Tyrone and Samuel were below with the residents. Silas hoped they agreed to leave with Samuel but he did not have it in him to compel their wolves or force them to leave. If they chose to die here, he would honor their decision. The dump trucks filled in the hole with soil and leveled the land as much as possible. Soon a tree would be planted in honor of the pack members who lost their lives today.
When Jasmine contacted him over Asia’s situation he had been both surprised and pleased. Somehow this Liege group had tapped into technology that regenerated body parts. Cheating death was a definite game changer. Small countries could flex their muscles if they had the funds to outfit half an army. Asia was a walking advertisement that the mechanisms worked.
He would have Jacques check on the legality of Asia’s situation. But when there was enough money on the table human authorities had no problems looking the other way, especially when the test subjects were full blood wolves with little interaction with human doctors or hospitals. The injection Tyrese received that altered his body chemistry must have been the tip of the iceberg in their research. The collars that saved the lives of many wolves today altered their body chemistry on a temporary basis, but gave similar results as the vaccine Tyrese received. An army would have more control over their troops with the collars than the shots. Silas shook his head at the scope of what his enemies had done.
“I need to sit down for a bit, heading to the woods, be back in a few,” Silas told the twins through their link.
“Yes Sir, have fun,” Tyrone said. “Not much here, their memories have been wiped.” He spoke of the residents.
“Okay. Help Samuel any way you can.” He disconnected from Tyrone and contacted Tyrese.
“Yes, Sir,” Tyrese answered a few moments later. “We’re heading to a different section of the lab, this part wasn’t damaged. I had to get the scanning equipment before we go any further. I’ll keep you informed.”
“Do that, Rese.”
Silas stepped in the direction of the forest and waved back a small security detail. “I need a few minutes alone. I’ll be back in a bit.”
The two men looked doubtful as they looked at the darkened woods and then back at him. “Yes, Sir,” one spoke as they both returned to the perimeter of the hole.
Like a homing pigeon, Silas headed straight toward the pony sized black wolf. The moment he entered the small area where the wolf had sat all day, the wolf moved with lightning speed slamming into him and knocking the air from his lungs.
Silas slid a few feet on the ground before he jumped up changing mid-air into his wolf and landed on the back of his attacker. The black wolf shook him off, but not before Silas nipped his ear. Adrenaline pumped through him like a drug. Teeth bared Silas attacked his opponent with blinding ferocity. He slammed into the large wolf knocking him back a few feet and then leapt again. The wolf pivoted and Silas slid past his challenger. Both recovered fast and charged each other again.
Anger over everything that had happened since he discovered half-breeds in his back yard surged through him. On hind legs the two combatants twisted and turned their bodies searching for an opening that would destroy the other. Silas pushed his adversary back a few steps. The black wolf moved a few inches before snapping foot long fangs at Silas’ neck.
Silas ducked and pushed his nemesis, tripping him. Springing forward to pin the wolf, the challenger hulked into their hybrid fighting mode and swung his massive paw at Silas knocking him backward a few feet. Before the dust cleared, Silas had morphed as well, leaping toward the wolf catching him in the chest and digging his teeth deep. A loud howl echoed through the trees and then blow after blow from the huge paw and claws hit his head sending rivulets of blood down his face.
Silas dug his claws into the softer underbelly of his opponent. Determined to win the challenge, but not kill his opponent, he dug his teeth in deeper. Razor sharp claws pierced his back and his side trying to dislodge him. After a few minutes the blows to his head seemed lighter or either he was becoming lightheaded, he was not sure which. But he refused to let go.
As his world dimmed, a stream of energy flowed through him. He exhaled as every cell in his body reenergized, pumping him up. Goddess, I love my mate. He pulled out one hand from his opponent’s body ripping out muscle, tissue and skin.
“Argh…” his opponent yelled as Silas drew back and punched the bloody area. His fangs remained locked in the upper chest of his enemy while he dug his claws into the sides and drug them forward tearing through skin and flesh. When his opponent pushed at his shoulders, Silas shook him off.
“It’s good. We’re done. You are who I suspected, but I needed to be sure. Let me go so we can talk.” The wolf spoke through the same link he had earlier, once again surprising Silas. The voice held confidence, the connection tight.
More animal than human, Silas didn’t immediately understand what was said. Locked into his enemy Silas refused to give way.
“Stop damn it. You cannot kill me, just as I cannot kill you. I am healing already except where your teeth are lodged in my chest.” He paused and spoke slow in a gruff tone. “Just as your head has healed. Stop this, I have waited all day to talk to you.”
The cessation of movement allowed his wolf to ease down long enough for Silas to weigh the words. After a quick mental assessment, he realized he was no longer bleeding. He exhaled and eyed his opponent’s upraised hands. Pissed, he snatched back in a zig-zag motion ripping flesh and skin.
“Owww, asshole. That hurts. You did not need to take an extra pound of flesh, you already did that.” His opponent stepped back and returned to his wolf.
