Chernobyl Werewolf, Team Greywolf Series, Book 2

by Eva Gordon

  Rachel nodded. “Good.” She followed Darius to the hospital wing where a sign said, “Patient Recovery Dens.”

  Darius gently knocked on her father’s den door.

  Selene opened the door. “Your father is awake and ready to see you.” She let her in and left them alone.

  At last. Rachel entered and smiled. “Hey, Dad.” She leaned in and kissed his unshaved cheek. She noted the sharp indent of fangs on his neck.

  He smiled from propped up pillows. “Happy you didn’t call me Howard.” His voice sounded strong, as if he just woke up from a good nap rather than intensive care.

  Rachel pulled up a chair. “Yeah, it’s been a while, but I think I’m okay with calling you ‘Dad.’ ” He almost died. Now was not the time to remind him her stepfather had raised her. Nor would she batter him with question after question about what was he thinking when he joined a pack of werewolves. Selene was drop dead gorgeous, but Rachel doubted she was the reason he joined. He wouldn’t leave his family, his practice, and human society for love, or would he? Would she?

  “I’m sorry you had to find out about all this without warning.”

  “I don’t think a warning would have helped much. My entire worldview is off kilter. I mean did werewolves participate in our history? Invent things?” Go on killing sprees during the Middle Ages?

  “No. They don’t interfere in human affairs and have always remained in the shadows.” He looked defeated. “I’m so sorry. I never wanted you to be forced to sign the contract.”

  “It’s okay. I understand. The rogue werewolf group hunting me down gave you no choice.”

  “You understand the importance of keeping their kind a secret?”

  “Yep. Rylee warned me about the dire consequences of telling anyone…” She leaned in and whispered, “that werewolves are real.”

  Howard stared away from her as if in deep regret. “If it weren’t for this information about your genetic marker leaking out…”

  “Thanks for sending Lev to save my life.”

  “I knew he would find you.”

  “Lev is grateful you saved his life so I suppose you two are even.”

  “I take it Lev was a perfect gentleman?”

  Rachel stiffened. “Yes, he was.” A wolf in gentlemen’s clothing. She wanted to tell him everything about Lev. How his bite had saved her from death. Lev’s desire to make her his, but Lev told her not to. Besides, the last thing she wanted was to stress her father. He still looked pale and the rest of his hair had turned gray since she last saw him.

  He changed the subject. “Once Team Greywolf finds the culprits, you can go back to a somewhat normal life outside the pack.”

  “Yes, Rylee told me.”

  “Let me elaborate. You will be trusted, but watched. A warden will keep tabs on your every contact. Any hint of telling anyone about lycans and you will be eliminated.”

  The idea of a wolf hiding in the bushes, stalking her and listening to every conversation, did not sit well with her. The NSA with fangs and claws. “The knowledge werewolves exist would make headline news, but I don’t plan on dying.” Been there, done that. Technically, her heart had stopped beating. If Lev had not given her the healing bite, she wouldn’t be here.

  “Good.”

  “I suppose I can’t choose to have my memory of the last few months erased?”

  “No. Once you sign the contract, it’s binding.”

  “Lev is really good at mind erasing.” At least, that’s what he told her.

  “He is, but an expert hypnotist might be able to retrieve your erased memories.”

  “Lev says he can replace them with false memories.”

  “True, Lev might be capable of such a long-term erase, but we are not entirely sure.”

  “At first, I was ticked off you never told me the truth, but I totally get it.” Who would ever want to turn their children’s life upside down?

  “When I joined the pack, I promised to break contact with my family and friends.” His eyes moistened. “I loved you so much.”

  “But wanted to keep me safe from lycans.”

  He sighed. “Yes, of course, but I agreed to join for selfish reasons.”

  “You fell in love with Selene.”

  “Yes, but after I joined.”

  Okay, this better be damn good. “Then why?”

  “A friend of mine, Dr. Ken Tyler was working on animal hybridization, which I found fascinating.”

  “A werewolf?”

  “No, my predecessor was human. He told me of a need for someone like me as a combat doctor and research scientist, but in order to join I had to give up everything and everyone I loved. Not to mention sign a blood contract to keep the secret.”

