Sword of Mercy (11 page)

The three of them walked toward Radoff and a
few of his pack members standing near their vehicle. Radoff frowned
at Niall, looked at the building they’d just left and looked at
them again.

“Who is this?”

“Niall, my litter mate,” Hawke answered not
bothering to explain the new connection.

“Hello,” Niall said, looking at the other
men.

“Where’d he come from?”

“There is a tunnel beneath that building and
four bodies,” Hawke said.

Radoff stared at him and then looked at Niall.
“Okay, I’ll take care of it. But someone needs to tell me what is
going on.” He waved his hand toward the house and three of his men
jogged in the direction Asia and Hawke had just left.

“Mistress?
” Asia called while Hawke and
Niall spoke to Radoff.

“Asia? Good, I meant to contact
you, Maheegan should be arriving in an hour at a small airport in
Suceava, that’s the closest one to the co-ordinates Silas picked up
from Hawke.”

“Okay…let me write that down.”
Asia
pulled out a small pad from her pant pocket and wrote the
information down. She’d forgotten about Maheegan. With the trip to
Verrick how would they work this out?

“So what else is going
on?”

“Ma’am?”

“You called me, what
happened?”

Asia turned from Hawke’s gaze, inhaled and
told Jasmine what happened in the basement. “
Okay. I understand
you need to fix that. But pick up Maheegan first so she can get
started. That Alpha said she could go through the journals,
right?”

“Yes, Ma’am,”
she said, relieved
Jasmine wasn’t too angry. “
Hawke has the translated copies as
well.”

“But not the images of the
marks?”

“No, Ma’am, he
doesn’t.”

“That’s a big part of the reason
she’s coming so she’ll need access to the physical
journals.”

“Yes, Ma’am. I’ll let Alpha Radoff
know she’s coming.”

“Good. Good. Be careful with that
Verrick guy. He knew more than he let on before. Alpha’s have the
ability to mask their scents so you won’t know if he’s telling the
truth or not. Good luck finding your mother-in-law.”

“What? Who?”

Jasmine’s laughter filled their link.
“
Technically, that’s the title for his mom. But I’m not going to
push, you’ve got a lot of things going on right now. At least
you’ve had a break from those blue things.”

Asia nodded. “
Yes. The castle fell.
Lancaster is on this continent, so the peace will not
last.”

“True. But he doesn’t know you and
Hawke are mated. Nor does he know you are in his back
yard.”

“That’s a good thing. I will keep you
informed of our progress.
”

Chapter 12

Maheegan and Alpha Radoff headed back to the
castle to look at the journals. Hawke suspected something happened
between those two at the airport, but Niall had pushed for them to
get on the road to Alpha Verrick’s and he didn’t have time to ask
questions. But Radoff had looked stunned when Maheegan greeted Asia
and then the woman's face reddened when she inhaled and met
Radoff’s gaze. After that, Hawke doubted either Radoff or Maheegan
heard a word he or Asia said since they never took their eyes from
each other. After securing the older woman’s luggage the two waved
goodbye and walked away holding hands with broad smiles.

Hawke looked in the rear view mirror at his
litter-mate and then back at the road. He had what Asia called
family. Impossible to believe after all this time. Where had Niall
been all his life? Niall’s scarred face, black hair and hazel eyes
tied them physically even though Hawke stood a foot over his
brother’s shorter and thinner frame. Remembering the brief fight in
the basement, Hawke would say Niall did not spend a lot of time
practicing self-defense.

“What do you do?” Hawke asked and glanced at
the startled expression on Niall’s face.

“I was a chemical engineer for a large company
near Chisinau.”

An odd note in the tone of his voice struck
Hawke. “Was?”

Niall nodded, but didn’t say anything
else.

“What happened to him
?” He asked Asia
who sat in the passenger seat.

“I don’t know. Ask
him.”

“Is that customary
?”

He felt her gaze, but kept his eyes on the
road.

“You’re asking me? How would I
know? I don’t have any litter-mates or experiences with
any.”

“But you’ve spent time with your Mistress’
pups. Would they ask personal questions when the other person
doesn’t volunteer the information
?” He had no idea what was
proper in this situation.

“Hmm, Rone and Rese would ask. At least I
think they would. You could ask through his link.
”

The car swerved as Hawke jerked and then
looked at her.

“Hey, watch it. I want to get to Verrick’s in
one piece,” Niall said, straightening in the back seat.

“You should be able to link with him
,”
Asia said without looking at him.

“No.
”

She shrugged and continued looking out the
window.

Hawke glanced in the rear view mirror at his
litter-mate again. “How did you hear I left the castle?”

Niall shrugged. “I saw the news. The castle
fell, explosives, something like that. Figured you’d made it out,
didn’t feel like you were gone.”

That confused Hawke. “Feel like
what?”

Niall turned and met his gaze in the rear view
mirror. “Are you telling me you don’t know anything about litters?
How they work?”

Hawke glanced at Asia for help. She continued
looking out the window. “Would I have tried to kill you if I knew I
could not?”

Niall shrugged again, but didn’t
speak.

