Sword of Mercy (32 page)

Asia placed her palm all over the wall trying
to find the trigger. “Bring Gordon to open this,” she said over her
shoulder.

“It’s done
,” Jasmine said. “
Maheegan
completed the ceremony five minutes ago. Sorry for the delay, I had
a few things to clear out. You still have them?”

“Thank you, Mistress
.” Now that she
could kill Lancaster she wanted to go after him. “
Lancaster just
jumped through a hidden compartment, but I still have
Gordon.”

“I am so sorry. If I had told you when it
happened, he would be one less problem
.”

Although Asia agreed she refrained from saying
so. Instead, she focused on how to find the man and surfed through
his memories. Nothing. She slapped the panel.

“Gordon I need you to open this panel.”
Turning, she noticed Damian kneeling beside Gordon on the ground.
“What happened?” She took a step for a better look.

“Lancaster threw a blade, I think he aimed at
you and missed. It hit Gordon in the chest, sank deep,” Angus said,
kneeling and placing his palm on the man’s forehead.

Damian stared at the blade. “Why is it
bleeding? It should’ve stopped by now.” His gaze whipped around and
met hers. “Can you help him?”

“I don’t think so. The covenant is broken,
nature will take its course.” She took a step back, contacted Hawke
and told him what happened.

“I’ll keep an eye out for the slippery
bastard, chances are he’s on his way off the continent. Can’t
believe he killed the man, wonder if there are cameras in that
room
.”

She looked around, didn’t see any and then
shut out all the sounds to isolate on the hum of a camera. There
was one. If there was any justice, Lancaster would be kicked out of
the Liege for murdering Gordon, but she doubted it.

Damian rested his forehead on Gordon’s thigh.
The man placed his hand on the back of Damian’s head and stroked
his hair while looking at her. “You allowed me time with my boy and
I thank you for that.”

He lifted Damian’s hand and kissed the back of
it. “Here is something you need to know. Lancaster, the bastard,
didn’t play fair with Niall. He gave him a neck brace that would
make the man a puppet for the Liege and told him it was one we sell
on the open market. It’s not. He modified this one so that Niall
would attack Hawke and his mate whenever he sees him. And he fixed
it so that Niall will be driven to seek Hawke out. I warned Granira
to let it go, but she wanted to avenge her Alpha and felt they
could make it work.”

Asia hid her surprise over Niall and Granira
taking a hybrid neck brace. She had seen what those things did to
full-bloods and wondered why Hawke’s litter-mate would take on that
risk. It didn’t make sense, but she passed on the warning to Hawke
and Jasmine. If he came after Hawke, she would kill him and Granira
without hesitation.

Gordon looked down at Damian. “I need you to
do something for me.”

Damian nodded without lifting his
head.

“Pull the blade out. I refuse to have anything
of Boris Lancaster’s in my body a second longer.” His breaths
became shorter as he struggled to talk.

Damian lifted his head, placed his hand on the
top of the blade and stared at it. Gordon covered his hand, causing
Damian to look at him. “After you pull this out, there will be
blood. A lot of it. In the end I will stop breathing and will rest
with my sons. Remember I told you about them?”

Damian nodded.

“I want you to go with Hawke and his mate.
They are going to find your sister before Lancaster destroys her.
You can help them.”

Asia hid her surprise when Angus looked at
her.

“I don’t want to go with them. I will stay
with this one. He is teaching me how to be a wolf,” Damian said
glancing at Angus.

“Good, you have discovered your wolf. I am
happy. The others voted against me when I said the pups should have
a relationship with their beasts.” He paused, coughed. “But, this
one is not your sire and cannot teach you all you need to know.
Promise me you will go with Hawke to find your sister, she is
special like you.”

After a few moments, Damian nodded. Asia
wasn’t sure why, but she exhaled in relief when he agreed. Her mate
had two pups. It boggled her mind what she should do about that.
But they would deal with it later, right now she wanted to leave
this place and find her mate.

“Thank you,” Gordon whispered and removed his
hand.

Damian pulled out the blade and stood as blood
pumped out the wound. He refused to leave until Gordon breathed his
last labored breath.

Chapter 32

Niall entered the mouth of the cave and moved
with purpose to the middle area deeper into the mountain.
Stretching and jumping in place to warm up fired the blood in his
body, releasing endorphins and something else he couldn’t identify.
The space around him wavered. A deep pounding started in the back
of his head. He shook his head to clear his vision and inhaled
before releasing his breath in slow degrees.

“Okay, okay… easy now.” Closing his eyes, he
exhaled and shifted into his beast. When he opened his eyes, he
marveled at how intense the colors around him became. He noticed
everything that moved and sensed prey on the other side of the
mountain. Smiling, he envisioned a night of hunting with his pack
and bringing down large game. After padding around the area for a
few minutes he morphed seamlessly into his normal hybrid. It was
smaller than most of his pack members and the main reason for the
collar. But his senses were still enhanced, which was an added
bonus.

“Good, feeling good.” He ran in a circle,
stretching his arms and hitting an imaginary punching bag. Laughing
at how good he felt, he completed a few roundhouse kicks that he
had seen Hawke’s mate use during the fight against Verrick’s
men.

He thought bigger, his muscles burned for a
few seconds as he morphed into his larger hybrid. Blood rushed
through to his head, his vision blurred. The neck brace burned into
his flesh as he held his head to stop the sharp pain that shot
through him. His knees buckled as he fell to the ground. No one
mentioned this debilitating part of usage and hoped it was a
one-time thing.

