by Sydney Addae
“And that’s probably Konstantin.” He pointed to the other male with pale skin and light brown eyes who stared down at the woman. So far Hawke hadn’t come across much information describing the long-time benefactor, but the way he looked at the woman connected with Hawke. She was beautiful, like his mate.
“But who is that?” Angus asked, pointing to the female.
Hawke hadn’t been able to take his eyes off the woman with the coffee colored complexion, long, thick black hair, and well-toned body. Asia’s increased pressure on his hand meant she had been similarly stricken by the portrait. The woman’s whisky colored eyes looked down at the babe in her arms with warmth and affection.
“Maheegan, who is the woman and what is the purpose of this room?” Angus asked.
Asia’s belly quivered as she dragged her gaze from the picture to look around. A large metal chest stood in the corner and there were several volumes of texts similar to the ones Hawke interpreted earlier. A bed lay in the back against the wall and smaller pictures and statues were all over the place. This seemed like someone’s personal resting space. Like a magnet, her gaze returned to the woman, flicked over the men and then rested on the female again. The warmth in the woman’s eyes touched her.
“Does she look familiar to you?” Maheegan asked Angus, who turned and stared at the portrait again.
“Wow,” he said softly and turned toward Asia. She met his gaze and leaned into Hawke. One moment she was the white male everyone saw as his mate and then next she was in her true form, staring at the woman who could be her twin.
“Bless the Goddess,” Radoff said in a reverent tone. “You said they were kin, but this is my first time seeing her like this and you are right.” He kissed Maheegan on the cheek.
Angus walked to her and smiled. “For years you have searched for answers, I believe you’ll find some in this room.” He squeezed her shoulder and headed toward the door where Byte stood guard.
“Wait,” Maheegan said before Angus left. “One other thing La Patron wanted you three to see.” She took a small locket from her pocket and handed it to Asia. “We found this on that dresser when we entered the room earlier.”
Asia looked at the intricately carved piece and opened it. Her breath caught and she met Maheegan’s gaze.
“What?”
“I don’t know what it means, but at least we have a place to start our search for a better understanding. Mistress is adamant that all of this ties together somehow and believes the Goddess set this in motion. She wants you and Hawke to learn everything you can from the notes, books and artifacts in this room. Then maybe you can explain it to us.”
Asia’s eye watered as she continued to stare at the picture of the woman with the birthmark, which Asia had seen on the pups, on her arm. Hawke’s hold tightened as he looked at the picture.
No one questioned Asia’s relation to this woman, the resemblance was almost a perfect match. She glanced at the babe in the picture, the cloth covering its lower area prevented an immediate identification but Asia sensed a connection. She handed the piece to Angus. He stared at it for a long time and then nodded.
“We need answers. I will take your pup for a run Hawke, you have more important matters to deal with. There is something in this room, my head aches, does yours?” He looked at Asia and then Hawke.
Surprised, she met Angus’ gaze. “No. It feels fine.” She looked up at Hawke. “You okay?”
“I’m good.” They both looked at Angus who shrugged.
“Figures, just means you belong here.” Angus pointed at Maheegan and Radoff who remained on the outside. “It bothered you to be in there?”
“Yes, after a while we both started feeling woozy,” Maheegan said with a smile. You’re right, she belongs in that room. I hope she finds answers and peace. No one will disturb you two, take all the time you need.”
Asia walked around the room, it was much larger than she originally thought. Hawke picked up a journal, opened it and took a seat. “What about Damian?” she asked, remembering the run.
“I told him to go with Angus.” He settled back into the chair and read.
Her mind filled with questions as she continued to stare at the woman in the locket. They were related, but how? Mother? Sister? Cousin? Aunt? Why was she with the Hungarian and the Alpha? Who were they to her? And where did the birthmark come from and why did it show up on the pups a continent away?
