Sword of Inquest (La Patron's Sword Book 1) (5 page)

Chapter 8

The cool dawn brushed against Asia’s cheek, stroking her awake in slow degrees. She lay high in the trees looking out over the forest. The natural beauty soothed her and for a few moments, all life’s cares and concerns disappeared. Sitting up, she rested against the tree and gazed toward the stone monstrosity.

“
They have used me to do things; even now the computer in my brain is seeking this link to shut it down
.”

Hawke’s
pain and embarrassment touched her through the link and mirrored what she’d felt when the Liege held her mind hostage. There were nights when flashbacks of the men she’d destroyed kept her awake, she hadn’t been a good person most of her life. Did the fact someone else controlled her mind and body cancel her foul deeds? No. How was what she did different from what Hawke had done? Both had the same oppressor. But… what if this was another trap? Her mind argued. Without the chameleon bracelet she would’ve been caught and caged. What if the Liege had discovered another way to link with her and use this new information against her? But how? It made no sense.

Unable to draw a conclusion that would satisfy both parts of
her nature she closed her eyes to clear her mind. Last night the dream of the Black Wolf returned. As usual, he sat high overseeing a large litter of pups. Sometimes he poked a few pups, settled arguments and cleaned others. This dream left more questions than answers, and she still did not understand its significance. The Black Wolf Alpha had been legendary in the pack, and now roamed a different plane that wound up in dreams. 

“Asia?”

Her eyes flew open. “
Mistress?
”

“
I didn’t hear anything from you and worried. Is everything okay?”

Okay being a subjective word, Asia hesitated. “
Gunnolf is dead.”

“
So sorry to hear that, I know you wanted to see him.”

The sincerity in Jasmine’s voice filtered through the link. “
Mistress, the black wolf spoke to me through a link. I don’t understand how that is possible.”

“Through
Gunnolf’s link?”

Asia shook
her head, realized Jasmine couldn’t see and then spoke. “
No, through a separate link. One that feels strange, I feel him. I mean when he talks I sense his feelings.”
She shook her head positive she hadn’t explained it right. “
What I’m trying to say is I don’t know how he’s able to do that when La Patron and no one else has been able to link with me.”

“
Hmmm, links fall under Silas’ area of expertise. I just use them and don’t know how they work. Hold on a sec
.”

Asia looked toward the imposing castle.
Her wolf hadn’t calmed down since she walked away. Could it be their mutual suffering compelling her wolf to ignore the danger the castle presented? Several ideas rolled through her mind, none made any sense.

“
Well… let me see how to explain this. In order for the wolf to link to you there has to be in place an intimate, not necessarily sexual, connection. Like parent and child, boss and employer, brother and sister, and mate to mate. Silas said that once you respond, the link will click in place and become unbreakable. But you can shut the person out from time to time but that has a price, but the link is permanent until death
.”

All of that,
she knew. But she didn’t know Hawke and he shouldn’t be able to create a link with her.

“Asia?”

“Yes Mistress?”

“
What do you think of this wolf?”

“The black wolf?”

“
That’s right, another black wolf. Yes tell me your thoughts, what does he say when he contacts you
?”

Asia exhaled marshalling
her thoughts together. “
He is a glorious beast. Tall as La Patron, although his eyes are hazel. I suspect he is stubborn, he did not give up easily
.”

“
Good looking beast, got it. What does he say
?”

For
some reason she hesitated to share his remarks, it seemed like a betrayal in a weird way. If it had been anyone other than Jasmine she wouldn’t reveal his shame.

“
He asked me to help him. Claims to be a prisoner in his body, and that the Liege is using him.”

“
I see. What does your wolf say
?”

Asia frowned.
She hadn’t communicated with her wolf other than to dismiss the whining.
“She wants to go to him
,” she said in a halting tone taking stock of her wolf’s feelings. A swirl of emotions rose from her beast, fear that they’d leave, joy that Hawke was near, apprehension over their reconnection, and aggravation that Asia ignored her needs.

“
Is it possible he is telling the truth? You can scent a lie right?”

Asia closed
her eyes and hit the tree with the back of her head. How could she have forgotten something so basic?

“
Yes and yes. Weird but I’m operating a step behind my normal. Promise I will pay attention and revisit the messages again.”

Jasmine cleared
her throat. “
If your wolf is unhappy about you leaving the wolf behind, and he’s created a link with you, a stranger, that could mean something significant
.”

She
frowned. “
Mistress? What are you talking about
?” Jasmine’s straightforwardness had been one of the things she valued most about their relationship.

Through
their link Jasmine’s sigh sounded like a soft whistle. “
He could be your mate
.”

The last word sent a shock through to
her mind, freezing her in place. She didn’t breathe. How? Her mate lost his head in the lab, she’d seen it. It couldn’t be true.

