There was still one thing that didn’t make sense. And it could be the key to everything.
“Dean,” he asked as the younger man took a seat in the armchair across from Cray, pulling Aster down next to him. “Do you have any idea why Marten would suddenly mate with a human, after pursuing Aster all this time?”
Dean shook his head. Aster shifted uncomfortably.
Lucas could feel Elizabeth and Mari turn their attention to the group, but he didn’t look over. Aaron led Lyla over to the kitchen island and the two of them settled onto stools, facing back into the great room. Lucas turned and paced toward the front windows, thinking. Marten had gone after Lyla too, but that was probably just because of the lure. Or the prophecy. “Anything in the Scroll Prophecy that might give us a clue?”
“Nothing that I can think of offhand. As soon as we take care of this problem with the labs, I can visit the archives in Chooz and make a copy.”
Aster blinked at him. “You’re going to France?”
Dean smiled at her, his eyes soft. “You can come too.”
Lucas felt a strange twisting in his heart and glanced over to Mari. She was watching him with big, frightened eyes. Merde.
“Um…” Aster said, drawing his attention. She twisted again in the chair, looking uncomfortable. Aster was slim and the chair was wide, but it was still a tight fit for two.
“I might know why Marten suddenly… took a human mate,” she said. “Do you know when exactly that happened?”
Lucas glanced at Jesse, who was still leaning against the hearth, frowning down at his hands. “According to Jesse, about an hour or two after Dean’s challenge.”
“Oh.” She let out her breath. “I might have had something to do with that.”
“What?” Lucas felt uneasiness settle in his stomach.
“It seemed like a good idea at the time.”
He’d never seen Aster look so uncertain. It was not helping his disquiet.
“In fact, it seemed like a great idea.” She glanced up at Dean nervously. “But I think that was just the cognac.”
Jesse made a slight choking sound. Lucas ignored him.
Dean stared down at Aster steadily. “What did you do?”
“Well, um… remember when you said the serum was meant to be taken orally?”
“Yes.” The one word sounded cautious.
“Well… I kind of added it to a box of chocolates.”
“Go on.” Dean looked as stern as Lucas had ever seen him.
“And then I might have had it delivered to Dr. Evans’ office.” She paused momentarily, closing her eyes, “—addressed to the receptionist with a note from Marten,” she finished in a rush.
There was a short, stunned silence. Jesse broke it. “You set him up with that stuff from the lab?”
“Yes. Pretty much.”
Jesse whistled. “Princess, remind me never to get on your bad side.” He gave her one of his crooked half-smiles. It only looked a little strained.
Lucas watched Aster smile back weakly. But she looked grateful. She peeked up at Dean through her lashes. “So, I guess you were right about that. The, um… oral thing.”
Dean regarded her silently for a moment. No one else spoke. “Yes. I guess I was.”
Lucas was still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that it was Aster, his sister, who was responsible for luring the unsuspecting humans, when Elizabeth spoke.
“Let me get this straight. You set a trap for him, and he fell in?”
“Yes.”
“You go, girl—except—wait. So now some poor woman is mated to that— lunatic?”
“Yes.” Aster sighed, looking defeated. “That’s the bad part. I wasn’t thinking clearly at the time. There was a significant amount of cognac involved, and I’d just found out my grand plan to have him declared unfit wasn’t going to work.”
“Bummer.”
“Yes.” Aster nodded back to Elizabeth.
Lucas’s mind was reeling. He caught Dean’s eye. He didn’t think it was against the Law. Dear Maiden, please no. His own sister…
Dean must have correctly interpreted his stare, because he returned the stare and stated, “There’s nothing in the Law that precludes it.”
Lucas’s breath released in a rush.
Aster let out a big sigh. “It’s still wrong. That poor human.” She glanced guiltily around at the women. “Um… I mean woman.” She gave them a weak smile. “I’m not even sure which one it was.”