“Feel. Like. What.? Hawke asked again, a low
growl slipped through on the last word. Niall met his gaze in the
mirror.

“Litter mates can tell when one of their mates
dies. There… I said it. Happy?” He turned to the window and stared
with a mulish expression.

“I don’t know what he’s talking about
,”
Hawke told Asia, confused with the conversation.

“Maybe one of your litter mates
died and he felt their death. For answers you have to talk to
him.”

“He doesn’t want to talk to me; he
acts as if I’ve done something wrong.”

“Ask him
.”

Hawke sensed no animosity or sarcasm from her.
“
Why do you want me to talk to him? Is there something we need
to know?”

Asia spun to face him with nostrils flared.
“
I would give anything for the opportunity to talk to someone
about my past, my family, my litter-mates. You have this chance to
find out who you are, to fill in the blanks of your past, to
discover your heritage and you’re asking me questions.
” She
closed her eyes and exhaled.

The heat of her frustration scorched him. How
could he have forgotten the reason she showed up to the castle
where he’d been a prisoner for over thirty years? She had been on a
quest to free her former mentor to ask the same questions she posed
to him.

“Talk to your brother, talk to your mother,
question them until every blank in your mind is filled and every
block is colored. History can help uncover destiny. For some reason
the Goddess has favored us with a huge task. Maybe something
happened when you were a child, there was a reason the Liege took
you and not Niall or any of the others in the
litter
.”

Hawke stared straight ahead as each word she
spoke created pictures in his mind. His mate was right, there were
too many blank lines and uncolored images for him to make sense of
anything. He pulled the car over to the side of the
road.

“Hey,” Niall said, frowning. “Why’d you pull
over?”

“How many were in our litter?” Hawke
demanded.

Niall’s eyes widened and then he looked
away.

“How many?” Hawke said in a low tone. Asia
touched his arm.

“Six.”

Hawke’s jaw dropped and then he closed it.
“How many still live?”

“Three.”

“Who is the other?”

“Pia.”

Hawke ground his teeth in frustration at
Niall’s short answers. “Where is he?”

“She is in Egypt with her mate.”

“Our sire?”

“Dead.”

“When?”

“Ten years ago.”

“What happened?”

“He kept leaving, finally never came back…like
you.”

Hawke ground his teeth at the comparison. “I
did not leave, I was taken.”

Niall turned slowly and met his gaze in the
mirror. “Taken? By who?”

“The Liege. I have been a prisoner in
Lancaster Castle since I was a pup. I have no recollection of
anything before that time. Believe me, I did not run away or leave
on my own.”

Niall continued staring and then nodded
slowly. “Well, that might explain your ignorance on pack protocol
and biology.”

“You thought I ran away? Left the pack on my
own?” Hawke couldn’t wrap his mind around such nonsense. No pup
would do that, would they?”

“After you left…disappeared. We were forbidden
to discuss anything about you. We called you Omari meaning first
born. Hawke suits you better. Over time I stopped asking and life
went on.”

“Omari, I like it
,” Asia
said.

“You said you felt the deaths of the other
litter mates, tell me about that.” Through the years he experienced
many things, but had no point of reference, maybe this explanation
could clear up a few things.

“There is a tearing, or searing pain that
accompanies their crossing and the length of time you feel it
depends on the way they died, the amount of pain they endure.
Afterward, there’s emptiness in that place. Pia says when I mate
that space fills, everything heals because of the completeness of
being mated, but I don’t know if that is true. She is a romantic
bitch.”

With all the beatings he endured, the
surgeries he begged for, and the computer chip that controlled him,
Hawke couldn’t recall anything close to what Niall spoke of. He
glanced at Asia and she squeezed his arm in understanding. Hawke
started the car and pulled onto the road.

“What is the name of our pack?” he
asked.

“Fekete Farkas Clan, that’s the legal name
anyway. It’s been shortened to Farkas over the years.”

Asia met Hawke’s surprised gaze. They had seen
that clan in the journals. Nikolas had been Alpha of that clan when
he met Konstantin. “That’s Hungarian, what’s the history behind
that?” Hawke asked, glancing at Niall in the mirror. “We a
Hungarian pack?”

“Not that I know of. I’ve never been to
Hungary. Unlike most packs, we didn’t get a lot of pack history
lessons, just the names of a few former Alphas. The pack’s been
around since the late 1800’s so it’s older than most.”

“You left and went to college?”

Niall glanced at him and then stared out the
window. “Yes. I have no interest in clan politics, and as the runt
of the litter, I opted to use my mind instead of my fists.” His
tone indicated he thought Hawke mastered the second
option.

Rather than debate intellect, Hawke asked
pointed questions about pack life. “Who is your Alpha?”

Niall’s brow rose. “Don’t you mean our
Alpha?”

“No. I have an Alpha, La Patron. Who is
yours?”

Niall’s eyes widened, and then he leaned back
against the seat and laughed. Tears rolled down his cheek from
laughing so hard. Asia glanced over her shoulder and then
shrugged.

“I
guess he thinks it’s
funny.”

“I suppose. But it makes me more
curious
.”

Asia nodded.