BirthRight (6 page)

Jayden met him at the door of the conference
room. All the Alphas had waited to hear his report. He sat and
looked at the earnest expressions in the room.

“We have a problem.”

Silence greeted his announcement.

“My beast stirred and observed the woman.
That has never happened before with a human female. I understand
Tyrone’s concern. She will definitely draw the attention of unmated
males.”

“How has she survived this long?” one of the
Alphas asked.

Lyle opened a file. “Her husband always made
sure they lived in neutral areas where there weren’t any packs. She
was a housewife, didn’t go out much unless it was for her sons. The
home she lives in now is in an area without a pack. She travels to
St. Louis once a year and stays with her sister who is a lesbian
living with her lover Mandy Ashford. I doubt they go places where
an unmated male would catch her scent.”

“Talk about the protection of the Goddess,”
another Alpha said.

“My thoughts exactly,” Silas said, looking
at the alphas. “We have to be very careful with her. No harm can
fall her way.”

“What about the sister?”

Silas thought back. “My wolf ignored her. I
don’t know if that means she does not attract wolves or that my
wolf was only interested in the more dominant of the two. Tyrone’s
mother is strong.”

“Strong?”

“Very strong willed, like an alpha bitch,”
Silas said, paying her the highest compliment.

The men nodded.

“What next? We know Tyrone didn’t lie, and
he has asked for protection of his mother and aunt, which was
granted. Do we search for the father to get answers? Or put out
feelers to see if this has happened before? Or just assume she’s
the one gift from our Goddess?” Jayden asked.

“I want this contained,” Silas answered
immediately. “No one talks about it or asks questions. We can’t
afford to put any humans at risk. We have a fully functioning wolf,
born and raised by a human. Can you imagine the fallout? A lot of
wolves would begin looking at humans again to breed.” He shook his
head. “I want this muzzled. But keep your ears and eyes opened. I
agree with Tyrone, the father and his mate are probably in another
state or country, living together. We’ll keep him dead as long as
an emergency doesn’t arise.”

Jayden held up a file. “I have the
information on his father’s former pack. You were right, they
tossed him out once he stood by the girl he impregnated. He refused
to say she was lying. The pack is in Oklahoma. Should we contact
them?”

Silas thought for a few minutes. “Not right
now, but it’s good knowing the history of the twins. And by the
way, Tyrese will be here tomorrow. Seems when Tyrone died, he
pulled his brother down with him. Unfortunately, it was right in
the middle some type of ops. He’s being sent here for
evaluation.”

“His military career is over,” one of the
Alphas muttered.

“Pity Uncle Sam can’t see the value of
having two connected twins working for them.” Silas smirked.

The alphas smiled as they nodded.

“I see them as a tremendous asset to our
nation, but we’ll see how the evals turn out.” He looked around the
room. “Who’s on watch tonight?”

One of the alpha’s spoke up. “I’ve got two
men in the hall and two stationed outside to follow them if they
leave.”

Silas nodded. “Good.” He waited until
everyone had left, and walked back toward Tyrone’s room. The closer
he got, the more his wolf strained and whined for contact. There
was no answer, or response. His wolf should have been upset, but he
didn’t sense that. When he reached the hallway, he nodded to the
guards. Initially, he’d had no intention of entering the young
wolf’s room, but found himself striding forward. He sent a silent
greeting to the man on the bed, informed him about the guards, and
wished him a good night.

“Thank you, Sir,” the wolf said through
their bond.

Silas nodded and glanced around the room.
He’d heard the woman’s sounds of sleep when he reached the door,
yet he needed to see her for himself. His wolf quieted until he
left the room.

With each step, his wolf whined and became
agitated. Silas stopped and looked back toward the room. His wolf
eased up some, but it was obvious that he wanted to return. Deep in
thought, he and his security detail left for Jayden’s pack lands to
spend the night.

****

“Welcome, La Patron,” Jayden and his mate,
Maureen, greeted him as he entered their home.

He nodded, kissed her cheeks and clapped
Jayden on the shoulder. “It has been a long time Maureen, but you
are still as lovely today as you were thirty years ago when you
married this scamp.”

She blushed to the roots of her dark brown
hair. Green eyes and a pert upturned nose graced strong, high cheek
bones in an oval-shaped face. “Thank you, La Patron.” She bowed in
submission.

“We have prepared your rooms,” Jayden said,
stepping back and waving to the staircase. “Your things have been
placed there already.”

“Good,” Silas said as he followed the couple
through the long hall. “Where are your pups?” he asked, not
scenting the children.

Maureen glanced back at him. “They are at a
sleep-over birthday party next door but will be back in the
morning. You get a night’s rest without them climbing all over
you.” She smiled.

Since the couple knew how much he enjoyed
playing with the pups, he nodded. “I will see them before returning
to the hospital tomorrow. I have a surprise for them.” Whereas he
rarely gave gifts to his hosts, he always brought a gift for their
children. It was important for the pups to know him as someone who
looked out for them and not some mysterious old man who ruled from
afar.

“They will enjoy that. Thank you for
honoring our home with your presence and let me know if there is
anything you need.” Maureen dipped her head and walked off, leaving
Silas and her mate in the suite of rooms set aside for him.

“On the surface this seems like a small
thing,” Silas said. He pinched the bridge of his nose before moving
to the desk in the corner of the room. “But I sense this is a lot
more.” He sat at the desk and booted up the laptop that had been
unpacked from his briefcase.

“If you think there’s more, then there is. I
trust your instincts. ” Jayden said with confidence as he stood
near the desk.