Lucas glanced at Jesse again, who looked more engaged than he had in a while. “Jesse said there were two females who were affected.”
“Yes,” Aster confirmed. “I saw one of them actually take one of the chocolates. She looked pretty dominant, like she might eat Marten for breakfast. But the other one, the receptionist, she seemed meek.” Aster rubbed her forehead. “Hopefully it wasn’t her.”
Aster looked miserable. No one said anything for a moment.
Then Mari’s sweet voice broke the silence. “Will he beat her?”
There was a short, shocked silence. Lucas felt his heart constrict. “No,” he said. What she had gone through with that odious Jerry—
“No one would ever harm a mate. Even he— No. He would never do that.”
“But— I thought he killed your mother?”
Lucas pulled in a breath, feeling distinctly uncomfortable having to explain this— to Mari of all people. “He tried to assert mating rights. It is an ancient practice, not really done in centuries.” At least, not until lately. “And my mother attacked him.”
He felt a wave of sadness. His mother had been kind and gentle. But she was also one of the strongest people he’d ever known. It was why she and his father had made such a good match. She could have done nothing less. “I wasn’t there, but from what I heard, he was not actually trying to kill her.”
Mari’s bright blue eyes stared into his like she was searching for hidden secrets. Then she blinked and glanced around the room, including everyone in her gaze. “Well then… maybe it’s a good thing.” She turned back to him before continuing. “If you’re sure he won’t—”
“I’m sure, Mari. He won’t harm her.”
“So then— he can’t go around trying to kidnap anyone to be his mate anymore. That’s a plus.” She gave Lyla a wry smile, and Lucas was reminded just how resilient his little Mari had proved to be. “Right?”
She turned her attention back to Aster and actually smirked. “So you got that right.” Then she shifted her gaze, her eyes taking on a faraway look. “And sometimes…” She trailed off. “It doesn’t always happen—” She blushed and shot a quick glance at Lucas, making his heart lurch. “But sometimes the right woman can have a… positive effect on a man. That happened with my sister Lauren. Once. But… he died.” She dropped her gaze to her hands, absently rubbing her fingernails.
Cray cleared his throat. Elizabeth shot him an amused smile before slipping an arm around Mari’s slender shoulders, talking quietly to her. Lucas could just make out what she was saying from where they stood on the other side of the kitchen island.
“That was Lauren’s first husband, right? Or— they weren’t actually married, were they?”
Mari shook her head and Elizabeth patted her soothingly, leaning in to say something he couldn’t quite catch. He wished he could wrap Mari in his arms and comfort her himself. But that wasn’t possible.
Elizabeth straightened and addressed the room. “Mari has a point. Aster certainly solved one problem for us, even if—” she broke off and gave Aster a slight head shake. “Well, you definitely weren’t looking out for the sisterhood.”
Aster returned Elizabeth’s gaze steadily, then nodded once. “I was blinded by my need for vengeance.” She made a grim little grimace. “And, I am ashamed to say, my prejudice. I didn’t consider the human at all.” She rolled her eyes. “Until the next morning, anyway. I did try to stop it. I went to the office, but it was too late.” Her gaze shifted to Dean. “That’s how
he caught me. He was there.”
“He caught you?” Lyla, entering the conversation, didn’t try to disguise her alarm. She’d experienced Marten’s unwanted attention too, although he hadn’t come after her in person.
“Well, not quite. I ran.” Aster gave a chagrinned little smile.
“Damn straight,” Elizabeth muttered.
Lyla shivered and Aaron pulled her in closer to his side. Cray rose and crossed the room to stand behind Elizabeth. Lucas opened his mouth to take control of the conversation when Elizabeth spoke again.
“So, just to be clear, there were two women who you saw, but you don’t know which one he bonded with?” Elizabeth turned to Cray and lowered her voice, but Lucas had no trouble hearing. “They would have had to bond, right? If they…” She trailed off, blushing slightly.
Jesse stirred. “Oh, they bonded. Take it from me.”
