Clearly they were satisfied with the outcome of the experiments that they’d done today. Colin wasn’t exactly awed though - his expression was actually a little frightened, nervous even.
“Mr Houston, thank you for participating, no doubt you found most of those tests very tedious but I’m sure you can appreciate that we needed to be sure. Thousands of years have passed and then all of a sudden you pop out of the woodwork claiming to be the one.”
“I’m not claiming anything - you think I want this? Trust me, I’m hoping you’re going to send us packing and laugh at me,” I countered, standing up because I felt a little small sitting down when they were both standing.
“The council have convened again. We’d like to discuss your test results with you,” he said.
“Will my wife be included in this meeting? I don’t like having her away from me when there are all these shifters around, I can’t settle properly. I’m sure you understand, you said you were bonded yourself,” I asked, raising an eyebrow at him curiously.
He nodded quickly. “Mrs Houston is being taken to the meeting room as we speak,” he answered.
“We’re convened in a room here so we don’t have to trudge across the city again at this time of night.”
As soon as he mentioned the time I immediately felt tired. Glancing at my watch I noticed that it was already after ten. We’d obviously been doing tests longer than I thought. My body still wasn’t used to the time zones either - couple that with the fact that I hadn’t slept right since we got to
England and that just made this day seem even longer.
“Come with us then,” Roland chirped.
I followed him out of the room, silently calling Tyler in my head and asking if she was okay. She assured me that she was fine - apparently she was heading to someplace too. They’d told her that she was going to meet me.
I didn’t pay much attention to where we were going as I followed them down the white sterile hallways. They obviously weren’t interested in talking to me as they stalked away.
A couple of minutes later I walked into a big board room that harboured a huge oval table in the middle. The other council members were already sitting around, looking apprehensive but excited at the same time. Some of them beamed at me, shifting in their seats, one of them nudged the guy sitting next to him and leant into to whisper something.
Suddenly happiness boiled in my stomach, but I knew it wasn’t my feeling, it was Tyler’s. I could hear her heartbeat stutter as she squealed quietly. I turned and smiled just as she ran towards me, throwing her arms around my neck, crushing her body against mine. I smiled and pressed my face into the side of her head, breathing in the scent of her hair.
‘Hey, baby,’ I sent to her head.
She sighed, gripping her hand in the back of my hair. “I missed you so much, Sean,” she whispered.
I smiled and felt my tense body relax because she was back in my arms again - just where she belonged. “I missed you too. I’m just looking forward to getting out of here and getting those pancakes in bed from your vision,” I joked, kissing her forehead.
Someone cleared their throat behind us so I turned in time to see Roland and Colin take their places at the head of the table. “Maybe you two should take a seat? We have some things we’d like to discuss with you,” Roland suggested, smiling apologetically. He probably didn’t like having to interrupt our little reunion or something.
I sighed and led Tyler over to a seat, sitting next to her and keeping hold of her hand. I looked up at the council expectantly.
Charles cleared his throat. “So the tests that you participated in were very interesting. It seems that your abilities that you claimed to have are in fact real. None of us, or the scientists that we have working here have ever seen anything like it,” he stated. There was an excited murmur amongst the council members. “While we have always respected the prophesy, the years passed have made the existence of the one less and less likely. We had all but ruled it out.... until now.”
I gulped, my heart sinking because this seemed to be going the way I thought it would rather than the way I hoped it would. “So you’re saying you believe it?” I asked cautiously.
“Do you believe yourself to be the one?” Roland asked.
I sighed. While I didn’t want any part of this, I think deep down I knew it was true - the abilities, the gifts, Tyler being human, our marks, it was all too much to deny. “Yeah,” I admitted. “Though, I have no idea what it means or why. What exactly am I supposed to do, what’s the purpose of the one? The prophesy is pretty damn vague on that subject,” I muttered angrily.
Roland nodded. “I too believe you to be the one, though there are still some here that require more convincing,” he stated, his eyes flicking to his left and the couple of men that sat there. I recognised them from the meeting room earlier; they had been pretty quiet the whole time then too. I was actually pretty surprised that Roland’s gaze didn’t go more in Charles’ direction.
“So you’re saying that you want to do more tests on us?” I asked frustrated with this whole thing.
Charles leant forward in his chair. “Not tests on you exactly, more like us working together to learn more about you and your abilities,” he explained.
Tyler had remained quiet throughout this whole exchange since we first met the council earlier today, but I could feel the curiosity prickling inside her.
“Work with you,” I repeated, “for what though? Does the council have more knowledge on what this is all about? All that’s in the elders book is the prophesy itself; do you know anything else about why it was written and what exactly the shifter race is in danger from?” I asked curiously.
Another of those murmurs passed amongst them, Charles actually leant over and whispered something to Roland. There was definitely more to this subject. Charles nodded at whatever Roland replied and then turned back to me. “We don’t know exactly, no one really knows but like I said earlier in the day, there is no immediate and direct danger, humans and shifters continue to have a good relationship,” he said.
