Chapter 43
AXE
"Chris is gonna level a building," my sister groans.
My chest expands. The demands of my wolf banging against my ribcage are impossible to suppress. Everyone in the room is on edge, gradually distancing from me. But it's Nell who puts a hand on my shoulder. "I know you don't want to hear this right now, but you need to stay calm, Axe. For her."
Demi draws a shallow breath. "If Kiersten has her hands on Vessa, she'll take her time. She'll want to taunt us for what we did."
Nell presses onward. “If she’s operating under the name Snow, who could Stinger be?”
My mind tries to recall who might’ve fled with her following Kiersten’s banishment from Bleeding Sun. No one else was sent to prison for rebelling on her behalf. She didn’t have anyone else after our parents were killed.
Jabir curses. His monitors suddenly all go dark. “The second I snatched the address, they unleashed a bloody virus.” He wipes his brow. “Give me just a minute.”
I can’t believe I’m about to say this. “Let’s take the focus off Vessa for a second. We need to start from the beginning.”
The women dip their heads in agreement.
"Kiersten, Tesni and I were best friends as girls,” my sister begins.
“After losing our parents, we did everything together—training, running through the woods, even sharing bunks. When we grew into teenagers, our feelings evolved. Kiersten became my lover. It was always clear to me that we were never mates, but in our nine years together, we never discussed it. Not once. She would always hug me and say, ‘What we have is enough. Nothing has to change.’”
"Ah." Jabir nods. "But inevitably, it did when you met Chris."
Demi half-smiles. "During the last month of my term, I traveled to Silverback headquarters to officially meet their new Alpha.
Chris's father had just stepped down and granted the position to his eldest son, who I hadn't seen since the year before our parents died. We were far too young to recognize the signs then. But this time, we did.”
Though I wasn’t there, I recall the fallout.
By the end of the weekend, she and Chris had given in to the Beckoning.
Before Demi left, they decided that they would have a long-distance partnership.
My sister needed a couple of weeks to think about how to prepare Bleeding Sun for this transition, as she would now be expected to become Luna of the Silverbacks.
For a few days, Demi distanced herself so that she could find the right way to tell Kiersten.
A few days turned into a week, and then, one night, she snuck into her room.
Demi knew that the second her hair brushed back, Kiersten had seen Chris's mark. She wasn’t just hurt, she was furious.
“I tried getting Kiersten to deescalate, but she kept on shaking her head and swearing that she would find a way to fix it. Eventually, she stormed out. At the time, I didn't think to ask her where she was going. And to this day, I curse myself for it."
Nell’s eyes darken. "Kiersten is to blame for her actions. Not you."
Demi crosses her arms, deep in memory. "The next day, Chris showed up to Lupine Manor.
He couldn't bear waiting another week to see me. With Kiersten out of sight, I introduced my mate to the pack, and we held a celebration. My brothers were absent, but I phoned them the next morning to share the news.”
I remember that phone call. It felt like the best news our family had received in decades. Jabir was there with me, all bandaged up, dozing in his bunk back at the base in Marsda. We were just a week from shipping off to come home.
Meanwhile, Kiersten had gone to Belcarra with the intent of challenging Chris for both his mate and the Alpha title.
But she didn't find him there. Instead, she faced Chris's father.
With all that adrenaline channeled into wolf form, she took her anger out on the former Alpha.
She wasn't going to back down without carnage on her muzzle.
Kiersten pursued him deep into the Oshvek forest, cornering him at a cliffside.
Chris's father fought as gallantly as he could, but his energy was quickly drained by the much leaner, much faster opponent.
The two of them locked in a death roll, tumbling off the edge of the cliff.
On the way down, Kiersten's claws caught a branch, dislocating her shoulder, but allowing her to cling to safety. The Alpha wasn't so lucky.
Jabir shakes his head in disbelief. My sister looks to me with profound regret.
Demi continues. "The following day, Chris received word about his father's death.
I followed him back to his pack, never hating myself more in my entire life.
Chris was seething by the time we arrived.
Kiersten was my best friend. I couldn't bear to watch her die.
Instead, I begged Chris not to challenge her and take another option: send her to Alban prison.
He had to at least consider it. Even though I was his mate, as Alpha Commander, I was still his superior.
I could override the decision to kill her.
It wasn't murder, after all. So, that's what I did.”
"It is not our place to deny a wolf his vengeance,” I grumble.
"I know,” she hangs her head. “I’ve had plenty of time to regret it."
Jabir's throat bobs. He too failed to prevent the untimely death of his father.
While stroking his back, Nell’s forehead wrinkles with a thought. "Kiersten was a chemist, right?"
Demi blinks back tears. "Apparently she still is.”
"Then we can assume she has the fundamental knowledge of common nightclub drugs and their chemical composure. Like Ludone."
Shit. I can sense where this is going.
"I would think so. As teenagers, we used to mess around with psychedelics. Mushrooms we found foraging on Tilaak lands."
Nell starts to home in. “Let’s run with a scenario.
Kiersten gets the tip that vamps are searching for the Sponsa Noctis by collaborating with rogues.
