by Sydney Addae
“Hawke and Asia,” he murmured, reminding him of his mission, and moved forward. Looking below the belt line, patted the pockets. His heart lifted when he felt the metal and then removed them. Now to find the damn jeep. He searched for a high tree, ran toward it and climbed. Evening chased the day, he’d lost time and needed to find his way back to Wulfgar’s before too much more time passed. He would start there. In the distance he saw Miriam’s car and behind it the jeep, they weren’t that far. Now to find the main road… he saw the makings of a dirt road not too far from the vehicles.
“Stay to the right…” he repeated often as he climbed and then jumped down in the direction of the jeep. Within minutes he cleared the brush, passed the Mercedes without a glance, started the jeep and drove off. “Stay to the right....” He hugged the right tree line until he saw the cleared dirt path. Releasing a breath, he picked up speed, following the curved road until the forest fell behind him and he made it to the open road. He stopped and looked around for something familiar. Nothing. The residential sections were woven with commerce.
“Hawke?”
He slapped the steering wheel, unsure which direction to turn. Since he’d been leaning right this far, he continued. Eventually he saw rows of homes, familiar but they all looked the same. Inhaling, he tried to find Hawke’s scent and couldn’t. He turned down another road, inhaling, searching for a whiff of his sire and getting nothing. The road ended. He looked up and down the street. To the left were older homes in various states of disrepair. The right led back into the main area of town. He tapped the steering wheel, looking at the homes to the right, but eventually turned left. Driving slowly, he allowed his wolf to rise and scented the area for Hawke and Asia.
Hairs on the back of his neck rose as the jeep turned down another road. He sensed heartbeats. Human and full-bloods. Someone occupied these derelict places. His gut clenched. He stopped the car, leaned out and inhaled.
Hawke. His wolf howled in pleasure. They’d tracked his sire and Asia to this area.
This was not Wulfgar’s home. He looked at the dilapidated two-story house with overgrown weeds and verified his sire’s scent once more. Hawke and Asia were in this place, in two different locations. Frowning, he scented again and sagged in relief. No, they were close to each other.
Looking around the jeep, he searched for a weapon of some kind. In the glove compartment he found a small handgun. During training he’d used these but wasn’t very good with them. He checked the barrel, six bullets, and stuck it in his pants. What he needed was another tire iron in case he came across another out of control full-blood. In the back seat lay a long metal rod with wire connected to one end. A wide, thick rubber band lay in the middle. Damian had no idea what it was or did but it was heavy in his hand and would serve as a weapon.
He stuffed the keys in his pocket, grabbed the pole and stepped out the jeep. There were five full-bloods and a human in the house in front of him. Two were Hawke and Asia, he hoped two were Amynta and Barticus but had no way to be sure.
Damian didn’t bother hiding, if he sensed them, they knew he was there as well. Instead, he sized up the place, trying to determine the best way in. The back windows were boarded, so were the sides. Small cameras were posted around the perimeter of the house. Someone knew he was on his way.
A dark gray van was parked in the driveway. Damian checked the doors, they were locked, killing his idea of driving through the entrance of the house to break through the metal bars. He wouldn’t doubt they were charged in some way. But it seemed the only way in.
“Hawke?” he called again to see if his sire was alert. Silence met his call. Gathering his wits and strength of purpose, he walked to the door, placed his hand on the rubberized portion of the pole and touched the bar with the wired end.
The grill on the bars snapped and sparked.
Great. Electric. He jammed the end of his metal rod through the bar, grasped hold of the rubber portion, shifted and yanked hard. His muscles strained as the door pulled like taffy from the hinges before they snapped free. Sparks flew and crackled as the door clanged against the wall, hanging haphazardly in the lock. He hit it with the bar, knocking it to the ground. Glad he’d escaped without being fried, he gingerly touched the exterior door with the wire.
No sparks.
