Sword of Mercy (20 page)

Maheegan, followed by Granira and Niall walked
down the stairs. “We found it, finally we—” Eyes widening, she
looked at the room and then went to Radoff. “Were you attacked? Did
the Liege find you down here?”

Granira and Niall walked around looking at the
damages. “What the hell happened down here?” Granira asked, looking
at Hawke and then Asia.

“What did you find?” Radoff asked Maheegan,
turning her to face him.

After a moment she exhaled and explained.
“Granira and I compared notes. And then it clicked. The Liege
violated the agreement, but that alone does not break the power of
the contract because it was sealed in blood making the covenant
stronger.”

Asia stared at Maheegan and then glanced at
Hawke. “
Does this make any sense to you?”

Hawke nodded
. “Yes. The way it starts is
the way it ends. Problem is none of the Alphas still live. How can
we break it without their blood?”

“Good point. I think we need to follow
through on the original plan, find Lancaster and kill him. He’ll
have hybrids, maybe a few bluebirds, but if we take a large enough
group of men we can take them down faster as if we were in the
forest
.”

Hawke nodded. “
Like a food
hunt?”

“Yes. You, me and Angus will run points and
the rest of the pack will wear them down until we are in position
to move in for the kill. Unless they’ve come out with something
new, we can handle all the old stuff.”
She thought of the
serum, and the tranquilizers that had been used on them
before.

“Sounds good, let’s fill La Patron and
Angus in and head out. We can meet him on the way.”
Hawke
turned to leave.

“Where are you going?” Radoff asked, sounding
confused.

“To get started on our plans.” Hawke looked at
Radoff over his shoulder.

“But what about this? We cannot do this
without you. It’s the only way to stop them from accessing pack
lands. Isn’t that what we’re trying to do?” Radoff took a step
toward Hawke and Asia.

“Did I miss something?” Hawke asked, turning
to meet him.

Asia stood next to him, realizing something
big just happened.

“Did you hear Maheegan? The contract can be
broken with the blood from those who sealed it.”

“I heard that. But the Alphas are all dead.”
Hawke looked at Granira. Had she lied about that? The woman nodded
and continued to watch Radoff.

“Yes, but their blood did not seal the
contract. Yours did. The pup taken for training. All we need is a
Liege member’s blood along with yours to break the covenant. To
break their power and hold over the wolves,” Maheegan said in a
quiet, authoritative voice.

Asia stared at Maheegan as if she spoke Latin.
“They shed his blood?” she asked, trying to understand.

Maheegan nodded. “It sealed the covenant and
created a tie of sorts. That has to be broken.”

“What happens when it’s broken?” Asia asked
since her mate remained silent. She sensed his confusion and opened
their link to monitor his thoughts. They couldn’t afford for him to
lose it again, not with so many people in the confined
space.

“The Liege looses access to pack lands. They
also lose their ability to heal and live longer. In theory they
should become powerless to train the pups or the pups will not be
subject to the training. Which is it Granira?” Maheegan
asked.

Asia wanted to groan in despair. Granira could
not be trusted to tell the truth.

“They should become powerless, but I am not
sure how that plays out in reality.” She hefted her bag on her
shoulder and looked at them. “Since they broke the contract a long
time ago, I would think they would be unable to train the pups yet
they have continued to do so. Alpha Hiram discovered their deceit
early on and tried to remove his pup without the aid of the other
Alphas. But the Liege convinced them Hawke progressed according to
the agreement. They refused to allow my Alpha to see his son,
claimed it would set Hawke back to see or scent him. Then we heard
the stories of mutilations at the castle and missing wolves. Over
the years the Liege continued to lie and say they hadn’t broken
faith, but my Alpha knew they were lying. Guilt ate at him, he
tried to find a way to release his pup. After many failures, ten
years ago, he tried to storm Lancaster castle to rescue his pup. We
never saw him again.”

“Hawke
?” Asia said, hoping this new
information didn’t set him off.

“I am fine. Just taking a moment
to let this settle. Do you believe her?”

“Huh?
” Asia looked at Granira and then
at Maheegan.

“Granira is a liar, how do we know
she’s telling the truth?”

“Why would she lie? What would she gain? We
planned to kill Lancaster anyway, this just makes me want to do it
faster
.”

He nodded. “
True. I am cautious to change
my opinions of abandonment after all this time, that’s all. I never
knew my sire tried to find me or felt bad over his actions. Niall
didn’t mention this.”

“No, he didn’t explain, other than say your
sire died ten years ago. Perhaps it’s too hard for him to
discuss
.”

Hawke met Radoff’s gaze and sensed his
nervousness when he moved Maheegan behind him. “What do you need
from me?”

Maheegan and Radoff exhaled. “There is one
other thing. Until the contract is broken, the Liege Lords involved
with the contract cannot be killed by pack. The covenant provided a
safety net for Gordon and Lancaster since they were the two who
originated the deal. I suppose they were afraid they’d be killed if
anyone found out what they did to full-bloods.”

“They cannot die?” Hawke asked.

“Yes, but not by pack.”

“We must bring one of them in alive, take some
of his blood to break the contract before killing him?” Asia asked
for clarity.

Maheegan nodded slowly. “That’s a graphic way
of looking at it, but accurate.”

