Sword of Inquest (La Patron's Sword Book 1) (14 page)

“A video of two test wolves, mongrels chasing a small kid down the road hit the internet. A few mongrels refused to follow pack protocol and
were terminated. Others ran away. We need to prevent a war.” Angus’ growl burst the bubble she’d floated in and kicked her off her cloud.

Chapter 24

“What?”
Asia said staring at Angus.

His
emerald green gaze flicked from her to Hawke who continued holding her hand. “War. The mongrels you released from the Boris’ lab have attacked humans all over the countryside. The local Alphas are blaming La Patron and seek to have you punished for placing all wolves in jeopardy.”

“
There is no avoiding war; it can only be postponed to the advantage of others,” Chacal said entering the room with a tray filled with beverages.

Asia shook
her head at the rich baritone of Chacal’s voice. “You’re quoting Machiavelli? The first time you say anything, and it’s a quote?” The man confused her.

“Quote?” Chacal glanced at Angus who turned aside with a small smile. “
I suppose you would think that. But the words are appropriate.” He placed the tray on the table and sat in an arm chair.

“Asia?” Angus said drawing
her attention from Chacal who sipped his drink. Angus’ gaze swept from her to Hawke and then back again.

She
squeezed Hawke’s hand. “This is my mate, Hawke.”

Hawke nodded, picked up a drink, handed
it to her and then picked up another. They sat on the sofa and waited to hear what happened to turn her good deed into a nightmare.

She spoke first. “
I don’t understand… Hawke turned off their computers.”

“True. But what
was left of their minds when he did that? No one knows the true status of their mental state after years of abuse. A much older breeder, Arianna, had been abused for centuries; she didn’t know how to handle being free. I think freedom scared her. In the end she flipped, and caused a lot of damage,” Angus said.

Angus
was right. The test wolves were prisoners inside their minds as well as the cages that held them for decades. She had messed up, disobeyed a direct order.

“Hawke, may
I ask you a few questions that may clear up a few things,” Angus said.

“Questions?”

“About the nature of the experiments in Boris’ lab,” Angus clarified.

Hawke tensed and then relaxed. “Yes, of course.”

“Alpha Fredrick, from England, claims he lost pack members during the return trip to his pack lands. His beta, Tobias, claims one of the mongrels from the lab attacked when they prepared to board the plane to return home. Frederick’s claim is the most harmful, carries the most weight given he assisted La Patron with the last mission.”

Shocked,
it took a few seconds to process the information. “They looked… fine. Sounded fine. I didn’t know.” And she hadn’t. The older test wolf admitted he didn’t know where to go or what to do. Asia hadn’t wanted the responsibility, had
no
where to put them, her thoughts had been on the black wolf she had left behind. She should have thought things through.

“
Calm down, we will fix this
,” Hawke’s quiet words stopped the mental rant.

Angus continued. “Alpha
Verrick
, we are in his territory now, is calling for your death. Claims your ignorance is fueling police investigations that will expose full-bloods to the world. Of course he did not say that to La Patron, he’s saying things along those lines behind closed doors to ramp up support.”

“
No enterprise is more likely to succeed than one concealed from the enemy until it is ripe for execution,” Chacal said earning him a frown from Angus for using another Machiavellian quote.

“Not this time,
my friend. You have never met Silas, more importantly you haven’t met Jasmine, his mate and Asia’s patroness. The moment Jasmine heard whispers of unrest over here; the good lady put me on a plane, not to fix things. Asia and her mate are more than capable, but to act as mediator and serve a warning that no one harms one of theirs. When Jasmine says something is wrong with a picture, everyone has learned to take another look. It’s uncanny how she’s able to see things we missed.”

Chacal looked at
Asia and then Hawke. “Who are you today?”

She
met his gaze and then looked at Angus. It was his call what to tell his friend about the chameleon.

“Who
my mate is today will not solve the problem we are facing. I take exception to any threat to her life. Angus asks your questions,” Hawke said dismissing their host.

Angus snorted. “Quite right,
some people are too nosy for their own good.”

Chacal shrugged but remained silent.

“What type of experiments were you working on when Asia entered the lab? What I should ask is why are the mongrels attacking humans? What kind of tests would make that happen?”

“Through the years
a number of tests took place on different, what do you call them?”

“The Alphas refuse to call
them wolves and refer to them as mongrels. Another test. Over time they overlapped.”

“Overlapped?” Angus asked.

“Yes. The metal in my arms was done first, separate operations of course. When I handled that, they did each leg. When I handled that they’d add or remove something else. That’s overlapping.”

Angus nodded. Asia appreciated the explanation because
she did not know that term either.

“What do
you think is causing them to attack people?” Angus asked.

Hawke shook
his head. His brow creased. Asia could hear him thinking.

“
I don’t know. They do not know the kill chips are deactivated, maybe they are reacting to that lack of knowledge.”

“Could be,” Angus said sitting forward. “But
I think there’s more. I cannot name it, but something is not right.”

“
Should we tell him about the black wolf giving away pups?”

“Do
you think it’s related?”

“
I freed test wolves from a life of slavery beneath the blade and I’m the bad guy. Yes, I think everything is related. No one seems to care about the test wolves. They went missing for years and now that they’re free, all the Alphas can do is call them insulting names… after the hell they went through in Boris’ castle?”

