BirthMark (11 page)

“We have to find him,” Jasmine said, looking at her sons. “The only way to protect Thorne is to bring him in. Rose can you reach him?”

“La Patron said not to,” she looked wide-eyed at Jasmine.

“
Silas
?” Jasmine reached out to him and wasn’t surprised he was with the babies in the nursery.

“
Yes
?”

“
I want Rose to contact Thorne and tell him to come to the compound. I want Tyrone to meet and run a scan over him and then take him to lock-up for questioning. Is that okay?”
Jasmine asked, watching Rose and Tyrone hold each other’s hand tight.

“
Jasmine, you can’t get involved with these things.”

“
I’m your mate and that’s what we do. You are not accustomed to dealing with family matters, I’m an expert at it, so I will lead in this arena for us. Okay
?”

He sighed and her heart ached for him. His plate was past full, it was overflowing. “
Okay. Let me know when he’s here. I want to question him myself.”

“
Okay.”

“
And thanks for asking instead of just flying solo and telling them to call him in without talking to me.”

“
You welcome, Wolfie
.” She cut the connection and told the three of them what she and Silas agreed to.

Rose reached out to Thorne and was so surprised when he answered her immediately that she dropped the connection. Inhaling, she contacted him again.

“
Thorne? Where are you? I was looking for you, haven’t seen you around much
.” Tyrone relayed the silent communication between brother and sister to his mom and brother.

“
I went out for a run in the woods. It’s nice, I went all the way to the big mountain, I’m on my way back. You inviting me to dinner? I’m hungry.”

“
Yeah right. Since when have you wanted to eat my cooking
?”

He laughed. “
Good point. I’ll be over to see you as soon as I shower and put on some clean clothes. I can grab a bite to eat on the way. How’s Rone and Rese?”

She looked at Jasmine, frowning. “
Both are good, working all the time. That’s why you should visit me more, I get lonely.”

“
Sure you do, with all those people in the main building, don’t make me laugh.”

“
Yeah, but they’re not my baby brother, though.”

“
True…true. I’m back on the grounds, going to take that shower, see you in a few
.” He pulled out the link.

Tyrone was the first to speak. “He sounded fine. I detected no deceit or guilt.”

Tyrese tapped his ear piece. “No, don’t let him leave the grounds if he attempts to flee, otherwise, just stay out of sight. He is meeting Rone in a few minutes.”

Tyrese looked at his brother. “You need to scan him before he comes to the main building. No offense,” he looked at Rose. “But we don’t know where he’s coming from, or if he’s been tampered with. We don’t know how these bombs are being inserted, I don’t believe Boggs was aware he was loaded, but Siseria is.”

Tyrone stood. Jasmine and Rose both protested. “Why does he have to do it?” Jasmine asked, afraid for her son.

“I can do it,” Tyrese said, standing.

“No,” Rose and Tyrone said at the same time.

“Look, we are trying to keep this in the family,” Tyrese said, exasperated. “Silas is only going to allow us so much leeway. Two people entered the compound wearing explosives on my watch. I'm not taking any chances now, not with anybody. As far as I’m concerned, in order to enter this area you will be scanned, me and everybody in this room included.” He glanced at Jasmine. “Except you, Mom,” he said sheepishly.

“Hmm, well thank you, Sir,” she said in a dry tone.

“I’ll be back in a few,” Tyrone said. He kissed Rose on her forehead and left the room.

Jasmine gave Silas an update and promised to let him know when Thorne was secured.

She exhaled and grabbed Rose’s hand. They sat quietly waiting for the all clear from Tyrone.

“He’s clean,” Tyrese said ten minutes later, releasing a breath.

Rose exhaled, and bending from her waist, placed her forehead on Jasmine’s shoulder. Jasmine rubbed the younger woman’s back and murmured words of comfort.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been that scared before,” Rose whispered and slowly lifted her head, wiping away her tears.

Jasmine cupped her daughter-in-law’s face in her palms. “There’s nothing wrong with being scared, almost every great thing that was ever done in this world happened when people were scared. We just keep moving through our fear, that’s all.”

“Rone and Thorne are in the room in the tunnel. He contacted Silas, he’s on his way.”

Jasmine stood.

“Uh…Mom?”

She looked over her shoulder at Tyrese. “Huh?”

“Silas doesn’t want you or Rose down there. He…uh…told me to escort both of you upstairs.”

Jasmine stared at Tyrese for a moment, trying to decide if she was going downstairs to intervene on Thorne’s behalf, which would cause her son, who has already had a hellacious day, problems. Or go upstairs and deal with Silas’ heavy-handedness later. She shut down the link between them and nodded to Tyrese. Silas was on his own, he’d learn soon enough dealing with family was no easy task.

“Fine, son. Let’s go.”

Rose’s brow shot up.

Tyrese’ eyes widened and then he smiled. “Thanks, Ma. It’s been a rough morning and I haven’t had lunch yet.”

“My lunch never arrived, so we can have lunch together since you’re on baby-sitting duty.”

“Mom, that’s not fair, I love spending time with you. It’s no duty.” She slapped his arm and walked out the room.

Chapter 7

Silas walked into the lower office being used to interview Thorne. The young man sat at the table eating and laughing with his brother-in-law, Tyrone. The sight ticked Silas off and the heat of his anger filled the room, causing the walls to expand outward a bit. The lights flickered off and then came back on. Thorne’s long hair moved as if it was being blown by a strong wind. The young man and Tyrone held on tightly to the table, but it began to slowly slide. Silas cut their communication channels, so neither man was able to contact anyone. He knew Rose would be angry, but he was Patron and he would not allow these infractions in his compound.