He scanned the area again. Five full-bloods, one human. Morphing to his largest size, he backed up and kicked the door in. It flew like a shot into the room, landing on the opposite wall. Damian waited a few minutes to see if anyone moved. When nothing happened, he walked inside. Scanning constantly he reached the first closed door, there were two full-bloods inside, but not his sire. He went to the next room, tested the door and kicked it in.
Asia and Hawke lay on the dirty, dusty floor with their eyes closed. Their breathing seemed normal. He frowned. Were they in a deep sleep? So deep Hawke hadn’t heard him call? Then he remembered that night in Athens when Randi had released her hormones. Hawke hadn’t responded then either.
He returned to the first room and kicked open the door. Amynta and Barticus lay on the floor asleep. Damian moved through the house searching for water. In the bathroom, he grabbed a plastic bucket, rinsed it out and then filled it to the brim in the tub. With his iron pole in one hand, and the bucket in the other, he tossed water onto Hawke and Asia. They gasped and jumped as the water soaked their clothes.
“Hey,” Hawke yelled, his voice sounding gruff. “Give me some of that.” He reached for the bucket.
“In a bit, I need this to wake them up.” Damian left the room and splashed the water on Amynta and Barticus. They gasped and woke up coughing.
He ran to the bathroom and filled the bucket again. This time he gave it to Hawke and Asia. When they drank their fill, he took it to Amynta and her mate.
They awakened slowly, as if their limbs didn’t want to obey the dictates of their minds. “What happened?” Asia asked, standing and shaking the water from her hair.
“I got lost on my date with the wicked witch,” Damian said, smiling.
She blinked a few times and smiled. “What happened?”
“Let’s get out of here first,” Hawke said, ushering her out from the small room.
“Okay, when we get out of here, tell us what happened with –” Asia stopped and stared around the house. Her frowned deepened as she walked down the hall and touched the faded wall paper.
“Asia?” Hawke said, standing behind her. His voice low, concerned.
She turned and looked up at him. Her eyes were wide and frightened.
“What is it?” Amynta asked, stepping close and rubbing Asia’s arm.
“I’ve been here before,” Asia said softly.
“What?” Amynta said, looking around.
Hawke held her arms to keep her still. “When? Do you remember when you visited this place?”
Visibly trembling, she shook her head and stepped into his arms. “No, Hawke. I lived here.”
Chapter 31
Feeling her tremble, Hawke’s arms tightened around her.
“What? Did you say you lived here? In this house?” Barticus asked, moving closer to her.
Hawke nodded, not wanting her to experience the pain of saying it again.
“But how? This is Lyrill, one of the first places we searched.” Amynta rubbed Asia’s back, offering comfort.
“The how doesn’t matter,” Barticus said. “This is the missing piece. Asia, tell us what you remember? Was Wulfgar here? Did you know him as a little girl?”
Asia shook her head. Through their link Hawke saw the jumbled mass of her memories untangle. The Liege had gone through great lengths to keep her past a secret from her, but now it unraveled like a string on a ball. “I never saw him. I had a room in the back.” She pointed, they all turned and looked in that direction. Asia stepped away from him, cleared her throat. “I didn’t like it here. No matter how much he smiled and said you were friends, I never believed him.” She looked at Amynta.
“Who? Wha
t was his name?” Barticus asked, moving down the hall toward the back room.
“There’s a full-blood and human back there,” Damian said.
Barticus nodded and opened the door. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Hawke and the others walked to the back. Miriam sat on the floor with duct tape on her mouth. She glared at them and kicked the floor when they turned to leave her inside.
“I counted five full-bloods when I arrived, this is only four. Where’s the fifth?” Damian asked, ignoring the woman on the floor behind him.
“I sense five, but that includes you,” Barticus said.
“Someone else was here, they’ve left.” Damian looked around. “But how?”
“Through there.” Asia pointed to the wall. Hawke pulled her close and rocked her from side to side.
“I love you. We can leave this place now, you don’t need to go through any more of this if you don’t want to,” he told her.
She inhaled and squeezed him tight. “Yes, I do. This is important. I don’t know why, but this is really important, I need to see this through.”
