Sword of Mercy (6 page)

He glanced at Asia and waved his hand. “But
that’s for another day. Konstantin had an affinity for the land and
animals. Liked them better than people actually. Most of the public
conservation areas in this country were his ideas and he set aside
private places for wildlife. The man had a soft spot for wolves.
Black wolves in particular. Rumor has it he was attacked and robbed
by rebels on his way to his estate and left along the road with his
guards for dead.”

He paused, gauging their attention and
continued. “Alpha Nikolas of the Fekete Farkas Clan saved his life,
took him into the forest and did something. Whatever the Alpha did
to Konstantin, made him stronger than he had been before. He
maintained lands here for years until there was murmuring about his
failing to age and then he moved to Egypt. Over the course of his
life he moved all over the continent deeding pack lands to various
clans. Most Alphas refuse to have anything to do with human
authorities, so the Roundtable was set up to ensure packs would
always own their land and thrive. Years later Alpha Nikolas died in
a pack battle and was put to rest, Konstantin died a month later.
They were tied in some way no one has ever understood.”

Asia wondered if Konstantin and Nikolas were
mates. Stranger things happened.

“And we are here because?” Hawke
asked.

“Because this is where it all begun. Pacts
were made. Strategies how to go forward were created. I’m hoping we
can find records of some sort that would give insight on why the
Liege is taking the pups.”

“And you think the answer is in this
building?” Asia asked, taking another look at the fallen stones
littering the courtyard.

“There are documents hidden inside, I’ve seen
them. But I cannot translate them. Hawke can.” He looked at Hawke,
who held his gaze and then nodded.

“How do you know you can translate these
pages
without knowing what language they’re written in
?”
Asia asked through their link.

“I’m fluent in most languages and can make
out the rest. Chances are I’ll figure it out
.” He followed her
as she followed Radoff into the castle. Radoff turned on a
flashlight and it became obvious his pack had cleared most of the
cobwebs and tidied the place.

“Do you have pack members staying here?” she
asked.

“Yes, I purchased the land. I thought it was
important to secure the location until we had an opportunity to go
through everything. Some areas cannot be accessed, but for the most
part the building has held up well over time.” He moved down a dim
corridor and turned left. Fire lit wall sconces provided the only
light as they ventured further into the castle. Both the interior
and exterior walls were made of heavy stone. Uneven floors, high
ceilings, and large candelabras with mounds of melted wax hung from
the rafters.

Radoff stopped in front of a large blackened
fireplace and looked over his shoulders at her and then frowned at
Hawke. “Stoop low.” He pressed the mantle above the fireplace, and
the wall opened with a grinding sound. Radoff’s grin showed his
pleasure at his discovery.

Once inside the small room, Asia understood
Radoff’s happiness. On the wall was a tapestry in mint condition of
a large black, green eyed wolf and a pale man sitting on the ground
as if having a conversation. The image of the black wolf struck a
chord in her, he seemed familiar.

“Here’s a book we found tucked away.” Radoff
handed the leather bound book to Hawke with all the reverence of a
man in the presence of a great treasure. Hawke stared at it for a
moment, sat and then opened it with equal care. The pages stuck
together, until he gently pried them apart.

Intrigued, Asia sat next to him while Radoff
stood slightly behind him at his shoulder. Quiet, Hawke stared at
the page without turning for so long, Asia thought he couldn’t
translate it.

Hawke sighed and shook his head. “This is the
notes of one of the meetings of the Roundtable Lords.” He dropped
his head into the palm of his hand and continued staring at the
page.

“What does it say?” Asia asked, glancing at
Radoff. The man had stepped closer and stood directly at Hawke’s
elbow peering over his shoulder.

“It does not translate too well into English,
so I will paraphrase. The Lord is reminding the men of their
commitment to protect and serve the wolf-shifter in all its forms.
They were the custodians of Konstantin’s wealth which was set aside
for shifters.” Hawked shook his head. “Hard to believe this is the
same group.” He turned the page.

Asia glanced around the room. “Were all of
these things here when you found the place?” she asked Radoff
pointing to the small statues of wolves and artwork.

He nodded and moved toward a bookcase with
several black wolf figures the size of large chess pieces. His
index fingertip traced the body of one piece before he spoke.
“Imagine what he dreamed for us. He set aside all of his wealth and
gave away his land so that we could co-exist in harmony with man.”
He turned to face her. “But greed is a terrible thing.”

Hawke released a bark of laughter grabbing
their attention. “What?” she asked, looking at the letters and
symbols on the page and then back at him.

“Seems Konstantin expected greed and prepared
for it. None of the land can be taken from the packs by humans, the
packs can sell it or give it away if they chose. Plus, there is a
curse on any member of the Roundtable if they misuse the money left
for anything other than research to assist shifters, to make their
lives better.”

“Well, that’s open for interpretation, don’t
you think?” Asia said, pushing away from the table and taking a
closer look at another piece of art. “Lancaster and the others may
have met the legal interpretation of the stipulations but not the
spirit. Wonder what Konstantin would say if he saw how the Liege
operated now?”

“His son died.” Hawke looked up at her and
then continued reading.

“What?” She spun around.