Silas wondered if his challenger ever shifted to human. “You attacked me for no reason other than it is night-time and I’m the asshole?” He flowed from his hybrid form to his wolf. Allowed his body to completely heal and a few moments later returned to human.
“You kept me waiting and I needed to be sure you were worthy as pack leader.”
Silas hackles rose at the nonchalant tone. “Fuck you.” When you lost pack members it was not a good day for bullshit.
“No thanks... you’re mated. And to a strong bitch, I sensed her earlier when she surged through you, that’s also good.”
“Who the fuck are you and what do you know about me or my mate?” Silas stepped toward the black wolf as his anger spiked.
“I have been called many things, but my name is Angus. And that was a compliment regarding your bitch. Most of us never find our mate during our lifetime. May your den always be full of healthy pups.”
Silas weighed the words for their sincerity, sensing there was no guile he nodded. “Why did you say I cannot kill you? What is special about you?”
“I also said I cannot kill you. For some reason, we cannot exterminate one another; it has always been that way. There are times when it is inconvenient and other times, like now, I am happy it is a reality. I am not ready to meet the Goddess on the final plane and I suspect you would send me to the other side in a heartbeat.”
Silas agreed silently. “You have been waiting for me, I’m here. What do you want?”
“I am a full blooded black wolf just as you. There are only a handful of us left scattered about the world. I wanted to meet you. Word of your wisdom and exploits traveled on the wings of the wind and I was sent to see the truth of the matter for myself.”
“So you were lying when you said you had to see if I were worthy?”
“Not lying, I needed to test you for myself.” The wolf lay his head on his paws as if resting.
Silas ground his teeth forcing calm and then crossed his arms over his chest. Jasmine taunted him often for taking an hour to say a minute worth of information. First chance he got, he would apologize and work like hell to rid himself of the irritating habit. “Someone sent you to sit in the woods and watch my pack die?” he asked deliberately twisting words to make a point.
“Yes. To watch, observe and not interfere. We wanted to see how you reacted in any type of catast
rophe and today certainly qualified.”
Ignoring the pity in the voice, Silas searched the woods for more strangers. “We? Who is we?”
“Your pack is under attack, which means all wolves are under attack. We do not understand why they chose you. You are formidable in your own right. Over two hundred years ago you fought and built order out of chaos in this raw new world. You developed an intricate pack structure. That was no easy feat. Fifty personally trained Alphas leading each state with a number of highly trained betas to back them up. Your wolves own thriving businesses, live in healthy communities with the best schools and a few private colleges.”
“We have had our problems, not all wolves want to live civilized.”
“There will always be rebels. It is the nature of the living. What you have accomplished in this country is quite impressive.”
Unsurprised that he had been investigated, Silas peered at the intruder wondering when he would get to the point of this impromptu visit. The rest of the stuff Angus tossed out was bullshit fertilizer. “My pack is under attack…so far you have not said anything I don’t know. I hope you did not travel from… where are you from? You never said who sent you, or where they are?”
“I’m from Plias. You don’t know where it is since it is the original title of a place that man has changed its name many times. We are on the African continent. And we are the clan of Black Wolf. I thought that would be obvious... perhaps I should reassess the wisdom comment,” he murmured.
Unprepared for the answer he received, Silas parried. “Wolves don’t have clans.”
“Clan, family, tribe. The labels change, but they all mean the same thing. A group with common interests and goals who are related by blood. Before other names arrived, we called ourselves clan and still do.”
Silas had no logical rebuttal and refrained from commenting further. “You are here… why?” He turned to face the pony sized wolf, and met an emerald green gaze similar to his own. During the first one hundred years of his life, he searched for a pack resembling him and never met any. A few times through the centuries, he thought he caught flashes of one but was never certain. Once the Goddess chose him to lead the new emerging nation his focus changed. He had been commanded to create a large pack for the country. It was a daunting task and he never gave them much thought again.
“To get an idea the way the wind of this war is flowing. It has not touched down on the main continent yet, but if it is successful here it is only a matter of time before it does.”
“So you came to see if I was getting my ass kicked.” Silas chuckled and opened his link so Jasmine could listen in on the conversation directly. The manner in which she added her strength to his earlier said she was concerned, not worried. But weariness weighed on him and it would be easier for her to hear everything now than a lengthy re-cap later.
“Not precisely. We also wished to see the warrior bitch in action. There is a lot of talk about her in some circles.”
Anger and concern over Asia’s future ripped through him, followed by a jolt of awareness from Jasmine. “She is pack. A highly regarded member of my pack.”
“She has been altered, is no longer wolf.”
Silas bristled. “She is wolf and she is pack.” He sensed his mate’s agreement.
“To create one as special as she, they must start with a wolf and add to their limbs. But not just any wolf. Hundreds of our brethren have died in their experiments. But not her.” He paused.
“Is she of our breed?”