  Rachel’s heart saddened. He admitted choosing his career over her. She kept her tone neutral, to not come off as hurt, but detached. “So you fell for some pack recruitment head hunter?”

  “I’m sorry. Even before I left your mom, I was a workaholic. I admit, your mother, may she rest in peace, and I were not well suited.”

  “I know you married because of me.” Her mom got pregnant with the young doctor and they did the right thing. Which later proved to be the wrong thing.

  “No. It wasn’t like that. We really thought having a baby would make our marriage work.”

  Of course, she understood ending a bad marriage, but never giving up on a child. Even if it meant learning about the greatest scientific discovery. She never thought of herself as having children, but if she did, no way would she give them up for science and or a man. She put on a brave face. “It’s cool. I get it. Honesty is all I ever wanted.”

  “Rachel, after you almost died from Ebola, I realized you mattered more than anything.”

  Better late than never, but tell that to a little girl who wanted her daddy. “And took a bullet to protect me.”

  “Not that it helped because the mole got into my files successfully and passed on the information before I stopped her.”

  “I’m here.” She smiled. “Doctor Mark says you can leave in a few days and rest at home. That means no work.”

  “Don’t worry. Selene will see to it I don’t do too much.”

  “Your partner or mate or is she your boss?”

  “All three.”

  “You mean boss at the hospital?”

  “No. I’m head of the clinic.” He reddened, bringing color to his pale face. “It’s complicated.”

  Rachel glanced at her watch. “Well, I need to settle into my new apartment until I meet with my handler.”

  “After you go over things with your handler, call me if you have any questions or concerns.”

  “Will do.”

  “Goodbye, Rachel.”

  “Goodbye…Howard.” She left and batted back tears. Calling him father after he told her he chose them over her just didn’t sit right. Her trust issues rose like a maddened snake to strike any man who happened to come her way. Rachel needed to guard her heart from Lev. His wolf had claimed her, but had the man? She wasn’t going to be his woman with the special DNA, if he could fall in love with someone else. Was it possible for them to have more than one mate or love interests?

  Chapter 18

  Lev entered the situation room and interrupted Rylee as she spoke to Jesper and Cricket. “Ma’am, any news?”

  “Yes, we have developing intel.”

  “About the rogue pack?” Lev had filled her in on every detail he witnessed about this mysterious pack of lycans and men.

  “Yes and a possible connection to Svetlana.”

  So the bitch was involved.

  “First, Jesper will discuss cases of mysterious abductions over the last twenty years. Abductions involving women with Rachel’s blood type.”

  Though Jesper had originally been an omega in another pack, here he’d gained beta status as the LIA’s brilliant accountant and archivist. “Not just women with the Stallo marker?”

  Rylee sighed. “No. It’s possible that before the discove
ry of the gene marker these rogue werewolves abducted other O negative women in hopes one might turn out to be a Stallo descendant.”

  Lev curled his lip. Kidnapping human women had been forbidden and a punishable offense since the creation of their kind. However, since blood typing, a few rogue werewolves had taken such women only to be disappointed at their inability to breed. The odds were slim the women would turn out to be a Stallo woman. The discovery of the special DNA marker had emboldened this rogue pack.

  Rylee turned to Jesper. “Report.”

  Jesper pointed to the screen. “I searched FBI databases for the last couple decades for women with Rachel’s blood type and their mysterious disappearances. Cold cases.” He switched to the next slide showing a graph of lunar eclipses. “Most of the women were probably murdered by serial killers, however, there was a spike in women disappearing days or hours before a partial or complete lunar eclipse. I thought it might have been a coincidence so I went back forty years and found five women disappeared during a lunar eclipse. Not sure if it means anything, since moon rituals to conduct magic are no longer practiced.”

  “Could be an ancient lunar ritual to ensure mate fertility,” said Rylee.

  Lev shook his head. “Spring is when we mate for pups. If fertility is so important then why this lunar eclipse pattern?”

  Rylee nodded. “I’ll ask Lunara.”

