Sword of Mercy (34 page)

“We need answers. I will take your pup for a
run Hawke, you have more important matters to deal with. There is
something in this room, my head aches, does yours?” He looked at
Asia and then Hawke.

Surprised, she met Angus’ gaze. “No. It feels
fine.” She looked up at Hawke. “You okay?”

“I’m good.” They both looked at Angus who
shrugged.

“Figures, just means you belong here.” Angus
pointed at Maheegan and Radoff who remained on the outside. “It
bothered you to be in there?”

“Yes, after a while we both started feeling
woozy,” Maheegan said with a smile. You’re right, she belongs in
that room. I hope she finds answers and peace. No one will disturb
you two, take all the time you need.”

Asia walked around the room, it was much
larger than she originally thought. Hawke picked up a journal,
opened it and took a seat. “What about Damian?” she asked,
remembering the run.

“I told him to go with Angus.” He settled back
into the chair and read.

Her mind filled with questions as she
continued to stare at the woman in the locket. They were related,
but how? Mother? Sister? Cousin? Aunt? Why was she with the
Hungarian and the Alpha? Who were they to her? And where did the
birthmark come from and why did it show up on the pups a continent
away?

“Her name is Amynta. Not a native, but from
someplace else which may be in another book. Seems she was some
type of warrior or princess or both, not sure yet. This book deals
with her pregnancy and wishes for her unborn child. Seems her
father would be furious if he ever discovered she’d had a child and
she was afraid.”

Asia watched Hawke turn the pages. Amynta, the
name meant nothing to her other than it meant defender in Greek.
She turned and sat on the bed, surprised at the firmness of the
mattress after all this time. There was some dust, but not much, no
cobwebs, or insects, nothing.

Is this where she hid from her father? Why was
it revealed with the breaking of the covenant? Was that related in
some way? Asia gazed into the locket for answers.

“Doesn’t say who the father is, it may have
been one of those two but I don’t think so. Seems they were her
closest friends or allies against her father. They protected her
and offered her refuge. From the tone of her words, it seems she
didn’t know the father of the child or she was taken by force. Most
of her writings in this journal tells her unborn child to rise
above the circumstances of her birth, to become the light on a
moonless night, to not venture off course, destined for greatness,
that type thing. I can read it to you if you’d like.”

Asia didn’t want the message without knowing
the messenger. “No, you can either read that to me later or
translated it on the laptop and I’ll read it myself. Right now I
want to know who she… is to me. I need to know that first to put
everything in context.”

Chapter 34

Angus, Byte and Damian ran through the forest
chasing rabbits and small game for sport. His mind kept returning
to the portrait on the wall, the woman looked familiar, so did
Alpha Nikolas. They came to a stream and stopped to drink and rest
a bit. Damian wanted to play and Byte indulged him in a game of
hide and seek while Angus gathered his thoughts.

Nikolas looked like the Black Wolf from his
dreams, the original Black Alpha. But that didn’t make sense. By
the 1800’s that Alpha was dead, although rumor had it the Alpha
returned every year and impregnated women. Angus shook his head.
Those tales happened in the new country, America, not
here.

In the portrait, Konstantin looked like a man
smitten while Nikolas appeared pleased by something. Angus wondered
what had been going on in the man’s mind at the time and who
painted the blasted thing? One question led into another, and he
knew Silas well enough to know answers were required.

Perhaps Hawke would be able to meet that
requirement after reading all the books or diaries scattered around
the room. Angus sighed with the realization that he wouldn’t be
going home until the mystery of the birthmark was
solved.

Byte growled and yipped in the distance. Angus
hopped up, ran toward the sound and saw Byte running back and forth
at the top of a ravine. He moved closer to the edge to look over.
Damian lay struggling on the bottom with something protruding
through his leg.

“Damian is hurt,” Hawke said.

“He fell into a dry bed, looks like he’s
pinned down. I’m on my way to get him,”

“I’m on my way,” Hawke said in a tight
voice.

Angus shifted to his hybrid and jumped, his
feet sank into the soft sand and it took a few minutes and shifting
to his human form to break free. Damian lay panting on the ground a
few feet from him trying to break the branch off.

“Let me do that otherwise it might heal with
the wood in your leg and you don’t want that.” Damian stopped
moving, but it was obvious by the grimace on his face the pain was
intense.

A sound from behind him caused him to turn but
not before four or five tranq darts lodged in his arms and legs.
“Byte come.” A growl and then Byte hit the ground in front of him.
His body vibrated with anger and Angus knew he wanted to charge
after whoever attacked them. The scents were unfamiliar to Angus,
he tried to break the wood in Damian’s leg but the excess doses of
the drug in his system slowed him down. He went down on one knee
next to Damian while Byte jumped and blocked every dart that came
at them.

“Someone is shooting tranq’s at us, I’ve
got five and Damian has one. Can’t see them, be careful
,” he
told Hawke and sat on the ground fighting the drug.

“Almost there, I’ve got Damian’s scent. And
the other scent is familiar, it’s Niall with a dampener but those
don’t work against litter-mates. What the hell is he
doing?”

“Don’t know. Is Asia with you?”

“Yes. Why?”

“Because you can’t kill the bastard, she
can.”

“We’re here. I see you.”

