He stretched out his legs and placed both hands
on his lap, as he met her gaze. “After spending a considerably long
time living and working with humans, I am aware of their phobias
and fondness for believing they are the most important beings on
the planet. Their regard for life is laughably inconsistent.
History tells the story of how humans try to annihilate any and
every one different from them, even amongst humans.”
“That’s why you shouldn’t underestimate
them.”
Silas chuckled. “Is that what you think? That I
underestimate them? If I did that then I would make the same
mistake with them that they make with me.” He waited for his words
to settle.
“Silas…”
“Packs are governed as a theocracy, ruled by
the Goddess alone. As her messenger, I carry out her mandates for
her people. She has been very clear on some points and not as much
on others. But I understand the underlying spirit of her rule and
that cuts down on chaos.”
“How do you explain the rebels?”
“For the most part I don’t. They are her
children and are given an opportunity to change directions. As long
as they do not take lives or cause the loss of life, rebels are
treated as the demented cousins everyone has but never talk
about.”
“So you’re saying you take the humans as a
serious threat?”
“No, I didn’t say that.”
Jasmine stared at him.
“In this country they outnumber us 10-to-1,” he
said.
She waved down his comment. “That’s not a
number of people who would respond immediately when called. You
snap your finger and you could have all 33 million pack members run
outside and attack their human neighbors. The government knows that
and I’m sure at least one person in office has had nightmares in
the past.”
Silas looked at his fingers and then snapped
them. After a few seconds he looked at her. “You didn’t move over
here.”
Jasmine laughed. “No. I guess I didn’t get the
call.”
He extended his hand to her.
She took it and sat on his lap.
Holding her tight, he brushed a kiss against
her forehead. “Our pack is organized and specifically trained to
function both independently and dependently. Each territory is
separated by borders and a specific Alpha. But we are all one.
Granted, we are savage and brutal - our strength and cunning are
constantly tested.” He tapped his chest. “But our beasts are
survivors. If attacked, retaliation is a part of who we are. My
goal is to lead our pack to live peaceably with prosperity. So far
that’s been working.”
Her long sigh and slumped shoulders concerned
him. “You don’t agree?”
“To a point. When you retaliate, you draw
attention to us. Since the Goddess’ main rule is to live, what…
invisibly, why do that?”
“Full-bloods follow the Goddess because we
believe she guides and protects us better than anyone else. If
another comes along to challenge her and wins, then she loses
stature and possibly her pack to the winner. There are no elections
or voting. Top wolf rules. That’s who we are.”
“I understand that but—”
“No, Jasmine, I don’t think you do. Here’s the
thing - whenever the government does something against the pack, I
retaliate on behalf of the Goddess. As long as the pack sees or
understands that actions are being taken for their safety, they
will remain loyal and follow pack rule. If I or any of my Alphas
allow members of our pack to be targeted, harassed, mistreated or
killed and do not respond with a swift and deadly hand, then why be
in a pack?”
During his explanation, she’d met his gaze
trying to understand. He wondered if she ever would.
“I understand that part, what I’m saying is you
act as if this is the days of the Wild West and you have to meet in
the middle of the street for a showdown. While you’re going after
the person crazy enough to meet you in the road, your real enemies
are watching from windows or along the street pretending to be on
your side. That’s what bothers me. Do you know who your real
enemies are?”
Silas placed his finger beneath her chin,
lifted her face and kissed her softly at first. Her apprehension
touched him. Her analogy of the street-fighter was a little close
to home but the question she asked required additional thought.
Deepening the kiss, he sent waves of love and affection through
their link so that she knew how much he cherished her. Such a
precious gift.
They broke apart on a soft gasp. She brushed
her lips across his. Inhaling, he smelled her arousal and placed
his hand on her thigh. She covered it before he could slide higher.
“Do you understand my… concerns?”
“Yes. But there’s not an easy answer. I’ve
lived a long time, witnessed the birth and growth of this country
as well as the Wolf Nation. Enemies come and go but they are
constant, which will always be the case. Someone will always fear
our numbers, our strength, and our ability to heal and age slowly.
Others are jealous of our wealth, our lands, even the superior
quality of our schools. Still others fear our innate ability to
fight with targeted focus and want to control what they consider my
army. See? Lots of people pulling strings trying to unravel
us.”
“I see.” She paused. “With all that going on,
the question should become who’s your top enemy at the
moment?”
Silas smiled, pleased she understood. “Yes,
right now it’s whoever dusted boxes with poison which survived the
recycling process. That may be the government or a cell group or
some new faction looking for the fountain of youth. We’ve fought
all kinds over the years.”
“Times have changed, people are using more
sophisticated methods and weapons. What are you doing about
that?”
He tapped the tip of her nose and then moved a
little so that she felt his hard erection, hoping this would be her
last question.
“Have you seen my lab? Or my forensics team?
Our people invented or had a hand in a lot of the new technology.
Remember at the mating ceremony, the gift from the college
students?” Her blank stare said she didn’t have a clue what he
referred to.
“We have five full-blood universities across
the country which are free to pack members. Each specializes in a
specific discipline. Knight Tech rivals MIT with innovation and
testing. The main difference though is at Knight Tech, the
instructors and students patent everything beneath the name of the
pack, so that we all benefit.”
Jasmine pushed his chest and stood. “My worries
are for my children and grandchildren and after mom has her babies,
them as well. It seems we’re always under attack for some reason
and now I understand that is the way life will be from now on.” She
inhaled, released it slowly and looked at him. “I love
you.”
