by Sydney Addae
“They’re not going anywhere,” the older wolf said. “Not until they answer our questions about Tag and Squire.”
Silas was surprised the wolf wore his real name around his neck.
“You’ve decided to go to war against the U.S.?” Crall asked in a low voice.
“If necessary,” the old man snapped. The younger wolf leaning against the wall smiled. With high levels of impunity and low conviction rates in the country, criminals were bolder than most places. Unfortunately, these people never faced a Knight before.
“What proof do you have that our soldiers killed your pack mates,” Crall asked.
“Their necks were broken.”
Crall’s brow rose. “Broken necks? Are you saying full-bloods in this region cannot break necks?”
The older man’s jaw tightened and he pointed his finger. “We shoot, use knives, weapons, something we can heal from. No one can heal from a broken neck.” The other full-bloods murmured their agreement.
“So, if someone from a rival pack wanted to eliminate an enemy he would simply break his neck to keep the blame from falling on him or her,” Crall said. The initial silence was broken by yelling and screaming at Crall. He held up his hand.
“I have told you the soldiers are not guilty of this.”
“Where are they?” the old man yelled. Others joined in asking for the Knights. Silas remained in the shadows as the elevator dinged. He smelled them before he saw them. His heart expanded with pride as the four Knights walked out, still in uniform and stood behind Crall.
No one spoke for several seconds. Silas wondered if the crowd had ever seen full-bloods standing over six and a half feet, two were seven feet. They stood in a rest position with their hands clasped in back. Only a fool would think these men weren’t deadly and prepared for anything.
General Crall broke the silence. He looked at the old wolf. “These are the Knights. You wanted to ask them a question?” Silas picked up and understood the pride in the General’s voice. Even Franz looked up at the men with an awed expression.
“Are these full-bloods enhanced?” the older man snapped.
“No,” General Crall said.
“Why are they so big?” the older man asked.
“Have you ever seen La Patron?” General Crall asked.
Silas smiled at the way the Knights straightened when his name was mentioned.
“No,” the older man said sounding uncertain. He cleared his throat and pointed to one of the Knights named Curtis. “Two of our men were killed last night, neck snapped, did you or any of you kill them?” The man’s voice lacked the accusatory fire it had before.
“No,” Curtis said.
The others with the older wolf continued staring at the Knights. “You’re in the military? They let you fight?”
Curtis simply looked down at his uniform, brushed one shoulder and then met the older wolf’s gaze. “Yes.”
“This is bullshit,” the young wolf who had been quietly leaning against the wall yelled. “One of you motherfucking bastards snuck out of this place last night, went into town and killed my hombres. You’re gonna pay for that shit.” He moved from the wall and pointed at the Knights.
Crall looked at the man. “Do you think if any of these men were in town no one would’ve noticed or remembered seeing them?”
Silence followed his question. The older wolf exhaled and looked at the younger wolf. “He’s right, someone would’ve seen and definitely remembered seeing one of them.”
“Not if they didn’t want to be seen,” the young wolf said stubbornly. “Just because they’re big doesn’t mean they can’t hide in plain sight. Shit, if that was the case they couldn’t go anywhere to fight.”
Silas couldn’t argue with the punk’s reasoning even though it didn’t matter. If it wouldn’t cause an international incident he’d just confess to defending himself against those two last night and call it a day.
Crall looked at his watch as if the young wolf hadn’t spoken. “We need to be on our way.” He looked at the older wolf. “Do you have any more questions?”
“If they didn’t kill Tag and Squire, who did?”
“That, I cannot answer.” General Crall turned looked at the Knights. Two left and entered the elevator. “Sir?”
“Yes?” Silas answered.
“We will be leaving the lab momentarily with the collars and the control tablet.”
“Excellent.”
“We may encounter some resistance outside. What are your instructions?”
“The same as they’ve always been, get my Knights out of there and back to my Compound. If someone interferes, Knights will defend the mission.”
Crall rocked on his heels but Silas could see his eyes were lit with excitement.
“No humans,” Silas stressed.
“The Honduran government’s position is this is a full-blood issue, they’re staying out of it as long as it remains hidden from human eyes and no humans are injured,” Crall said.
“Make sure the Knights understand the drill.”
“Yes, Sir.”
The two Knights returned with three duffel bags. They stood behind the General, waiting for instructions. Crall turned to Franz.
Franz offered a salute.
The General nodded and walked off. The young wolf Silas had been watching waited until the Knights passed him before he made a move. He leapt onto Curtis’ back and attempted to get him in a choke-hold. Curtis reached up, pulled the young wolf over his head and tossed him against the wall so hard it left a bloody smear. The Knights never slowed or broke rank.
Silas left the shadows and followed behind them. Outside a much larger group of full-bloods jeered at the Knights, threw rocks, stones, yelled and cursed at them. Security wouldn’t allow Silas to go outside so he watched from the entrance as the Knights walked, head high toward the truck that would transport them to base.
The old man and the full-bloods from inside, exited the building. The older wolf raised his hand to get the crowd to listen but they ignored him. The young wolf who’d jumped on Curtis was carried outside, his clothes bloody. The sight of him inflamed the crowd.