“Her name is Amynta. Not a native, but from someplace else which may be in another book. Seems she was some type of warrior or princess or both, not sure yet. This book deals with her pregnancy and wishes for her unborn child. Seems her father would be furious if he ever discovered she’d had a child and she was afraid.”
Asia watched Hawke turn the pages. Amynta, the name meant nothing to her other than it meant defender in Greek. She turned and sat on the bed, surprised at the firmness of the mattress after all this time. There was some dust, but not much, no cobwebs, or insects, nothing.
Is this where she hid from her father? Why was it revealed with the breaking of the covenant? Was that related in some way? Asia gazed into the locket for answers.
“Doesn’t say who the father is, it may have been one of those two but I don’t think so. Seems they were her closest friends or allies against her father. They protected her and offered her refuge. From the tone of her words, it seems she didn’t know the father of the child or she was taken by force. Most of her writings in this journal tells her unborn child to rise above the circumstances of her birth, to become the light on a moonless night, to not venture off course, destined for greatness, that type thing. I can read it to you if you’d like.”
Asia didn’t want the message without knowing the messenger. “No, you can either read that to me later or translated it on the laptop and I’ll read it myself. Right now I want to know who she… is to me. I need to know that first to put everything in context.”
Chapter 34
Angus, Byte and Damian ran through the forest chasing rabbits and small game for sport. His mind kept returning to the portrait on the wall, the woman looked familiar, so did Alpha Nikolas. They came to a stream and stopped to drink and rest a bit. Damian wanted to play and Byte indulged him in a game of hide and seek while Angus gathered his thoughts.
Nikolas looked like the Black Wolf from his dreams, the original Black Alpha. But that didn’t make sense. By the 1800’s that Alpha was dead, although rumor had it the Alpha returned every year and impregnated women. Angus shook his head. Those tales happened in the new country, America, not here.
In the portrait, Konstantin looked like a man smitten while Nikolas appeared pleased by something. Angus wondered what had been going on in the man’s mind at the time and who painted the blasted thing? One question led into another, and he knew Silas well enough to know answers were required.
Perhaps Hawke would be able to meet that requirement after reading all the books or diaries scattered around the room. Angus sighed with the realization that he wouldn’t be going home until the mystery of the birthmark was solved.
Byte growled and yipped in the distance. Angus hopped up, ran toward the sound and saw Byte running back and forth at the top of a ravine. He moved closer to the edge to look over. Damian lay struggling on the bottom with something protruding through his leg.
“Damian is hurt,” Hawke said.
“He fell into a dry bed, looks like he’s pinned down. I’m on my way to get him,”
“I’m on my way,” Hawke said in a tight voice.
Angus shifted to his hybrid and jumped, his feet sank into the soft sand and it took a few minutes and shifting to his human form to break free. Damian lay panting on the ground a few feet from him trying to break the branch off.
“Let me do that otherwise it might heal with the wood in your leg and you don’t want that.” Damian stopped moving, but it was obvious by the grimace on his face the pain was intense.
A sound from behind him caused him to turn but not befor
e four or five tranq darts lodged in his arms and legs. “Byte come.” A growl and then Byte hit the ground in front of him. His body vibrated with anger and Angus knew he wanted to charge after whoever attacked them. The scents were unfamiliar to Angus, he tried to break the wood in Damian’s leg but the excess doses of the drug in his system slowed him down. He went down on one knee next to Damian while Byte jumped and blocked every dart that came at them.
“Someone is shooting tranq’s at us, I’ve got five and Damian has one. Can’t see them, be careful,” he told Hawke and sat on the ground fighting the drug.
“Almost there, I’ve got Damian’s scent. And the other scent is familiar, it’s Niall with a dampener but those don’t work against litter-mates. What the hell is he doing?”
“Don’t know. Is Asia with you?”
“Yes. Why?”
“Because you can’t kill the bastard, she can.”
“We’re here. I see you.”
