“I know the stories, I never put much faith in them, are you telling me the stories are true?”
Yes, they are. I don’t know what would happen if someone not bound took out a Council member, but if the stories you have heard include the sudden backlash of magic from the oath being broken then yes, the killer would die in the process. So you do not want Avery around others who may know of the situation and blame him for whatever happened. I have done some checking since the situation blew up, Avery can’t be the one behind the rogue faction operating in this country. The oath is still intact and he would have died in a backlash himself if he broke the oath.
“Back the fuck up. Are you telling me you suggested Avery meet in Marcus’ territory with me knowing that someone would try to kill him and die themselves? What kind of game are you playing? First you seem to want him dead by meeting in Marcus’ territory, you indicated you thought he broke his oath, dammit William are you going fucking senile? I just talked to you this fucking morning and you blamed him for the situation with the females. Is the whole Council gone mad?”
Sometimes politics is a dangerous and confusing game to play. And often what you say to one person isn’t the reality of the situation.
“Don’t play games with me William. Tell me what is going on.”
I can’t. You will have to trust me. You said yourself you don’t believe Avery is guilty. You said yourself we can’t break our oath without it being known. So I am asking you to listen to your own words and trust me. Yes, I play a dangerous and confusing game, but trust me I play to win.
“Not good enough. I don’t play games and you won’t use your position to play games with me.” Gammon growled, “You are playing games with my people’s lives and the lives of the females you are sworn to protect and that shit won’t fly with me.”
Gammon, I am asking for your trust. I trust you with our females. I trust you with our people. I am asking for your trust in return. I am not mad, I am not senile, and the world has not gone crazy around you. Avery told me to tell you, fly in the way you fly out and everyone will turn a blind eye to that part of the country for twenty-four hours. But he won’t meet with you, he won’t meet with me, he refuses to meet with the High Council. I think he knows something he isn’t saying and to tell you the truth, I am placing my trust in the very oath you keep throwing up in my face.
“You aren’t making sense. Either you believe the man to be innocent or guilty. Either you think he had something to do with his son’s actions or you don’t. Make up your mind.”
Like you have done? On one hand you throw out accusations and on the other you tell me they are impossible. You can’t say you think he knew something of his son’s actions and then say the oath would prevent it. You are floundering in a sea of uncertainty yourself when it comes to Avery.
“You’re right. I want to blame him and part of me does blame him. How can he have a child and know nothing of what the child has done yet be true to the oath. If it wasn’t for the facility we found the girls in then believing in his innocence might be easier. But the fact of the matter is, those rogues got the facility somehow and it screams government involvement. Which indicates a highly placed shifter and Avery is as high as we have.”
Then you see my dilemma. A Councilman who can’t have broken his oath but all the clues point to his guilt. I told you politics is a dangerous and confusing game. But Gammon, it is a game I am well suited to play. So let me play my game to find our answers. I am sorry for earlier today. I would never have allowed the meeting in Marcus’ territory even if I were sure of his guilt. I don’t know, maybe I wanted, a bit, to find out how much you believed in the Council oath. I was wrong. Forgive me my old friend. Sometimes I walk a difficult path trying to keep my friends close and my enemies closer.
Gammon shook his head, “Fuck it. Do what ya gotta do. I hate politics. See this shit right here is why I would never have your job. Wait a minute, how does Avery know where we are flying out of? I don’t even know that shit yet.”
I called Marcus earlier. I can’t try to buy you some time and get you in and out of the country without alerting customs and immigration without knowing where to direct attention away from now can I?
“Whatever. Just, do, fuck it. I’m done, I have a bird waiting on me.”
Gammon looked at his phone in disgust before looking up at Nikita and Dimitri. He cracked his neck to one side then the other before shutting down the link that had allowed his two Beta’s to follow the conversation and hear what he had heard. Few and far between were the times he had to resort to such actions but few and far between were they faced with situations they could not hear what was going on.
“Well?”
“I don’t know, that was a confusing conversation. I think he is hiding too much.”
Dimitri nodded, “Yeah, that doesn’t match what you told us he said this morning and he was wishy-washy. I gotta agree with Nikita, something is going on and he seems like he is trying to hedge his bets somehow. But it makes no sense. If he trust you then playing you this morning makes no sense at all. What does he hope to prove?”
“Fuck if I know. If I am ever offered the position on the High Council again, and I agree, just knock me in the head. It would be better than to live some double speaking life trying to ferret out your friends from your enemies.” Gammon hugged Nikita then turned to Dimitri and hugged him.
“Watch my pack, take care of our people. Kill any who intrude. If something should happen to me, don’t fight to the death for the position. It would destroy the pack. Figure out a way to lead together, or something. We should head out sometime in the next twenty-four hours. I will send a text when we lift off. You know, I never give much thought to what would happen to the pack if something happened to me.” He shook his head, before continuing, “I don’t even know how your wolves would manage if one of you had to take my place, so what say we don’t find out. Watch over my mate, she hasn’t felt well lately. Don’t let her worry over me too much.” He narrowed his eyes before pointing from one to the other, “But don’t bother the shit out of her either or I will beat your asses when I get back.”
