by Sydney Addae
“But if they’re still using humans in experiments you’ll shut it down?” Silas said.
“Absolutely,” Thomas said.
“Good to know. I may need your help to keep them from Central America. Once I speak to the Goddess I’ll let you know,” Silas said.
“Sounds good,” Thomas said and disconnected the link.
“Well, they aren’t playing around,” Angus said regarding Hermes death.
“No. They can’t afford to either, can you imagine what the military would do if they ever captured Thomas? Or Noah? Or Damali? Or Pearl? I don’t want to think about the damage Thomas’ team could or would do under a compromised banner. If these Olympians aren’t unified in the same way Thomas and the others are, the government will soon lose control over them and have a horrible mess on their hands,” Silas said.
“Which is why you insisted they have an Alpha,” Hawke said.
“Anyone with the kinds of abilities Thomas and the others have must be accountable to someone who can make them behave to minimize the damage any one of them can do,” Silas said.
“Matteo already sounds strong, should Thomas give him the shot?” Angus asked.
“Without the shot, Thomas cannot control or link with him,” Hawke said.
“Matteo cannot live on Pack lands or be a part of Chimera without Thomas as his Alpha. That’s the rule,” Silas reminded them, looked at Jasmine and pulled her close. “What do you think? Am I wrong and the Kirlethanium is at the root of this?”
For several moments she remained silent. “Honestly, I don’t think you’re wrong. It’s as if someone wants you to look in that direction and deal with these, what did they call them?”
Silas snorted. “Olympians.”
She nodded. “They’re going to be a problem but I don’t see the link between them and Raven’s disappearance.”
“What about the necklace? Someone chose a necklace with a Kirlethanium crystal and gave it to her.”
“That’s strange and the kids will untangle that. In the meantime, Raven’s still missing and it’s the fourth day. No wonder Lucian’s losing it,” Jasmine said.
“Come with me.”
She met his gaze. “I’m baking.”
He smiled. “I need to talk to the Goddess about this and you’ll see things from a different perspective that’ll help. She likes you.”
“Maybe, but you’re Her champion.” Jasmine covered containers and placed the batter she had been working on in the refrigerator before washing her hands.
“Thank you, Sweet Bitch.” He brushed his lips against hers as he took her hand and headed for the door.
“Don’t thank me yet. She may not answer,” Jasmine warned.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
LUCIAN STOOD IN FRONT of almost 200 members of the Costa Rica Pack with Alpha Corvis. Speech made, cheers given, now each person had to accept Corvis’ bite as they had with Lucian last month when he took over the Pack.
As the cheers died down, Pack members lined up to pledge loyalty to their new Alpha. Lucian watched, ready to terminate anyone who refused. They had been given three weeks to leave Costa Rica or pledge loyalty. Today, Lucian stood as executioner, not a role he enjoyed but embraced as a part of his duties for the smooth transition of power. It was better to weed out dissidents now, rather than later.
Standing to the side of Corvis, he met the gaze of each member and nodded as they offered Corvis their necks. The ceremony hadn’t taken long. For the most part, they hadn’t lost more than 50 Pack who moved away, refusing Lucian’s authority. He could live with that. They were warned to leave Central America since it all fell beneath his jurisdiction. There had been some grumbling, but they left.
Pleased the ceremony drew to the end, Lucian contacted Duke. “Have you found out if Uncle Ricardo had dealings with others outside our Pack? Franz sold guns and drugs to several gangs. I can’t believe Uncle wasn’t a part of that.”
“We’ve been asking around, quietly. There’s some noise that Uncle Ricardo made enemies but he was too strong. Also heard he tried to force smaller, weaker Packs to use their members for experiments. I don’t know if it’s true or not. You know how people get when they receive a little attention,” Duke said.
Lucian understood why Duke didn’t want it to be true. It would make the time he helped his Uncle seem worse. Now that Duke was clean and legitimate, he didn’t like to hear or think about that dark time.
The letter sent to Alpha Ricardo trumped Duke’s feelings as far as Lucian was concerned. “Who interviewed these people?”
