by Leeda Vada
“Are you saying that you do not recognize the authority of the Council, Warrior Lakota?” Duncan interjected.
“In this instance, I question the Council’s decision, not their authority.”
“They go hand in hand.” Lowering his voice, he cautioned her, “Watch what you say, Calli. You are treading very close to insubordination.”
“I am aware of where I am and to whom I am speaking.” Raising her voice, the new Warrior said defiantly, “I repeat. I do not accept this assignment because it is biased.”
A stunned silence filled the hall. All eyes turned to their Alpha.
Apollo stood, cognizant of the rapt attention of every member of the audience, waiting for his handling of the unacceptable defiance and insubordination shown by his son’s mate.
He locked eyes with her. “Calli Lakota, you have chosen to reject your assignment. Consequently, as Alpha of the Cumberland Nation, I rescind your status as Canid Warrior.”
“No!” gasped Laura. “Please, Apollo, don’t do this.”
“Hush, Laura,” commanded Odin.
Calli’s face went white. “You can’t do that,” she charged.
So absorbed was she that she did not notice the two Shielders—weapons drawn—headed in her direction.
“You lied!” she screamed, directing her words at Apollo. “You never had any intention of allowing a female into combat. It was all a trick,” she insisted, tears of anger filling her eyes.
The slap reverberated across the assembly hall. The crowd watched in horror as Calli’s body flew across the room propelled by the backhand her father had delivered.
She hit with a force that catapulted her off the wall and onto the floor. As she landed, her head bounced off the unyielding hickory hardwood.
Laura screamed.
Nathan rushed to his sister’s side.
No one else moved. All eyes fixed on Odin as he approached his only daughter. “No one disrespects the Alpha. No one,” he repeated, the sadness and regret evident in his voice.
Glimpsing Laura as she approached, Odin grabbed her arm to restrain her as she tried to go to her daughter’s aid.
He kept his face blank as he looked into Calli’s bleeding and shocked face. “Warrior Lakota, remove your sister from the hall.”
As her brother reached to help her stand, Calli yanked her arm back. Scooting backward, she rose to her feet.
Looking at Odin, her eyes full of the pain of his betrayal, blood dripping from her nose, she turned to approach the dais, only to be blocked by more Shielders.
Apollo waved them aside. “Let her approach.”
Reaching the table and before anyone could stop her, Calli pulled a slim stiletto from her right thigh, raised her right hand, and sliced her left wrist.
As the blood flowed down her palm, she used the blade to extricate the tiny tracking device, imbedded at birth in all third-generation Canid infants. It was a tracking device to ensure their protection against capture by the Hounds of God and other Purist organizations. If they were to be captured, it would speed up their rescue.
Calli steadied her stance, as she raised her head. She looked directly into Apollo’s eyes and said, “I reject not only your assignment, but you as well, Alpha Apollo.”
Gasps of disbelief and shock spread through the room.
“No, Calli!” Nathan shouted, grabbing her shoulders, trying to turn her.
She yanked away, dropped the device to the floor, and crushing it under her boot.
Nathan removed his shirt and tried to wrap it around his sister’s bleeding wrist, straining against her efforts to pull her arm free.
“Remove your sister,” Apollo signaled Nathan. “If you can’t, my Shielders will assist you.”
Calling upon the control of his Warrior training, Nathan faced his Alpha, careful to keep his expression blank. “I don’t need any assistance, Alpha Apollo. I will take care of my sister.”
“Do so. Then report in one hour to your assignment,” he commanded.
Gripping Calli’s arms, Nathan turned her toward the exit.
Few noticed Laura until they heard the sound of her right hand connecting with the right side of Commander Odin’s face.
Odin had not blinked, silently accepting the ire of his mate.
Laura caught Calli’s stricken gaze but said nothing.
Calli registered the pain and confusion in her mother’s eyes—despair, betrayal, and fear—a mirror of the maelstrom of emotions she was sure filled her own.
A sob escaped Laura as Odin’s arm circled her waist, pulling her back into the security and comfort of his chest. He lifted her as her legs gave way.
#
“Well, well! Fate has taken a hand in my quest. It has rewarded my patience and diligence. For over twenty years, I have been lying low, waiting for a way to destroy any possibility of Apollo’s heir continuing the Powhatan’s nascent line.
Now, the problem has resolved itself. My enemy is being vanquished from within his own camp.
I salute you, Calli Lakota.”
Chapter Twelve
The team was one hour away from parachuting into the Mexican jungle. Their landing target was two hundred yards from the outlaw den.
This pack was especially vicious. In the past they had been satisfied with occasional raids into nearby villages on the perimeters of their territory. Their leader, Naj Zain, made this pack particularly dangerous because he was a charismatic, brilliant strategist. But during the past year, seeking to expand their territory, they had escalated their raids.
As they raided these villages, their fame grew, and they began to attract Were deviants. These rogue Weres had been cast out of their home packs because of their unwillingness to bow to the laws and authority of their Alphas.