“
No, m
y mate is dead.”

“
I know sweetie, but Silas thinks you got a do-over
.”

Asia brows furrowed at the words. “
A what
?”

“
A second chance, another shot at love, mate and pups, all that. It’s possible the Goddess has blessed you with another mate
.”

“
And you call it a do-over
?” The many sides of her Mistress’ personality always amazed her. Jasmine could be sweet and nurturing or hard core and demanding, whatever the situation required, the woman adapted.

“
Yes, it’s something to consider. It would explain why you are still in the area instead of leaving with Tobias last night. Maybe you can’t leave, not yet anyway
.”

Asia looked toward the castle. “A do-
over?” She murmured allowing the words to fill her mind, and rolled them over her tongue. “
I’ll think about it Mistress
.”

Jasmine laughed, the tinkling sound touched
her. Asia smiled and waited for a comment or explanation.

“
You do that, think on it. In the mean-time, Jacques says he has a virus ready to download if you need it. No more hammering with software. He says to type in the standard codes that all of you received before the Lyrill trip, it’ll open a back door and the virus will download
.”

“
What’s funny, Mistress
?”

“
Uh… well, Rese and Rone have started a pool on how long it will take you to return to the castle for the wolf. All I’m gonna say is take your time, no need to rush. Women stick together and we don’t rush
.”

Longing
swept through her at the mention of the twins antics, and the betting pool. She missed everyone. Strange, sitting high in a tree in the middle of nowhere, she came to realize she had a place to call home.

“
What was your bet?”

Jasmine laughed.

Asia chuckled as a sense of freedom and rightness assailed her. Home. Jasmine had been telling her all along, but it wasn’t until this moment that it settled. Everyone in the compound and everything there was pack, home.

“
I can’t say, Rese is watching. But I have faith in the end you will do the right thing
.”

“
Okay, at least a few hours or another day
.”

“
Not that long, oops
.”

Asia shook
her head wishing she was there. “
Got it. Mistress
?”

“
Yes
?”

“
I’ll be ready to come home after this. There is something else
.” She exhaled and hoped Jasmine’s good humor continued as she told her about leaving the castle and the release of the test wolves.

There was a pause and then Jasmine spoke. “
What? I told you Silas said to leave the test animals alone.”

“
Yes, Ma’am and I apologize, my anger at being deceived over-rode everything, but that is no excuse. I failed my mission.”

“
Your mission was to rescue Gunnolf who’s a ghost. There’s no way you could’ve accomplished that. But you did discover important information Silas is using, the full-blood running the lab and now you’re bringing him out. Both of you will need to leave the continent at once, I’m sure Silas has a few questions for him
.”

Asia released a breath. Jasmine’s tone spoke of
her anger even as she rationalized what happened and found something redeemable in all of this. The Goddess chose well in La Patron’s mate.

“
Yes Ma’am.”

“If
you need help call me. If he is your mate, you cannot leave him behind; your wolf would never allow it. Go, and retrieve your black wolf. I will have a plane on standby.”

“Is that
my new mission?”

“
I don’t think you need a mission to carry out this one. The twins are talking about a short trip to the island with their mates. It’d be good for you to be home before they leave. If you need anything, I’m here
.”

Asia looked down at the ground and scented the area.
She needed food, water and a bath. After repacking her bag, she climbed down and headed toward the nearest town. Pleased to be included in the group with the women, she refused to rush.

Chapter 9

Several hours passed before
Asia returned to the hidden passage she’d used once to escape. She was certain they’d erased or placed an alert on Jerry’s pass codes, so she avoided using that and used a code she’d picked up from the hybrid’s memories. A long shot but it might buy a few minutes. The door opened into the looming dark hall. Asia morphed into Jerry again and after a quick scan, raced up the stairs and out the door toward the communications center. She moved with blinding speed across the hall, hoping the cameras didn’t pick her up until safe in the room.

Within seconds of reaching the hall, four hybrids filled the area. A tall slender human male pushed through and strode forward.
He eyed her up and down. Jerry called him Greggor, Lord Boris’ nephew and manager of the castle. But she remembered him from Madam’s Boudoir and his strange fetish.

“
I can’t imagine why you returned here after what you’ve done. Lord Boris is furious and on the way.”

Asia
smelled the lie and breathed with relief.

“
You better have a good excuse and it better match the cameras. Hawke was able to restore the camera footage, what was Ponce doing in that room?” Greggor pointed to the communications room.

Another lie. Greggor had no idea what happened and expected
her to fill in the blanks. “He had been in the communications room most of the day and went crazy. When I heard the alarms and went downstairs to help Chuck and Tank, but got hit over the head and passed out. Earlier, I woke up in the forest and returned here.” As lies went, that one wasn’t all bad.