“I sent Nino.”
Lucian inhaled deeply and released it slowly. “Is your assistant capable of hearing lies?”
Duke didn’t answer immediately.
Lucian’s temper flared. “Answer me.”
“No. I just asked him, he said no.”
“You go. You talk to these people. You tell me if they are telling the truth or not. I refuse to accept anything less, understood?” This was Raven’s life and Duke was all up in his feelings. Forget that.
“Should I cancel the Administration meeting with Raven’s staff? Or the meeting I have in two hours with our financial team? Perhaps you would like me to reschedule the meeting I have later today with the builders? Which one?” Duke snapped. “You tell me not to let anything slip while you’re away and now you add more to my plate. Guess what? There’s no more room. I have meetings and appointments scheduled every single day. I’m not staring at the ceiling while you’re gone. I’m running Honduras. So, make up your mind what you want me to do,” Duke yelled.
Neither spoke.
Lucian nodded at people as he left the Alpha house and headed toward the mountains to think. He wanted a few quiet moments to ponder how to handle this. Raven’s forced absence festered each day she was away. He needed to pull it together, find answers and find her.
At the edge of Pack lands, he took several deep calming breaths. If it was dark he would shift and run. “Give me the names and locations of who Nino talked to.”
Duke gave them to him.
“Thanks.” He disconnected from their link and planned to fly into Honduras to meet with both men later today.
Hours later, Lucian arrived at the home of the second name on the list. The first full-blood didn’t have anything good to say about Lucian’s Uncle but had no knowledge of anyone in particular who would hate him enough to kill him. Hopefully, he would have better luck with this one.
The door opened slowly. An older man stared up at Lucian, his eyes widened and he bowed. “Alpha, you honor my den with this visit. How may I serve you?”
“Lloyd, come walk with me, I have a question for you.” Lucian stepped back, smiled at the small pups peeking around the man’s leg to look at him and waited.
“Yes, Sir.” He looked over his shoulder. A moment later someone came to gather the children and he walked out. They stood next to Lucian’s vehicle before he asked the question regarding his Uncle’s activities.
Lloyd’s jaw tightened slightly. His nostrils flared. Then he took a deep breath. “Alpha Ricardo threatened smaller Packs, mine included, threatened to take our females, our pups and send them to the military for experiments if we didn’t allow his Pack access across our territory to move his products.”
Stunned and ashamed, Lucian stared down at the man.
“The Alphas who said no were attacked, brutally attacked and their lives destroyed,” Lloyd said. “Either their Packs joined others or they moved. The land cries out from the innocent blood Ricardo shed in his greed. For years we prayed to the Goddess and heard nothing. Many had no choice but to give away their land and move. He and other corrupt Alphas were a blight on the land. We were happy when the Goddess finally sent La Patron to clean things up.”
During his Uncle’s reign of terror Lucian had turned a blind eye, hadn’t wanted to be involved. He knew bad things were happening and ignored them. Was the blood of innocents on his hands too? Was he just as guilty as his Unc
le? An apology seemed so lame, yet this man and several others were due that and so much more.
“I am sorry. I didn’t know. Is there a way for me to find any of the survivors and try to make it right?” Lucian couldn’t believe his Uncle had been so cruel. Had Duke known? Tasha?
Lloyd met his gaze. “Can you give them back their mates? Pups? Can you raise the dead? Otherwise, how can you make it right?”
Lucian’s throat went dry. What could he say?
“No. Unfortunately, I can’t raise the dead. However, I can return land, homes and similar things lost behind his cruelty,” Lucian said.
Lloyd looked at him for several moments and nodded. “You’re different. Everyone says the Goddess chose you and you would protect all Packs. I accepted it but didn’t believe it until now. I’ll put out the word that you’ll return land and homes to those your Uncle stole from. May not make a difference, people scattered to get away from him.”
