Sword of Mercy (13 page)

“I’m sorry
,” Asia said. “
I pushed
you to go there, I didn’t smell deceit then or now, if he’s lying
it’s on an Alpha level because I cannot tell.”

Hawke took her hand and kissed the back of it.
“
Let’s leave the family matters alone until we finish this
assignment, we wasted a lot of time and went out of the way for
this. Let’s agree to focus on the finding the Liege and stopping
them from stealing pups
.”

She smiled. “
Agreed
.”

The back door opened and a tall, dark woman
with hazel eyes slid in the back-seat. Hawke spun around and met
the woman’s too sure gaze.

“Thanks for waiting, it would’ve taken too
long to track you down,” she said moving over as Niall slid in
beside her.

“Let me guess,” Hawke said. “You’re his
mam.”

She smiled. “Is that what you told him?” She
looked at Niall who returned her smile. “I’m Granira, a simple
healer.”

“There is nothing simple about her
,”
Asia said. “
She’s lying.”

“I know.”

“Get out,” Asia said without turning around.
“You’re lying and we don’t have time to deal with your
lies.”

“No, I suppose not. You’ve got to find who’s
stealing pups and stop them. If you take us to Strith, it’s on your
way, I promise to give you information that will help
you.”

“That wasn’t a lie
,” Asia
said.

Chapter 13

“What do you know about the missing pups?”
Asia asked as Hawke pulled onto the highway.

“Stealing or taking a pup is not new, it goes
back decades.” Granari paused. “Even before Omari or Hawke as he’s
called now, was given away. There is an old agreement in place that
the Liege has twisted over time and used to their advantage. For
the most part, full-bloods see things in black and white. Hungry,
we eat. Tired, we sleep. The Liege understands this and operates in
gray areas, so that they do not violate the letter of the agreement
but the spirit.”

Asia glanced at Hawke. “
Why am I not
surprised she knows the Liege and speaks of them with ease and
disgust?”

“She is old. Can you sense it? No
doubt she has seen much,” Asia said.

“Her ability to lie at will, and
hide the deception fascinates me. Perhaps she is a
witch.”

“Perhaps. Is she lying? I smell no
deception. Not even when she said I was given away.”

“We will deal with that issue
later, remember? Right now we focus on the missing pups. I think
she’s hiding something,” Hawke reminded her.

“Who did the Liege have an agreement with?”
Asia asked.

“The pack. A century past, packs worked
together, the high council had honor and convinced everyone the
agreement would work. For a season it worked well and we all lived
in peace. If Konstantin could have cloned himself through the
years, it would have been successful. He had a heart and passion
for packs. But humans are greedy and full-bloods prefer to keep
life simple.”

Asia glanced at Hawke. “
She sounds as if
she knew him personally. It’s possible, La Patron is over three
hundred, so is Angus.”

“Could be.
”

“The Liege twisted an old agreement in their
favor and is taking pups. How do we stop them?” Hawke
asked.

“You can’t. Not without closing a few
loopholes first. In his desire to protect the wolves Konstantin
installed safety measures which would allow the Roundtable, sorry,
Liege members to access pack lands to save them from outsiders. The
Liege use that agreement to steal pups and train them,” she said,
her voice low and sad.

“Can’t is not acceptable,” Asia said. “What
are the loopholes?”

“Why are those full-bloods following us?”
Hawke asked.

Asia turned to see a large number of
motorcycles gaining on them. She glanced at Granira and then Niall.
Neither spoke. “What did you take?”

Granira’s gaze met hers and for a long moment
she stared into Asia’s eyes. “Angus is here, good. I heard he had
returned, but hadn’t seen him.”

Undeterred, Asia glanced at the cycles who
were much closer and then at Granira. “What. Did. You.
Take?”

“I don’t have anything.”

“I will ask for the last time. What did you
remove from Alpha Verrick’s?”

Granira remained silent.

“Pull over, let them have them both. We don’t
have time for this bullshit.”

Hawke drove a little further, pulled onto a
side road and stopped. Within seconds the motorcycles surrounded
them.

“Get out,” Hawke said.

“No,” Niall said when Granira moved to open
the door. “They may take her again.”

“Not my problem,” Hawke said.

Asia watched the full-bloods get off the bikes
and head toward the car. She’d hoped Verrick would be with them so
they could discuss whatever was going on but didn’t see him. That
sucked. She opened and closed her hands in preparation.

Hawke rolled the window down. “Is there a
problem?”

“My Alpha requires the pups be
returned.”

“What?” Hawke jerked and straightened in his
seat. “He wants what?”

Asia mirrored his surprise and glanced at
Granira who sat quietly in the back seat. Inhaling, Asia didn’t
scent pups and wondered what the woman had done with
them.

“The pups went missing when this one left.” He
pointed toward the back seat.

Hawke opened the door and stood next to the
full-blood. “The reason I’m surprised by your request is I don’t
smell any pups, do you?” For the next few moments, every full-blood
inhaled and filtered scents including Hawke.

“Do you smell any pups?”

“No. But that does not change my orders. She
must return the pups.”

Asia could hear the confusion in the man’s
voice and smiled. Hawke would attempt to handle this logically,
first. But if logic didn’t work, they’d fight.

“Contact your Alpha, tell him I would turn the
woman over if there’s proof she has the pups. You can check the
car, the pups are not here.”