“Then that is what we will do.” He stepped to the side. She pressed her palm in a few places against the panel until they heard a click. The wall moved, revealing a staircase that disappeared into the dim interior below.
Damian went to go first. Asia stopped him, placed a kiss on his cheek and walked down first. Hawke linked with her, riding shotgun, alert for anything.
“Are we going to leave Miriam in here like this?” Amynta asked, following Hawke.
“The last time you guys sent me with her, I got lost,” Damian said, following Barticus and closing the door behind them.
At the bottom, they looked around the long drafty tunnel and then at Asia. “Breathe, what do you smell?” Amynta asked softly.
“Dirt?” Damian said, coming up behind Hawke and looking in both directions.
“That and more. Crystals, herbs unique to my home land.” Amynta said, pointing to the right. They walked down the tunnel until it narrowed and they had to walk single file.
“Stop,” Asia said. “This is the wrong way. Wrong in that there’s something we need to see, but…” she exhaled. Hawke sensed her struggle to clear images in her mind. She turned. “This way.” They followed quietly behind her and stopped a few feet in the other direction. With her eyes closed she felt along what appeared to be a smooth wall.
Hawke heard the click the same time everyone else did. Asia stared at the opening but didn’t move forward. Hawke moved toward her but Amynta reached her first, and wrapped her arms around Asia, pulling her away from the door. The two women stood further back while Barticus, Hawke and Damian stooped to enter.
Inside the room were two other rooms. One held a bed and other items for a bedroom, but it looked as if it hadn’t been used in a long time. The other room was bare, with a large screen TV and chair, similar to a media room he had seen in magazines. He wondered what movies someone would watch belowground like this.
“Look at this,” Barticus said.
Hawked took another glance around the room and left to see what the older man found. In his finger he held a neck brace similar to the ones they had discovered in the offices yesterday. Hawke looked closely at the device. It didn’t look as though it had been used yet.
“Where did you find that?” he asked Barticus.
“In this drawer,” he said, pointing to the end table.
“Is this Wulfgar’s place?” Damian asked, looking around. “I left you with him, you end up here and there’s no sign of him anywhere.”
“I don’t know,” Hawke said, scenting the room.
“You were asleep, did he drug you?” Damian continued.
“If he did, it had to be in the champagne, but he drank that, too. More than us for that matter,” Barticus said.
“So this was a trap, he sent us to find Amynta, to bring her back here… why? To toss her in a room with her mate asleep?” Damian asked, frowning.
“Don’t make sense,” Barticus said, looking around.
“I’ll fill you in later about what happened on my date.” Damian snorted. “But when I finally left the forest, I thought Miriam was in her car passed out on the road with four flat tires, yet she beat me here. Not that I checked on my way out.” He paused. “Do you think these tunnels are like those at Alpha Radoff?” Damian asked, watching Hawke for answers.
“Good point, but I don’t know. Someone brought Asia here when she was a small pup. They deliberately hid her, knowing her mam and sire were looking for her. Then they turned her over to the Liege. The High Priest wasn’t involved. That leaves Wulfgar, the Prime Minister, and the prince,” Hawke said. He looked at Damian. “Have you seen the prince?”
Damian shook his head, slowly. “No, just Wulfgar.” He looked at Barticus. “Have you seen him?”
“Over a century ago. I don’t know if I’d recognize him now,” Barticus said.
They turned to leave the room and the door slammed closed.
“Not again,” Hawke said, looking at the wall where the door was previously. “Asia, can you open the door again?”
“Not right now. I am meeting the man who took me from Konstantin and brought me here. Prince Francesco. I saw him in Lyrill when we rescued Tyrese. He was a funny-looking man in the balcony, recording everything. He called out to Danielle when we were leaving. Mistress wouldn’t let me investigate him them, she wanted us out of there. But this is that bastard.”
Asia and Amynta watched Wulfgar, Miriam, and Francesco walk toward them in the tunnel. As she stared at the funny-looking man, clicks like a camera went off in her mind and she saw him clearly without this disguise.