Silas wished he was as confident as the
Alpha sounded. A niggle of worry slid through him at the anomaly. A
human who gave birth to his kind presented all types of challenges.
The need to get a handle on the complication buffeted him.

“I’m going to check a few things.” He typed
in a variety of passcodes until he reached an encrypted site. Very
few beings knew the site existed, its access was guarded through a
series of wards.

After running numerous searches, he came up
empty. Frustrated, he blew out a breath and raked his hand through
his hair. “Damn.”

Jayden watched, but remained silent.

“So far nothing,” Silas said, leaning back
in his chair. There had been no predictions, no forewarning, no
myths or legends that mentioned humans being able to procreate with
wolves.

Jayden nodded.

“We will continue the search for
information. An unmated bitch with the ability to breed and no
connection to pack is not a good thing.”

Jayden nodded slowly. “I agree. Add to that
she has no idea what’s going on, and that could be a door for human
authorities to enter.”

Outside of Tyrone’s mother, Silas wasn’t
that concerned about the humans right now. He was curious of the
underlying reason for a human breeder in their midst. He’d lived
too long to believe in coincidences. “What if I hadn’t been
contacted about Cameron?” He stared at Jayden trying to make sense
when there was none. “Why weren’t the twins flagged when they
joined the military? Are they that good at hiding?”

“Only Alphas and you are that good,” Jayden
said.

“Exactly,” Silas said, tapping the desk.
“They’ve no training to employ that skill, yet they have lived
twenty years avoiding detection.”

“I’m sure it was only because of the severe
injuries that they were discovered at all,” Jayden said.

“We need to see what capabilities these
wolves have. Secure lodgings for the twins and their mother on your
grounds. They will need to be our guests for a while longer. I want
security on them at all times. There are still too many unanswered
questions and we need more time to uncover the mystery.” Plus, he
suspected their connection was unique and wanted to observe them
further.

“Yes, Sir.”

Silas stood and stretched, ready to be alone
with his thoughts. “I’m going to make arrangements to send Cameron
to my home; Jacques will take care of him as well as the Alpha
trainees a little longer while I work on this problem. Get some
sleep; we’ll start fresh in the morning.”

Jayden nodded and walked toward the door.
“Rest well.”

“You as well.” Silas watched the door close
behind one of his favorite Alphas. Jayden had been abused as a pup
and cast aside by his pack because he had been born missing a
finger on his left hand. It was obvious to Silas the man had the
heart of a warrior, but his paw caused him some problems at times.
Not that it stopped others from following his leadership, by the
time Silas met Jayden, the pack leader’d had over twenty wolves
following him. Silas had been impressed with the man’s integrity
and desire to insure his pack received the best he could give them.
When Silas offered him the opportunity to train as one of his
Alphas, the man’s first concern was for his pack, as it should have
been. The beta had been installed as the temporary leader while
Jayden went through the months of training required to be a La
Patron Alpha.

Silas had never repented of his decision.
Before preparing for bed, he rebooted the laptop, there was one
other site he wanted to check. While waiting for it to come online,
he stripped off his shirt and laid it across the brocade covered
chair.

He glanced at the mirror across the room and
grimaced. It had been a long day and he looked like a wet mutt. No
doubt Jacques, his personal servant, would be horrified to see the
five o’clock shadow on his angular jaw. He rubbed the scratchy
surface as he realized the blinking cursor awaited his next
instruction. He typed in the website, pleased with the number of
hits that showed up.

He chose the first and read the contents,
even going so far as to verify the footnotes. Two and a half hours
later, concern had turned to dread. As he continued reading, the
dread magnified into fear. The ancient strategy slapped him in the
face, infuriating him.

T
he kingdom of heaven is like what happened when a farmer
scattered good seed in a field.
 
²⁵ 
But while everyone was
sleeping, an enemy came and scattered weed seeds in the field and
then left.
²⁶ 
When the plants came
up and began to ripen, the farmer’s servants could see the
weeds.
 
²⁷ 
The
servants came and asked, “Sir, didn’t you scatter good seed in your
field? Where did these weeds come from?”
²⁸ 
“An
enemy did this,” he replied.
His servants
then asked, “Do you want us to go out and pull up the
weeds?”
²⁹ 
“No!” he answered.
“You might also pull up the wheat.
 
³⁰ 
Leave the weeds alone
until harvest time. Then I’ll tell my workers to gather the weeds
and tie them up and burn them. But I’ll have them store the wheat
in my barn.”

Furious with the possibility that an enemy
had set a nefarious plan in motion to infiltrate and weaken the
wolves with barely detectable half breeds he opened the window and
leapt to the ground. The moment he touched the soil, his paws dug
into the cool earth.

The need to reconnect with nature thrummed
through him. He ran through the complex and out into the forest
surrounding the compound, the dark blue-black coat of his wolf
almost invisible in the night.

Anxious, his wolf recognized the inherent
threat to his pack and wanted to attack. The man in him realized
the need to allow his wolf the freedom to run, but cautioned the
cunning beast of the need to plan as well as protect. They’d get in
front of the threat before things spiraled out of control.

After a long, exhilarating run, Silas
returned to the house. Jayden had left the back door opened. Still
in wolf form, he padded up the stairs to his room. Once in the
room, he shifted and closed the door behind him. A shower was his
next order of business.

Afterward, he walked downstairs to make sure
the door was secured and wasn’t surprised to discover all traces of
the debris he’d tracked in from his late night run had been cleaned
from the floor.

The softness of his bed called out to him as
he retraced his steps, and he fell into a troubled sleep.

Chapter 6