Sword of Mercy (10 page)

“Still hungry?” He growled against her
forehead.

“Always, but we need to get moving. At some
point we should check in with Angus and Chacal to see if they found
anything and to tell him about the journals.” She rolled to the
side. He stopped her before she left the bed.

“Those things can wait. I need to hold you a
little longer. Most days we don’t have a chance to spend time alone
like this. We’re newly mated. Everyone will understand if we don’t
show up first thing.”

<<<<>>>>

“Are you sure you want to look inside this
building?” Asia asked Hawke while looking at the dilapidated
structure.

“Yes… I cannot explain it, but it seems
familiar.” He looked at her and then back at the building where
Alpha Radoff and his Beta packed the now translated journals into
boxes for safe keeping. They would be leaving shortly to lock the
books in a vault. The Alpha had allowed Hawke to keep a digital
copy of the translations which Hawke stored in his
cloud.

“Alright,” she said, taking his offered
hand.

He understood her concern and hesitation and
would have turned around if he didn’t sense the importance of going
inside.

“Stay behind me.” He didn’t give her time to
argue and stepped through the opening into the dim room. Someone
had broken the furniture and ripped out the windows allowing nature
to move indoors. Grass and small twigs sprouted in the walls and
between the stone pavers on the floor.

Closing his eyes, Hawke tried to pinpoint the
source of his unease. Moving on instinct he walked further into the
building and stopped when he reached the stairs. He opened his eyes
and frowned. “This shouldn’t be here. There’s… he stomped on the
bottom stair, then the one above it, and then the one above that. A
grinding sound came from behind them. Asia had her sword in her
hand and faced the dark entrance.

“I don’t like this.”

“I understand.” Driven by a sense of urgency
he couldn’t explain, he walked toward the opening.

“But you are going down there
anyway?”

“Yes, Sexy.”

“Sexy?” She looked at him with a gleam of
amusement in her eye. Listening to his thoughts through their link
she smiled. Considering she looked like an older white male in need
of a tan and visit to the gym, most would think him insane for
thinking she was sexy as wildfire.

“My Sexy Bitch. If it were you, you’d go. So
let’s just do this.” He read the resignation in her gaze before she
nodded and stepped aside.

Pleased, she remembered his request to allow
him to lead in these type situations he walked down the staircase.
“
Let me go all the way down to test the stairs. No need in both
of us falling through the boards.”

“No need in going down there
period
.”

He grinned at her sour response and continued
down the stairs, pulling down cobwebs as he went. The wood was in
surprisingly good condition. At the bottom he found a light switch,
flipped it and was surprised when the room illuminated. This room
had been used recently. He inhaled. “Full bloods use this
basement.”

Asia came down the stairs and looked around.
“Radoff doesn’t know about this. I don’t smell him. These scents
are different, wonder who’s using his land as a
hideout?”

Hawke walked down the hall a bit and looked
into each room. Some were empty. A few had twin sized beds, a chair
and table. “These are sleeping chambers,” he called over his
shoulder while continuing his search. A sense of familiarity nagged
at him, but he couldn’t recall ever being in this part of the
country, not working for the Liege or on his own. So why was he
down here searching for… something? He didn’t know.

She came up behind him. “Yeah, someone
probably lives here.” She picked up an ashtray with old cigarette
buds and returned it to the table. They moved further down the hall
and came to a large room with benches and a dais with high back
chairs.

“What the hell?” Asia said, looking at the
wall.

Hawke followed her gaze and closed his eyes as
blinding pain ripped through him. He fell to his knees as knives
cut into his brain, sawing and tearing him apart.

“Hawke?!”

Her voice echoed in the chamber of his mind
giving it an unreal quality. His wolf snapped and pushed for him to
rise. Time crawled as he attempted and failed to stand several
times. Something was wrong. “
Asia?
” he called through their
link.

“Busy right now.”
Blood ran down the
side of her face while she fought five full-bloods.

His wolf snapped again at the idea of their
mate in danger. Sobered, he shifted into battle mode and charged
into the fray. His wolf leapt onto the back of the closest beast
and ripped his throat out. Turning, he attacked the next closest
wolf and within minutes that one left the living. Hawke slammed
into the other wolf and went for his neck. The wily beast pivoted
and Hawke missed. Meanwhile, he caught a glance at his mate
standing to the side breathing heavily. Pleased, she was okay, he
focused on his enemy.

No one attacked his mate and lived.

Hawke extended his claws and swiped the wolf
across his belly. Blood and organs poured out from the wound. Next
he swiped the beast across the neck to decapitate him. The wolf
flew back against the wall and lay motionless. Hawke shifted to
human and ran to Asia, checking her over. The blood had stopped and
she assured him she was fine. He glanced at the men on the floor
and shook his head.

“Why would five full-bloods attack
us?”

“I don’t know
,” she said. “
What the
hell
?” She pointed to the last wolf who’d landed against the
wall. Both of his wounds were healing and he sat staring at them.
Hawke strode forward as the wolf reverted to his human
form.

“Stop,” the man gasped.

Hawke grabbed him by the neck, lifted him off
his feet and shook him like a rag doll.