She has the background knowledge to infiltrate our territory but wouldn't be able to get close enough to Tukkon. So, she sends a crew out to push a newly enhanced form of Ludone, targeting humans under the influence. That night at Sonic Jungle, Cora noticed that Gemma Belgrave also had the powder on her clothes. She must’ve heard about the prospect of a reward after bumping into Kiersten’s crew.
I think Dr. Caulder was onto something—when Ludone enters the bloodstream, it amplifies the scent.
Maybe Vessa presented with the sign Kiersten was looking for, but she needed a better way to draw her out.
Especially after what happened at Tukkon Motors. So, Gemma became their contact."
Jabir frowns. "Like the hideaway cabin? I thought that only Skornokovys know of its location . . . Other than you."
Demi scratches her neck. "Not necessarily . . .”
Fuck.
A snarl builds in my chest. “You took her there?”
The office swells with tension as my sister averts her eyes. I don't think I can bear to be in the same room as her much longer. This is the second rule she has bent to benefit Kiersten. One that could very well cost my mate her life.
"Let me see the rough sketch of the man from the club," Demi barks.
In two seconds flat, the paper is in her hands. My sister looks like she's going to be violently ill.
"That has to be Levi," she croaks. "Her cousin. He's been in prison for as long as I can remember. Heartlands prison. How the hell is he out?”
I note the similarities in his appearance to Kiersten’s. I must admit, I've never met the bastard. “By using the same underground network that planned her escape.”
Demi's face grows paler. "Before enforcers picked him up, Levi was involved in a trafficking ring back in Delore, hence the tattoo. If that sociopath is our scorpion, then we're in deeper shit than I thought. He’s a Sadist.”
Jabir wrinkles his brow. “Meaning he has the augment?”
Sadists are one of the most intimidating augments to encounter. Inflicting pain on their opponents is like a power trip. They absorb the spent energy, funneling it into strength. In Levi’s case, it’s likely just as arousing.
My shattered fingers start to throb. How has this piece of shit managed to stay off the radar this long?
Demi rejoins Nell at the back table, scavenging through old prison records.
She reads aloud the official statement from the director of Alban Penitentiary regarding Kiersten Hawley’s escape.
An outlandish theory begins to take form, blocking out the pain swelling in my hand.
It’s been chafing at me since we sat Maurleen and Wyatt down, only to be blindsided by an ancient curse.
How many Auxes did I summon after Kiersten’s jailbreak? Seven? Ten? The only reason Chris and I were able to find her was because she was sloppy in killing one right before we hit the border to Bissex.
Nell lifts her voice, flipping to the second page.
“Witnesses reported seeing three people smuggle her out in a blue van. Axe, your letter to the Council states that while the van headed south, her scent carried north. After Chris apprehended her, you redirected four officers to pursue her partners.”
“That sounds right. It should state in the Auxes’ briefs which one found them. And where.” That’s the gap in my memory.
Jabir’s computer finally reboots. “On it,” he says.
“No,” Demi asserts, crossing over to my desk. “I’ve got it. You find a way to get that IP.”
She helps herself to my chair and navigates to a password-encrypted folder, hidden within my Alban files. One that even she doesn’t have access to. I hunch over and punch in the nine digits required to view it.
Sorting through the list of briefs takes only moments, as we quickly rearrange them by dates. My eyes drop down to a grouping of four names under the month of June, submitted three years back: Seth Marlowe, Cam Arden, Isaac Young, and—there it is.
“Wyatt James,” Demi utters. “Wait, isn’t that—”
“Move,” I growl, clicking on the first document.
At the top, the date reads June 7th. The date we buried Kiersten six feet underground.
Departed Alban 05:00 hours. Headed SW to track accomplices, by order of Commander Skornokovy. Three lycan scents detected near Agathora Falls: one female, two males.
The second report is dated four days later. June 11th.
Departed Crayford 6/9, 03:00 hours. Two rogues dispatched.
Bodies burned. Located female at the scene of a car collision, where she had maimed and killed a human woman.
Found her clothes and cell phone 0.75 miles from the site.
An exchange with other contacts indicated that other two partners were also in the city.
A male named Elias engaged me second, during which I also dispatched him.
The third I did not intercept. His contact is L.H.
Messages exchanged between the two suggest they came this way upon taking a new job while fleeing Alban.
Will continue to pursue L.H. further south and report once apprehended.
That lying motherfucker. He never did send a third update. But I think it’s safe to assume that L.H. is Levi Hawley.
Why don’t I remember this? Surely, I would’ve visited the scene of the killings in the days that followed, to mitigate any suspicion on behalf of the Council. But I wasn’t asked to make the routine trip to Crayford. Clearly, they sent someone else to clean up the Aux’s mess.
Why would they deviate from protocol?
There is one other file in the folder. A news article from the ninth of June.
Demi gasps, reaching the end of the article before I do. The story describes a collision between a sedan and what enforcers deemed to be a mountain lion. The woman behind the wheel—No.
It was Vessa’s mother.