“They aren’t going to make it to that truck without a fight,” Silas murmured.
“Nope,” the security guard standing nearby said. “The others want to fight. Hope it doesn’t get too bloody.”
“Do not kill anyone,” Silas told the Knights just as three full-bloods ran forward to attack. Curtis jumped back, and kicked one full-blood in the ass sending all three forward.
Curtis stopped and looked at the three full-bloods as they stood. The other Knights stopped and looked at the crowd. General Crall moved toward them, extended his hand for the bags and took them toward the truck. “MP’s stand down. La Patron’s Knights run from no one,” the General said. “Neither do US soldiers, if you attack they will kick you asses.” With that warning, the General headed to the truck.
The three full-bloods attacked again, this time each was picked up and thrown across the field by three Knights. Curtis’ gaze roved over the crowd with a clear warning and ironically, an invitation. Silas understood the pent-up fury each man felt. They’d been betrayed by those they served, their beasts drugged, their energies drained. A good fight would go a long way in making them feel better.
A yell erupted from the back of the crowd and several pack members rushed the Knights. For a few seconds, it looked like the full-bloods had the advantage. Then the Knights exploded into action, moving so fast Silas doubted the human soldiers could track them. Full-bloods were tossed, kicked and punched so hard Silas heard the impacts inside.
“What’s going on?” Angus asked as he approached and stood next to Silas. “Why didn’t you call me?”
“We need the chemical warfare information,” Silas said as one of the Knights jerked back from a punch that landed on their cheek.
“Lee gave that to me when I went to talk to him, I’ve been working on it with Hawke so we can send it to Pas
sen.”
Silas glanced at him. “We go home tonight.”
Angus nodded while watching the fight. “The cops really aren’t going to break this up?”
“Crall instructed the soldiers to stand down. Security’s inside, no human cops,” Silas said as the Knights thinned the crowd. Several full-blood lay bloody on the ground, holding their ribs or limping off to go shift for healing. Thank the Goddess they knew better than to shift in public. The old wolf walked off shaking his head and muttering about arrogant fools.
When no one else challenged them, the Knights clapped each on the shoulder with wide smiles. The fight was just the medicine their beasts needed. They walked toward the truck and headed toward the base to go home.
“They’re on their way,” Silas said. “Now to deal with the Joint Chiefs.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“PABLO, ARE YOU SURE this is the right house?” the Red Wolf gang member asked while hefting the bag with weapons and a couple explosives they bought on the black market, on his shoulder. They moved steadily towards the large house with an iron gate.
“Fuck yeah. Gaffe works at the car rental place where the bastard returned his car. Gaffe took it be cleaned and found some of his hair and black material with Tag’s scent snagged in the hood. He called me and we tracked the other scents from the car to this place.” Pablo looked at the other two gang members. “Gaffe’s our best tracker and he says the man who drove the car that killed Tag and Squire are staying in that house.” He pointed to the home at the end of the road. “They’re from out of town. Americanos. Too bad he couldn’t get their credit card information, we could’ve really fucked them up over and over.”
“Yeah, would’ve been good.”
Pablo stared at the house a few moments and then spit in its direction. “Tight security, Gaffe said they’d know if we went inside. Silent alarm. Didn’t want to let them know we found them, they might’ve run away. That’s why we’re here to repay them for Tag and Squire.”
“Una vida para una vida.”
“Si. A life for a life. Human or wolf, makes no difference.” They moved forward watching the road. If the foreigners returned before they finished, they would use their automatic weapons to gun them down. But that was too quick, too easy. These assholes needed to suffer for the injustice of what they did.
“We’re near Sup turf.”
“Yes. There’s a temporary truce until we find the killers,” Pablo said looking around. Sup’s were mean and unpredictable. They could’ve easily snapped Tag’s neck last night. Except everyone knew they would’ve owned up to it.
“That’s just til sundown,” the other said while testing the locked gate.
“We’ll be done in time.” Pablo looked at the house and grounds. “After we set things up, we can wait over there.” He pointed to a well-known neutral area. “I want to see this motherfucker blow.”
The other two nodded and jumped over the fence. “Place it so they can’t see it when they drive in, maybe the back wall, near the porch.”
“Neighbors?”
“Fuck them,” Pablo said walking behind his pack mate. With his expertise handling explosives, he placed the putty-like material in the middle of the back of the house, and inserted the detonator.
Pablo tested the back door and backed off when a security camera light flicked on. He cursed and moved further out of range. He seethed with impotent rage that a human killed his full-blood brothers. It hadn’t seemed possible but Tag’s scent on the car was irrefutable proof and the car had been left at the rental lot not long after Tag’s death. When he and Gaffe came by the house earlier, they only scented humans.
Both had suspected Sup’s involvement until that moment.
With one last look at the house, they moved to wait in safety. An hour and a half later two vehicles, one with two human males, the other with one, drove slowly down the road and stopped to open the gate. Silently the cars entered the yard, the driver of the second car closed the gate behind them.
Pablo watched with merciless anticipation as they grabbed bags of food from their cars and headed to the house. They wouldn’t be eating anything tonight, he thought. He waited a few minutes and sent the signal to detonate.