Nikita and Dimitri both laughed. “Just go man, don’t worry about a thing. We won’t let anything happen to the pack and we won’t let Mia worry too much over your ass.” Nikita told him.
The two men watched their Alpha get on the bird with the others and lift off before they turned to each other. “What do you think constitutes bothering the shit out of Mia? Do you think he knows we know?” Dimitri asked.
Nikita shrugged, “Don’t really care. Now, how do you want to split this? And who do we tell?”
“Tell? Man are you crazy? Gammon will shit a gold brick if we tell. If he hasn’t said anything we would do damn well not to say anything.”
Nikita looked at his fellow Beta, “Seriously? We can’t leave her all alone in the house. She needs someone to cook for her and clean the house so she doesn’t have to do anything.”
Dimitri scrubbed at his face before looking around the clearing. “Willow will know what to do. Come on, if we swear her to secrecy she can make sure everything goes well inside while we guard the outside of the house. Maybe Mia will make pot-roast if we play our cards right.”
Nikita hit him in the shoulder, “You ass, we don’t want her lifting a finger while Gammon is gone. How is cooking her pot-roast taking care of her?”
“You think Willow knows how to cook pot-roast? We could tell her how much Mia loves it and maybe she will cook it for her.”
“Hell yeah, now you are talking. Shit, how do we get her out of the house to take care of Mia without her mate knowing something is up? And she is true-mated to boot. They don’t keep secrets do they? Shit, we will just command his silence also.” Nikita remarked.
“Good idea, it is kind of late so, pot-roast tomorrow maybe. Willow will know what to do. We gotta keep everyone away from Mia. If Gammon doesn’t want anyone to know we can’t let them get too close to her. P
regnant females change scents don’t they? Dammit, how far do you think we gotta keep everyone?”
“Willow should know that, maybe?” hesitant uncertainty replaced the exuberant glee of moments before as Nikita realized they didn’t know what do to. He looked over at Dimitri to see his face full of confusion also. The men realized in taking on the responsibility to protect their Alpha’s mate they had not considered all the implications of the situation. The realization they were in a bit too deep had just occurred to them. Protecting Mia was nothing new, but hiding a pregnancy they hadn’t even been told about had never been part of their duties. So firmly entrenched was the belief Mia was with child the men wouldn’t have believed differently at that point. They headed to Willow’s to seek advice while pondering a future with a little one underfoot all the time. They were both grinning when Willow opened the door.
Chapter Twenty-one
Jeffery turned to look at Samson then back to the small field near their little cottage. He lifted his finger and pointed as he stepped backwards and kept stepping. “What in the bloody blue blazes it that? Who the hell are you people?”
Samson was staring at the unidentified object himself wondering the same thing. He didn’t think he had been away from civilization that long but what ever aircraft had just parked in the field was not one he had ever seen before. A moment later the aircraft winked out of view which caused Jeffery to curse even more and step backwards a mite faster. Samson on the other hand gave a smirk. He didn’t know where they got the aircraft from but he was willing to bet his next paycheck Rimier was on that aircraft. Although, he moderated his thoughts, perhaps the contraption would be better labeled a spaceship than an aircraft. He always thought their spaceships would be bigger. He was a little disappointed at the small size, not much bigger than one of their helicopters. How anyone could run around space in something that small and not go insane boggled his mind.
A distortion in the air around the center of where the craft had been moments earlier stabilized as four men strode into view. He only knew three of the men but the forth man seemed familiar. He walked forward and grabbed Rimier in a bear hug before he turned him loose and shook Dracula and Talbort’s hands. He raised his eyebrow at the forth man and offered his hand. The man looked at the others before holding out his hand and attempting a hand shake. It was obvious he had never shaken hands with anyone before.
“My main man, I hear you got your tail in a twist. This,” he pointed to the stranger, “is Dracon, my brother. Dracon, this is the man who helped dig me out of the mountain slide, Samson. Man, you have bulked up but what the hell is with the, is that a rainbow shirt? Look at you, all fancied up with your pretty boy hair and your, wait a minute, they said your mate is in trouble but this,” he waved his hand at the outfit Samson had on, “says gay pride. So, your mate is a male? But your males aren’t in short supply? What is the problem? No one kidnaps males for breeding.”
Samson snarled before glaring at Jeffery who was laughing in the background. Turning back to the others he said, “our cover for this mission was somewhat different.”
“Cover for the mission? The last mission we went on with Marcus no one used cover. They just went in and the witch blew up a bunch of shit, fried a few people, toasted a few others and then the golden wolf went nuts and, man never go on a mission with a witch. Those are some scary ass people. And that Craig guy, holy hell, he lit up lite a fire-cracker and almost took out his own people. I don’t understand how that didn’t make the news as a terrorist attack or something.”
“Holy fucking hell.” Jeffery muttered before he raised his voice. “Witches man? Witches? What the actual fuck? Are humans on the endangered species list now? You forget to mention a few things? Maybe we got a few fairies and goblins and trolls running around?”
“Humans breed like Okitas, no chance they will go extinct any time soon.” Dracon said.