Shame coated Lucian’s throat and clung to him. “Thank you, I appreciate it.” He handed Lloyd a card. “Call this number, it’s private so don’t give it to anyone. Let my assistant know of anyone who has returned to reclaim their land and home. We’ll make it happen.”
Lloyd straightened as he took the card, stared briefly at it and bowed. “It will be my honor, Sir.”
Lucian glanced at the darkening sky. He needed to arrive back in Costa Rica before Storm and Renee returned to draw a sketch of the man who bought the necklace.
“Thank you for shedding light on this matter. As long as I’m Alpha, you have my word it will never happen again.”
“Thank you, Alpha.”
Lucian paused. “Do you think any of them would attack me or my litter-mates?”
“You? No. Your Uncle? Yes, if they thought they could get away with it.”
Lucian almost asked if they would come against Duke or Raven but didn’t want to go there. It troubled him that his Uncle had been so out of control. Worst, Lucian and Raven had no knowledge of these horrible things. If he hadn’t come looking for answers to Raven’s disappearance he might never have known.
The question of Duke’s knowledge of their Uncle’s criminal activities nagged at him. Had Duke been involved with killings and robbing Alphas of their possessions? Would he need to strip his litter-mate of his Alpha position?
RENEE AND STORM ARRIVED in Costa Rica and met Adam and Bella at the airport. During the drive into town, Adam shared the news that Jackie had found Raven’s necklace in a box beneath her bed. She and Quinn were on their way back to the Compound so Hawke could examine the crystals.
“What does he think is in them?” Renee asked.
“Something that would block communication with the Pack,” Adam said. “Lucian has the salesclerk, Lois, at the Alpha house. She’ll describe the man who purchased the necklace for you there.”
Renee hefted her drawing book and nodded.
“Lucian will be with you the entire time to answer her questions and keep her from finding out what’s really going on. There’s already talk that someone else purchased the necklace for Raven. That couldn’t be helped. He doesn’t want anyone to know she’s been taken. Dad said we had to be really careful not to slip and say anything.”
“Which is why Lucian has her locked down with us. When we’re finished with the drawing, Daddy said we’re to fly home. Is that what you’re doing, too?” Renee asked Adam.
Adam nodded. “Yes. We’re on a short timetable and need to find this man soon. When you see how upset Lucian is, you’ll understand.”
No one spoke for several moments as they sped toward town. Ten minutes later, they pulled in front of a large one-story house and parked. Adam and Bella slid out one side, Renee and Storm the other.
The sound of female laughter reached them as they walked up the steps and knocked on the door. Lucian answered and ushered them in with a warning in his gaze.
“Lois, Patricia, these are my friends, Renee, and her mate, Storm. Adam and his mate, Bella. Renee is a well-known artist who’s granted me this favor to recreate the face and body of the man who purchased Raven’s necklace. I have not been able to locate him and Raven was given the box with the necklace by her assistant. She assumed it was from a grateful parent and I haven’t told her differently. You understand why I want to find this mystery man who used my name to give my litter-mate a gift, especially such an expensive one,” Lucian said, his attention on the two women.
“Yes, Alpha, it’s strange that he lied and seemed comfortable doing so,” Patricia, the older woman, said.
Renee opened her book, flipped to a page filled with different eye shapes. “Try and remember his eyes. Were they almond-shaped or something different?” She pointed to different eyes on the page.
“Almond-shaped?”
Renee flipped the page and pointed. “This is almond-shaped.”
“Ah, I see. They were more like these.”
Renee drew the eyes.
“He had a round face,” Lois said.
Renee flipped the pages to face shapes. “Which one?”
“That one.” Lois pointed to a shape.
Renee sketched a face with eyes. “Does this look right? Close your eyes, go back to that day when you talked with him."
“Closer together, wouldn’t you say?” Lois asked Patricia pointing to the eyes.
“Yes. He had one of those noses that had a ball on the end,” Patricia said.
“Bulbous nose?” Renee asked as she sketched. They worked for an hour or so until Lois slumped in the chair while staring at Renee’s composite. "Did I give him the right shaped nose? Lips?"