  Lev never believed in wolf shamanism or real magic, but Lunara had an uncanny ability to communicate with the departed. He’d thought of asking the gifted beta to reach his father in the afterlife, but so far never had the chance.

  Jesper spoke, “Lunara travelled to Norway to meet with Chandra and Professor Clayworth.”

  Lev smiled at Chandra a royal alpha’s boldness in actually marrying the human, James Clayworth, an authority on ancient history. If she could marry a human, why couldn’t he? Marriage was different than taking the mating vow, but it would please Rachel to be considered his wife and he her husband. It showed he respected her culture.

  “Cool, that’s where Stallo’s bones are buried,” said Cricket.

  “Apparently, a few months ago, there was an attempt to steal his bones. The pack guards prevented the theft, unfortunately, the werewolf intruder got away. He managed to steal a few manuscripts. Professor Clayworth obtained permission to study Stallo’s manuscripts and other artifacts. Lunara arrived as a consultant. Anyway, I’ll ask them to return as soon as they can,” responded Rylee.

  Lev lifted a brow. “Interesting. Could this robbery be connected to our mystery pack?”

  Rylee snorted. “This is not the first time a rogue lycan tried to steal Stallo’s bones, but the only one who managed to get into the vault. There are no leads to the thief or his purpose.”

  “I bet they plan on usurping our lycan council, and what better way than taking our ancestor’s bones and all known Stallo women?” said Cricket. She furrowed her brow. “They might even think they could clone him.”

  “That’s what I’m thinking,” said Rylee.

  “Anything on the bearded man?” asked Lev. Before the meeting, the forensic artist created a detailed description based on what he remembered. Not easy when the man had been aiming a lethal weapon at him.

  Rylee answered. “Manny, our tech guy, is working on it. He’ll send the human’s profile to all the intelligence facial recognition data bases. Cricket, you are in charge of taking Rachel to the sketch artist to see how many men she can describe.”

  “I’m meeting with Manny in an hour,” said Jesper.

  Manny had hacked into all intelligence data banks and the dark net. Mostly to ensure, their society remained a secret. Lev sighed. “Hope he finds Stallo’s island.”

  Rylee nodded. “I’ll have Manny and his tech team search all satellite data. Unfortunately, there are thousands of isolated islands. Without the coordinates, it might be a dead end.”

  Lev furrowed his brow. “And the tattoo?”

  “I’ll search our archives and ancient texts.” Jesper bowed his head. “Next on my to-do list, sir.”

  “Besides, Svetlana, are there any other women we know of who carry Stallo’s marker and disappeared?” Cricket asked.

  Jesper nodded. “According to our warden in Canada, there was one. In the 1970s. We froze some of her blood for our data banks and it tested positive for the marker. The woman mated an alpha werewolf and shortly after disappeared. They never had offspring. The entire pack searched for her, but it was like she vanished from the LIA’s radar. Her mate never gave up, but after ten years, he chose to have the werewolf lobotomy.”

  Lev had heard of lycans taking their own lives to escape the pain of losing a mate, but never one who chose to return to the wild with no memory of ever being human. He might have become addicted to her blood as well. Since making Rachel his, he understood the agony of what it might be like to lose a mate. How tragic if the rumors they had of some memories of human existence were true.

  “Thank you, Jesper. That will be all.” Jesper handed her the remote and sat. Rylee stood. “Recently, I got a call from Thorn about Svetlana.”

  “She lives?” Lev reined in his rage. “Will he take her out or bring her in?” Either outcome would be welcomed.

  “Unfortunately, Thorn missed his chance.”

  Lev had met Thorn once. The scarred alpha was the LIA’s top hunter. A cold-blooded assassin. He didn’t bother hunting humans who revealed the truth about lycans. Only dangerous werewolves and werewolf hunters. He lived in seclusion deep in the Louisiana bayou. Thorn was as much fun as a wounded lion. Many called him “Thorn up his ass.”

  “How did he even know to look for her?”

  “I suspected Svetlana survived the torpedo so I had Jesper follow mob money transactions and bingo, he located her. I sent Thorn to hunt and retrieve.”