“Hawke, put him down
,” Asia said,
standing behind him. “
You can’t kill him.”

The man grabbed at his hands to gain release.
“I can kill him. I’ll rip his head from his body this time.”
He shook the man again.

“No, you can’t kill him. Breathe. Inhale.
His scent is familiar to me
.”

Hawke looked over his shoulder at her.
“
What? What do you mean it’s familiar
?” He inhaled and
frowned. Slowly he turned and looked at the man.

“Who the hell are you?” He eased up on the
hold without letting go.

“Niall.” The name meant nothing to Hawke. He
glanced at Asia for an answer.

“He smells like you
,” she said sending
a caress through their link.

Hawke opened his hand and stepped back. Niall
dropped to the ground gasping for air and rubbing his throat. “You
didn’t have to do that,” he complained.

Hawke looked at the others they’d killed and
then turned back to Niall. “Why did you attack my mate?” If Asia
picked up the similar scents, Niall should have known she was his
mate.

“What? We did not attack him.” He pointed at
Asia. “We were using this old tunnel as a shortcut and walked into
this room. You were on the floor and he attacked without asking
questions.”

“It’s true. I could not allow them to come
near you while you were in that condition
,” Asia said. Hawke
sensed her shame at the needless killing. He strode to her, place
his finger beneath her chin and kissed her.

“Never be ashamed for protecting your mate.
I would’ve done the same thing. We are newly mated and things we do
now, we may not do later. But we live in the now. I am proud of
you, my Precious
.”

He turned toward Niall. “Who are
you?”

“I told you–” Niall stood and faced
him.

Hawke waved down his words. “My mate says you
smell familiar, who are you to me?”

“Your litter-mate. That’s why my life was
spared. Litter-mates cannot kill each other.”

“Is that true?”

“Yes, several times Angus told the story of
his meeting with La Patron. It’s true
.”

“Who is that?” Niall pointed at
Asia.

“Timber, my mate.” Hawke glanced at Asia to
see her reaction to the name he’d won on a bet with her. She didn’t
like it then or now.

Niall nodded at Asia and took a step
back.

“Is this your home?” Hawke asked, looking
everywhere except the dais.

“No. We use it as a short cut from time to
time. I heard you had been released and wondered if you’d pay a
visit.”

Hawke scowled. “Released? Visit? Why would I
visit you? I didn’t know of your existence until a few moments ago.
And would’ve killed you without a thought.” He looked at the bodies
on the ground and then at Niall.

“I see. I thought you came to assist… but no I
suppose you have no idea. You killed the men I hired to retrieve me
mam. She was taken a week ago by another Alpha north of here. We
were on our way to get her back.”

Hawke frowned. “What?”

“Your mother, Hawke. Someone kidnapped your
mother. They were on their way to rescue her, but we, I killed
them
.”

He looked at Asia and read the regret in her
gaze. “Who is the Alpha?” he asked, knowing for her sake he’d get
involved.

“Verrick,” Niall spat his name.

“Verrick, the one we met before
?” Asia
asked.

“In the Ukraine?” He asked Niall.

“Yes, you know him?”

“No.” The blasted man had tried to have his
mate arrested for releasing the test wolves from Lancaster’s
Castle. Some of the wolves had no restraint and attacked humans,
putting them all at risk. Asia had done what any of them should
have done, but Verrick hadn’t seen things that way.

Niall looked at the dead men on the ground and
then at Hawke. “Did you have to kill them?”

Hawke rubbed the back of his neck and met
Asia’s gaze. “
What do you want to do? Our mission is clear, shut
down the Liege, stop them from stealing pups. This is a
detour.”

“One that I caused.”

“If it comes to placing blame, I
caused it. You were protecting me.”

“What happened? I felt your pain
and then you snapped out of it.”

“I’m not sure. Something about the
dais, looking at it ripped me apart. Does it look familiar to
you?”

“Well, I need you to help me rescue my mam,
since you killed these guys,” Niall said, rocking on the balls of
his feet.

Asia looked at Niall and then Hawke. “
No,
it doesn’t. Maybe this is why you needed to return, to see this
place. Maybe something happened to you here
.”

He nodded and looked at Niall. “What do you
know about this place? The history of it?”

Niall shrugged. “Nothing, just an old tunnel
that cuts through pack lands. Mam would know any and everything
about this place. She’s the pack historian. Can we go get her
now?”

“We need to do this, make it right
,”
Asia said.
“Plus, she’s your mom. You can ask her questions, get
answers, find closure. Don’t you want to know what happened? How
you wound up with the Liege?
”

He nodded and searched his emotions. “I
don’t know her and have no feelings for this woman. But it’s
important to you, so we will leave and reach Verrick in a few hours
before nightfall. Perhaps he will release her and we can return to
Chacal’s before midnight. I want to rest in your arms
again
.”

Asia nodded and looked at Niall. “
He looks
like you a little. Smaller, but there is a
resemblance.”

“Let’s go, woman.”

“Woman?” Niall asked, staring at Asia who
looked like a man. Neither Hawke nor Asia explained as they turned
and walked back the way they came. They needed to inform Radoff of
this space and the four bodies on his land.

Chapter 11