Sword of Inquest (La Patron's Sword Book 1) (7 page)

Chapter 12

Greggor moved slightly and held his jaw. Pain radiated through his face as he sat. The haunting silence in the building screamed his failure. Hawke had left. How had this happened? For the first time in his recollection someone penetrated his uncle’s fortress and from the looks of things, shut down the labs.

He
stood little by little and looked at all the damage. Burn marks from the laser decorated every wall. He winced in remembrance. Jerry had scared him before, but nothing like earlier today. The man moved as if possessed, he’d never seen anything like it, not human at least. The glass wall and door to the communication room were gone. Greggor stared at the empty space for a moment and then stepped across the debris into the area.

Gathering
courage, he typed in his password with a silent prayer. When the screen normalized he smiled and clapped. Hopeful, he brushed the glass from the chair and sat. After entering more commands, he grinned as dot after dot appeared on the screen giving him the locations of the test animals and Hawke. Excited, he would take the three remaining Hybrids in the harvesting truck and retrieve his inventory. The animals could starve in their cages for all he cared, or he’d have the hybrids feed them. As long as he reported success after his failure, his uncle may forgive him. He rubbed his hands with determination, and clicked the button to download the information to the truck’s locator device.

Nothing happened.

Confused, he frowned, looked at the dots on the screen again, and clicked the download button. Next he refreshed the screen and instead of the download button appearing, one by one the dots disappeared. Mouth agape he stared horrified at the blank screen.

“Where’d
they go? Where the hell did they go?” He slapped his keyboard and hit the refresh button over and over. The screen blanked. The next second a picture of the castle filled the screen.

“What the…?”
He re-logged and the same picture appeared. He couldn’t access anything in the data base. Not the security cameras, the automatic doors, or lifts. Again, he’d fucked up. Stomach tied in knots he laid his head on the keyboard. Desperate, he searched every nook and cranny of his mind for a solution and came up blank.

“Wait.”
He pushed away from the monitor and stood. Hawke’s system wasn’t connected to the main system.

The lifts didn’t work.
Instead, he headed down the stairs to the lower level and entered Hawke’s lab. Everything looked the same. No sign of a struggle, no blood on the floor. He searched the room for clues and came up empty. Pulling a chair in front of the key board he entered his code, the welcome screen appeared.

“Good.”
He still had access. Rather than search for the test wolves he searched for Hawke and found him. Next, he widened the map, wrote the co-ordinates and then printed a copy. Pressure eased off his chest as he locked down the castle, regained control of security and rebooted the cameras.

He
needed to think in steps, secure his uncle’s property and main investment.
Hawke left.
Greggor’s mind refused to wrap around that fact. The wolf had been a staple here for over thirty years. What happened? The footage from the cameras showed more of him and the blasted laser than anything else. There was one clip with Hawke and Jerry fighting and then nothing.

Dammit
, he needed more answers than questions when he talked to his uncle. He needed help. His uncle had left a number for him to use in case of an emergency but cautioned him against using it for any other reason than Hawke. This situation fell in that category and more. Rather than wait, he headed up to his office, and made the call.

“Why are
you calling here?” The gruff voice said before Greggor spoke.

“
I’m at the castle, Hawke is missing.” There was a pause.

“
Missing as in kidnapped or missing as in escaped and do not say you do not know which.”

Greggor snapped
his mouth closed, stopping those very words from leaving his mouth. He had no idea.

“Well?”

Since he couldn’t imagine anyone kidnapping the arrogant bastard he went with the other choice and hoped he was right. “Escaped.”

“Damn
it. How the hell did that happen? Where is Boris?”

“In the states.”

“How many hybrids do you have left?”

Greggor blessed the man for not suggesting
they involve his uncle for this retrieval. “Three.”

“Three?
He left nine.”

“The test wolves created a number of security challenges,”
he said in a stiff tone at the imbecile comment muttered low enough so he could ignore it.

“Have
you at least tracked him?”

Greggor bristled at the derision in
his voice. “Yes. I have the co-ordinates, he is in the forest.”

“Why haven’t
you recaptured him?”