Tyler leant forward, frowning thoughtfully. “In one of my visions someone said that they wouldn’t want The One to stand in the way of the organisation. Who are the organisation?” she asked.
I winced knowing that the vision she was talking about was the one that she’s had at school, the one where she was being chased by eight shifters. I was hoping she’d forgotten about that, obviously she hadn’t.
“The organisation?” Roland repeated, looking at Charles with a grim expression on his face.
Charles’ hand went to his temple, rubbing in small circles as he frowned. “You had a vision and someone actually mentioned the organisation?” he asked, looking at Tyler intently. She nodded in confirmation and he and Roland shared another look before Charles sighed, seeming to be choosing his words carefully. “The Jefferson Organisation they call themselves, though this is almost always shortened to just The Organisation,” he stated. I felt my body stiffen because he’d heard of them, this couldn’t be good.
He looked at me as he continued speaking. “The shifter council was founded several hundred years ago by the elders of eight high ranking shifter families across the world. They worked together for centuries, building the race, helping to set boundaries and riles, enforcing them. The council was somewhere when you could go for help and guidance. Relationships with other races were nurtured and encouraged, society was moulded into much what you see today,” he said.
I raised one eyebrow. “Well that all sounds great and all, but can we skip to the good bit? I’m tired,”
I requested. I already knew all this crap, we were taught a little about the shifter history when we came of age at sixteen. I knew that eight members founded it, then, when one member was too old or died his seat was passed to the eldest male in his family. The same eight families had been running the shifter council since before records of our existence started being kept.
Charles smiled.
“Eight members of the council board worked together in perfect sync for hundreds of years and then,” he waved his hand around at the people around him, “one left.”
One left? What did that mean? I flicked my eyes around and suddenly realised that there was actually only seven members sitting there. How had I not noticed that before?
“One left?” Tyler repeated.
Charles nodded. “There have been only seven members of council for over two hundred years.”
I felt totally shell-shocked and had no idea what to say. This information hadn’t been passed out publicly. I learnt of the shifter history only two years ago, I was definitely taught there were eight members. “How?” I muttered.
“Archibald Jefferson had a difference of opinion with the other members of council. You see, Archibald Jefferson believed in a pure shifter race. He wanted to outlaw half breeds, he believed that shifters breeding with humans sullied our race, birthing abominations, or mongrels was the term he preferred, well, that’s the term that was documented anyway,” Charles replied.
“Mudbloods,” Tyler muttered.
“Excuse me?” Roland questioned, looking at her confused.
Tyler blushed and squirmed on her seat, she obviously hadn’t meant to say that out loud. “Harry Potter. One of the school founders didn’t want to let muggle-born study at Hogwarts,” she explained, blushing furiously. “Sorry, it just popped into my head. Carry on,” she suggested, squeezing my hand tightly. I laughed and raised her hand to my lips, kissing the back of it softly.
A smile twitched at the corner of Roland’s lips. “My granddaughter adores those movies.”
“The books are better, tell her to read them,” Tyler responded, laughing nervously.
Charles raised one eyebrow. “Let’s get back to it, shall we?” he suggested. I nodded so he continued. “So anyway, Archibald Jefferson wanted to forbid shifters from breeding outside of our race. He wanted to pass a law stating that shifters could only breed with either another shifter or their bond mate. He tried to claim that the human-shifter born were abominations that should be rounded up and slaughtered.”
“Wow,” I muttered, shocked. He’d actually wanted to kill all half shifters? That was a heck of a lot of people that he wanted to murder.
Charles nodded grimly. “Obviously the council rejected his proposal and voted against the movement, but apparently Archibald got even more volatile and oppressive towards humans as time passed. Eventually it was agreed that he would leave the council. What no one expected was that all of the elder males in his family felt the same and refused to take his place. Hence, there only being seven people sitting before you.”
The room was silent for a few minutes as the information sunk in. The only sounds I could hear was the ticking over of Tyler’s brain. She wasn’t forcing her thoughts onto me but her mind was working so furiously that I guess it was spilling into mine. She had so many questions, most of them only half formed before she was already thinking of the next one.
I cleared my throat and tried to pull back from Tyler’s head a little, she was making me feel slightly dizzy. “So instead of another Jefferson family member joining the council, they decided instead to form another organisation, one that wanted a pure shifter race and death to all half shifters?” I asked.
Charles nodded sadly. “The Jefferson Organisation was formed in 1789, yes. They’re an underground movement; they’re always below the radar so that no one hears of them. The fight for the pure race and don’t care who they hurt in the process.”
“Fight?” I inquired, intrigued by this choice of word.
Roland leant forward. “Ever see something on the news, something where a lot of people are killed?
Ever wonder who or what caused it? A train crash, a building fire, a bomb in a city centre, random people or families getting gunned down for no apparent reason?”
I needed to leave. I needed to find the remotest part of the Earth and go there right now. I did not want my wife involved in this situation at all. I was literally terrified, scared witless. All I could think about was finding the deepest, darkest cave and hiding her there forever so that nothing bad could ever happen to her.