Asia was a dark-skinned female just as his mate, but that did not mean either of them had a black wolf in their family tree. The coat of a wolf had little to do with their race.
“I don’t know. I don’t care. She is pack and that is enough for me. No one touches her without her permission.” Pointing at his unwanted guess, he snarled the last of it to drive home his point.
Angus appeared unmoved. “There is a reason she was chosen. Something about her is special. I would talk with her.”
Silas had no real control over who Asia talked to. If Angus dangled tidbits of “I might know something of your history, she would run across the clearing to hear whatever he had to say. “I will tell her that. But it is her choice.” He thought for a moment. “And do not compel her wolf, either.”
The wolf’s mouth opened wide and then snapped close a few times. “I have manners and that is rude. I have a few questions to ask and would appreciate any time she allowed.” He paused. “The collars around the necks of the wolves, what are they? Were they the reason some were injured instead of dying in that fall?”
Silas simply stared. “What makes you think I am going to tell you anything? Because your wolf is the same color as mine?” he scoffed and turned to leave. He had spent enough time talking and getting the run around. He would go below and join the search.
“Yes. That and you know we are kin. Or have you walked so long amongst humans your wolf no longer recognizes pack. Blood pack?”
“My pack has been with me for the past two hundred years, my wolf recognizes them just fine.” He kept walking.
“So you do not want to know who you are? Where you came from? Your heritage that you will past to your pups one day? You are not interested in anything I have to say?”
Silas stopped and looked over his shoulder as a thought occurred to him. “Did you rape a twelve year old girl in Virginia when the colonies were new?”
“What?”
Silas turned and crossed his arms. “I do not remember the name of the town or the girl’s name, but her friend saw a black wolf with green eyes. She said he raped her best friend. It was not me. I was not on the eastern shore during that time. Were you here?”
“I have never raped a child. If I had sex with her, she was mature.” He sounded offended.
“Meaning she was old enough to have a child. I think the young girl was pregnant and died,” Silas said trying to remember the particulars.
“During the formation of this country we roamed more frequently until our Alpha was murdered. Understand this; Alpha was an unbeatable fighter who had destroyed every challenger during his one hundred years as our leader. He was respected and feared everywhere. We enjoyed a time of peace with no threats against our border. So when he was murdered no one could explain his death. It was a mystery that set things in a motion that is still spinning.” The cautious manner in which he spoke arrested Silas’ attention. An icy chill raced down his spine.
“Ask him about the breeders,” Jasmine said.
“What kind of things?” Silas asked.
“We can share information,” Angus said raising his large head from his paws as he stared at Silas. “Everything I tell you will be the truth as I know it. I expect the same from you.”
“Silas we need to know more about your past. It might have something to do with what is going on now,” his mate urged when he hesitated.
“Okay, I’ll share information and speak truthfully.” Silas returned to the small area and sat on the ground near the wolf. “What kinds of things?” he asked again leaning against a tree trunk.
“There are many theories why our Alpha went into the small village that night. Some say he was obsessed with a young girl there. Others say a witch bespelled him. The speculation goes on and on. The truth of his motives died with him that night. The next day two women saw him lying on the side of the road and thought he was a mere human. They took him home to nurse him to health.”
Silas’ head snapped up. “Nurse a dead man?”
“Yes. Supposedly they did not know he was dead. Remember this was during a time where they believed a body could still be raised within three days.”
Silas nodded. The first settlers had been religious zealots. He could see them telling the dead Alpha to take his bed and walk.
“They worked on him for two days and the third day his body was missing.”
“Missing?” He asked to be sure he heard correctly.
“Yes. And one of the women gave
birth nine months later to a son. Supposedly she had been a virgin. Sound familiar?” Angus asked.
“Oh hell.” Silas chuckled.
Jasmine laughed.
“Chances are she had a lover and used our Alpha as an excuse to cover her condition. The story goes she told everyone Alpha had married her and the other woman served as a witness. That way she was not stoned or made an outcast for fornication. For the next three years she gave birth to a son almost to the birth date of the first son.”
Silas frowned at the added complication. “That changes things, takes it from a prank to reality. Someone had to make her pregnant.”
“Yes, that’s true. After the first son the town’s people were leery. But when she was pregnant with the second child they accused her of immoral behavior and threatened to run her out of town. When the second son was born, he looked exactly the same as the first. Since the hypocrites had already accepted the first son, they would not refuse his twin.”
Silas remembered those dark times with little affection. It had been hard for him and anyone with a dual nature. Even though the early settlers came to the new world to escape religious persecution, they were intolerant of anything different.
“When her second son was one month, they made her move in a cottage that was in the middle of the square so they could watch her closely. Each day someone from the village stayed in her home under the guise of assisting with the babes. One night the woman from the village woke and met a handsome man inside the home sitting on the floor playing with the babes. The mother was asleep. Nine months later, both women gave birth to sons and were ran out of town.”
BirthDate (La Patron, the Alpha's Alpha) Page 10