Samson turned a startled glance toward him before he looked back at Rimier with a questioning look.
“Kind of like your rat. Little bigger, lots of offspring, several seasons a year. Years are longer on that planet than here.”
“What kind of monkey fuck shit is this, we are not like rats. We do not fucking breed like rats. Who the hell are these people, Samson? And what the hell did they arrive in? You didn’t mention spaceships, I always thought spaceships would be bigger. Do they have some sort of, I dunno, another dimension you enter when you walk in the ship? You know, we are gonna have a long talk when the shit is done, you failed to mention some critical intel.”
“Yeah, well, shit happens.” He looked at Rimier, “But I gotta agree with my partner here, what is that and where did you get it? Do you really ride around space in something that tiny? And, witches? What the hell man, no such thing as witches.”
“Damn, how long you been out of communication with Trey?” Dracula asked.
“About three months now, we left just before he married his mate, saw the wedding on the news. Is he happy? What’s she like? Last time I was home she was still at Gammon’s so I haven’t met her yet. No, wait, tell me about the witches, that is new. We don’t have witches, I mean, not on this planet. No such thing. They fly in from somewhere? Who is Craig? Another witch?”
“Ah hell man, you gotta get home and get filled in on shit. Short version, lemme see, curse, witches, shifter-witch hybrid, scary fuckers, Trey’s mated, she is nice, she is easily spooked but she is getting better at not jumping at her own shadow. Lots of shit going down. Trey said Marcus’ pack was attacked by witches a few days ago. You know what, I don’t really know what is going on except your race has gotten interesting the last few months. I don’t mean that in a good way for your people. Entertaining as shit for us, not so good for you. Oh, and Stormie is expecting her first child. A boy and your brother is some kind of upset. Says it is a slight against him. And your brother is not real pleased about the new sister your parents have. You alright? You just lost all your color.”
“Mom and Dad had another kid? I wasn’t gone that long. Only three months.”
“Damn man, and Dacron said we breed like rats. You people have kids, uh pups in three months? Shit, we aren’t the dominate race on this planet are we. I knew it. How many humans are left?” Jeffery threw his hands up in the air before turning back toward the small house in the distance. “Fuck it, I will be in the control room. The hits just keep coming. Should I watch for flying elephants on my way back or just fairies and leprechauns?” He walked off muttering about drugs and head injuries and needing a vacation. He was still muttering when he walked in the house. The five men, with their superior hearing, held their laughter and listened to the rambling until Jeffery was out of sight.
“Interesting man that one. Marcus and his people should be here soon, I hear the birds coming in. Dacron, you wanna light up the jump ship so they don’t try to land on top of it?” Talbort asked.
Dacron lifted his arm and pushed a couple of buttons on the watch like object on his arm. After a slight distortion in the air the space craft came into view just as the first of the birds were seen in the distance. As soon as all six birds had landed he pressed a few more buttons and the air distorted again before the craft winked from sight.
Marcus was staring at the area hard as he got off one of the helicopters. His lips were tight and Samson could see his jaw was clenched but before he could say anything to the man he had briefly met once when he was younger his attention was drawn to a mountain of a man getting off another bird. He closed his eyes and prayed for patience, or invisibility, whichever, he wasn’t picky.
Before he could say anything Marcus eyed him and turned toward Gammon before looking at Samson again. “Is your mate a male or a female?”
Samson raised his eyebrows before he answered, “Female. And my wolf is ready to go two days ago. My guts are shredded, my patience has expired, and she is hurting. I want her out today.”
“So, the shirt with the pretty little rainbow and the gay pride is a state
ment of what exactly.” Marcus frowned. “Are you sure your mate is female? I mean, we are getting those kids out regardless of what the sex of your mate turns out to be, but we kind of need to know if we need to be on the lookout for a male we need to save.”
“Come on to the house, it is gonna be cramped as hell inside, we aren’t set up for company. I will explain as we walk.” He turned toward the house talking as he led the men back. “I am assuming Trey told you nothing so I will start there. We have, by we I mean our government has a few operations that aren’t exactly open to others. We go in under cover, we gather intel, and when possible we do a take down and get the hostages, or prisoners out. We operate around the world but we are damn few. The powers that be for some reason decided our cover on this operation would be a gay couple. My wolf, by the way, thinks it is funny as fuck when he isn’t being offended.”
“And you don’t mind?” Gammon snorted, “I would have thought your wolf would have been furious. Mine would.” He fell silent before he said, “I was incorrect, my wolf claimed he would not be offended. He said to save our females he would jump off a bridge, but probably not a high bridge cause our mate would be sad.”
“Why would I mind. Whatever gets the job done and the children to safety. I didn’t know until three days ago now that the place was dealing in shifter females. If I had known I would have called in for help and damn the consequences. Got a human partner, he isn’t taking the knowledge humans aren’t the only race on the planet well at all. Usually a good man, takes in information and deals out pain. But he is a bit shook after hearing about shifters. Then seeing aliens for the first time, and hearing witches exist. That true? Not a fairy tale told to children?”
Nicole Page 9