The male nodded and looked away for a few
moments.

“How do you know the pups are not in the
car
?” Asia asked.

“I asked Niall, promised to leave
the both of them with these men if he lied. He swears the pups are
not here. But she did remove them from Verrick’s.”

“Really? I didn’t realize Verrick
was a player in this game.”

“Based on Niall’s ramblings, I
don’t think he’s a player, more like a suck up. Lancaster has
arrived in the country and you can bet Verrick has already told him
about our visit.”

“Shit
.”

“My Alpha says I should search the car and if
the pups are not here, you may leave. Have them step out the
car.”

Hawke waved everyone out the car. “
Take
everything you need, chances are Chacal is going to be out another
car. I hope you don’t mind riding a bike
.”

Asia chuckled through their link while
gathering all her things. She noticed Niall helped Granira do the
same. Their glances met and the older woman nodded, but continued
pushing things into her bag.

“No, I love them. I have my eye on
the big red and black one near the road. Are we expecting
bluebirds, hybrids or something new?”

“I don’t know what new toys Lancaster has
brought to field test. We’ll know in a few moments. I’m surprised
she told Niall about Lancaster and not us
.” Hawke waved Asia
and the others closer to him before standing in front. Asia stood
behind Niall and Granira to watch Hawke’s back.

“The last few weeks were too quiet I
suppose
,” Hawke said. The full-bloods moved closer, and
surrounded the car. No one opened the door or hood to start
searching. In an unsurprising move, the full-bloods went into
frenzy and tore the car apart. The wolf who’d spoken to Hawke stood
away from the others watching Hawke with a smirk.

Asia rotated her neck and then her arms.
Granira looked at her with a concerned gaze. “How well do you ride
motorcycles?” Asia asked, causing a few of the full-bloods to stop
mid-destruction and look at her.

Granira’s face lit with understanding. “Quite
well, thank you.” The male who’d been smiling at Hawke frowned as
Hawke bulked to his hybrid and attacked. He picked up two
full-bloods and slammed them together like cymbals. The sound of
breaking bones filled the air as he ripped off their heads and
through them at the Beta’s feet. The man jumped back in surprise
and shifted.

Asia bulked and stood in front of Niall and
Granira, sending a message to their rivals. A few full-bloods
thought she’d be easier than Hawke and ran at her. Before they
could blink, she pulled out her sword and the whistle from her
swing was followed by the sound of three heads hitting the ground.
Some shifted and sprung forward. Asia used her sword with precision
to decapitate the beasts. She jumped up to avoid a wolf and kicked
him beneath his jaw, sending him flying and impaling on a jagged
piece of metal on the car. Hawke’s lethal claws cut through flesh
and bone, separating heads from bodies.

“Pull back!” the beta who’d spoken to Hawke
yelled to the remaining full-bloods. Asia dropped-kicked a four
legged beast so hard he hit a tree and broke his neck.

“Bluebirds or Hybrid or other?”
Chest
heaving, Asia asked.

“I’m not sure, but that was a nice
appetizer. They left plenty of bikes to choose from. Nice of
them
.” Hawke said as the remaining full-bloods took off on
their cycles and parked a short distance down the road. “
Should
we take the bikes or wait a few minutes for the main
course
.”

“Let’s wait. Whatever he sends, Lancaster
is somewhere watching. Asshole’s probably recording a marketing
video. It’d be nice to disable the cameras first. Any ideas?”
Asia asked.

“Hybrids, heads off. Bluebirds,
heads off. If there is something new? Heads off.”

“Your consistency is sexy
.” She hefted
her sword, rested it by her side and settled into her mental quiet
spot in preparation.

“Niall just asked why we were waiting. If
he pisses in his pants, it’s because of the answer I gave him. It
was pretty graphic. I told him to stay out of the
way
.”

“Good. I don’t think you need to worry
about Granira, she’s tough
.” Tingles raced down Asia’s back.
“
Incoming
.” She jumped, twisted in the air and swung, her
sword cut through the cords of the hybrid’s neck, sending it flying
toward the road while the remainder of the body fell in front of
Niall and Granira. Asia turned to attack the next hybrid and
noticed the older woman held Niall close covering his
mouth.

The bloody fight took longer than Asia
anticipated. The Liege had made some improvements to the hybrids,
their movements weren’t as predictable as before. Her fist no
longer penetrated their eye sockets with ease. Hawke cut through
the hybrids without bulking to his super size or using his sword.
Instead, he ripped off heads or sliced them with his razor sharp
nails. Breathing hard, she looked around at the pile of bodies
littered around the wrecked car.

“Who’s that
?” she asked Hawke. Across
the street a full-blood sat on a motorcycle watching them. He wore
sunglasses and remained cool while surveying the
carnage.

Hawke looked at the guy and shrugged. “
A
full-blood. Probably Lancaster’s eyes and ears for this
bullshit.”
Hawke picked up a bike sat on it and then got off.
He glanced over his shoulder at the young wolf, grabbed the bike
and threw it. The full-blood jumped out of the way with lightening
reflexes and laughed as the bike slammed into a tree on the other
side of the road. He looked at the bike, then at Hawke and then he
clapped.

“Well done, old man. Well done. Thanks for the
show. Lord Lancaster sends his regards and will see you
soon.”