by Carys Weldon
I paused in my journal writing, picturing Amber in bed. The jump isn’t that hard to follow. I was braced over the top of her, nuzzling between her breasts, growling a little in enjoyment, asking, “Tell me what you like.”
She laughed, and my head came up.
Looking her in the eyes, I asked, “What’s so funny?”
Her lips curved. Her eyes lit up. And she said, “I have a list.”
That’s how she is. Got things set in her head. She knows what she wants.
Amber dangled this, “You fill the list, you’ll be my hero.”
That gave me pause. I remember staring at her, and asking myself, how serious do I want to get? Do I want to be her hero? Anyone’s hero?
I said, “Gimme the list, I’ll see how I feel about it.”
“One thing at a time.” She closed her eyes and pushed me lower. “Start at the bottom and we’ll work up. How’s that?”
I wonder where I am on that list of hers.
* * * * * *
Frank said, “We need to get an organized front here.”
I could see that. Bark had always said, “The thing that makes Wolf Enterprises and Lobos so perfect is the united front. If the whole world could--”
Bark was a little too idealistic, I think. He genuinely liked everybody, wanted us all to get along. He’d been a great leader--impossible to imitate. He engendered honest admiration.
I’m sure everyone was as fuddled as I was over his disappearance. It looked like he’d just taken off...after moving the money around. I could not decide which was the most unbelievable part.
Something I need to get straight at the beginning of this...I was not looking for control of the damn company. You probably figured this out, but...I sure as hell wasn’t looking for steady companionship, either. At least nothing more than a nice screw, anyway.
But there I was, with more on my plate than I’d ever asked for. Remember, I was a second son, never expected to take over anything. I was good with my place.
A lot of dogs actively work up the pack, wanna be alpha. Not me. I liked beta position--being the muscle, not thinking too hard, not watching my back all the time. I was just wading through it all, trying not to get too far in over my head. I’d even thought about calling Lobos and handing Wolf E. over to them--let them get someone else to worry about their P.R., because really, that’s what Wolf Enterprises did for them.
I sure as hell had no romantic dreams looming. A nice holiday in a foreign spot never entered my mind, except for thinking it would have been nothing to take what solvent cash we had and move on, start fresh. A signature at the bank, a plane and no one would ever see me again, not until I’d revised my image, established a new persona. We were experts at that.
Believe me, I’ve thought about taking Amber off somewhere. Spreading her out on a beach blanket, starting at the bottom...
I might’ve zoned out for a minute, there, in the hallway. Couldn’t think of anywhere I wanted to go, though. And besides, I’d already threatened, no more disappearances--or I’d hunt the culprits down, kill them myself.
If I took off? There would be no mercy. I could see the whole pack coming after me. My branch of the family tree and Lobos, too. The whole pack. The whole worldwide organization of lupine brotherhood. Now, there’s a friggin’ scary picture. I pity those who find themselves in that position. Where would you run?
At that point in time, I had not heard about Hood’s sister disappearing from Pack City. Hood is the brains behind Lobos. One of the demi-gods of wolfdom. And Pack City’s like Switzerland, a neutral zone. You do the math. It’s not long division.
What’s that got to do with me and Amber? And this whole mess? It’s just another sign that the whole fucking world was going nuts. And it figures in, too, to my brother’s disappearance, believe it or not. But I’ll get to that.
The big point is...the one thing you’d never want, that any garou in his right mind would know, is that you don’t want the whole fucking pack coming after you. Let me tell you, there is no place to hide. And everybody you love? Instantly at risk.
The only person who would willingly expose themselves to something like that would have to be somebody with nothing to lose, and everything to gain. And they’d have to be Gaia-damned unnatural. That’s all I’m saying.
I’m not that stupid, and neither is Bark. And we’re not unnatural, so that ends that talk of stupidity. But, if the pack did come after us...nothing would be left. Not even a damn jacket. All physical traces would disappear from the planet.