“
I think he had help when he escaped and I don’t want anyone interfering on the retrieval.”

“Help? Who?”

“Looked like Jerry, the security guard. But he didn’t fight like him. Something strange happened. I don’t want interference when I retrieve my uncle’s prize.”

“Give
me the co-ordinates, I will send assistance. Make sure you sedate him and keep him locked beneath the ground until Boris returns. He can sort this mess out then.”

Greggor smiled, thinking of ways
he’d keep Hawke confined. “I’m going to activate the hybrids and leave within the hour.”

“Sounds good. Make sure
your hybrids shoot the right wolf and not any of mine. I want no casualties behind this.”

Chapter 13

Hawke sat still on the limbs of the tree and watched Asia. That name reminded
him of something, something significant, but every time he pressed to remember pain shot through his skull. She looked like Jerry, a man who’d worked at the lab for the last ten years, yet her real name was Asia. How had she accomplished changing her appearance? More importantly, why didn’t he know something like that could be done? For decades he’d worked in the lab decoding text and solving the most complex riddles and he had no inkling such a thing could be accomplished.

Even without the computer chip controlling
his mind, he wanted to study this new phenomenon yet he realized the need to protect her secret. Lord Boris would do anything to have the ability to change appearances at a molecular level. Nothing could happen to her. His wolf claimed her, and that settled matters for him. Asia was his to protect and cherish.

Hawke
frowned.

But
she seemed unwilling, and uninterested. Had he been a captive so long he couldn’t recall bitches being so touchy, temperamental? Her stubbornness made no sense. Did the test wolves’ comments about his past actions turn her sour on him? He remembered her defense, she sounded as if she’d spoke from experience.

A well of pride rose in
his chest. In the past thirty hours, she’d done what others attempted for decades and succeeded where they failed. For the most part she’d shut down Lord Boris’ lab. All the research Hawke completed in the past decade waited in a cloud. He’d sent a virus to Sir Boris’ files and whenever the man opened them the virus would change letters in the reports at random. Once started, the virus couldn’t be shut down or reversed, rendering the information inaccurate and for the most part, unreadable. A fitting end to the man’s reign of butchering innocents.

Hawke had no idea how long
he lay staring at the object of his desire, the longer in her presence, the stronger his mind and need for her grew. He vibrated with wanting her.

His
head lifted, and he sniffed. A familiar scent hit him.

Greggor. And since “coward” described the man, Hawke knew there were hybrids nearby.
He peered down and saw two hybrids circling the tree. He glanced at Asia and called through the link.

“
Asia
.” Because she hadn’t opened her end of the link, his warning didn’t penetrate her sleep. He ground his teeth in frustration and scented the air to seek Greggor’s location. The man hid a few feet away in a copse of trees with another hybrid.

Determination to lead
them from Asia blazed through him. He leapt from the branches, and shifted to his hybrid form midair and landed on a nearby tree. The hybrids on the ground raced behind him. He continued moving deeper into the forest, pulling them away from her place of rest and didn’t stop until Greggor left that area altogether.

Satisfied
she was safe, he calculated the distance between the two hybrids and Greggor. He planned to kill them all. Hawke had four forms. Human, wolf, hybrid and bulked hybrid. In his bulked form he resembled a shorter Hulk standing at around seven feet. But according to Lord Boris, the metal bones in his arms and legs gave him similar strength to the green creature.

Hawke
maximized the bulk on his hybrid form and dropped to the ground. Blood pumped through his veins, his wolf gloried in the freedom to release aggression against those who represented his enemy.

Ten inches
, razor-sharp claws sprung from his fingertips. Sharp fangs lengthened, crowding his mouth and resting on his chin. Long toenails lengthened and curved as his feet widened. It had been too long.

The first hybrid leapt forward, and
he caught him in the throat, holding him off the ground in mid-air while watching the second hybrid approach. These two were cannon fodder and not the most dangerous in the group. He tried to lock in on Greggor but the scheming man had moved again.