Minutes passed and he remained on his knees
until it ebbed. His body was three times its normal size and for
him that was monumental. Standing, he stretched, kicked and
practiced both defensive and offensive moves. Hours later, sweat
dripping from his body, he was ready to challenge Muzik. Niall had
morphed through all his forms repeatedly until they flowed easily
without pain.

He stepped out the cave, jogged back to
Granira’s place, showered and changed before waking her.

“I’m ready,” he said, knocking on her bedroom
door. Now that he’d sold his litter-mate out for his personal gain,
he wanted this part over. Taking the Alpha position which belonged
to him, at least in his mind, would validate his actions and make
things right. As Alpha he could assist Hawke in his mission as well
as preserve their heritage. The more he thought about it, the less
guilty he felt over betraying his litter-mate. The ends would
justify the means in this instance. First, he needed to win the
Alpha challenge.

Granira stepped out her room, eyed him and
smiled. “You are wearing Lorenzo’s necklace and Jirek’s shirt. I
have something of your father’s if you’d like.”

Niall’s father hadn’t paid him any attention
while growing up and many times said, within Niall’s presence, he
had three sons and one of them was Lancaster’s prisoner. The old
man never approved of him and didn’t bother hiding his disdain of
his bookish son. When he heard of the old man’s death, he’d been
relieved and did all he could to help Lorenzo. Lorenzo had been all
about war and didn’t live much longer after becoming Alpha. Jirek
had been Niall’s favorite because of his level-headedness and
unswerving loyalty to his litter-mate. No one messed with Niall
whenever Jirek was nearby and Niall followed his brother
everywhere. When Muzik challenged Jirek after that last battle,
Niall had been away at the University. The news of his litter-mate
cut deep and he did not return for years. But his hatred for Muzik
continued to grow along with the need to avenge Jirek. Today would
be that day and he wanted no memory of his sire to spoil
it.

“No, I’m good. You ready?” he headed toward
the door.

“Yes, let’s do this.” She followed him out the
door, they shifted to their beasts and headed toward the Alpha
house. Someone must have alerted Muzik they were on their way
because he, his beta and a few members of the pack stood outside in
a semi-circle as though waiting.

“I see you were telling the truth, in this at
least,” Muzik said looking at Granira. The older woman’s face
reddened, her jaw clenched, but she remained quiet. Niall had no
idea what Muzik referred to but figured Muzik would tell him soon
enough.

“So she finally talked you into challenging
me? I wondered when you’d have the balls to step from behind her
skirts and speak for yourself.”

Niall glanced at Granira. “
What did you
tell him?”

“We will talk of it later, watch out for
his beta, the man is sneaky
.”

Rather than argue the point, Niall faced an
all too confident Muzik. “I don’t know what you have been told, but
I am challenging you for my birthright as the seed of Alpha
Nikolas.”

“So you have finally decided to show your true
colors? I knew you spoke false when you returned to the pack, but
allowed you to remain out of respect for Alpha Hiram, your sire.”
He turned and looked at those in the circle. “You are my witnesses
that I have been challenged by the runt of Alpha Hiram’s litter,
his death is not on my conscience.” He looked at Niall. “This will
be to the death, do you recant your challenge?”

“It’s not the way I would choose, but if you
insist, I agree.”

Muzik and the others laughed. “Oh, I insist. I
would not go through this again. Tell me, is Hawke next? Will he
challenge me as well?”

“Hawke has no interest in you or the pack. He
serves La Patron.”

Muzik’s smile slipped as he nodded. “He
refuses to return? What of his heritage? He is in Nikolas’ line as
well.”

Niall shrugged. “Maybe he will return later
after he finishes his assignment for his Alpha.”

Muzik stared at him for a second. “What has
happened? You seem different, has the witch given you a dampener
for your fear?”

“No. This conversation is not for you, but for
the pack. You will never see Hawke or anyone else after the
challenge.” His words were delivered so matter-of-factly it took
Muzik a second to react.

The Alpha shifted to his hybrid, and Niall
shifted to his large hybrid, stepped aside and punched him in the
belly sending him flying backward. Before Muzik could move, Niall
jumped on his back, twisted his head until it snapped and then
stood facing the beta and the rest of the pack who had
assembled.

“Are you next, Kendall?” he asked the beta in
a calm voice in contrast to hum of blood singing in his veins. No
one moved or spoke. Niall took a step to the beta who had bullied
him all his life. The urge to snap the man’s neck rode him hard. “I
asked you a question.” His fist opened and then closed.

Kendall knelt in front of him. “No, Alpha.”
The rest of the pack, including Granira who wore a serene smile,
knelt as well.

Niall howled and called the entire pack to
him. When they were all assembled he had the beta tell the others
what happened.

“Do you accept me as your Alpha?” Niall asked,
watching the faces closely.

“Yes!” They shouted and howled their
approval.

“Take his body and burn it in the middle of
the square.” He watched the beta swallow hard before motioning to
another pack member. They dragged Muzik to the middle of the
clearing and set a bonfire. Moments later Niall morphed to his
beast and sat watching the blaze. One by one, the pack all shifted.
When the fire died, he howled as Alpha. Yes, the ends definitely
justified the means. Now to prepare to defeat Hawke.