Public opinion was a fickle entity. With Morrison Bland and his ilk ready to grasp any negative news about Were descendants to use as a weapon in turning public opinion against their kind, the Assembly of Canid Alphas had petitioned Canaan’s team to eradicate the entire pack.
Intel from Canaan’s Mestizos had led them to this location. Honed by years of training and combat, he and his team were ready. The plan was to break up into four pairs and approach the lair from all four sides.
Canaan and Dakota would approach the front entrance and call out Zain. Canaan would challenge him for leadership, and Zain’s ego would allow him no choice but to accept the challenge. Dakota would provide Canaan’s back up.
The other teams would deploy explosives on the other three sides of the lair. After receiving the signal that the explosives were in place, they would withdraw to a safe distance. Dakota would remotely set off all of the explosives simultaneously.
#
Canaan and Dakota approached the entrance to the lair unarmed, aware that they were being watched.
No matter how depraved the outlaws were, their pride would not allow them to show fear by killing two unarmed Canid Warriors of Canaan and Dakota’s reputations.
Doing so would tarnish the image they wanted to project: that theirs was the most fearsome of the Were packs. And because they feared no one, they would have no reason to use underhanded tactics.
Once Canaan offered his challenge, Zain’s pack members were confident in their leader’s ability to defeat Apollo’s pup. As a result, their renown would be unparalleled, and their legend would grow to make them the largest and most powerful pack in the world. No alliance would be able to stand against them.
The Assembly would leave them alone, and relinquish the disputed territory, with a pledge of no more interference with the outlaw pack’s efforts to increase their domain.
Zain and his pack would then lead the war against the humans. They would vanquish their enemy and spread their influence around the globe. His rogues would be universally recognized as the dominant Were-descended pack, the one destined to rule the civilized world.
Though his skills far exceeded those of the outlaw Alpha, Canaan held back. His goal was to keep the
contest equally matched to keep the attention of the outlaw spectators. Many inside moved to the front of the cave, some spilling out to the left and right of the entrance to shout encouragement to their leader.
Because of Canaan’s reputation for fair play, most of the outlaws readily accepted his claim that he and Dakota had come alone to challenge Zain. But Ilim, Zain’s second, did not share their confidence. He remained wary of the two Canid.
“Do not trust them,” he warned Zain.
“Yellow does not look good on you,” he taunted. “I do not fear Canaan Powhatan.”
“You’re underestimating him,” Ilim warned again. “Think, man! Canaan is an experienced leader. He would not walk into our territory with only one backup!”
“Of course I know that fool! But any other team members, wherever they are, can do nothing as long as we have their leader surrounded. One thing I have not done is underestimate the Mestizo leader’s integrity. Canaan would not give his word and then go back on it. And his men are trained not to gainsay his orders. And even if they wanted to, they couldn’t do anything once I’ve killed him. Their Canid biology will force them to accept me as their leader, which will preclude them from attacking the rest of us.”
“You’re assuming that you will defeat him.”
“You doubt it?” Zain asked, having lost patience with his second’s questioning of his skills.
“Of course not,” Ilim quickly assured him. “It’s just that I do not relish relinquishing any of the territory we’ve already captured. If by chance you lose, it would mean switching our allegiance to the Cumberland nation and the Southeastern Alliance. We would have to relocate to their territory in Virginia.”
“Stop it. That will not happen,” barked Zain, glaring at his second in command. “Now, take your position.”
#
Nathan and Khan, having buried their last charge, sent Dakota the signal to detonate. Nathan moved quickly, increasing the distance between himself and the south back wall of the cave.
Suddenly, he came to a complete stop. A sound disturbed him. Running back to the wall, he listened. There it was again. Definitely, an infant’s cry. And several other sounds as well, faint, but definitely there.
“Damn,” he thought, remembering that he had already sent the ‘all clear’ signal. The prudent thing to do would be to put the required distance between himself and the charge to assure his safety.
But Nathan could not choose that path.
He had less than two minutes to investigate the sounds. Using his blazer to blast a large opening in the nearest section of the wall, he caught sight of a young woman holding an infant to her chest. She stared at him, frozen with fear.
“Come with me!” he shouted, rushing to them.
The woman did not move. The baby was screaming, the blast frightening him. Two outlaw soldiers burst into the small space, having heard and felt the blast.
Nathan whipped around, aiming his weapon at the two. A white light blinded him, and he was lifted from his feet as the space around him became shards of pain.
The outlaw soldiers, having paused at the blast behind them, were thrown in all directions as explosions rocketed through the cave.
#
Khan ran in the direction of the laser blasts, knowing they came from Nathan’s location. Before he had gone ten feet, his body was lifted into the air and slammed into a large falling oak tree.
He felt the tips of the broken branches pierce his body before he was hurtled through space as a secondary blast hit the area.
That was all he remembered until Hawk was leaning over him, screaming his name.
“Khan, wake up!” he shrieked. “For God’s sake, wake up!”
His head having cleared a little, Khan tried to rise, but the onslaught of the piercing pain forced him back to the ground.
Hawk rolled him on his side.