“Konstantin had a son who took his place on
the roundtable after his death. He thought his father foolish to
leave so much to animals and redirected funds to his personal
pursuits. Within three months he died from some type of disease.”
Hawked met her gaze. “Whoever wrote this spent a lot of time
describing how bad the disease was and how it crippled the young
man. I don’t know if this person was a sadistic bastard delighting
in the other’s misery or wanted it explicit to serve as a warning
to the others.”

“Could be a combination of both,” Asia
murmured, looking at the spine of a book on the shelf. She pulled
it out and looked at the pages. The small, neat handwriting hid
secrets. Looking at another page she frowned.

“Have you seen this before?” She showed
Radoff.

He took the book and stared at the small
design. “No. It looks like a crest and something else. I can just
make out Konstantin’s initials, badly smeared but they are there.”
He pointed at the design.

“Okay, I see that now, but what is the rest of
it? I’ve seen this before.” She continued to stare at it a bit
longer and then snapped her finger.

“What
?” Hawke asked, watching
her.

“One sec
.” She looked at Radoff. “This
has Konstantin’s initials and what else? Can you make it
out?”

“Looks like an upside down wolf, look here.”
He pointed to the design. “That looks like a snout and a paw.
Considering all he did for the Black Wolf Clan, I’m not surprised
he made some type of brand or seal for them.” He turned and looked
at the other books. “Let’s see if we find another one that might be
clear enough to make out. He handed her a book and took one for
himself. They looked through the pages and in each book found a
similar symbol, which resembled the
birthmarks
she had seen on La Patron’s
pups.

Chapter 7

Night fell and Hawke continued to read through
the books, gaining more insight into the purpose of the Liege and
Konstantin’s fascination with full-bloods. If it had been within
the Lord’s power he would’ve become a wolf. Asia had asked about
the connection between Konstantin and the Alpha Nikolas, Hawke had
not ruled out the possibility of the Alpha biting the Lord. During
his time with Lancaster, the Liege played with the idea of
full-bloods biting humans and as far as he knew nothing had ever
come of it. Perhaps there a link had been formed between the Lord
and the Alpha back in the 1800’s that caused the lifelong bond. It
was something to think on as he continued searching the
records.

He asked Radoff to check the dates of the
other books to help find answers. These journals were of the
Roundtable and took place years after the initial meeting of the
black wolf and noble Hungarian.

“Asia?”

Jasmine stood and walked toward the corner of
the room. She would’ve preferred to walk outside for fresh air, but
Hawke would insist on accompanying her which would delay the
translations of the journals. Stubborn man.

“Yes, Mistress
.” There were a few
things she wanted to share and questions that needed answers
regarding the birthmark.

“I had a meeting with the Goddess
–”

Asia straightened, and her thoughts scattered
at the announcement. “
She contacted you?”

Hawke looked over his shoulder at her.
“
What’s wrong?”

She waved him down and listened
harder.

“Yes, earlier today. I had a
mutiny on my hands otherwise I would’ve contacted you
sooner.”

“Mutiny? With who?”
Asia couldn’t
imagine anyone crazy enough to confront her Mistress.

“From Silas’ pups, that’s
who.”

Asia smiled at the frustration she heard in
Jasmine’s voice and relaxed. “
What happened?”

“Silas is concerned over the
missing pups, so am I, but he took things to DefCon 6 or something
and shut down the compound the day before the kids were supposed to
go to the circus. Which wouldn’t have been so bad if we hadn’t been
pumping up the damn thing up for the past week. The nursery was
filled with circus toys, books and puzzles.”

“Uh, oh.”
La Patron’s pups were just a
stubborn as he was and would not be happy with that type of
change.

“You got that right. Those demons gave me
so much attitude with the screaming and hollering I told Silas to
deal with it.”
Jasmine chuckled. “
He thought I put them up
to it, but when he realized they were angry with both of us, he
stopped trying to explain and went all Alpha on
them.”

Asia covered her mouth to stop the laugh that
spilled over into their link anyway.

Jasmine chuckled. “
You’re right, it was
funny. They didn’t pay daddy any attention and continued falling
out. I swear if I ever see Renee paint another picture of a clown
with her daddy’s face in the middle I’m going to lose
it.”

“No, she didn’t.”

“Yes, she did. Adam wasn’t much
better throwing things around. He tore apart the clown and all the
circus books. Jackie joined him, the room looked like a tornado ran
through it. A well coordinated tornado, seems like these four can
link when they want to.”

Asia had to ask. “
What did David do?”
He had been the runt of the bunch at birth and now seemed to be the
unspoken leader of the group.

“He said one word, ‘why?’ While
the others were all emotional he asked me why they couldn’t go to
the circus. I explained the danger and I swear that little boy
weighed my words before he nodded and walked to the other side of
the room, sat and ignored everyone else.”

Asia wasn’t surprised. In her opinion, David
would be the one to watch, he shared Jasmine’s intuitiveness and La
Patron’s natural leadership abilities.
“That’s funny. Wonder
what he would’ve done if he didn’t like your
explanation?”

“Am I the only one who sees a
problem explaining myself to my kids who aren’t two years old
yet?”

“They are operating on wolf
biology so they are more like four or five. David might be more
like eight or nine. You could have them tested so you’ll have a
better understanding of how their biology works.”