“You saw them?”
Jesse shook his head. “Smelled them.”
“Oh, nice. Thank you for that, Jesse. So we don’t know…” She shot her gaze back up to Cray. “He couldn’t have… bonded both of them, could he?”
Cray choked.
Lucas cleared his throat. All eyes came to him. “No, Elizabeth. That’s not done.”
“Oh. So then… what happened to the other one?”
“Boaz is watching her.”
“Ahhh, that’s where he is.”
Lucas nodded and gazed around the great room. There was no putting this off any longer. “Unfortunately, we have other things to discuss tonight besides Marten’s new mate. As you know, the Special-T labs have been using the DNA of the People to develop pharmaceuticals. This is a serious threat to our safety. Now that we have identified all of their facilities involved in this research, it is time to act. We can’t afford to let them map the entire genome. That would be a disaster— destroying our secrecy and launching us into a war more devastating than the Great War. We are facing the potential extermination of our entire race.”
Lucas swept his gaze around the room. His pack waited, every eye focused on him. “In our favor is the company’s security protocols. They have a private, dedicated server and a self-contained network for e-mail and file sharing purposes. Which means if we take out the server and take out the facilities, we can eradicate the data. But it must be done simultaneously, on the same night.”
And here it came. “With five different facilities and one server to deal with, we are going to be stretched thin.” He could hear the grimness in his voice. He paused and met Cray’s eyes, and then Aaron’s. “We will have to leave the women unprotected.”
The tension in the room grew palpable. He forced himself not to look at Mari. “Only for one night, but it can’t be helped.”
Cray’s whole body came to attention. “What?” The question was a horrified whisper.
Aster jumped to her feet. “What? You can’t possibly mean me, Lucas.”
He gave her a hard stare. “Are you not a woman, Aster?”
Resisting the urge to grit his teeth, he turned and pulled a sheaf of papers from his back pocket, spreading them out on the coffee table. It was important to look strong and decisive at times like this. That much he had learned from his father. “Now we strategize. The plan must be perfect. Aaron, you will need to design some type of incendiary device that we can use.” He glanced at Dean. “Dean can help with that.”
He looked over at Lyla. He still found it hard to believe that Aaron’s new mate was actually a witch. The ancient enemy of his people. But she was. He had to accept that fact. “I am glad you brought your book of magic, Lyla. It would be helpful to contain the fires to the facilities in question; I do not wish to cause unnecessary destruction. Perhaps there is some spell in there that might help?”
Lyla nodded wordlessly. Clearly she couldn’t believe he was asking this either. But it would be foolish to ignore her strengths.
“And see what you can find in terms of defensive magic.” He just managed to keep from clenching his fists. “I do not like leaving you all alone.”
“Of course, Lucas.” She patted the large volume on the kitchen island beside her. “I’m sure there are a number of useful spells in my grimoire.”
As Lucas turned and spread out the papers before him, he was aware of Mari and Elizabeth coming around the kitchen island to stand by Lyla. They peered at that book of magic as Lyla turned the pages. Aaron and Cray drifted over to join him. It did not escape his notice that Aster had yet to resume her seat. She radiated anger from every pore in her body. But Aster would have to learn teamwork. There was no place for a lone wolf within the pack.
He pointed to the locations circled on the map. “Now, these are the facilities…”
Chapter 23
A Fork is a tactic used in chess where one piece, such as a knight, threatens two or more pieces at once. The defender finds it difficult to counter the attacks simultaneously, giving the aggressor the advantage.
— From the Journals of Aster Ardennes
Marten leaned against the counter that separated the kitchen from the rest of the small log cabin Bill shared with Larry. It felt odd to be apart from Millie, even though she was only in the next cabin. Still, the dwellings were spaced fairly wide apart for privacy, and after the past week spent constantly basking in her presence, the distance was slightly unsettling.
