BirthStone (26 page)

“You are such a goof,” she said, taking his
hand.

Silas watched in amazement at the evidence
of the transition in their relationship. The easy-going bickering
and laid-back camaraderie pleased him greatly. This is what he
wanted for his godson, and for his pups one day as well.

“You should go to the Alpha house, look
things over, become acclimated. It’s been vacant for over a year.
Let Rose know if you need anything. She will help until you hire
your own staff.”

Lilly and Cameron stared at him as though he
spoke Latin. “Now?” Cameron asked.

Silas shrugged. “Why not? Just don’t
advertise you’re moving in or that you have the position yet.
Jayden is working on a scheme to use the Challenge event as a trap.
But other than that, go and see your new home.”

Cameron stood, pulling his mate with him.
“Thank you, Sir. We’ll do that.” The two left his office grinning.
At least he had made someone happy. Silas thought of his mate and
wondered what she was doing, if she had eaten or taken a break. He
glanced at the time, it had been a couple of hours since he'd
relieved her.

“Tell Jacques and Dr. Passen I want to meet
with them in an hour. Tell Matt to get me some answers. I’m headed
to the nursery, have you already sent lunch for Jasmine?” he asked
Rose as he left his office.

“Yes, Sir. And I’ll get those messages
out.”

“Also, I need Serrano’s contact info, send
it through the link.”

“Yes, Sir,” Rose said.

He strode around the corner, and ran into
Victoria, who looked really nice in her two-piece bathing suit.
“Were you lost?” he asked politely. There was no reason for her to
be in this part of the building.

“I’m looking for Jasmine and Renee, I wanted
us to have lunch, just the girls again. Have you seen them?”

Silas took her by the hand and completed a
scan while he answered her questions. “Renee returned home to St.
Louis this morning and Jasmine is in the nursery in the other wing
with the babies, they are sick.”

“Oh no, what’s wrong with them?” Her brow
creased as she met his gaze.

“Really bad cold. They are in
isolation.”

“For a cold?” She looked up at him with a
confused expression.

“A bad cold,” Silas emphasized.

“Oh…okay. Tell Jasmine to find me later, we
can eat dinner together,” she said as Silas escorted her to the
elevator and walked inside with her.

“Where is Mark? Why are you alone and way
over here?”

“I left him at the pool. I had to go to the
bathroom or my room for something.” She shook her head as if to
clear it. “We’re at the pool. This place is so big I must’ve gotten
lost.”

“Yes, that’s it.” The door opened and they
stepped out. In silence he walked her to the door leading to the
pool. Silas scented Mark before he saw the man lying on the lounger
near the pool.

“Thanks, Silas,” Victoria said, waving as
she headed toward her lover. The man sat up, grabbed her close, and
the sight of the two of them cuddling on the lounger was the last
one he saw before walking off. The woman had been genuinely
confused with her whereabouts and even the babies’ sickness.
Jasmine was right to be concerned about her mother’s mental
health.

Chapter 22

The next day, Jacques sat at the long table
with stacks of paper covering the surface. When the pups became
ill, he'd doubled down to find answers. He knew better than most
that Silas walked a thin line and it wouldn’t take much for him to
explode as he had before during the debacle with Arianna. He tapped
the document in front of him. “You slimy bastard, you’re here, I
feel you.”

After reading through a few more of Asia’s
reports, he had an idea of the location of the lab. He wrote that
down and set it aside for Silas. He needed to talk to the young
bitch to clear up a few gray areas.

“
Sir?”
He searched for Silas through
their link as his thoughts drifted to Victoria. The scent of Mark
on her skin made him physically ill, which helped him keep his
distance. It amazed him that such a smart, beautiful woman didn’t
see past Mark’s smarmy personality.

“
Jacques?”

“
I have a possible location for the
warehouse. Also, I need to talk to Asia again to clear up some
other information.”

“
Thanks. Go to the lab, I’ll meet you
there.”
Silas’ excitement sizzled through their connection.
Jacques stood with his tablet in hand, and left the conference room
he had commandeered as his work area. After locking the door, he
left for the basement. Her scent slammed into him before he saw
her.

“Victoria? What are you doing over here?” he
asked, taking her arm and leading her to the elevator. Silas was on
edge as it was, no need to push things with him discovering her
near his office.

“I wanted to talk to Jasmine, where is she?”
She gazed up at him and his heart lurched in his chest.

“You are so beautiful.”

She stilled. A smile slowly appeared on her
face. “You think so?” she asked hesitantly.

“I know so. You have no idea how you affect
me. I adore you.”

He smiled as her cheeks colored and she
placed her palm against her face. The ring on her left hand
flashed, reminding him that for the moment she belonged to someone
else. “Thanks, I’m sure this is improper…yes, you shouldn’t say
those kinds of things to me.”

He took her hand and kissed the back of it.
“Yes, I should. But you need to go to your floor. Jasmine is
unavailable until she comes to you. He guided her into the elevator
and pressed the button for her floor. The rapid beats of her heart
filled his ear. She wasn’t unaffected by him and that knowledge
filled him with hope. When the elevator door opened on her floor,
he walked her to the hall leading to her suite.

“Thanks, I appreciate your help,” she
murmured before moving down the hall. He waited until she entered
her rooms before leaving. When he reached the labs, Silas sat in
the conference room with the twins.

Silas watched Jacques enter. Victoria’s
scent tickled his nostrils. Based on the smile his friend wore,
something good had happened. “What do you have?” Silas asked
regarding the location of the warehouse.

Jacques took a seat, and connected his
tablet to the screen in the room. Silas turned and waited.