“This looks like him,” Lois said and passed it to Patricia who stared amazed.
“You’re right. It does look like him.” Patricia looked at Renee. “How’d you do that? It’s like you took it from our minds.”
Renee smiled. “I’m an artist.”
“Since she was a pup,” Adam said stretching.
“You’re really good,” Lois said, her gaze flicked from the sketch to Renee and back to the sketch.
Lucian had been in another part of the house with Storm. Both men returned and looked at the sketch. “Never seen him before,” Storm said.
“Lois, Patricia, would you like refreshment?” Lucian asked.
“Nothing for me Alpha. I’ve been eating since we arrived. Your hospitality has been great but I need to return home,” Patricia said standing. “Lois will walk with me while you see to your other guests.” She stared down at Lois who hadn’t moved.
It became apparent Lois wasn’t ready to leave but stood stiffly. “Do you need anything else, Alpha?” Lois asked.
“Not at the moment, Storm and I are working on another project. I can have someone accompany you home if you’d like,” Lucian said.
“We’ll be fine, Alpha,” Patricia said moving slowly toward the door.
Lois followed when no one said anything. The two left.
Storm scanned the room and nodded. “It’s clean.”
“We’ll run that photo through an international database to see if we get a match,” Lucian said as they moved to another room.
“He’s human, not a full-blood?” Adam asked, surprised.
“They thought he was a full-blood but I don’t think so,” Lucian said. “They have devices that can imitate, remove or mix scents. At any rate, Hawke already patched us through, it won’t hurt to check that database.” He took a deep breath. “There’s a tracking device and suppressors in three of the stones in Raven’s necklace. So far, there’s nothing in the Kirlethanium stone. Which makes no sense,” he muttered as he sat at his desk and scanned in the image.
The five of them remained quiet while waiting for a match.
When a match was confirmed, they all moved closer to see. “Murphy Mulroy. Also known as Prokam, Antony.” They read the short bio about the man.
“Has Hawke seen this? I mean did they receive this the same time you did?” Adam asked Lucian.
“I�
�ll check.” Lucian re-read the information as he reached out to Hawke. “Do you know a Murphy Mulroy? He also goes by Prokam. Wait, that’s his last name. Antony Prokam is the way it’s stated.”
“Prokam? There was a guy working for Lord Roderick named Prokam but that was years, decades ago,” Hawke said. “Is that who bought the necklace?”
“Yes. Who is Lord Roderick?” Lucian asked.
Hawke sighed. “A Liege Lord.”
Lucian closed his eyes, took a deep breath and released it slowly. “Where is Lord Roderick?”
“I think he’s dead. Once we broke the curse, there was nothing to stop them from aging. No one’s heard anything from or about him in decades. Prokam was young then and should be in his 40’s or 50’s by now,” Hawke said.
Lucian looked at the picture and the bio. This man fell in that age bracket. “He’s lived all over the place and was arrested 12 years ago for transporting stolen goods. He was never convicted. What was he doing here? And why did he buy the necklace for Raven?”
“Good question. Let’s ask him. Give me a few moments to gather more information on him and then we can find him,” Hawke said.
“Send me whatever you find as well. We’ll search from here, too.” Lucian sat back in his chair and shared his conversation with Hawke.
“Once we have a location, I’ll get him,” Storm said.
Adam touched his arm. “Wait and talk to Dad. This guy’s human and we’re limited to what we can do.”
Storm nodded and sat next to Renee.
Bella sat on the sofa in the living area reading while Adam, Storm, and Lucian searched databases for information on Prokam’s movements.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Silas and Jasmine finished the purification process of washing, changed into white linen and lit candles. With heads bowed, hands held, they closed their eyes and sought the Goddess.
Jasmine hoped the Goddess would respond and give them counsel on this problem She dropped in Silas’ lap. Her man was good but he wasn’t a miracle worker or a god. How was he supposed to find one female who could be anywhere in the world? Now these people, the Olympians were eying Central America. How could they help Lucian against a human attack?