The shot rang out.
The building exploded.
Fire consumed the house as all manner of debris rained down. The car in the garage caught fire and eventually exploded. The burning house was a blazing light for miles around. The house would burn to the ground before any life support services would make it out here. If the house was on their turf they’d have a party for Tag and Squire around the remains of their enemies.
Pablo wished he could do more, but the heat from the flames discouraged him from taking a closer look. No one could survive that explosion, he made peace with avenging his brothers’ murders.
Concerned the Sups would come to investigate, Pablo and the other red wolf members, gave each other fist bumps as they loped down the hill toward their vehicles.
“Take that motherfucker. Payback from Tag and Squire.”
“SILAS!” Jasmine yelled. One moment she and Silas were teasing each other with sexual promises, the next their link went silent. Her heart raced as she searched for him through their connection. He wasn’t dead, she would know if he were. Something had happened. What? Eyes closed she went deep, seeking his heartbeat. When that didn’t work, she sought his beast.
“Silas,” she moaned as intense pain radiated from his beast. Without thinking she sent healing energy through their link while praying to the Goddess for help to save him.
“Mistress?” Asia called several minutes later. “Hawke has been hurt. A bomb went off, he’s regenerating slowly, the metal in his arms and legs won’t burn but the re knitting of that much skin is debilitating. Angus is not responding and he can’t find La Patron.”
“A bomb?” Jasmine’s mind was stuck on that word. Why? Who? No one knew who they were. Why would they bomb the house?
“Yes, Ma’am. The house is far out, no sirens, no one’s come to offer help. The place is on fire. Hawke’s going to move Angus out as soon as his legs flesh out more around the metal. Have you heard from La Patron?”
Heard from Silas after a bomb? Jasmine shook her head to dispel the disbelief. It happened. She had to deal with that new reality. Her mate had been blown up.
She gasped and bent over holding her stomach as nausea rolled through her. Silas, her heart cried out. Her man, hurt thousands of miles away.
Bombed? She couldn’t believe it. “No, he’s hurt. I’m sending energy to his... to his beast. Does Hawke need anything?”
“If we could send energy it would help him heal faster to get them out of there so they could start searching for La Patron,” Asia said.
Jasmine wiped the tears from her face. “Right. Right. I should’ve thought of that. Ready?”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
Carefully, Jasmine pulled energy from her base of women through-out the Nation and sent it to Asia. Asia sent it through her link to Hawke. “We’ll need to get Shyla to help Angus.”
“Yes,” Asia said. “You may need to talk to the twins and the pups. They may need to help.”
Unsure how her kids could help Silas, Jasmine didn’t respond. Instead she sent more healing energy to Silas’ beast, trusting him to keep all of her mate alive and whole.
Jacques knocked on the door of her private quarters. “Jasmine? A couple Alphas have contacted me, they can’t reach Silas.”
She released a long breath, closed her eyes for a few seconds and stood to open the door. “Come in.” She walked slowly to the kitchen for a glass of water and realized she couldn’t drink anything. “Have the twins, David and Renée come here.” She never hated her inability to mind-speak with her family more than right now.
“Okay,” Jacques said softly.
Jasmine appreciated he didn’t push. He must have sensed something was terribly wrong. She remained in the kitchen staring at the granite counte
r top without moving. The light tap on the outer door, footfalls and then silence.
“Mama?” David said walking closer.
She sensed Renée on the other side. Turning, Jasmine looked into the concerned eyes of Tyrese and Tyrone. She exhaled and told them what she knew about the situation.
Renée gasped and grabbed Jasmine’s hand. Jasmine placed one arm around her, holding tight as Tyrese picked up her other hand. No one spoke for several seconds.
“I’ll contact Grandfather, we may have kin in that country,” David said.
Jasmine nodded and accepted the kiss he placed on her cheek. “Daddy’s strong, he’ll catch his wind and be in contact,” David said with a level of confidence Jasmine envied.
She nodded.
“Hawke’s moving around,” Tyrese said. “He says Angus isn’t moving. We need to send energy to him as well.” He looked at Tyrone. “Let’s do it.” Tyrone nodded.
Jacques moved into the spot Tyrese vacated and looked at her. “This wasn’t the military.”
Jasmine blinked. “What?”
“I just wanted you to know this wasn’t the military. The Knights are airborne, on the way here. Silas made sure no one knew who he was at the research facility. The Joint Chiefs think he’s here, angry and refusing to speak with them.”
She nodded slowly recalling Silas’ comments regarding starting a war. “Okay.” She wouldn’t make any promises yet, if it hadn’t been for the Joint Chiefs her man wouldn’t have been in Honduras. Knowing Silas was regenerating kept her sane, and hopeful.
“Right now, I don’t care who did this, I want Silas found and brought home along with the others. What’s the best way to make that happen?” She looked into the face of her children and then Jacques.
“Hawke’s got Angus out of the building and into the woods. No one’s come to help yet. We’ll keep sending Angus’ beast energy so he can shift. Hawke’s looking for dad,” Tyrese said.