“
I’m sorry
.”

She
sighed. “
Hawke you cannot become embarrassed or offended when I or anyone
talk
about what happened in that place. I saw how hard your wolf fought for freedom. You are a victim like everyone else. Lord Boris and those assholes stole your youth and Goddess given talent for their foul purposes. They stole mine too. That is the past. Focus on the present. How do we stop this?
”

Seconds passed before Hawke responded.
Even though Asia suspected what happened to him was an important piece of this puzzle, he needed to be okay with sharing his personal information.

“
Tell him.”

“Okay, but Chacal will hear as well.
I can’t link with Angus.”

“Good.
I like that you link to me and your Mistress. I don’t care if Chacal hears, he may be able to shed light on things
.”

“
I may have something,” Asia said into the silence and took the next few minutes telling them what she saw in Hawke’s memories. When Chacal and Angus looked at each other instead of saying what she saw was impossible, or pointing out how disgusting Hawke’s former pack behaved, she knew the shit happening was deep.

“What is
going on Angus?” Her tone made it clear she did not appreciate being left out of the loop.

“There have been rumors dealing with this issue for a long time now.
I have had my suspicions but never… this is disturbing on many levels.” Angus looked at Hawke. “Do you know the name of your clan? I mean within the Black Wolf Clan.”

“No.
I have not been able to access my memories yet.”

Angus leaned forward. “
I have never mated and could not shed light on the problem you were having regarding his chip. Is this another side-effect to mating? The ability to break through your mate’s barriers even when the mate cannot?”

“
I think so.
”
Hawke said. “That is not something I know much about either. We intend to study the phenomena later. Back to the problem of those wishing to harm my mate. Does any of the information she just gave help?”

“
Not sure yet. I need to think through some things. It’s possible it’s all connected since it’s been going on for so long.” Angus looked at Asia. “Remember I mentioned this may be the next assignment the Goddess has for you?”

She
nodded, recalling the conversation at the air pad before he returned to the States leaving her to rescue Gunnolf.

“If what
I think is happening, then this is your next assignment. You won’t be able to leave until balance is restored.” He shook his head and looked at Chacal. “You hit this one on the head.”

Chacal’s brow rose.

“Men are so simple and so much inclined to obey immediate needs that a deceiver will never lack victims for his deceptions.”

“What is this? Machiavelli day?”
Asia snapped and glared at Angus. “Explain. And no more damn quotes.”

Angus met
her gaze and then looked at Hawke. She wasn’t sure what he saw but it must have been okay because there was a subtle shift of energy in the room.

“
I left the Black Wolf clan, joined La Patron because the current Alpha and I disagreed on certain fundamental things. But before that, I noted several inconsistencies amongst the Black Clans.”

“
Like?”

“
Like our bitches have always been fertile and produced healthy litters, but our pack numbers dwindled. That did not make sense. So I asked questions and was assured everything was fine –”

“Or
you were sent on an assignment for a significant length of time. Do not forget that,” Chacal said.

“Yes, that is true.
I… had forgotten.”

The look Chacal sent
Angus called him a liar, but neither argued the point. For a brief second Asia wondered what happened during those side missions.

“To hear black pups are being sold or given away, explains a part of the mystery. The larger mystery remains to be answered. Why? What would make an Alpha betray pack to the point of extinction? There is no explanation for that.
It simply does not make rationale sense. And is the reason no one has moved against the leaders.”

“Leaders?”
Asia hadn’t heard there were leaders.

“Yes. The Black Clan is the oldest recorded pack.
We have a separate Council who meet from time to time. From what I understand they are not as involved now as before. They are the keepers of history and are tasked with maintaining records so that the mistakes of the past are not repeated. Therein lays the dilemma. There is no reason for the Council to be involved in this.”

“Why does
it need to make sense?” She looked at Chacal who she now suspected was someone else from a previous life. “A wise man once said, men rise from one ambition to another: first, they seek to secure themselves against attack, and then they attack others.”

Chacal’s eyes glowed for a second before nodding at
her.

“
Chances are the beginning started noble, for the good of all, and over time deteriorated into whatever it is now. I bet whoever agreed to this in the beginning never thought things would turn out this way,” Asia said thinking of Gunnolf.

Angus rubbed
his chin and then spoke. “A good point. But to stop whoever is behind this we need to strike at the heart of motive. Otherwise the problem will mushroom like a hydra with many heads.”

“Do
I need to reverse the kill chips? Push the red button to shut the test wolves down. Will that fix the problem?” Hawke asked in a neutral tone.

“
Hawke no.”
Asia knew the cost to his soul for the blood he already spilled. To do that may break him.

“
If this saves you, I will destroy each one all without a second thought.”

“
We’ll find another way. I promise you.”

“That’s an idea,” Angus said.

Asia frowned. “How does multiple sightings of humans dropping dead solve this problem?”

“
Hawke can stagger the drops, kill some every few hours. No need to push the button all at one time,” Angus said.

“What if
they aren’t all involved, and it’s just a few. Hawke said there were different tests. Maybe some tests affected these… test wolves who are attacking and not the others.”

“Hawke doesn’t know which tests –”

“It is in the files. If I knew the names of the guilty wolves, I can cross reference to see which tests the wolves had in common,” Hawke said, looking down at Asia.