The next moment Asia, dressed as an older white male, dropped next to Angus and gave him a piece of the root Hawke had instructed them to eat. As nasty as the root tasted in the past with each bite, it diluted the toxins of the poisons in his system. She held Damian’s head up and dribbled the juice from the root into his mouth. When he coughed and opened his eyes, she handed him a piece of the root and told him to chew it.
Angus stood slowly and then sat back down. His head spun, it would take a little longer to stabilize.
Asia moved to Damian’s leg, broke off the stick from the bottom and then pulled it out. Next she poured water from a canteen she took from around her neck over and through the wound.
“Shift,” she told him.
After a few seconds, Damian morphed into his beast and lay next to her on the ground. She ran her hands through his fur while watching the forest. A loud smacking sound rent the woods. Asia covered Damian and Angus bent his head as bodies landed in the sand near them. Angus counted ten before Hawke and a super-sized Niall crashed through the gully.
Asia checked Damian’s wound, it was healing and should be fine soon. She watched Hawke fight Niall, felt his anger and sorrow that it had come to this. His litter-mate betrayed him and used Damian as bait to trap him. Touching the hilt of her sword she prepared to be the sword arm of her Alpha.
Niall fought hard and against someone else might have had a chance of winning, but Hawke knew his moves before he executed them and had him pinned to the ground gasping for air as his injuries healed.
“What are you doing?” Niall asked. “We cannot kill each other.”
“Nevertheless, you attacked me and caused my mate to be taken by the Liege,” Hawke said.
“I needed to avenge my brother, since no one else would.”
“At the risk of my mate and my pup?” Hawke squeezed his neck harder. Damian raised his head and watched.
“I had to help Lancaster rescue Gordon so he’d give me the neck brace to defeat Muzik.”
“Not my problem, involving my mate, my pup… that’s what caused your death.” He nodded to Asia who unsheathed her sword and shifted.
Niall’s eyes widened when he saw Asia, he struggled and tried to free himself. “Wait, wait, after all these years of being on the bottom, I rise to the top and you take it from me. Have you no idea what my life has been like? Living in the shadow of brothers who couldn’t think their way out of a paper bag, and serving Alphas who allowed the pack to die from starvation because the only thing they think about is fighting?” he yelled.
He inhaled and closed his eyes. “I admit I went about it the wrong way, I could’ve talked to you, but I didn’t know who to trust. And then you said you had no interest in the pack so I didn’t bother.”
“You helped Lancaster, the man who enslaved me for years and killed our sire?”
“You killed our sire,” Niall screamed pointing at Hawke. “His love for you and no one else, killed him and destroyed mam. Consumed by guilt, he never allowed us to mention your name, he hated the other Alphas because they wouldn’t help him get you back. Soon our pack became ostracized, they laughed at him because he couldn’t keep it together. No one came to our aid when we were attacked and lost more of our land. We lost the respect of the other clans and I lost my brothers who defended a pack that had lost its honor.”
Hawke tossed Niall away. “You blame me? As if I had choices in this bullshit? I did not,” Hawke yelled, moving closer to Niall as the other man backed away. “Everything was taken from me.”
“Not everything. You left Lancaster’s smarter and tougher than you went in, yet you have no ties with the pack, no interest in righting the wrongs we’ve endured while you were away. Do you truly believe you were the only one who suffered?” Niall laughed, it was a dry, mocking sound as he pointed to the bodies on the ground.
“Ask some of these how many meals they’ve gone without, or the pups they’ve lost or mates. We live on a sliver of our former land because we lack the strength to defend it. Our numbers shrunk because of sickness, poverty and the inability of our females to breed. We. Are. Dying,” he yelled and shook his head. “And you don’t give a damn. No one does. So… yeah. I betrayed you after you made it damn clear you wouldn’t help. I sold you out for a neck brace that allowed me to kill the former Alpha in a challenge. He killed my brother, an Alpha who did give a damn about the pack.” Niall lifted his arms and morphed to human. “There you have it.”