“Thorne?” Silas said, and the young pup rose from his seat. Wide-eyed, he stared at Tyrone as his feet moved toward Silas. When he was two feet away, Silas made him fall to his knees.

“I am going to ask you one time and you will tell me everything, do you understand young Thorne?”

“Yes…yes, Sir. Please Sir, I understand,” Thorne said, crying.

“Why did you contact the human females from the surveillance room?”

“Oh shit…shit...shit. I...." He wiped his lips. “My sister asked me to contact them. She wanted to know if they were okay.”

Silas looked at Tyrone, noticed the deep scowl on his face on behalf of his mate, and asked another question. “Which sister?”

“Lilly. She is with her mate in the caves. He is hurt and she cannot leave him.” The pressure in the room eased. Rone and Thorne both gasped for air.

Silas sat forward, the human women forgotten for the moment. “Who is your sister’s mate? Have you seen him?”

“No, Sir. I don’t know who he is, never met him. She won’t allow me or anyone to get close. Lilly’s mean, a real fighter. If she says no, then it's no.”

“Where is she?”

“I don’t know, Sir. She contacts me sometimes, asks how Rose is doing or how I’m doing. Twice, I took some medicine, just some bandages and antiseptic, along with two blankets, bottled water, and a few bags of jerky and left them near this big rock for her. She was supposed to pick it up later. This past week she asked about the humans, but I don’t know why. They just talk about their stupid cause.”

Silas wondered if Lilly had found Cameron. He knew the man wasn’t dead; Silas still sensed his wolf but couldn’t lock on him. “Why didn’t you tell Rose or Rone about this?”

“Lilly told me not to. Plus, Rose is busy with everything; I didn’t want to bother her.” Silas looked sharply at Tyrone, his message was clear. Keep the boy busy and close to home or else. Tyrone exhaled and nodded.

“Stand up,” Silas said, feeling the sting of his separation from his mate. He hadn’t realized when he'd shut her out; she had shut him out as well. When Thorne stood, Silas scanned him again just to be sure, and was satisfied the young pup was clean and telling the truth as he knew it. “You are never to go in any part of this compound other than your sister’s and Tyrone’s wing. I am limiting your access because you are not ready to handle that type of freedom, yet. You will move in with them immediately.”

Thorne bowed his head. “Yes, Sir."

Silas glanced at his watch, turned and left the room. His security detail fell in behind him. He contacted Rose.
"Has the technical team arrived yet?"

“
Yes Sir, they are assembling now in the lower chambers waiting for you to brief them. Tyrese is on his way.”
Good, he wanted to talk to Tyrese and Hank about Cameron. Maybe there was some way to track Lilly and hopefully find Cameron in the process.

Silas stopped, closed his eyes at the growing discomfort behind his eyes and unclenched his fist. This mating thing pissed him off at times. “
Where is Jasmine
?” he growled at Tyrese.

“
In the nursery
.”

He knew Jasmine had felt the energy blast in the room with Thorne, even without their mental link. She was probably pissed over his poor family skills but…damn it. How could he lead his wolves when he couldn’t protect his mate and four pups? The enemy had literally sat in his basement for weeks. She could’ve exploded and wiped out his litter, and to think a ‘family member’ had shared information with that bitch, it had been too much. And now he was paying for it with the backlash of his mate’s displeasure.

“
Jasmine
,” he called, hoping she would answer. She didn’t, stubborn bitch. “
Jasmine
,” he called again with a bite in his tone.

“
What
?” she snapped, and the tension eased in his head.

“
Don’t shut me out
.”

“
You shut me out, Silas. Don’t put this on me
.”

“
I know, I know.”
He released a breath.
“But we are not meant to be disconnected for long periods of time. I have a lot of work to do and I cannot concentrate on it when you disconnect like that.”

“
What?
”

“
You can keep me from hearing your thoughts without disconnecting our link, love. I’ll be out of your immediate thoughts but we will still be one, okay?”
This was another one-sided benefit the human breeders had that wolves didn’t. A full-blood bitch had to be connected to her mate at all times and vice-versa. But the breeders, it didn’t seem to bother them at all, and that sucked big time.

“
Oh, okay
.” She paused. “
That’s all you have to say
?”

The tone of her voice stopped the ‘yes’ that was forming on his lips. He took a moment to think. “
I’m on my way to deal with the technicians; can we continue this conversation later
?”

“
You better believe we will, Silas.”
She shut him out of her thoughts. He didn’t like it, but it was better than the void he’d experienced before. Pushing the conversation to the back of his mind, he headed down the corridor to reach the lower tunnels.

“
Rose, set up a meeting with the Alphas in an hour.”
He needed to brief them of these new threats. Hopefully he was the lone recipient of the attack, but he doubted it.

“
Yes, Sir.”

When he entered the room, six men and three women stood at attention. Silas looked at Hank and the man nodded, each of these people had been scanned for devices and deceit. Silas stepped to each individual, shook their hand and did a more in-depth search, rifling through their minds for deeply rooted deception. By the time he shook the last hand, he was pleased with the level of loyalty and commitment of each person. They were eager to begin the research.