The next moment Asia, dressed as an older
white male, dropped next to Angus and gave him a piece of the root
Hawke had instructed them to eat. As nasty as the root tasted in
the past with each bite, it diluted the toxins of the poisons in
his system. She held Damian’s head up and dribbled the juice from
the root into his mouth. When he coughed and opened his eyes, she
handed him a piece of the root and told him to chew it.

Angus stood slowly and then sat back down. His
head spun, it would take a little longer to stabilize.

Asia moved to Damian’s leg, broke off the
stick from the bottom and then pulled it out. Next she poured water
from a canteen she took from around her neck over and through the
wound.

“Shift,” she told him.

After a few seconds, Damian morphed into his
beast and lay next to her on the ground. She ran her hands through
his fur while watching the forest. A loud smacking sound rent the
woods. Asia covered Damian and Angus bent his head as bodies landed
in the sand near them. Angus counted ten before Hawke and a
super-sized Niall crashed through the gully.

Asia checked Damian’s wound, it was healing
and should be fine soon. She watched Hawke fight Niall, felt his
anger and sorrow that it had come to this. His litter-mate betrayed
him and used Damian as bait to trap him. Touching the hilt of her
sword she prepared to be the sword arm of her Alpha.

Niall fought hard and against someone else
might have had a chance of winning, but Hawke knew his moves before
he executed them and had him pinned to the ground gasping for air
as his injuries healed.

“What are you doing?” Niall asked. “We cannot
kill each other.”

“Nevertheless, you attacked me and caused my
mate to be taken by the Liege,” Hawke said.

“I needed to avenge my brother, since no one
else would.”

“At the risk of my mate and my pup?” Hawke
squeezed his neck harder. Damian raised his head and
watched.

“I had to help Lancaster rescue Gordon so he’d
give me the neck brace to defeat Muzik.”

“Not my problem, involving my mate, my pup…
that’s what caused your death.” He nodded to Asia who unsheathed
her sword and shifted.

Niall’s eyes widened when he saw Asia, he
struggled and tried to free himself. “Wait, wait, after all these
years of being on the bottom, I rise to the top and you take it
from me. Have you no idea what my life has been like? Living in the
shadow of brothers who couldn’t think their way out of a paper bag,
and serving Alphas who allowed the pack to die from starvation
because the only thing they think about is fighting?” he
yelled.

He inhaled and closed his eyes. “I admit I
went about it the wrong way, I could’ve talked to you, but I didn’t
know who to trust. And then you said you had no interest in the
pack so I didn’t bother.”

“You helped Lancaster, the man who enslaved me
for years and killed our sire?”

“You killed our sire,” Niall screamed pointing
at Hawke. “His love for you and no one else, killed him and
destroyed mam. Consumed by guilt, he never allowed us to mention
your name, he hated the other Alphas because they wouldn’t help him
get you back. Soon our pack became ostracized, they laughed at him
because he couldn’t keep it together. No one came to our aid when
we were attacked and lost more of our land. We lost the respect of
the other clans and I lost my brothers who defended a pack that had
lost its honor.”

Hawke tossed Niall away. “You blame me? As if
I had choices in this bullshit? I did not,” Hawke yelled, moving
closer to Niall as the other man backed away. “Everything was taken
from me.”

“Not everything. You left Lancaster’s smarter
and tougher than you went in, yet you have no ties with the pack,
no interest in righting the wrongs we’ve endured while you were
away. Do you truly believe you were the only one who suffered?”
Niall laughed, it was a dry, mocking sound as he pointed to the
bodies on the ground.

“Ask some of these how many meals they’ve gone
without, or the pups they’ve lost or mates. We live on a sliver of
our former land because we lack the strength to defend it. Our
numbers shrunk because of sickness, poverty and the inability of
our females to breed. We. Are. Dying,” he yelled and shook his
head. “And you don’t give a damn. No one does. So… yeah. I betrayed
you after you made it damn clear you wouldn’t help. I sold you out
for a neck brace that allowed me to kill the former Alpha in a
challenge. He killed my brother, an Alpha who did give a damn about
the pack.” Niall lifted his arms and morphed to human. “There you
have it.”

“Why attack now if you’ve already avenged
Jirek?” Asia asked in a somber tone.

Niall opened his mouth and then closed it.
“I’m not sure. We were hunting game for the pack and…” He looked
confused. “I don’t know.”

“Gordon said Lancaster tricked him with a
faulty neck brace, remember?” Angus said standing
slowly.

She nodded. “Lancaster set it so you’d come
after Hawke and his pup. I think there is a way to change that. If
you mean what you say about helping your clan, then give Hawke your
computer information and he’ll send you the code to remove that
command. It won’t impact the brace, but it will save your life
because you will never get another chance like this again,” Asia
promised.

“Understood, thank you.” Niall turned to
Hawke. “I apologize for betraying you, but did what I felt I
needed. I had to protect the pack.” He extended his hand. “If you
ever need me, my right arm is yours.” It took Hawke a moment to
accept the gesture, but he in the end he accepted the apology and
hoped he never needed Niall.

Niall turned and looked at Angus. “My
apologies.”

Angus nodded, but didn’t speak.

Niall took a step toward Damian, Byte growled
a warning and he stopped. “Damian, I am your sire’s litter-mate and
apologize to you as well.”

Damian morphed to human and stood. “You took
Master Gordon from the basement?”

Niall shook his head. “No, Boris Lancaster did
that.”

“But you helped?”