“Why attack now if you’ve already avenged Jirek?” Asia asked in a somber tone.
Niall opened his mouth and then closed it. “I’m not sure. We were hunting game for the pack and…” He looked confused. “I don’t know.”
“Gordon said Lancaster tricked him with a faulty neck brace, remember?” Angus said standing slowly.
She nodded. “Lancaster set it so you’d come after Hawke and his pup. I think there is a way to change that. If you mean what you say about helping your clan, then give Hawke your computer information and he’ll send you the code to remove that command. It won’t impact the brace, but it will save your life because you will never get another chance like this again,” Asia promised.
“Understood, thank you.” Niall turned to Hawke. “I apologize for betraying you, but did what I felt I needed. I had to protect the pack.” He extended his hand. “If you ever need me, my right arm is yours.” It took Hawke a moment to accept the gesture, but he in the end he accepted the apology and hoped he never needed Niall.
Niall turned and looked at Angus. “My apologies.”
Angus nodded, but didn’t speak.
Niall took a step toward Damian, Byte growled a warning and he stopped. “Damian, I am your sire’s litter-mate and apologize to you as well.”
Damian morphed to human and stood. “You took Master Gordon from the basement?”
Niall shook his head. “No, Boris Lancaster did that.”
“But you helped?”
“In a way, yes. Lancaster said he needed to rescue Gordon from the cage they put him in.”
Damian nodded. “That is right, I remember. Lancaster killed Master Gordon.”
Niall’s mouth dropped open before he snapped it shut. “I didn’t know that.”
“Yes, he will be missed.” Damian turned toward Hawke. “Can we return to the woods to hunt?”
“Yes.” Hawke turned to Niall. “My mate gave you a second chance, do not squander it, send me the link as soon as you return to your pack lands so the code can be corrected.”
“Yes and thank you.” Niall went to each person on the ground and assisted them to their feet.
Asia turned and followed Angus and Damian up a path with Hawke bringing up the rear. “Tonight you will tell me what you read in Amynta’s journal that caused your face to turn red.”
“What?” Hawke asked, trying to sound innocent and failing.
“Right before Damian called out to you for help, your face was apple red and your jaw was tight. What did you read?”
“I believe she was your mother or your aun
t, although I’m leaning to your mam. Her manner of blatant speech and thought reminds me of you. There is a passage of her complaining over her lovers… um, uh… performance.”
Asia laughed, feeling free and hopeful for the first time in years. A door to her past opened with answers to her questions and she would soon know more than tidbits of her history.
“Well, I don’t have any complaints, so in that regards I am not like her.”
He swatted her on the backside and took her hand. “Glad to hear it. La Patron wants a report later, so after we run a bit we need to get back to the books.”
“Okay.” She morphed into her beast and took off behind Angus.
Chapter 35
Two days later, Hawke closed the last journal and looked over his shoulder at his mate who lay on the bed her mam used many years ago. Amynta’s writings of her tortured past with her family broke his heart, and he marveled at the strong women in her line. How could he tell his mate, she was the product of a horrible rape engineered by her grandfather the Alpha of his pack and leader of their country.
Asia came from royal stock, her mam had been a princess from a small country bordering Lyrill that no longer existed. For many years the two countries had been at war until her mam’s country fell and was taken over by Lyrill.
Konstantin and Nikolas found Amynta in the countryside along the lake near death, and brought her into the tunnel for safety. At that time there had been a price on her life. Hawke shook his head at the similarities between mother and daughter.
“What’s wrong?” Asia asked, sitting and wiping sleep from her eyes. “You look like something’s bothering you.”
“I just finished the last journal, these books don’t tell everything, but there is enough to give you an idea of your beginnings.”
She rose and sat on his lap. Cupping his face in her palms, she stared into his eyes. “It’s okay. Whatever you need to tell me, it’ll be okay because I have you to share it with. Who was Amynta?”