“Asia has consistently talked about an area
similar to these locations. Leonidas’ reports support two of the
four. So for now we focus on these two. If you notice her
descriptions, which are written in the sidebar, it could be either
of these buildings. But this building has the starburst that she
mentioned twice.”

“Starburst?” Tyrone asked.

“My take on it is fireworks. Twice a year
the town of Youngstown has fireworks displays. July Fourth and
November 20th, some type of founder’s day event. The town is within
fifteen miles of this warehouse and more importantly, you can see
fireworks in the sky from here.” Various pictures of an abandoned
warehouse and the small rural town filled the screen.

“How long has the building been abandoned?
The grass and trees have almost taken it over,” Tyrone said.

“Which means there is another way inside,”
Silas said, gazing at the pictures intently. “No doubt security is
tight, but no reason to expend energy on the outside if everything
is done below.” He looked at Jacques. “Any underground
activity?”

“The warehouse is on the north side of
Highway 80 in Pennsylvania, you see the Susquehanna River
here?”

“Yeah,” Tyrese said.

“The warehouse is here in the valley.”

Silas studied the area. “How do we get
inside?”

“There are no utility bills,” Jacques said
into the quiet. “However, I pulled this satellite image of a
propane delivery five miles from the warehouse. Considering there
were no other deliveries within miles of this place and the large
quantity of propane delivered, I’d say this might be a good
starting point.” An image of a propane fuel bill appeared on the
screen. “I hit a dead end trying to locate the people who ordered
the propane…which plays to my hunch that this is the right place.
And that it’s occupied or at least it was…” He zoomed in on the
date on the invoice. “Two weeks ago.”

A surge of satisfaction swept through Silas.
“So we start at the drop point and work our way in. There has to be
some form of ductwork to exchange oxygen and to release vapors and
fumes from below. That would give us some sort of idea what we’re
looking at.” Silas’ gaze swept those in the room. “Keep this quiet
for now. I need to contact Alpha Samuel in Pennsylvania, let him
know what’s going on. His people will assist on this. Let’s use
them to do a lot of the groundwork before we head out there.”

“Sounds good,” Tyrese said.

“Rone, I want you to work point with Samuel
and Jacques. See if there are any places the Merriweather group
overlaps with the Pennsylvania group.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Rese, I want you and Leon to pick up
Corrina Griggs. Some information came in on her current location. I
had her file sent to you. Read everything before you meet her, use
anything in the file to gather more information. We think she’s
behind the breeders organizing.”

Tyrese nodded.

“When can I speak with Asia?” Jacques asked
Silas.

“I want to sit in on the discussion, so give
me fifteen minutes to take care of some things.”

Jacques nodded and sat with Tyrone going
over the information.

“You smell like nana,” Tyrone said to him
after a few minutes.

“Really?”

“Yeah, good for you,” Tyrone said before
leaving the room.

Silas smiled as he finished his discussion
with Jayden and Samuel regarding the joint take-down of the
warehouse. “Ready?” he asked Jacques, who sat staring at the door
the twins had walked out of.

Jacques glanced at him and stood. “Yes.”

When Silas entered Asia’s room, she fell to
the floor on her knees. “Rise, Asia,” he said, waiting for her to
stand and return to her bed. After she was situated he spoke. “My
assistant, Jacques, was here with me before.”

“Yes, he is the one who wiped the blood from
my nose.”

Silas had forgot about the bleeding. “Yes,
he has some questions for you, answer him honestly and
completely.”

“Yes, Sir.”

Jacques stepped from the door and told Asia
about the children’s sickness. Stunned, Silas tamped down the anger
choking him at the frank discussion. What was Jacques up to? He
glanced at his friend, their eyes met for a moment before Jacques
asked Asia a question.

“Have you heard of anything like this
happening before?”

“No… no, I have not. I wonder how the
transmission was made.”

Silas spoke up. “Transmission?”

She nodded. “It sounds like poison. Poison
administered in a way that you wouldn’t notice, something
commonplace. Also, why not David? Think back to the day before the
illness, was his behavior different than the others? How? That will
give you a clue how the poison was delivered. It has to be
something so simple it was overlooked, that’s how and why they have
been so successful.”

Silas thought back to the day of the
christening, nothing jumped out at him. Jacques stepped back to the
door and signaled he was done.

“Thanks, Asia. How are you feeling?”

She smiled and it was genuine. “Each day I
remember more and more. Some things I hope to forget. I’ve done
some really bad things to people.” She paused. “Thank you for
giving me my life back, Sir.”

“You are welcome. Thank the Goddess as
well,” he said, leaving her space.

“Every day, Sir, I thank her.”

When he stepped outside, Jacques motioned
him closer. “David refused to allow me and Mark to hold him.”

Silas stared at Jacques while trying to
place the statement into some sort of context.

“Sir,” Matt said, walking toward them at a
fast clip. “La Patron, Sir, I must talk to you. It’s extremely
important.” He stopped next to Jacques, breathing hard.

Silas pointed at Jacques and introduced the
two men. “What is it?” He gazed at Matt but his mind was stuck on
David not allowing himself to be held by the men.

“I found something in the blood work. It was
so well hidden I missed it the first few times, but I knew it had
to be there. This time I found it,” Matt said in a rush.

“Asia?”

Matt frowned. “No, your pups. I found a
trace of poison. Very subtle and disruptive over time. It wasn’t
administered directly on them, otherwise this conversation would be
very different. They received traces or got it second-hand.”

Silas’ heart plummeted as his worse fears
were confirmed. He moved the conversation to an empty room. “Slow
down, Matt. Tell me exactly what you discovered and what you think
happened.”