Hawke threw the hybrid at the large wolf that’d leapt into the clearing, knocking the animal back.
With a quick dip, he jumped up and landed on a branch, missing the second hybrid’s punch. Scenting the air, two full-bloods had joined the fight, his wolf growled at the dominance challenge. He leapt to the ground, grabbed a wolf and pierced his neck with his claws. Hawke backhanded the hybrid and sent him flying into a nearby tree.

The other wolf jumped on
his back trying to get a grip on his wide neck. The other hybrid landed a punch to his stomach and face. Hawke picked up Greggor’s location, it was across the clearing. He saw the tranq gun in his hand and knew the man waited for an opening to shoot him full of tranquilizers. Asia would be left unprotected and he couldn’t allow that to happen.

With a roar,
he grabbed the wolf from his back and slammed the beast onto the hybrid, knocking it off him. He snapped the wolf neck, took aim and threw him at Greggor. The man’s eyes widened, and he jumped aside. The beast hit the third hybrid and knocked him back a few feet.

Hawke snatched up the hybrid and dragged
him to the side as a cover, and then rammed his fist into his face in the same manner he’d seen Asia do yesterday. Bone crumpled and blood poured down his hand. He didn’t recall seeing this much blood before but the deed was done. Next he twisted the head for good measure until it broke free of the spinal cord and dropped the carcass.

He
sensed Greggor crawling and sought to reach him before the man got off a shot. No one knew better than him how potent the tranquilizer was, he’d created the serum. The remaining wolf snarled and snapped but kept its distance. He suspected they were setting him up for Greggor.

Instead of co-operating, Hawke leapt forward, the wolf followed, and
they clashed in the air. Hawke swiped the wolf across the neck with his claws and hearing a click dropped to the ground and rolled into the tree line. The ping of the dart hitting the ground inches from his chest pissed him off.

Enraged, he
would kill Greggor first chance he got. The hybrid he’d backhanded jumped on him, pinning him down to the ground. Hawke looked into the vacant eyes of his opponent and then glanced at the metal around his neck. With little effort he moved his arm up and grabbed the necklace. Lord Boris said these were impossible to remove, but since the man was a liar and a cheat Hawke decided to test that theory. Although the hybrid’s muscle’s strained to hold Hawke in place and sweat poured down its forehead the eyes never changed.

Hawke waited to see if Greggor would move closer now that
he was down to one hybrid for protection. He heard nothing and sensed no movement. The hybrid leaned to the side and punched him in the face. He rolled them over, grabbed the necklace and lifted the hybrid in the air. This time he slammed the hybrid against the tree so hard his skull split. Hawke knew that wasn’t enough and broke his neck as well.

Breathing
hard he stepped back, spun around as the dart landed in his shoulder the medicine entered his bloodstream immediately. In moments he’d be out. He took one step, then another like a Saturday night drunk. Fire shot through his veins freezing him mid-step. Damn, that extra ingredient he’d added to the formula worked too well. A tingling numbness, spread through him. Hawke fell to his knees. Footsteps drew closer and through the dimness of his vision he saw Greggor leer.

“Hello Hawke.”

Too sluggish to respond he cursed the jackass in his mind and wished him a thousand deaths. In the corner of his mind, he thought there was a sound, a cry, a scream of anguish. He fell forward into the dark abyss.

A sense of unease rolled through Asia waking
her. She listened to the forest while shaking off the dregs of her sleep. Deep-resting was critical after expending the amount of adrenaline and energy she had at the castle. But something woke her. She glanced at Hawke intent on asking if anything happened and found his tree empty. Alert, she scanned the area. In the distance Hawke had company.

Damn,
he should have woken her instead of handling this on his own. She remembered his pitiful fighting skills with the test wolves and wondered if he were still alive. The scent of hybrids and full-bloods fueled her anger. She morphed into her hybrid, masked her scent and hopped from tree to tree. It took longer to reach the area than she would have liked. When she could get a good view, she paused.

Stunned,
she watched Hawke destroy his opponents with ease. Unable to move, she kept her distance in the tree and watched. Why had she thought him inept? It became clear he didn’t need her help.