His chest expanded to near bursting.
“This is not the life I would’ve chosen but
it’s the life I have. Hands down, you’re the best man for the job,
these voices… they’re giving me a headache. Here you go.” She
exhaled.
Requests for conversations, advice and updates
flooded his link. The sudden onslaught jolted him. “I thought you
released them when I woke up,” he said filtering and cataloging
information to manageable levels.
“No, I wanted to talk first and just listening
to everyone reaching out to you gave me a better understanding of
your job. But Hawke’s contacted you twice, says it’s urgent, so you
need to take it from here.” Leaning forward, she placed a kiss on
his lips and walked out of the kitchen.
Chapter 19
Hawke and Silas stepped out the vehicle in an
underground parking area beneath the Federal building in Elkins,
West Virginia. Three men in dark suits materialized with hand-held
scanners and waved them back and forth.
“Interesting custom when inviting someone
for a chat
,” Hawke said.
“What’s interesting is that they are aware
of the deaths in my compound. Do you think we have a leak
?”
Silas asked, following the men to an elevator.
“No more than secure information from their
computers leak. When it comes to technology, privacy is limited to
in-house systems which makes it hard when you need to research
poisons. The flag was raised when we went looking
,” Hawke
replied as the elevator plunged downward.
Agreeing with Hawke’s assessment on the leaks,
Silas asked, “
How’s Asia? I meant to ask before but with
everything going on to set up this meeting, it slipped my
mind.”
“Better. Thanks for allowing her to stand
guard on the floor with the pups. It bothered her being so far
away
.”
The elevator finally stopped. Silas stepped out
first and then Hawke. Two similarly dressed men met
them.
“This way, please,” one of the men
said.
Silas and Hawke walked down a long corridor and
stopped in front of a wooden double door. Inside three men sat at a
long polished table. One had a laptop opened in front of him and
the others sat in front of small stacks of files.
“I’m Silas Knight, you have information for
me?” He remained near the door, prepared to leave if they didn’t
have what he wanted. Holding information hostage as a bargaining
chip to learn more about the bombs had been an underhanded
maneuver. But he couldn’t discount their success; he had left the
compound to make the exchange since he refused to allow them on his
grounds. Jasmine had been adamant that he meet with these men if
there was a chance to stop the poison from killing any more pack
members. She didn’t hesitate to remind him of how well she handled
things in his absence the last time.
“Yes. Let me introduce everyone and we’ll get
started. I’m Melch,” said the slender Caucasian male, with dark
eyes, receding hairline and sharp jaw. He then pointed to the
dark-complexioned man to his right. “This is Kalid.” Silas glanced
at the Indian and nodded.
“And this is Hickle,” Melch said, pointing to
the pale male with thinning brown hair seated on his
left.
“Dr. Hickle,” Hickle corrected. “I’ve been
tasked with exploring the information on the bombs, fascinating
work.” He smiled at Silas.
Silas rubbed his nose as he stared at the man.
“I would tell the creator but she died a while back.” Assuming
Melch to be in charge, Silas looked at him. “This is Hawke, you
asked for him specifically, why?”
Melch held Silas’ gaze. “Because we heard he is
the best in the field.”
Silas crossed his arms. “Really? Who told you
that?”
Melch didn’t flinch beneath Silas’ hard glare.
“I’m not at liberty to say.”
Silas walked to the table, placed his palms on
the cool wood surface and leaned forward. “As long as you’re at
liberty to answer all my questions about the poison we’ll call it
even. This is a one-time consult. All charges against me are to be
dropped tomorrow as agreed.”
“Yes, I’m familiar with the terms of this
agreement,” Melch said. “Can we start? As you said before accepting
our invitation, the clock is running.”
Sensing no subterfuge or guile in Melch, Silas
pulled out a chair, leaving a seat between him and Kalid. Hawke sat
across from Silas with a seat between him and Dr.
Hickle.
“Tell me about the poison,” Silas said
determined to find out what he wanted first. He understood they
were anxious over the flesh-colored bombs but he had been burned
too many times in the past to share information first.
Melch met his gaze and then nodded.
“Kalid?”
After spending five minutes explaining the name
and ingredients of the compound, Kalid finished with what Silas
considered the obvious. “The poison is highly contagious and
extremely toxic.”
“Who owns the poison?” Silas asked in a soft
voice to mask his rising anger.
“I’m not at liberty to say,” Kalid said staring
at the page in the folder.
“Somebody needs to explain how a highly
classified poison created for chemical warfare disappeared from
wherever you secure it and wound up in West Virginia on my front
door.” Silas stared at Melch.
“There was a breach, one we’re looking into.
Samples were taken,” Melch said.
“Breach? Samples?” Silas looked at Hawke, glad
he wasn’t buying this BS either.
“He’s not lying, he’s repeating what he was
told but what he’s saying is not true
,” Hawke said.
Silas and Hawke stood. “Goodnight gentlemen,
now you understand why I don’t do these fireside chats - you forget
we can smell deceit.”
Melch frowned, the first sign of emotion he had
shown since they arrived. “Deceit? I’m speaking the truth
–”
“As you know it,” Silas said looking at the
genuine confusion on Melch’s face. “Let me guess, you were called
in at the last minute and only have the barest facts on this whole
exchange, while these two and others know what actually happened.
You were told to answer me honestly, which you’ve done but you
don’t know anything. Which is a waste of time.”
Melch’s conflicted gaze proved Silas read the
situation correctly.