9. Twins
NINE
TWINS
Jack
“ S o, to what do I owe the pleasure of a rare visit from the Head of Operation Stranger?” Asbj?rn asked, his feet propped up on his desk.
I narrowed my eyes at the Stranger who looked just like me, but my head was still swimming from everything I’d seen out there. Other rooms? Where even crazier stuff was going on …
My brain threw up a pile of depraved ideas about what might be going on in those private rooms.
Head in the game, Jack. You have a task to complete here.
If only Baxter had actually told me what was expected of me beyond just standing here like a fucking idiot.
If only he’d given me a heads up about what I’d see on the walk to Asbj?rn’s office … so I wouldn’t be standing here with a semi, my jaw tight from trying to keep my mouth shut.
“I’m guessing your informants have kept you up to speed on Fortis’s movements?” Baxter began, taking a seat. I stood behind him, trying to look intimidating, when I felt like a dear in the fucking headlights.
Asbj?rn nodded, but his eyes flicked to me again. “He’s gone to ground. The Coalition is scrambling in his absence. It’s basically martial law. Yuvan seems to be dropping in unannounced from time to time to keep a handle on it all, but from my reports, he’s sticking close to whatever rat hole Fortis has fucked off to.”
Asbj?rn finally let his gaze fall on Baxter, and I felt like I could breathe again. “It appears that your silly little stunt on Greenrock might have had some impact.” His voice was low, and Baxter stiffened.
“It was necessary,” Baxter answered, just slightly too fast. I shifted from one foot to the other behind him. The sour smell I’d noticed on him more than once lately was suddenly rancid.
I finally recognized it for what it was. Fear.
Baxter was fucking terrified of this male.
“How so?” Asbj?rn asked, his voice disturbingly even.
“Our numbers are never going to match what Fortis has on his side. We had to make a play … we had to bluff … he’s running scared now. And that gives you, and your allies, a chance to step in and …”
Asbj?rn snorted, kicking his feet off the desk and standing. He turned to the floor-to-ceiling bookshelf behind him, pulling down a crystal bottle filled with amber liquid and three tumblers.
He poured slowly. The alcohol smelled sweet, with a bitter after-tang that made me wrinkle my nose. Asbj?rn glanced up at me, smirking again.
“Is this youngster even old enough to take a dram with us?” he asked, winking at me. I flinched because his face freaked me the fuck out.
Baxter managed a weak snort. “Since when have your kind ever adhered to something as mundane as human alcohol laws?”
Asbj?rn barked out a hearty laugh, handing Baxter a glass. “You’re right. So … youngster. What is your name?”
“Jack,” I snapped, unable to hide how much this guy was pissing me off with all this ‘youngster’ bullshit. “And if you think I haven’t had fucking whiskey before, you clearly haven’t been to a Forest Lake party.”
Asbj?rn raised a golden eyebrow, sneering down at Baxter. “A … party? What sort of military program are you running with the progeny our kind have so graciously gifted you?”
A growl rumbled in my chest. Fuck him and his ‘progeny’!
“I think a shot of something stronger might be in order for the youngster … for Jack.” Asbj?rn’s voice was thick on my name. “He looks like he might need it, to take the edge off after the show out in the main room.”
“I have zero fucking interest in whatever shit goes on in this place,” I snarled.
Are you sure about that? Fucking, and feeding … sounds—
It sounds fucked up. Shut up!
A flask appeared in Asbj?rn’s hand, and the second he unstoppered it, and I caught a whiff …
“Yes, it’s heady, isn’t it?” Asbj?rn murmured. “Candy … human blood. There is supposedly only one other blood source that tastes better … but I would not know.”
I shook my head. “Don’t put that shit anywhere near my drink,” I grunted. Asbj?rn glanced up at me, a challenge in his eyes.
“What’s the matter? It’s legally obtained. The girl is downstairs working now if you’d like me to get her to come up and confirm just how much she enjoys being … sampled.”
I swallowed around a suddenly dry throat.
“I don’t want to drink human blood,” I choked out.
“This is wasting time,” Baxter grated, his hands slapping the desk. “Time we don’t have, Asbj?rn.”
