AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Callan turned back to Jonas now. “What’s your opinion now, Director Wyatt?” he snarled.
“Callan, Mercury’s always had the feral hormone.” Jonas sighed. “His lab reports show this. The drug therapy they used merely kept him under their control. He killed when he was ordered. The drug controlled him; it silenced the need for freedom inside him and the anger he would have felt at the death of his pride members. You don’t see him in battle, or during missions. I do. And I’ve blocked Ely’s attempts to test him before and after his missions. Dr. Morrey’s concern for Mercury is commendable, but unnecessary.”
Callan’s eyes narrowed. “Why have you blocked those tests, at those times?”
Jonas sighed roughly at the question. “Because he’s what he was created to be in battle,” he admitted. “I have no better enforcer than Mercury. He’s cunning, merciless and frighteningly intelligent. His kill rate is lower than the other enforcers because he has enough power to take his enemies down physically, hand to hand, in large numbers, and he’s intelligent enough and in control enough to know when to kill and when not to.”
“And I haven’t been informed of these possible problems for what reason?” Callan growled back at him.
“Because the Bureau of Breed Affairs isn’t under Sanctuary’s control, Callan,” Jonas stated, albeit respectfully. “The enforcers are mine to watch over, and if I do say so, I do a damned good job of watching out for them. In the middle of mating heat, with Supremacists and fucking protestors crowding around our asses every time they see one of us on the streets. Those are my men, and regardless of Dr. Morrey’s paranoid little suspicions, the manipulations she accuses me of are some damned brilliant strategy if I do say so myself. My enforcers succeed, and that record speaks for itself.”
Kane spoke up then. “I want to know what made Dr. Morrey suspicious enough to deceive a friend and deliberately enrage him before taking that blood. You’ve always been someone we can trust, Ely. The one person we could count on to figure out what was going on with our mates, and in the Breeds’ cases, with their bodies. Why trick him?”
She stared at her hands.
“That’s something I’m interested in as well,” Callan stated, staring back at Ely. “Why did you target Mercury?”
She lifted her head, though she didn’t meet his eyes. She stared at his shoulder, the animal in her realizing the fine line she was walking now.
“The mating tests,” she whispered.
“He’s not her mate, so what’s the problem? Besides the feral adrenaline that showed up in it.”
Ely’s gaze flickered. “She’ll make it worse. Her hormones intensify the feral fever,” she whispered. “For some reason, when I tested for their mating values, that feral quality immediately showed up in the adrenaline. She’ll destroy him. His reaction to her will destroy him.”
“Or she’ll complete him,” Jonas spoke up, turning his gaze from Ely to Callan. “I’ve studied the lab reports, Callan. I don’t think Mercury lost his mate in those labs; he lost his animal instead. I think Ria is possibly his mate, and the presence of the strength in that feral adrenaline proves it. Mercury’s test results are never the same as other Breeds’. The animal DNA fluctuates in its recession, as Ely can confirm. I believe the results of those mating tests are more an indication that she is his mate, rather than not. I think the lioness could have been his mate. But I believe Ria is his mate.”
Ely’s anger built around her, the scent of it causing Callan to shoot her a sharp look.
“Respectfully,” she finally bit out, “where did he obtain his degree in genetics? Because his supposition is the most dangerous load of crap I’ve ever heard.”
“Respectfully, Dr. Morrey,” Jonas stated then, “I don’t need a degree to know not to betray a friend. It appears perhaps your education was lacking, though.”
“I know the science, and I know Breed genetics,” she fired back at him, though quieter than before. “All you know is your own arrogance.”
“Ask yourself, Ely, is it possible in any way that your findings could have been tampered with as well? Because if you’d pull your head out of your scientific ass long enough to realize it, you’d see that Mercury is in complete control.”
“Ely, leave the room,” Callan ordered her, staring at her, something hardening inside him at the sense of fanatical certainty he could feel pouring from her. “Return to your labs. I’ll let you know when I need to talk to you again.”
“Callan, you can’t let him continue this game,” she cried, jumping to her feet and facing him with a hint of desperation.
“Get your notes and your tests in order and have them faxed into this office,” he told her, his voice hardening. “I expect to see them within the hour.”
She stared back at him, breathing rapidly, before clenching her fists and stalking from the room. Callan watched her go, his eyes narrowed, his own suspicions aroused now as he turned back to Jonas.
“Any orders I give concerning Mercury will come from me, in person.” He turned to Kane. “Find out who the hell is falsifying my orders and bring that person to me. I want to know exactly what
the hell is going on here.”
“The enforcer who relieved Mercury of his weapon and uniform came to me afterward,” Jonas told him. “He said the order came into Austin Crowl’s office. The enforcer took the call himself. Someone’s impersonating your voice, at the least.”
Callan rubbed at the still-sensitive flesh of his chest, where he had taken a bullet but months before, and turned to Kane.
“Is this room secured?”
Kane moved from his chair, slid open a drawer on Callan’s desk and lifted free the handheld listening device detector.
“It says we’re clear,” he murmured, replacing it. But his pale blue eyes were suspicious.
