“What kind of coins?” I said hoping I sounded casual.
“Stop playing coy. You know Alcuin has kept me apprised of your house-to-house searches. Zane, as my second in command, was also giving me detailed accounts of your activities. Why wouldn’t he?”
“He wouldn’t if he’d known what a …”
“Now, now, let’s forget the name calling and move on.” Logan’s smile remained, but his eyes blazed crimson. I’d hit a nerve.
“Would you like to see the coins, Ms. Carpenter?”
I turned to glare at Alcuin, the one person who could have delivered them personally to Logan. Again I sensed his shame and doubted that he’d willingly wanted to partner with the alpha wolf, but he had. Why?
I didn’t have time to ponder further before Logan nodded at one of the guards, who pulled a briefcase from the podium’s inside shelf.
Eager to see all the coins together, I leaned forward.
I wasn’t disappointed. They’d been polished with professional care and glowed in the moonlight. The magical sigils writhed across their surfaces, reminding me of the markings on my ankle. Alone they’d seemed special, but as a set, spectacular. An almost tangible force radiated from the case. I couldn’t help but reach out a hand.
Just missing my fingers, Logan closed it with a click; extinguishing the preternatural flame I’d felt so powerfully only seconds before.
“What are they for?” I wanted to caress the coins. The need to have them in my possession was almost overwhelming. I knew they were somehow central to everything I’d endured.
Logan, as Zane had implied, loved to listen to himself talk. He launched into the details I’d been waiting to hear.
I listened with a mixture of awe and increasing terror as Logan, with a few insertions from Martin, explained his intricate plot to rule as the unquestioned leader of all werewolves and mutants. Something his father had aspired to, but failed to embrace following a death match with Zane’s father.
Pretending to be appalled by his father’s devious plan, but in reality devastated about his death, Logan had used Zane’s guilt, and his lack of desire to lead, as a means to take over the Pacific Pack. Zane, the true heir, became second in command, where he was content to wander for weeks, returning when he was needed.
Logan had also formed a secret alliance with a power hungry Jazmine, knowing very well that few men, purebreds, or mutants, could resist her sexual allure. He’d hoped she would keep Zane in line while manipulating any male they needed.
Just over a year ago, one of Logan’s Native American partners, working for Martin, had after years of looking, located the fae document Logan’s father had been seeking. It had been buried in an ancient Indian burial ground. The fear of angry spirits, had kept treasure hunters away until the US government proclaimed the sites historical, religious landmarks, off limits to outsiders.
The legendary text described a medical procedure capable of altering mutants, giving them the ability to sun walk in their changed forms like their purebred counterparts.
In addition, a process for creating mutants out of men, without being bitten by a purebred was revealed. The men, changed in this manner, were less likely to die from infection or other complications. In the past, a high percentage of those who were bitten didn’t survive the change, and it was also against the treaty to create more bitten mutants.
The fae, or fairies, as humans called them, were the most powerful supernatural beings, second only to God’s holiest angels. Divided into the Seelie and Unseelie courts, they spent more time battling each other than worrying about the other supernatural creatures, which they deemed inferior to their own ancient race.
Overwhelmed by information, I would have considered fantasy fiction two weeks ago, I cleared my throat. “So, you were performing medical experiments on unwilling men?” I’d seen their so-called medical procedures in the visions from David and Martin’s dog.
Logan shrugged. “Chloe, my dear, there’s always been a price for knowledge. I need to build an army fast. To exert my authority, and garner the respect and support needed to rule, I had to cut corners. Besides, I’m doing them a favor. They end up with super strength and abilities they’d never acquire in their weak human bodies.”
A jolt of anger kicked my adrenaline into high gear. I trembled with energy. “How dare you decide for someone else who or what they should be? And you’re still lying. Not all your patients are surviving, are they?”