The Viking eyed Baxter with a look so cold I stifled a shudder. Meticulously pouring blood from the flask into his own cup, then handing Baxter, and then me, the unbloodied glasses, he took a slow, savoring sip.
Baxter was practically vibrating in his chair. Although from fury or fear, I wasn’t sure. Probably both.
“You seem to continually forget, Agent Baxter,” Asbj?rn said, his voice somehow both thoughtful and poisonous, “in your pathetic need for personal glory, that a long game for my kind can last several of your pitiful lifetimes. And if you cut off the Coalition’s head too soon, another one will grow in its place. Yuvan has been groomed by Fortis from childhood. He has the full control of the Troops. He is likely even more feared by them than Fortis himself.”
“And yet all the intelligence—yours and ours—tells me that with Fortis having gone to ground, and Yuvan stretched between trying to keep order, and protecting his master, now is the time to strike!” Baxter argued, leaning forward. “I know you have amassed a number of renegades who would be happy to see a Coalition leader in place who will uphold the treaty in the spirit it was always intended. I think we have the numbers—”
“ We have the numbers, do we?” Asbj?rn’s voice was slick with dislike. “Does that mean you’ll spare your little hybrid experiments for something more than just that ridiculous pantomime you orchestrated on Greenrock? Will they come and fight by our sides to overthrow Fortis’s regime? Are you willing to risk their lives like that?”
Baxter didn’t answer. Asbj?rn’s eyes lifted to mine, boring into me. I couldn’t look away.
“Because I don’t believe that you are prepared to risk them. And if not for this … then what is your army for? To what end have I been supplying you with male … samples for all these years, if not the reason you originally promised me?”
Asbj?rn took another sip of his crimson drink. I looked down at my untouched glass, sick to my stomach. There was more going on here than my brain could cope with. Samples … was he talking about fucking … jizz? Sperm samples for Baxter’s lab insemination program?
SHE was born in that lab. And she’ll die for this human cunt if you don’t do something about it.
Fuck off out of my brain!
“I … will have to … I am unsure how prepared they are for the outside world, given their … upbringing,” Baxter managed.
Asbj?rn snorted derisively. “You mean, they have never experienced life outside of the sterile little microcosm you have locked them in. Oh, I’m sure they’re fast, and strong, and violent, just like Purebloods. But if you were so keen to utilize their numbers against Fortis alongside my band of renegades, why did you not acclimate them to the real world? It doesn’t add up, Baxter.”
Asbj?rn swirled the last of his bloody whisky, staring into it. “It hasn’t added up to me for some time now. And that makes me wonder just how invested you really are in keeping the peace with whoever takes over once Fortis—and Yuvan—are disposed of.”
“Is that why you ceased supplying me?” Baxter asked roughly. “Because you believe I’m doing this for some other reason? I’ve told you from the start, I want you in Fortis’s place. Is that not enough for you? To rule over the Coalition, to control the Stranger population? To keep your precious treaty intact?”
Asbj?rn slapped his palms on the timber desktop, the crack echoed through the space, making me flinch.
“And I have told you from the very start, Agent Baxter,” Asbj?rn retorted, his voice a low roar, “that I have no interest in ruling. I’m happy here, managing my club. I don’t want power, or infamy, or maiden Drinkers fawning at my feet. I just want to ensure that the treaty remains and that it is honored. By both sides. And that I can continue to do business here the way I always have, the way the treaty allows me to.”
“And what does that have to do with my supplies drying up? How am I supposed to create new hybrids, build my army for this long game of yours, if you don’t honor your end of the bargain?” Baxter asked. His voice shook.
I pressed my lips together until I felt the pierce of my half-shifted teeth. Until blood trickled into my mouth. I let it. It took the edge off the raging torrent of confusion I felt over this conversation.
Why the fuck had Baxter brought me? I was scrambling to piece together a story that made sense in my head. Not easy when it felt like any minute the conversation would end with Baxter’s neck snapped when Asbj?rn had enough of his bullshit.
And I wouldn’t even have blamed him.
“You want us to act now. You think that coming here … that bringing him …” Asbj?rn jerked his head in my direction “… will force me to act on your timeline.”
