Page 48 of Wolf Revealed

Mike cursed silently. Trey had gone up against a vita lamia a little while ago. Not only had the thing been dangerous as hell, but also nearly impossible to take down.

“What are you saying?” Xander asked with a frown. “That Roman is immortal?”

“Hardly. Although, I’m sure he wants to be,” Isla said with a snort. “It seems that Carlyle’s MODS, the vitality one in particular, comes with a shelf life. That’s where most of Roman’s money is going. He’s paying for the vita lamia treatments that have been keeping him young and strong. And if he wants to keep them up in the future, he’s going to have to keep paying, which will cost him hundreds of millions in the long run.”

Mike shook his head. “I guess that explains why Roman risked coming back to Dallas. He needs the flash drive to give him access to his crypto accounts to pay for these MODS.”

When Corbin, Everett, and Isla looked at him in confusion, Mike quickly explained what they’d learned about Roman’s cryptocurrency accounts and their theory that the account numbers, as well as the access keys, addresses, and seed phrases, were on a flash drive that had somehow been misplaced.

“How much money are we thinking Roman has in these crypto accounts?” Everett asked with a frown. “Because while a few million would be nothing to sneeze at for us, it wouldn’t pay for more than a few months’ worth of MODS.”

“We think there was around twenty million in the accounts a decade ago,” Gage said. “Depending on which cryptocurrency Roman invested in, the account could be worth a lot more now. I’m no expert, but if we’re talking about Bitcoin, those accounts could be worth a billion dollars.”

“Whoa,” Trey murmured. “No wonder Roman is so determined to get that flash drive.”

“And Roman expects you to find this drive for him?” Isla asked Mike, clearly worried. “Or he’s going to keep coming after your family?”

“Pretty much,” Mike said. “Unfortunately, I don’t know where it is.”

“Well, while this stuff about Carlyle explains why Roman is doing what he’s doing, we still don’t know why Chapman and Sentinel are trying to kidnap Xander and Carter.”

“Actually, we might,” Corbin said thoughtfully. “Chapman and Sentinel were hired by Carlyle and are here for their own purposes that have nothing to do with Roman. Xander and Carter were simply targets of opportunity.”

Mike exchanged confused glances with his pack mates and was about to ask what exactly Corbin was trying to say, when Lark interrupted.

“They weren’t after Xander and Carter,” she said in a tone that suggested she’d just figured something out. “They were after the first werewolf they could get their hands on.”

“Not the first werewolf,” Everett corrected. “The first hybrid werewolf. Our agent on the inside says Carlyle somehow got their hands on a small sample of hybrid DNA several months ago. We aren’t sure who they sold it to, but it was extremely profitable, and now they’re looking for more.”

“Crap,” Trey muttered. “Carlyle is the one who stole my DNA from the bio-waste disposal facility.”

Everett did a double-take. “How did your DNA end up in a bio-waste facility?”

“Long story,” Trey said, then quickly gave Lark’s family the CliffsNotes version.

Corbin shook his head. “I’m not sure if Carlyle stole it or had someone do it for them, but it definitely sounds like they ended up with it. They used the DNA to create some kind of MOD for a highly classified customer. On the downside, they had to use all the material they had on hand to do it, so they paid Chapman a lot of money to get more.”

Mike cursed silently. As if Roman wasn’t enough to worry about, now they had an international terrorist group trying to kidnap them and harvest their DNA.

Effing great.

“Okay, now that we all know what we’re up against, what’s the plan?” Isla asked. “Roman is after Lark and Kal, and Chapman and Sentinel are after your whole pack. We can’t simply sit here and wait until they make another move.”

“Unfortunately, we’re limited in what we can do at the moment,” Gage announced. “We don’t know where Roman and Chapman are hiding. Wayne and the department are still working to find Roman’s hideout, but they’re limited in the resources they can dedicate to the task, since most of their officers are dealing with the fallout of Roman’s ongoing gang war.”

“Until Roman gets that flash drive, he’ll still need the money he has coming in from his criminal activities,” Mike added. “That puts everyone in the city in danger.”

“What about luring Roman and Chapman into a trap?” Corbin asked.

While the idea was a good one, nothing they came up with over the next couple of hours seemed like it would work. Which meant all they could do was wait and hope to turn the situation to their advantage when Roman and Chapman finally did make their move. Until then, Lark and Kal would be in constant danger.

Gage’s cell phone rang, interrupting Mike’s thoughts. His boss stepped outside to take the call, then came back a few moments later.

“That was Wayne. He thinks they know where Roman’s hideout is.”

Chapter twenty

“Wayne and the task force must have a bigger budget than SWAT does when it comes to their surveillance vehicles,” Gage remarked as they approached the produce delivery vehicle parked along the backside of the unused warehouse in the east side industrial zone. “This thing is way more expensive than anything they’d ever let us use.”