Yarrow kicked another chair. “You lied to the council, to the realm.”
My father’s smile turned predatory. “I find it laughable that you have the audacity to still be angry that I lied.” My dad clicked a few things, and the screen displayed a slideshow of papers and photos. “Is this you, Yarrow?”
Yarrow stumbled against the wall as his crimes were plainly laid out. “This is-”
“Already authenticated. We got most of this off of Vince’s servers.” My father clicked on an email and blew it up. “Let's see. ‘It doesn’t matter that the Queen is pregnant with another pup. The Lycan race needs to be eradicated, and we are just following Garith’s orders.’ That’s…well, that right there is damning. What do you think, Rowan?”
Rowan had turned, and I could see he was fighting with Erubus. He pulled at the neckline of his shirt, and his mating mark burned bright on his skin. Another gasp went through the council. “She was telling the truth.” Theo pointed to Rowan’s neck. “He found his mate.”
I turned to face Rowan and reached up to trace the mark I left there. Rowan shivered as my fingers glided over his skin. His eyes turned to me with a soft glow from his wolf, and I smiled. His soft rumble made my stomach clench, but my father’s cough pulled me back to the meeting. “Of course I was telling the truth.Why would I hide my mate?” I turned and stretched out my neck, showing off my matching mark.
Another gasp went around the room, but then Marcus laughed. His chuckle bounced off the wall and earned a few growls from my side of the table. “What is so funny?” Rowan took a menacing step towards them.
Marcus wiped his face and tried to fight the soft chuckles to answer. “I just think this is fucking perfect.”
My dad’s eyes narrowed. “Perfect…for what?”
Marcus finally got himself under control, and his face fell into a mask of stillness. “You did this big show here, but it doesn’t matter. While we have been talking, our guards have executed your pack members here, and with all of you here…we can kill all of you at once. With one swoop and every thorn in our side is gone. The King, his whore Queen, and this fucking pack of meddling fools.” He laughed again. “The spear will take care of everyone here, and no one, not even the Goddess, can save you.”
The council all looked at each other as Marcus’s words set in, and one by one they joined in with his laughter. Theo, with his confidence restored once again, strode over and lifted my chin with a finger. “You are a pretty little thing though. If you serve me, I might find a use for you.”
I smiled as I leaned into him. The smirk on his face bloomed into a full grin as he thought I was leaning in to kiss him, but my smile fell as I felt my fangs descend. “The only way I will serve you, Theo…is if you are on a fucking platter.” My hand shot out, and his scream ripped through the room as I snapped the finger that was touching me. “Don’t ever fucking touch me. Do you understand?” I shoved him back to the others.
Theo screamed as he snapped his bent finger back into proper alignment before his bones fused that way. “You stupid bitch. I was offering you a way out, but you threw it back in my face.” His face was splotchy, and spit flew from his mouth as he pointedat me with his healing finger. “Now you can die with the other riffraff.”
I snorted. “Riffraff? What century is this?” I shook my head. I walked back to the table. “May I?” My father nodded and slid his chair out of the way. I typed away at the textile screen, pulling report after report. “Theo, by the looks of this, you were the driving force behind killing the Queen and the Princess. Yarrow, you directed the royal guards out of the capital, opening the royal family up to assassination. Evan…” I paused as I read everything in his file. I looked up to see his pale face. “You are one sick fuck. Do you know that?” I kept clicking as image after image pulled up of his crimes. Wolves torn limb from limb in some lab he was working with.
“What the fuck is that?” Marcus furrowed his brow as I paused on one screen.
“I think we all know what that is, Marcus.” I enhanced the image. “Humans…you gave wolves to the humans to experiment on us.” I growled out as I looked at my father. “They already know we exist.” I clicked through to the next screen.
“Wait!” Marcus stumbled towards the screen, and there was a noise in his throat, almost like he was choking on something. “Go back.” I glanced up and saw his frantic eyes.
“Why?” I hovered over the button to switch photos.
“Please.” Marcus gasped. “Please, just go back.”
“Marcus, what is your issue?” Theo called out, but he ignored his friend.
Marcus met my eyes, and I could see something behind his eyes that made me click the back button. It was an older photo. I pulled out the metadata from the photo and threw it up beside the photo.
Evan slid towards the door, but I called out. “Where do you think you are going?” I hit the command to lock the door. “No one is leaving this room until I say so.”
Marcus reached out his hand slowly. “Can you zoom in?” His eyes darted to me, and he looked almost crazed.
I nodded once before I pulled the photo into an editor. I zoomed in on the wolf that was being dissected on the table. My mind passed over the gore I saw there and focused on making the faces of everyone in the room clearer. I worked on the scientists’ faces first. I selected each person and used a combination of editing and AI to rebuild the person’s face as best as I could.
“I don’t care about the men; I want to see the wolf.” Marcus nearly screamed.
I kept working. “I am doing it this way because I want to show you I am not manipulating the faces.” I glanced up at him. “Goddess forbid you try to turn this on me when I am just trying to help.”
Evan stumbled towards me. “Stop.”
Marcus whirled on him. His trembling hand shot out and struck Evan in the face. “You shut the fuck up.” He turned back to me. “Please keep going.”
I looked at my father out of the corner of my eye, and I could tell from his face that he had figured it out. I was still in the dark as I turned my talents to the second-last face. The man was in the middle of cutting into the woman’s chest. I worked silently until Evan’s face became clear. Theo and Yarrow turned on their friend.
“You helped the humans dissect a wolf?” Yarrow growled. The others crowded the front of the desk as I slowly and methodically unveiled the woman’s face. When the final adjustment went in, and the photo loaded, every man in the office gasped. Everyone except Evan. He knew exactly who it was.