“It’s the only timeline that makes any sense,” Baxter retorted, his voice resolute.
Asbj?rn’s nostrils flared, but he kept himself under tight control.
“If that’s the case, I have no time to await you birthing new hybrids in your creepy little laboratory.” Asbj?rn stood once more, pacing around the desk and propping himself against it right in front of Baxter. This close, the difference in their size, in their build, was fucking laughable.
Baxter pushed his chair back closer to me. I held my ground, although all I wanted to do was back away, distance myself from the pitiful little … human … and whatever fucked up game he was playing.
“And from what I’ve heard, you’re working on other ways of reproducing your youngsters.” Asbj?rn’s eyes shifted to mine, his nostrils flaring briefly. “How’s that going for you, by the way? The little interbreeding program you thought you were keeping on the down-low from those of us you claim to have allied with.”
Baxter’s jaw ticked. “What did you expect when supply stopped? I had to improvise.”
Asbj?rn’s gaze was unwavering, and then it flicked up to me. “Improvise for what purpose? You planned your little show on Greenrock, hoping to force my hand. Hoping to spare your little army from having to leave the safe, sterile prison you have them in. You have no need for a bigger army, if me and mine are able to depose Fortis. Or you do have a need … but not one you’re prepared to disclose to me.” The Viking set his empty glass down, his fingers toying with the crystal pattern. The room suddenly felt icy cold.
I stifled a shiver.
Baxter’s jaw worked, but no sound came out. Asbj?rn waved a dismissive hand in his direction.
“I don’t care for whatever untruth you are trying to concoct. You’ve said your piece, now leave. I will be in touch once I have an idea of who of my allies is willing to risk their necks to take advantage of the situation you’ve manipulated us into.”
Baxter stood stiffly, dusting his hands down the front of his dress uniform. They shook.
“We’ll take our leave, then.”
Baxter turned and jerked his head at me. But my legs felt frozen to the spot.
“ You may leave, Baxter. But I would like a word with the … with Jack, in private before he goes.” Asbj?rn wasn’t asking. And for some stupid, fucked up reason, I wanted to stay. Suddenly my mind was clear enough that I had a few things I wanted to say to the jerk who looked just like me.
Baxter’s mouth opened and closed a couple of times, but then he seemed to finally realize that he had no power in this place.
“I’ll wait outside,” he murmured, opening the door. My eyebrows shot up as Baxter made a choking sound. Outside the door was a fucking centaur! His horse body took up the entire width of the corridor, and his chest was easily twice what mine was.
“I can escort Jack back out once I’m done with him. Alexander here can help you find your way back.”
The centaur dude smiled at Baxter, baring pointed teeth. Baxter shot me a look as he stepped out the door, his face gray. Fuck me, I was terrified of that Shifter … Baxter must have been shitting himself.
“A delight to see you, as always, Agent Baxter,” Asbj?rn muttered, slamming the door behind him and turning back to me. I pressed my tongue to my canine tooth, letting a little more blood leak onto it. Just a little, calming hit.
Asbj?rn opened his mouth, but I cut him off.
“Is that your real face?” I asked, folding my arms over my chest. My shoulder blades tingled. I rolled my shoulders, trying to rid myself of the creepy sensation.
Asbj?rn blinked, stepped backwards. Holy shit, had I actually caught him off guard with that question?
“This is how I look when I am not shifting, yes. Why?”
I shrugged, my shoulders still buzzing. “Just wondered if you were one of the extra freaky freaks who can steal someone else’s face and wear it. I mean, how the fuck else do you look so much like me?”
His eyes tightened. “Do you really not know how else we could be similar?” His gaze felt like it was burning a hole in me.
And then I realized. The ‘samples’ he and Baxter had been arguing about. The IVF treatment my mother had undergone to have me.
“You’re my …” I began, but my throat caught on the next word. Because this Viking polar bear who profited off sex and drank human blood mixed into his whiskey … he couldn’t possibly be my …
“No, I am not your father, Jack.” Asbj?rn’s tone as he said it, the dead grief in his voice, knotted up in my chest, tangling with the tight sensation in my gut that had been lurking since we arrived in this weird place.
“But my twin brother was.”