I’m not kidding. They’re that thorough. We’re that thorough, making the CIA and Secret Service look like kindergarten kids at recess.
Frank would be dead, and our whole line would be eliminated. No cousins. No aunts. No birth certificates. No trace.
No. I needed to stay. Too many people depended on me.
I wanted to punch the wall.
Truth is, I really wanted to walk out. I never asked to be responsible for the whole damn family.
Frank said calmly, “The company can’t take any more media hits, whatever you’re thinking. We’ve got to get a good P.R. line ready.”
I know what he was thinking. You can’t go anywhere.
“Make no mistake, M--Mark. We’re going to have to call another press conference to discuss the M. W. D.; the world will want to know if Wolf or Lobos or one of its subsidiaries can help solve the problem.” Frank’s eyes darkened. “Or is the problem.”
“What I’m worried about is that some son-of-a-bitch is gonna connect Bark’s disappearance to it.”
“If they do,” Frank said smoothly, “We’ll tell them that, yes, in fact, he was researching it before--and that we’re a little concerned that he hasn’t checked in, and that we at Wolf suspect that he may have been a victim of--”
I cut him off. “Whoa.”
Frank was firm. “Wolf has a reputation for being on the scene before the world news shows up.”
“Questions about missing people, my ass. It’s not going to happen on my watch.” Jonesing to get the hell out of that hallway, I said, “Replay the news report in your head, Frank. Mass murder. People slaughtered. Mad Wolf Disease suspected. Lupus tracks. Bark’s belongings on the scene. Bastet satellite.”
Frank put a hand on me, actually held me there. I was so shocked by it and busy staring down at it that I missed part of what he was saying. “You have to think, Mark. It doesn’t make sense that--that your brother would disappear--walk out without a word.”
“I know that, but apparently he did.”
He peeled his hand free, but kept on talking like he hadn’t heard me. “Or that he--he would do--”
No getting around it. There were things about the M.W.D. and crime scene that suggested Bark had been there, that maybe he was responsible. I said it before they whispered behind my back. “I know what you’re thinking. In my eyes, I think he’s exonerated. The proof is plastered all over the news. He didn’t embezzle and run. He was either kidnapped or hunting down the culprit. Probably got caught between a rock and a hard spot. Either way, they caught him snooping around.”
I had to call Lobos before they called me. I said, “Before long, I’ll be getting calls from L. I..” I clicked my tongue and said the one thing no one wanted to think about. “If the united packs comes down on us, for any reason, we’re dead. We’ve got to get our house in order, Frank--and fast.”
There were gasps from every direction. I didn’t care. Somebody better ferret out our weasel, and pronto.
Talking about it just pissed me off more. I am a man of action. I could feel my muscles tightening with the unreleased tension.
One more time, I considered taking what money wasn’t tied down and getting out. I knew that the outside world would never accept us, if they knew who and what we were--despite the fact that we had lived with them for--how long? Forever.
The great secret. The horrible truth. Genetic throwbacks to primitive man--and beast. A pure line to the beginning
of time.
Who would trust us for keeping that hidden?
Think on this...most of the pharmaceutical companies across the world were wolf run. Imagine that. You can’t take your heart medicine because a wolf engineered it.
“The timing--just seems too coincidental. Worst possible considering the economy, and I’m talking before this other stuff blew up.”
“You know what?” Exasperated by Frank’s one-track mind, I said, “You work through it at your own pace. I already have.” I turned to walk away.
Like a mantra, the words kept repeating in my brain. No one gets away with betraying the pack. Not even my brother.
You see? The evidence was all stacked up against him. Although I couldn’t hardly believe it, I couldn’t ignore the facts. I had to hunt him down.
I kept asking myself, how could he do it? Expose Wolf to such media frenzy. Even if he didn’t believe in racial purity. Oh, I know Bark, but he’d never said it formally. Never would have gone that far.
