their links for that brief period.
He hadn’t heard from her since she threatened to leave the compound
to bring help for Rose. The heat of her anger touched him through
their link, he knew anyone standing near her felt warm tendrils. At
least she hadn’t set the bunker on fire.
“Has Rose had the babies
?” he asked
testing the waters.
“Have you found out what happened to
Froggy
?” she countered.
“Not yet. It’s frustrating
.” He opened
his link and shared what had been going on since she shut him down
and should have been prepared when she did the same. Silas was
surprised at all she dealt with below ground.
“Why won’t the pups sleep
?” he
asked.
“Because they aren’t in
their beds, or so
they claim. I think they’re scared and their nurses aren’t here so
Danielle, Asia and I are trying to get them back to
sleep
.”
“What about your mom? Can’t she
help
?”
Jasmine snorted. “
No, she’s in diva mode. I
don’t have time to fool with her. I might say
something.”
Unsure what was going on there, he changed
directions. Experience taught him Jasmine and her mom clashed often
and not to make anything out of it.
“There is a complication
with the birth of the twins?”
He ran his hand through his hair,
unable to believe all of this had been happening and she had not
contacted him.
“Yes, Matt is dealing with
it.”
“Alone?”
“No. Davian’s helping
him.”
Silas growled.
“Don’t start. I’m in no mood for
you to go wolf right now. I’m trying to calm four babies down, not
you.”
“I’m… sorry. This has been a long
day all around. Contact me after they are asleep.”
“I’m tired and plan to get some
rest with them. We’ll talk tomorrow.”
“What about Rose and Tyrone
?” He
couldn’t believe she would sleep after making such a fuss
earlier.
“Matt’s handling it. And so is Davian,
they’re his grandkids too, he’ll make sure nothing happens to the
babies
,” she said.
His wolf flinched from her words. “
I
wouldn’t allow anything to happen to their babies either, Jasmine.
It’s unfair for you to imply I would
.”
She sighed. “
I know, Silas, just like you
know that’s not what I meant
.”
He waited for her to explain or to apologize.
Neither happened. “
Jasmine
?”
“Sir, come quick
,” Hank said.
“Where?”
Silas asked, already in
motion.
“To the dorms on the lower level, we’ve lost
two more
.” The dismay in Hank’s voice punched Silas in the
gut.
“Who?
” Silas asked taking the stairs two
at a time.
“Gerri and Lopren, one lab assistant who
worked with Passen and Lopren worked the front gate on
security
.”