The two cabins shared a similar floor plan, with a modest living area containing sliding glass doors out the back and a slim kitchen along the front, separated by a Formica breakfast bar. This cabin boasted two small bedrooms off one side of the main room and a wood-burning stove on the other. The only real difference between the two was that his cabin had an actual fireplace.
Marten found his mind wandering to the way Millie’s soft skin glowed in the firelight as Bill droned on and on, giving his report on the pack. The main thing was that he hadn’t lost a single family since he’d returned with Millie. He could swear he’d felt the pack-bond strengthening this past week. Healing.
“…but since you’re already mated, we figured it didn’t matter. I sent Henry and Adam to check, and sure enough, they’re not that far from the hardware store. Took them five days of searching before they found the pack house. Those guys are really—”
“What did you say?” Marten’s sharp question cut through Bill’s rambling account.
“The pack house. You wanted to know if Lucas had started his own pack. And the answer is, yes he did. But since you don’t need the sister anymore—”
Marten made a slicing gesture with his hand and cut off Bill’s words. That little upstart had formed his own pack? Sharp, burning rage surged through him. How? He needed females for that. Marten had been trying to form a pack for years, and it never worked. He couldn’t convince a single female to join him. The sister. It had to be.
She should have been mine.
No. He dismissed that thought. He’d never actually wanted Aster. He’d only wanted what she could do for the pack. And now he had Millie. Sweet, beautiful Millie. Thank the blessed Maiden.
And it was working. The pack-bond was healing. Even so, the fact that Lucas had so effortlessly achieved what had eluded him for so long…
Once again, the little prince has everything handed to him. While Marten had been struggling to survive—every single day—since he’d been thrown out of his own pack years and years ago. A skinny kid, barely thirteen years old, and on his own. Anger and jealousy churned in his gut. He’d lost close to half his pack since taking over, not counting the men he’d brought with him. He could feel Millie’s confusion coming through the bond and did his best to tamp down his reactions. But it was hard. That slick, smooth talker was luring his pack members away. Drawing them to him with fake promises and flowery words. It has to stop.
“Tell me everything,” he growled, turning to face Bill. I really should have chosen another second, he thought as the man commenced his report. But after Gary—
Bill and Larry were loyal. They had been with h
im almost from the start. And yes, he would feel it if something happened to them. But it would be nothing like the soul-crushing pain he’d experienced when Gary had finally slipped over the edge into madness, and Marten had been forced to put him down. Like a rabid dog. The flash of memory slashed through him like a knife, the image etched into his soul.
Bright red blood splashed across the familiar brindled grey fur, a soft blanket of pine needles below his feet glistening with the wetness— and the sky, a brilliant, incongruous blue above. The crumpled form of his oldest friend there at the foot of the pines. Gary.
That was back before he’d woken up and seen the truth. Back when he’d still been naive and idealistic. Thinking he could protect his People, that if he could just gather enough of the males together, they could offer each other safety. That it was only a matter of time before he formed a pack of his own, founded a territory. Back before they started succumbing, one by one…
Back when he’d first met Dr. Evans, desperate to find a way to save his second.
But as always—when it came to the Sickness—nothing worked.
Maybe he should have accepted the old Alpha’s offer of amnesty. Maybe living on the fringe of pack land would have been enough to offer protection. But he couldn’t take that chance. Couldn’t lose another one of his People to the madness. Not after Gary. And so he found a pack with an older Alpha, and challenged.
He should never have tried for mating rights, though. He squirmed, thinking of it now. The wrongness of it was— repellant. He hadn’t been quite… right, back then.
Millie’s presence quivered along the bond, her worry and confusion traveling to him easily over the short distance. In some ways, it was as if he was only starting to think clearly again now, after a long time…
“Marten?” Bill’s raised voice jerked him back to the present, and he wondered just how much he’d missed.
“How many members does he have?” he snapped, to cover the lapse.
“We’re not sure, but his brother is there, and all the Masters brothers, so that’s five right there…”
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