He’d wanted a new world order, all right, but it included peace for all. He was too much a lover, not a fighter. He would never have picked a fight for the company, and sure as hell not with the bastets, not on purpose.
But then, it appeared he did. How could he live with himself? How could I let him?
And if he really was the one responsible for that killing spree...The best I could do is offer him an easy and quick death. I had a feeling that anybody else that got a hold of him would make him suffer. Not that I didn’t think he deserved that.
Shit. What the hell had he brought down upon us?
See how my brain was jumping?
We were family. I would put him down fast, as soon as I found him. I just couldn’t get over the feeling of betrayal. How could he do this to us? To me? I wondered if I was somehow to blame. Off gallivanting, seeing the world--leaving it all to him. Too much pressure for him?
But he’d been Alpha.
I should have seen it coming--headed him off. He’d been the CEO. Who would’ve thought he’d run from that? From all we stood for? Why didn’t he just step down?
Back and forth, my brain worked. I knew he couldn’t have stepped down, because I wasn’t ready to take over...wouldn’t have done it. The whole time, Frank’s monotone droned at me, but I tuned him out.
We had established a wholly self-contained conglomerate of businesses--run completely by werewolves. And the world had no clue. But they would, if my brother did any more damage. Renegade wolf on a killing spree. Oh, my sweet Gaia. In this day of DNA, how could police not track him down? Not find the genetic--flaw? Or turn on the rest of us when the word got out? Surely they would test his family first.
“--just think there’s more to it than we see.”
I couldn’t believe Frank hadn’t disappeared from my sight. I knew at some point, my eyes had glazed over. And somewhere in the middle of my thinking, I’d actually walked away from him more than once. I was almost to the elevator.
“Look.” I pushed the button. “The group’s in turmoil, with good reason. We need a little reorganization. I am absolutely the man to do it. I just need to get my head straight...and a few other things, too, for that matter.”
Smooth out relationships, that sort of thing.
I let the wolf have run of my brain...Hunt down the culprit. Rip his throat open.
“Remember that the people here are loyal, not the guilty.”
“I keep telling myself that, too,” I lowered my voice, “but a part of me wonders how Bark could do this. It makes no sense. It’s just not him, unless...someone else was in on the whole thing.” The news report evidence had appeared pretty damning. I voiced an unbelievable thought. “Do you think my brother was the victim of a genetic experiment, that there really is M.W.D.?”
Like I said, I didn’t trust our own.
After all, more than one of Lobos’ subsidiaries operated first class bio-experiment labs, and one in particular produced pharmaceuticals that subdued neural synapse operations. Migraine solutions, brain enhancers. Bark had been checking out their new line right about the time I’d left for my vacation.
Had we developed something I didn’t know about? I knew I had to get into that lab and check things out. Maybe late, when everyone else had gone home. My instincts told me that I would find some answers there. Just had to sniff around a bit.
Frank in all his nervousness, muttered, “It’s a possibility we have to consider,”
I could admit to myself that things had gotten a little out of hand during the morning meeting. I’d had a few seconds to cool down. I wasn’t going to say that, though. I don’t apologize--to anybody. Never make them think you’re weak, you know? Never second-guess your instincts.
After all, it was too late to change what had happened. All in all, I think the meeting went pretty well. I mean, I got my point across. I don’t think anyone else will be stepping out of line in the future.
However, that didn’t seem to be Frank’s immediate concern.
Smiling, I said, “Look. I grabbed a guy by the throat, thought about slicing him to ribbons--verbally, physically--but I didn’t. I’ve got it handled.”
It surprised the hell out of me when Frank finally looked me in the eye. “But--”
The moment didn’t last long, a two-second brief. I stared him down until he gulped and looked away. I fully expected him to slink away.
He didn’t though. Gulping again, his gaze still averted, he admitted, “I gotta tell ya--some of us--we’re worried about you, Mark.”