Since she and Hawke were on their way to kill
Lancaster she didn’t think delivering the man alive a few moments
longer would be a problem. Perhaps Hawke could chain him to a wall.
The visual pleased her and she shared with her mate.

“We were making plans to handle that when you
walked in,” Radoff said watching Asia and Hawke.

“Really?” Maheegan asked, looking at the three
of them. No one said more and she nodded. “I have more research to
complete.” She headed toward the stairs, stopped and looked at
Granari. “Are you leaving now or will you be here for a
bit?”

Granari lifted one of her bags, while Niall
picked up the other. “I will return to assist you tomorrow after I
check on my home. My Alpha has contacted me and requires a full
accounting.”

“Thank you, I will see you then. Oh, could you
bring the original contract? I want to read through it before the
ceremony,” Maheegan asked.

“Yes of course.”

Asia watched as Niall walked quietly behind
the woman as they made their way down the long corridor. “
They
have a weird relationship. I cannot figure it out.”

“Neither can I. Let’s talk to La
Patron and Angus. We need to grab a Liege Lord to
bleed.”

Chapter 20

Gordon watched the hybrid fly through the air
and hit the mat in the mini gym Lancaster set up for practice in
the new building they’d relocated to. Damian landed on top, pinning
the huge warrior to the floor. Gordon’s chest expanded with pride.
Damian had exceeded their expectations and excelled in every test
or challenge presented.

But he couldn’t win against Hawke.

They all knew it. The idea of watching the
light of life die in Damian’s eyes sickened him. He prayed Hawke
couldn’t kill his seed, which was this last test and his hope.
Sometimes living a long life was more a curse than a blessing. Down
through the years he’d buried his wife and two sons before they
reached twenty summers. Stephan had been his heir and Reginald his
youngest. His wife died shortly after Reginald’s birth with some
type of pox.

Stephan died in the war, before his nineteenth
summer, fighting in the Hungarian army. He had been Gordon’s’ pride
and joy, a perfect specimen of nobility. Burying his son had been
one of the hardest things he had ever done.

Damian reminded him of Reginald, his youngest,
who died of the fever in his fifteenth summer. Both were
inquisitive with a thirst for knowledge and adventure. From the
first time he met Damian in the dungeon of Lancaster castle, he’d
been intrigued by the way the young pup adapted to change. Damian,
and all the pups who qualified, had been sent to the LOBO camp in
the states for training. Gordon and Lancaster ran the program but
through the years, Damian had become his favorite. Gordon spent
hours tutoring the boy in his studies and had been impressed by his
sharp mind. There was no question he was indeed Hawke’s
seed.

Damian received surgeries to implant the steel
rods in his arms and later his legs in his fourteenth year. Gordon
remained at the lab until he was satisfied the surgery had been
successful, leaving no permanent damage. The computer implant to
help Damian control his limbs had been the last surgical procedure
which created a problem. By bringing Damian on this trip without a
tracker, or cam or kill chip, they had no way to control the young
full-blood and could lose their entire investment. The board
believed since Damian had been with the Liege all his life and knew
nothing else he would remain loyal. At first, Gordon thought it
dangerous to allow Damian contact with his sire without a cam or
tracker. Now, he simply wanted the young pup to live through the
meeting.

Gordon knew Damian looked at him as a father,
and over the years he encouraged the connection, often times
needing it more than the young pup. Often Gordon suffered from
depression and Damian would help him through it by reading or
talking or playing a board game.

And now those bastards intended to bring Hawke
and Damian, biological father and son together in a test to see if
they could destroy each other. Gordon didn’t think they could, but
no one listened to him. Instead, they planned to use his boy as
bait to trap Hawke. The cup in Gordon’s hand cracked and crumbled
beneath the pressure of his clenched fist.

He turned and tossed it aside as Damian helped
the hybrid stand and took his position again. There had to be a way
to stop this. Verrick, that asshole, refused to assist him and took
his pack to the mountains. It had been so long since he’d been in
this cold wasteland, he had forgotten the names of their allies. He
was certain Lancaster hadn’t. Alpha Andrei dead by Angus’ hands.
The one councilman they could trust, dead as well. The European
council, dethroned and ineffective.

Gordon looked over his shoulder and watched
Damian punch the hybrid so hard it flew backward into the wall. In
a few years, the young pup would be impossible to beat. Gordon
intended to make sure Damian lived that long.

Lancaster strolled into the room, his thin
face and pinched upturned nose on his long narrow face had made
Boris the butt of jokes when they were youngsters. No one had been
more surprised than Gordon, when he replaced his father in the
Roundtable, and Boris sat across from him. The look of smug
superiority in the bastard’s eyes as his name had been called as a
charter member made Gordon sick. But Lancaster’s father had been
Konstantin’s game-keeper and rather than sit on the table with his
master, the older man asked Konstantin to train Boris.

Neither spoke as they watched Damian train
against another hybrid.

“Have you set things up for him to meet
Hawke?”

Lancaster glanced at him and then grinned.
“Yes… yes, I believe I have.”

Gordon waited for him to explain further and
when he did not, Gordon exhaled in slow degrees to keep his temper
in check.

“Are you going to share?” He hated asking this
man for anything, but he needed to know what plans were in the
making.

“No. No, I do not believe I will. It will be a
surprise.”