“Nice wig,” she said, staring at Francesco.
His eyes widened and then he smiled. “I told you she was sharp.” He pulled off the wig and tossed it aside. “That feels so much better. How are you, Amynta? You’re looking lovely as usual.”
Amynta stared at him. “Who are you?”
Francesco frowned and straightened, adding a few more inches to his stature. “Your former betrothed, and former prince of Lyrill, Francesco.” He waited as if she should say something, have a major ‘aha’ moment, and when she continued to stare at him, he released a long sigh.
“You were supposed to be my bride.”
“Didn’t you mate with my brother?” She pointed at Wulfgar, who fidgeted a bit and looked away.
“Mate? No we are lovers,” Francesco said as if it were a badge of honor or something.
Amynta shrugged. “What did you have to do with my daughter? Why does she know you?”
Francesco smiled but it didn’t reach his eyes. “She should have been my daughter, don’t you agree?”
“Hell no,” Asia snapped. “That was never going to happen.”
“You were not there, you don’t know,” Francesco said, glaring at Asia.
“I was there,” Amynta said. “My father arranged for us to be married, it didn’t happen. Is that why you took my daughter? To get back at my father.” She paused. “No… to get at me?”
“Don’t be silly, Amynta,” Wulfgar said, rolling his eyes. “You were the key to everything, don’t you see? When you disappeared, Fran had to start all over. It set them back years.”
“Set who back?” Amynta asked, frowning.
Asia watched Francesco and then looked at Miriam. “What do you have to do with this, Miriam?”
The younger woman shrugged. “Albuslupos lands have large mineral deposits we need for our people, but have not been able to access. I hope we can all reach an understanding and work in harmony. It’s what Alpha Bertoff wanted and we should go forward.”
Amynta laughed and looked at Wulfgar. He smiled. “Is this bitch serious? Does she think we would do anything that bastard wanted us to do?” Amynta said, shaking her head. “You have to do better than that because I hated that bastard.”
Miriam nodded and Asia sensed another part of the puzzle falling into pla
ce. She quieted Hawke and opened their link so he could follow along.
“What about this, then. Lyrill paid Alpha Bertoff a million in gold and crystals for your hand in marriage to bind the two kingdoms. Street value on that gold now would be close to a billion. He reneged on the deal, we’d like our gold and crystals back.”
“You received payment when you took his life,” Amynta said in a soft voice.
“What?” Wulfgar asked, searching his sister’s face.
Miriam waved away his question and Amynta’s comment. “That was before my time.”
“Perhaps, but you were there weren’t you, Francesco? Tell Wulfgar who killed his Alpha and his brother, Wulfrik. Pack members recall seeing you and the Alpha arguing before Barticus’ men arrived. The two of you got into a shouting match, probably over the money.”
Francesco’s jaw tightened but he remained silent.
“There was a fight. Wulfrik was injured but he tried to help. From what I was told, you had some type weapon, something they’d never seen before, and placed it on the Alpha’s neck. He shook for a few minutes and then stilled. Did you use it on Wulfrik as well?” she asked.
“Fran?” Wulfgar said, looking at his lover. “Say something, tell me she’s lying. Tell me you had nothing to do with Wulfrik’s death.” When Francesco remained silent, Wulfgar raised his hand to strike the older man. Francesco caught it mid-air and pushed Wulfgar aside. He hit the wall and fell whimpering.
Asia stared at the fallen man and wondered how he could be related to her mam.
“Now that you’ve upset your brother, you and I need to negotiate a few things,” Francesco said, watching Amynta.
She crossed her arms and met his gaze. “I’m mated.”
He laughed and waved his hand. “No, no, that was a one-time offer that expired long ago. I’m not interested in you in that way. What I’d like to propose is a business arrangement.”
“I’m listening,” Amynta said to Francesco, and then spoke to Asia. “Watch Wulfgar, that fake fight has alarm bells clanging in my head.”