“You should be worried for yourselves.” Yes, it came out as a growl--and I meant it. It was a definite warning for him to back away. He damn well better not say that I was going off the deep end--like my brother.
Obviously, he wasn’t looking for a fight. Once again, the smell of fear rose off of him. He sweated instantly, profusely, from every pore of his body, made me wrinkle my nose. I knew he was about to piss his pants.
I almost felt sorry for him. “If you have something to say, spit it out.” I couldn’t fathom why Frank would have followed me out--with my temper running so high.
And at that moment, I knew no one that could make me cower down.
I was good in business, better in bed and best when I was hunting something. The kind of guy you wanted as a friend, not an enemy--guaranteed. I had money, power, and the ability to get just about anything I laid my eyes on. What I couldn’t have, I could tear down, one way or another. I had destroyed more people, more businesses, more lives, than I could count. Certainly more than I could remember. No, Frank did not want to mess with me. He wanted nothing but to show his concern and get away without a scratch.
Pulling out a handkerchief to mop his face, Frank’s throat convulsed a little. I knew he was having trouble forming words--coherent thoughts, probably, since I’d practically crawled over the top of him. His beady eyes were on everything but me now, and I could feel his itch to run. I licked my lips, trying not to grin too big. I hoped he would.
Planting my feet wide, I asked a little too quietly, “You think I’m out of control?”
I was not out of control. Close, but not quite. If I had been, they all would have been dead.
Frank swabbed his balding forehead. “You had that guy by the throat back there.” He stammered, “Or...or didn’t you notice?”
He ducked when I moved. I eased out a chuckle, forced myself to relax. “You know what he was thinking. Plain and clear he broadcasted that Bark--”
Frank groaned, “You can’t help thoughts that spring to your head sometimes. Mind talk is a curse. That’s why Lobos has worked so hard to subdue it.”
“Bullshit. We aren’t working to subdue it. We’re working to harness it, to protect ourselves, so the damn psychic humans don’t sneak into our brains and protect themselves from us.”
“They just sound crazy--the ones that say it.”
The elevator opened. I stepped in. He put a hand to the inside of the door so it wouldn’t close. “I
f enough of them say it, somebody will--”
Conspiratorial kills had already occurred, more were contracted. I cut him off. “Frank, I need to talk to Lobos, and then get on a plane to backwater wherever the hell that news report was. Now, you can go with me or stay here, but let go of the elevator.”
He vacillated. Finally, he stepped in. When the doors closed, he said, “I’m gonna keep an eye on things.”
It was funny to me...Frank was stepping up to watch my back. That’s what it was all about. But he said with wry humor, “Can’t have another CEO go AWOL, can we?”
Chapter Two
My cell phone rang. I pulled it from my pocket and put it to my ear. “Wolf.”
The voice on the other end of the line was curt. Hood, head of Lobos, said, “Hood here. I want to see you.”
I pictured him. I always thought he looked like Wolverine from the X-Men series. No-nonsense kind of guy. I didn’t relish the idea of meeting him face to face until I had my p’s and q’s straight.
Silence crackled over the line for a few seconds before I said, “I was going--”
He repeated, “I want you here. We need to talk.”
Shit.
Frank gave me space in the elevator. I must’ve been puffing up, rolling my shoulders.
“Fine,” I answered abruptly and closed the phone. The longer the connection was open, the more he’d realize I was not fully on top of the situation.
Frank lifted an eyebrow.
“Hood. We’re going to Lobos first.”
He didn’t say anything. He pulled out his handkerchief, though, and mopped his head. He was right behind me when I climbed in the chopper ten minutes later and he sat quietly, not saying another word the whole time we made the ride, but right before we landed on top of the Lobos complex, he put a hand to my arm and said, “Mark, block your thoughts completely. We have spies among us.”
It wasn’t like I needed to hear that. I already knew. But it was good to have Frank thinking on the same wavelength as I was. For the first time in my life, I was glad not to be alone.