“Stay still. We’ve got to get you into the heli-jet for transport. We can’t pull the branch out until we have something to stem the bleeding, something more sanitary than my shirt.”
“Shit with your jokes, fool,” Khan grimaced. “They aren’t funny when I’m lying here in torment.”
“Just trying to distract you, man.”
“Not working. Where’s Nate?” Khan grunted. “I heard gunshots before the explosion. What’s going on?”
“You tell us. Nate should’ve been here with you.”
“I know. He sent the ‘all-clear’ but he never showed up. I was going back to check on him when I got wounded.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll find him.” Then his friend added, “Duncan’s on his way.”
“No shit!” Khan grimaced.
“Just to remind you that your pain could be worse,” Hawk chuckled.
“Still not funny,” Khan spat out as he slipped back into oblivion.
#
Canaan’s team parachuted into the area, forming a circle around the periphery. The Mestizos wasted no time gunning down every member of Zain’s pack who tried to escape the inferno that was now the outlaw lair.
The Warriors formed back-to-back inner and outer circles to catch both close and outlying enemy soldiers who came running to the area after the fiery explosion had signaled the attack on their headquarters.
It was almost five minutes after the gunfire had ceased before they realized that Nathan and Khan were not with them.
“Where are they?” Canaan asked, the dread clear in his voice.
Scar’s voice pierced the smoking brush on their left. “I found Khan. He needs help.”
Canaan and several others rushed to him.
They stopped abruptly at the sight of the two-foot oak branch imbedded in his chest pinning him to the forest floor.
“How?” was all Canaan could say.
“I don’t know,” Khan said, shaking his head. “He gave the signal, so I thought he was safe. Then I heard a blast and started toward it, but the explosion came before I had taken a few steps. When I reached Nathan’s assigned position, he was not there, he was just not there,” he replied, confusion in his voice. “I don’t understand. He should have been there. Why did he give the ‘all clear’ if he was not there?”
“What was the laser blast for? Was it his?” demanded Dakota. “Why would he fire while in retreat mode?”
“I don’t know. Don’t you think I had the same question? He was my partner, dammit.”
Canaan stepped between the two. “It’s okay, Khan. We’ll find the answers.” Turning to Scar and Hawk, he signaled them forward. “Stay with Khan. When the medi-jet arrives, Hawk, you accompany them to Bakari.”
“What about Nathan?” Khan persisted.
“We will stay and search the area until we locate him. We won’t leave until we find him,” Canaan assured him.
#
Within two hours, teams had arrived from all member packs of the Alliance. By nightfall, the CSIs had their preliminary report.
All hope faded as they verified the remains of Nathan and two others, an adult female and infant male, both human.
Officials concluded that Nathan had somehow discovered the woman and child in the danger zone and attempted a rescue, one that had obviously failed. The discovery must have come after he had sent the ‘all clear’ signal.
#
Odin, along with Apollo and all male members of the Powhatan Council, arrived on the scene. Laura had wanted to come, but Odin had forbidden it. To prevent her from following, he had asked the women of the Council to stay with her at their cabin.
Rand was on his way from a diplomatic summit with the Chinese delegation. He arrived in time to help with the collection of as many of his brother’s remains as they could find in solid form.
Then, he stood with his father as they used blow guns to incinerate a one-hundred-yard circumference of the crime scene.
No one approached the two as after completing their task, they clasped hands and watched the soul of their son and brother ascend in the flames.
C
hapter Thirteen
When Khan came to a second time, he grimaced to see Duncan’s frowning face, his hand gripped tightly in his dad’s.
Khan pulled it free.
“What happened out there, Khan?”
“I don’t know. When I heard the shots, I headed back to see what the problem was. Then came the explosion. I don’t remember anything after that.”
Khan struggled to rise, only to have his father push him firmly back to a prone position.
“You can’t get up, you hard-headed ass. Do you want to drive the stake deeper into your chest?”
Glancing down, Khan’s face paled. “I don’t feel a thing.”
“That’s because the medics pumped you full of drugs. They don’t want to take the chance of your movements jarring the wood around in your chest. They won’t extract it until we reach more sanitary conditions at Bakari.”
“What did you tell Mom? I know you called her.”
“Of course I alerted her. Your mom and I do not have secrets. She will meet us at the hospital.”
“I don’t want her to see me with this branch in my chest.”
“I’ll try to prevent that.”
Two medics approached the litter. “We’ve reached Bakari, Commander. We need to prepare Khan for landing.”
“I’ll leave you to it then,” Duncan replied, rising. “Be careful. You don’t want to make his head any harder than it already is, it can barely fit through the door as it is,” Duncan said, moving aside.
“Wait, dad!” Khan called out. “Where is Nate? Why didn’t he meet me at the rendezvous point?”
“I’ll get those answers for you after they get that tree out of your chest.”
“I want to know now,” Khan insisted, missing his dad’s signal to the medic to increase the drip.
“You’re so out of it, you won’t remember what I say anyway.” Duncan continued strolling down the hall.
#
Bonita was waiting in the corridor as Khan was wheeled into the emergency bay.