“
He is lying,” one of the hybrids said.

A flash of satisfaction crossed Greggor’s face.
The punk set this up. “I gave you a chance to come clean, to explain what happened to the Liege. Your chip was off the grid for hours and reactivated when you entered the door. Why is that? How did you disable the thing?” Greggor wasted a sneer and nasty gaze on her. Asia had been busy locating the cameras and devised ways to prevent them from recording the fight.

“No answer?”

Asia met his gaze with a raised brow.

“Jerry
you have worked for Lord Boris for ten years, you know the rules and the punishment. This is out of my hands.” Greggor stepped back and gave the order. “Kill the bastard.”

Asia exhaled and steadied
her focus as all four breeds charged. And then waited until the first one was close and dropped into a split hitting the floor. The sound of skulls smashing into one another filled the hall. And then paused a beat while they moved apart, scooted to the side to stand and slammed her fist beneath the chin of the closest breed. The hybrid’s head snapped back in an awkward position, she grabbed him by the collar and threw him toward the two breeds heading in her direction.

The
other hybrid behind her tried to grab hold, but she jumped and roundhouse kicked him in the chin. Next the beast spun and fell through the glass to the lower level and hit the ground hard, splitting his skull on the concrete.

T
wo hybrids rushed from the front. Asia leapt forward, grabbed the camera embedded in the wall and swung until the base tore from the ceiling. Hearing the hybrids behind her, she ran toward a second camera on the opposite wall, grabbed and pulled the metal away from the wall. She held the device and slammed the metal into the face of the first hybrid that reached her. Jagged metal cut through flesh and bone like a cleaver, dropping the hybrid to his knees.

The
fourth hybrid leapt over the downed breed and caught the tail end of her jacket, yanking her forward. Hot breath from the beast scorched her skin. He wrapped an arm around her and squeezed. The buttons of Jerry’s uniformed pressed into her skin. She scanned the hybrid for metals. There were none in his arm, just his left calf.

Asia
exhaled, leaned her head on his chest so the camera wouldn’t see more than she intended, and pushed his arms away. The hybrid’s body vibrated with intent as he struggled to maintain the bear hold, but his muscles were no match for the metal in her arm and legs. As soon as she had leverage, she pulled her legs up and pressed against him.

Sweat poured down
his forehead, yet he continued to hold on to her. When the gap widened between them, she dropped to the ground, hopped back and punched him in the eye twice in rapid succession. The second time she ripped out his chip, threw the device on the floor and stepped on the chip with the bottom of her boot. The hybrid fell forward. Asia caught him with one hand allowing his body to shield her healing arm from view.

“
Jerry, I don’t know how you did all that, but I wonder if you can stop this,” Greggor said standing in the hall. Asia heard the whirring of the laser and leapt out of the way as it burned a hole through the breed.

She
moved with lightning speed zig-zagging across the area. Greggor took aim and fired repeated shots knocking out more security cams, glass partitions and chunks of the wall.

“Stop.”

Asia hid against the wall at the command and closed her eyes. That was not the same voice that called to her through the night. Damn. The computer was in control of Hawke again. Now she had to fight or die. And dying was not an option.

“
You are destroying the building you imbecile.”

“
No, it’s Jerry, he’s out of control,” Greggor said taking deep breaths.

She
heard Hawke’s footsteps and flashed to the other side. Greggor blocked her way, but he hadn’t seen her yet. She punched him, knocking him to the ground.

“Mistress?”
There was no answer. She’d come face to face with Hawke. He was slightly taller than La Patron and just as wide.

“What are
you doing Jerry? Why is Greggor attempting to destroy you with weapons when he can push the red button on your chip?”

Asia couldn’t believe the man expected to
have a conversation while her adrenaline spiked through the ceiling and her wolf did flips in her belly.

“
I don’t uh, know.” The red button wouldn’t work with the chameleon, but she didn’t want to go into her chameleon biology right now.

Hawke’s gaze narrowed, and
he crossed massive arms. “Why are you lying?  I don’t understand why. Logically you cannot win, and yet you have defeated superior beings. Greggor is not included in that statement of course. Your behavior puzzles me.” Hawke gazed down at her as if she were a lab experiment.

“
Mistress? I need you to pull his wolf
.” Asia watched him watch her. Seconds ticked with neither of them speaking.

“
Something… your scent is different. The distinction is slight but there. Did you eat onions with your meal?” Hawke placed a finger next to his chin, and continued to stare.

“No.”
She cleared her throat. “Curried lamb, that’s what I ate, no onions.”

“True,
I smell no onions.”

“
Sorry, we were… uh, busy. Silas is here. Ready
?”