A glint in the trees caught
her attention.
Tranquilizer gun
. Her heart raced at the gun pointed at Hawke’s back as he snapped the neck of the hybrid.

“Hawke, watch out,”
she called but was too far for him to hear. She searched her mind for their link but it was too late, he crumpled to the ground in the midst of slain bodies.

Pain, sharp and piercing lanced
her chest. Her wolf took over, shifting mid leap running through the forest at blinding speed, leaping over roots, and ducking branches. Once in the clearing she hit Greggor in the chest, the weapon flew out of his hand and slid into a tree. The man lay on the ground, his face bleeding from a scrape of her claw.

“What the fuck are
you doing standing there?” he screeched. “Get this bitch off me.”

Asia’s wolf bit down on
his arm until it hit bone. He screamed and tried to push her off which sliced his arm more. Sensing the hybrid behind her, she leapt across Greggor and shifted to her hybrid. Cold anger filled her at the sight of her mate lying on the ground, before the hybrid attacked; she picked up Greggor and punched him in the stomach.

He
screamed.

She
tossed him aside for later. The puny man would pay with his life for what he did. First she needed to disable the hybrid and then the gun. Perhaps she’d shoot Greggor with a tranquilizer. That thought pleased her wolf.

The hybrid charged.
They always charged. Asia stepped aside and gut punched him, causing him to stagger. And then she punched him beneath his chin with her metal arm. He flew backward and hit the tree. She strode to the tree where the gun rested and grabbed it. One dart left, she watched Greggor rolling on the ground holding his belly, pointed and pulled the trigger. His eyes widened and looked down at the dart protruding from his leg. He grabbed at it with both hands and removed the tranq. The look of hatred he sent her would have scorched the sun. Pleased, she nodded her appreciation, broke the gun in half and went to finish off the remaining hybrid.

“
I’ll kill you for this,” Greggor said, his words slurring.

Neck broken and chip removed, Asia tossed the hybrid aside.
She couldn’t talk well in this form and didn’t bother. Instead she went to her mate and removed the dart. Anger, pain and sadness filled her chest. Breathing became a major challenge. What if she’d remained asleep? They’d found him by his chip and he’d led them miles away from her to protect her. The realization stunned and shamed her. Something alien tugged on her heart, followed by guilt. If they had shared a link, Hawke would have heard her warning.

Asia
scanned the area, Greggor alone lived.

Tempted to kill
him, her wolf urged her to care for their mate first and return to kill the bastard after finding a secure place for Hawke to recover. She stared at his hybrid form in awe, the man was massive, she’d need to remain a hybrid to lift him and even then she hoped she could carry him. Caves hidden in the foothills of the mountains beyond the forest would be her first choice. It was a distance, and she risked exposure with the sun rising. But she could defend them better in the cave. For now safety ranked highest.

“Hawke,”
she whispered and touched his brow.

His
head rolled in her direction. The next moment his body morphed to human. She thanked the Goddess.

Lifting
him, she settled his weight in her arms and headed in the direction of the mountains.  The sun had just risen when she arrived at the base of the mountains, and she’d seen no humans during the long trek. That didn’t mean none of the locals saw them, she was certain the few who saw her carrying a large man like a baby created wild tales to be retold later. She re-scanned the area, and then shifted him in her arms a bit before trudging upward to the low entrance she had discovered by accident on her way to Lord Boris’ castle.

After stepping inside,
it became clear she wasn’t the only one who recognized the merits of the cave. Leftover food containers, cigarette butts, clothing items and a roll-out bed greeted their entry. She laid Hawke on the make shift bed and went to explore deeper. A small, child sized opening led into a larger cavern.

Asia debated whether to break through the stone or continue
her search for another entrance. Thoughts of others with easy access to the cavern made the decision for her. She continued searching for another way into the cave and after a series of dead ends, shifted into her wolf and squeezed through a small slit between stones. Her breath caught at the jagged rocks and smooth plateaus lining the sides of the large cave. She stepped over gravel and looked around, searching for water and game if possible. Water, she found and drank her fill. Her stomach grumbled. She needed to get Hawke situated and then go for supplies.