  Lev suppressed a growl. The evil human who influenced her mobster werewolf husband to kill and run a criminal mob would finally be punished. He swore in Russian then narrowed his eyes. “Where was she?”

  “In Croatia. By the time Thorn arrived, she’d vanished. Fortunately, he captured Svetlana’s assistant, a beta female, and the only other survivor of Anton’s pack. Her name is Katya, but she goes by the name Kat. She is being flown to the states.”

  “That sucks for Kat.” Cricket smirked.

  “We don’t think she was onto us, so I believe her sudden disappearance could be related to Stallo women disappearing. And Rachel’s abductors.”

  “Svetlana is in her late fifties, too old for babies.” Lev sneered.

  Rylee shrugged. “Nonetheless, Svetlana could provide intelligence about other such women. I wouldn’t be surprised if she formed an alliance with this rogue pack.”

  Lev tensed. “That would explain how they knew about me.”

  “You said they wanted you to join their pack. If Svetlana had any say about you, she’d want you dead.”

  Cricket blurted. “Knowing that bitch, she’d want Lev to suffer first.”

  Lev had killed her hybrid son, and like a mama bear, she’d definitely want him tortured. “I take it Katya has been silent.” Anton’s pack members were known to kill themselves before talking. The consequences of talking too horrible. Death a better option.

  Rylee paced. “The question is if Svetlana joined the pack why not bring Katya with her?”

  “Has she spoken?” asked Lev.

  “Kat gave Thorn her first name and refused to say anything more,” said Rylee. “Thorn and the team I sent with him ransacked the villa where Svetlana stayed. Human mob body guards were found all over the estate. Dead. Shot. Not by weres but humans. Svetlana had false passports, of course, but her scent permeated the villa. The only werewolf scent detected was Kat’s. The team captured her when Kat returned. She appeared shocked her mistress was gone.”

  “Cat’s got her tongue.” Cricket smiled. “Dominic will get her to talk.”

  Lev agreed. No enforcer was more fierce and feared than Dominic. “If Dominic can tear hims
elf away from Mia’s side.”

  “We are bringing her here. Lev, you will get her to talk.” Rylee winked.

  Lev scowled. Although, Lev had the enforcer bloodline, he didn’t enjoy the task of torture. “I prefer to use mind control. With your permission, ma’am.”

  “Granted,” said Rylee.

  Lev smiled. “Thank you.”

  “She’s lucky Svetlana didn’t cut out her tongue,” said Cricket. Lev understood. The vicious woman had done worse to people, especially women, both human and werewolf who displeased her.

  Rylee raised her eyebrow. “When you hunted Anton and Svetlana’s mob, did you know of this beta?”

  Lev nodded. “Yes.” He had spent years gathering intelligence about Anton’s mob, plotting his revenge for his father’s murder. “Katya was a new member. No relation to the pack. She served as a courier. Probably taken from a rival pack before the change. Or perhaps her alpha traded her to pay off a debt.”

  “You don’t think she volunteered to join?” asked Cricket.

  “Trust me, few lycans volunteered to join Anton’s notorious pack. However, once they did, they became fiercely loyal.”

  Rylee nodded. “We’ll run a sample of Kat’s DNA. I’ll have Jesper send Katya’s photograph and her scent sample to our global pack data base.” The screen displayed a photograph of the beta on the plane.

  Cricket lifted a brow. “First thing we should check for is the tattoo.”

  “Thorn’s team did. None. No sign of removing one either,” said Rylee.

  Lev stared at the handcuffed attractive raven-haired woman. Her vivid green eyes glared at the photographer. Defiant. “Interesting, she would be separated from Svetlana.” He suspected that despite her intentions for revenge, Svetlana would return to her father’s mob rather than join another pack. “Katya might have left to shift for a couple days or to deliver contraband.”

  Jesper nodded. “Or, Svetlana might have split from her beta to throw off our team. Svetlana could blend better in the crowded city without her werewolf companion.”

  Lev leaned back and formed his fingers into a steeple. “We’ll learn soon enough if Svetlana is connected to this mysterious pack.”