Asia
looked at Hawke, and the next moment she jumped to the left as his fist slammed into the wall where she’d been standing sending debris in all directions. Quick as a flash he was on her trail, tracking her, throwing punches.

“Mate
my ass,” she growled and returned a punch to his mid-section. Hawke staggered but didn’t fall.
Oh shit
. She had punched him with her metal arm and he didn’t hit the ground. He leapt forward. She ducked and rolled out the way as he crashed into the wall.

“
Now, Mistress call his wolf
!” Asia gasped taking in gulps of air, while he moved slower than before but still moved. All the fighting and running took a toll. She couldn’t keep running much longer. Unprepared for the blast of energy that shot through her, Asia fell to the floor. Her chest heaved as she struggled to breathe.

Seconds ticked without a sound.

“
You came back
.”

Asia’s head dropped for a moment of gratitude at the sound of
his voice. She looked up and stared into his eyes. “We need to leave,” she said aloud refusing to use the link.

“
Please
,
I need to secure my research. No one needs to access those files again. You will need to do key the codes for me. Come
.”

Hawke
padded toward the lift.

Asia
headed toward the communications room instead. Greggor had blown the door away with the laser and she planned to upload the virus. A few seconds later she’d typed in the code. An error message appeared.

Asia
frowned.

“
We need to leave before the system reboots and locks everything down again
.”

She
glanced at the intelligence shining in his eyes. “I had a back door in this system.”

“
Yes, I know, I fixed the breach. You will need to access the back door from my system, please hurry
.” He turned and headed to the lift.

She
followed. “
Key
this in,”
he said and then gave her a series of numbers which she typed. The door closed, and the lift headed down to the lower level.

When
they reached his door, he said another series of numbers which she keyed and the doors opened. “
Quick, sit at the table and type exactly what I say. There is less than ten minutes.”

Asia
sat without questioning him. Hawke sat nearby on his haunches watching as she typed in several series of key-strokes, some she had to re-type. Seconds ticked on the clock but he remained adamant that they complete this first. Once done, he instructed her how to upload the virus throughout all the systems, not just the one's in the castle.

“
I disabled the door but
I don’t know how to leave the castle, do you?”
Hawke asked when she finished.

Asia
searched Jerry’s memories and there was one place on this level. She had seen the door before, but if time was their enemy, returning upstairs to the staircase wouldn’t work. “Yes, come with me,” she said and ran to the lift. Together they reached the door, she placed her palm on the panel and the door opened. Apparently she’d been wrong; they
hadn’t
changed Jerry’s security level. Hawke padded out beside her and they went down deeper into the bowels of the castle to the locked mechanical room. The other day she’d seen the steam flowing from this vent and hoped they could turn off the heat so the metal didn’t burn them. After keying in the code they stepped inside and she closed the door.

“
This is the way out
?”

“Through the ventilation system.”
Asia pointed to vents high on the wall and frowned. The other day it seemed as if there was one vent, now she saw three.

“
The vent is high, I cannot jump that high
.”

“Shift and climb.”

“
No. I don’t trust him. The computer controls his mind.”
Hawke trotted around the room seeking another way out. “
That one, the middle one leads to the outside, plus it’s better insulated and won’t burn. The other two are live
.”

She
glanced at him and then looked at the vents. Pipes ran all through the room, a couple close to the middle vent.

Instead of agreeing to
Hawke’s suggestion she crawled toward the top of the pipe to reach the vent. So far he’d been right, the temperature was bearable. Leaning to the side, she pulled off the grate and climbed inside. At the end of the chute she saw outside and exhaled. He hadn’t tricked her, at least not about this. But then again he wanted to leave the castle.

“B
ehind you
,” Hawke said surprising her. “When I saw your claws I remembered
I can partial shift. If you move to the side I will go first.
”

“No.” Asia scooted forward and crawled toward the opening.
His claws scratched the metal making an irritating sound. She hoped there were no sound or movement sensors in the vents. The natural scent of his beast made her wolf push to shift. Asia took a moment and reminded the beast to be patient, safety first. Her beast calmed but let her know of her displeasure. Asia grabbed the iron grate and pushed. The damn thing didn’t move. Damn. She’d need the power in her legs.

“Can
you back up a little? I need to turn.” She sensed his hesitation, and then he moved. After moving around a bit she managed to change positions and placed both feet against the grate and pushed. Instead of the grate pushing outward, she slid backward on the metal.

“Damn.”
She scooted forward again. Hawke moved close, his furry chest rested against her back. She stiffened at the contact, and pushed again. This time she had the leverage necessary, and the grate bowed forward and then popped from the concrete on one side. She pushed it open and slid forward. The drop shouldn’t be too bad.