“That’s them?” Tyler gasped. “They actually kill people? How do they know if they’re harming shifters and not humans?”
“That’s the worst part, they don’t care. If they get a tip that several half shifter families are living in a building then it’ll be burned to the ground, human occupants and all,” Charles answered. “They might get a terrorist organisation to claim responsibility, or blame it as an accident or something.
Nothing’s ever proven, but the council know.”
I jumped out of my chair, glaring at the people in front of me. I could feel my anger boiling in my veins, my wolf was itching to come out but Tyler’s hand in mine kept me in control. “The find them then and take them the hell out!” I ranted. “You can’t just let innocent people die!”
Charles held up his hands innocently. “It’s not that easy, if it was then it would have been done years ago,” he replied. “For over two hundred years the council have tried to stop them but their organisation is too strong. They have followers, believers, people who buy into the pure race fantasy and want that for their future. It’s not just one family anymore, there are branches of the organisation all across the world and we don’t know who is or isn’t part of it.”
My head hurt - this was just too much. So one man’s idea had spread and now there was a freaking army of people who wanted to wipe out half breeds, or mongrels as they called them. This was nothing like the scenarios that I’d played out in my head. How was I supposed to help this? I couldn’t, it sounded impossible.
I looked at Tyler and a sudden dread washed over me as I realised something. Tyler was human. I’d bonded with a human. If there were angry at the thought of a shifter marrying a human and having kids, then what on earth were they going to think about the fact that Tyler and I were destined bond mates? She was in real danger.
“So what do we do?” Tyler asked Charles.
I snorted and pulled her to her feet. “We leave, we hide, we survive. That’s what we do!” I growled.
Tyler looked at me confused. “Huh?”
I shook my head, not wanting to be here a minute longer than necessary. I wanted Tyler safe, now.
“You’re human, baby. We need to go now.”
She made a scoffing noise as she wrenched her hand from mine. “I’m not leaving, Sean, and neither are you. If you can do something to stop this, to stop innocent people being killed, then you do it,”
she countered, her eyes blazing with passion.
“You know, stupidity can sometimes be mistaken for bravery,” I snapped. “My priority is you, I know that makes me an asshole for putting you above the wellbeing of others but I don’t care. I’m bonded, it’s my job to make you safe and this clearly isn’t safe.”
She crossed her arms over her chest, her eyes stern as she shook her head slowly, showing me that she’d made up her mind. “I’m not leaving. That prophesy says that you need to be here, it says you need to fight and not run because you’re scared I’m going to get hurt!”
I closed my eyes and stepped forward, wrapping my arms around her. Her warmth and softness calmed my body instantly. I pressed my forehead to hers as I spoke, “Tyler, I’m not scared you’ll get hurt, I’m terrified,” I admitted.
“Sean, we need to do this. Won’t my visions help? I mean, if something bad was going to happen to us then wouldn’t I see it?” she asked.
I frowned at that. “Something bad does happen, baby, you’ve already seen it.”
She took my hand, squeezing gently. “Do you ever wonder if things happen just because I’ve seen it? What if we leave here tonight and don’t get involved and because of that action, it causes the vision I already saw? Like, what if I get chased because we leave and didn’t help the council stop them, just because you’re scared of the vision I already ha
d?” she countered.
Oh yeah, that made the headache ten times worse trying to work out what the hell she was getting at.
She stepped impossibly closer to me, stroking my chest lightly. “I want to help if we can. We should just see what we can do. Work with the council,” she said. She touched her finger to my bottom lip and finished the rest of her speech directly into my head so that no one else could hear it. ‘And if I see anything in my vision that you don’t like, then we leave. I promise. Let’s just see what other information they have, there’s obviously more to all of this,’ she sent.
I sighed. She was right as usual. Besides, she was probably safer here with the guards than she would be back home with just me to protect her. Knowing all the information we could about the organisation would definitely be a good thing.
I turned to the table of council members who were all watching us curiously.
“Fine, we’ll stay and you can learn more about our abilities, but in return I want to see every single document you hold on the Jefferson Organisation. Deal?” I offered.
Charles stood up and reached over the mahogany table, extending his hand to me. “Deal,” he agreed.
I put my hand in his and shook, just praying that I hadn’t made a mistake and somehow signed mine and my wife’s death warrant.
Chapter 32: Lab Rats
Tyler
It had been a week so far. A whole week of poking and prodding, questions and tests - it was beyond infuriating and Sean was seriously fed up with it. He wanted to go home. He hated the whole process, he hated the fact that he’d been down in their record rooms every day for hours on end trying to find out information on the Jefferson Organisation, and so far he knew nothing more than what we’d been told by the council at the meeting. Mostly he hated the fact that I was here and he felt that put me in danger. The silly boy hadn’t relaxed at all in seven days, his nerves were frazzled, his moods bad, his temper on edge so that people were wary of him because he snapped at the drop of a hat and shouted at people. I think that was all due to the fact that he barely slept at the moment; he was slowly killing himself with exhaustion.
Bond Mates Page 33
