I hear you loud and clear, she-wolf.
She exhaled on a laugh.
Can’t talk right now. I’m getting an earful from my wolf.
Chapter Ten
Az stared down at the man who had raised his mate and tried to find a shred of normalcy contained in his crazed eyes. The man was a senator in the United States Congress and had, for gods knew how long, been co-leading a coven somehow connected to their father. How had Leah been kept safe for as long as she had been?
Senator St. James’ involvement with the dark magics also changed his opinion that Leah had been kept with the Senator for her own safety. Her mother might have been afraid to leave him, afraid that he would turn over his daughter to Kendrick if she did.
The whole thing was completely nefarious and Az feared they might never know all the answers to these questions, as the man couldn’t seem to speak in coherent sentences.
Or at least he wants us to think he can’t.
His wolf’s tone was nothing short of furious and had been since he’d returned to his body.
How could you let him take me like that?
Well, in any case, it was a mixture of hurt disbelief and outraged anger. Az was pretty sure he preferred the anger to the disappointment.
I didn’t let him do anything and you know it. He took you and I had no way to stop him.
His wolf made a sound that was distinctly like a harrumph noise and settled down like he was going to take a nap. It had been a long day for all of them. Only, Az’s wasn’t quite over yet. He still had to get the information they needed from Leah’s ‘father’ and then dispose of the man. Normally Cullen, Theo, or Gabriel would have handled the second part of his last thought. This time, however, it was personal to Az. Not only had the man taken his wolf, he’d threatened his mate.
Az felt his eyes turn wolf at the thought, his furry side waking up abruptly as his blood pressure surged, causing his heart to beat loudly in his ears. The man was basically a walking, talking corpse even if he didn’t know it yet.
Anything yet? Leah’s tired, worried voice filled his mind.
He had insisted she stay behind and not be part of the questioning and removal of her father when they’d taken the man downstairs to the lab. Right now she was with the other women, upstairs in the main house. As tough as she might believe she was, his mate had a heart filled with kindness and compassion. There was no way in hell he was letting her witness what was about to happen.
“Senator, are you awake?” Az finally addressed the man who lay on the floor. He had to admit to a certain amount of personal satisfaction in finally having the upper hand on a man who had caused him a tremendous amount of physical and emotional pain.
Cullen stood to the left of Azriel. Although nearly silent, Az became aware of his brothers entering the room followed by Faith, Malcolm, Summer, Trent, and Boyd.
Looking up he caught Tristan’s eye.
“Who is with Leah?”
“Jana, Ashlee, the kids and the rest of the pack. Everyone is under ‘distract Leah’ orders. Braden is going to show her his magic tricks.”
Az hissed out a laugh. “Magic, huh?”
“Glad to have yours back?”
Sighing, he regarded his older brother. Everyone had known Tristan should be Alpha…everyone but Tristan. Azriel couldn’t help but wonder what they all ‘knew’
about him that they never let him become aware of.
“Yes. I am glad to have the wolf back. As much as he drives me a little crazy, he is mine. We need each other. However,” Azriel looked down at Leah’s father. “I’m thinking that magic isn’t going to work in this circumstance. His mind, it’s warped. He wants the magic. Maybe he even feeds off it. I can’t help but feel that considering the fact we were cursed by a witch—more than once if we count your getting imprisoned in your wolf body—that we have been tremendously negligent in not learning more about these people who are in our father’s employ.”
“You’re right, of course.” Tristan nodded as he considered what he said. Looking over his shoulder, Az watched Tristan narrow his eyes. “Rex, come here.”
The look of surprise that crossed Rex’s face almost made Az laugh. Their youngest brother had been out of favor recently after running away from the island and nearly getting killed by Kendrick during the fiasco with fire demons. Tristan very rarely addressed him directly.
“How would you like a job?” Az turned to give Rex and Tristan some privacy but Tristan growled and pointed a finger to stop Az from leaving. Raising an eyebrow, Az had no idea what Tristan wanted at this particular moment.
After a moment, Rex answered. “I would be honored by any job you wanted to give me, my Alpha. Do you want me to kill him?” Rex pointed at the man on the floor.
Az interrupted. “I’m going to kill him.”
“No one is killing him.” Tristan’s tone gave no room for rebuttal. Az wanted to howl in anger. It was his right to eliminate the threat to his mate. Anger surged through his veins so strongly that Az had to close his eyes to resist screaming at Tristan.
“Before you get yourself into a frenzy, hear me out. Rex, we’re going to be taking a little pack trip out to Dad’s.” Tristan raised his finger again in a gesture he was obviously using more and more to stop people from interrupting. “Yes, Cullen, I will be going too. I know you were going to object. Don’t think I’m not aware that you are standing over there listening to every word I say.”
Cullen muttered an apology and Tristan laughed. “Rex, when we get where we’re going, you are going to have the job of capturing us a witch. This might not be so easy. It is highly likely they will get away. We haven’t even seen one in person since we killed the one who cursed us. If they so much as get wind of our arrival, they will vanish. Your job is to bring one back. If they run, you chase. Got it?”
“Yes, my Alpha.” Az noted the glint of happiness that filled Rex’s eyes before he pushed it down. Compared to the rest of them, Rex was very young. They all needed their Alpha’s approval. It looked as if right now Rex needed it a lot more.
“Good.” Tristan turned all of his attention to Az now. He was going to get Tristan to let him deal with Nathan St. James, too bad if Tristan didn’t want to be argued with.
“We need information from him. Let Cullen get it.”
“No.” Az said his last words through gritted teeth. What he really wanted to do was shift and tear Senator St. James to pieces.
“Why? Why does it have to be you?”
Az shrugged. “Why can’t it be me?”
Something glimmered in Tristan’s eyes and Az couldn’t make out what it was.
“Because you have to be able to look at her when this is over. She has to stare you in the eyes and not see your guilt at handling this written all over your face. Notice,” Tristan indicated the room. “Ashlee isn’t here but Summer and Faith are. Ash knows I have to do things as Alpha…yet, if I was the man to handle this she would be horrified. Faith and Summer have the stomach for interrogation. Jana’s not here either or any of the other women. Go find your mate—comfort her. I need you to work on that compound you thought up to stop the wolves from making the shift, the vaccine. I need that before we can leave and I need to leave tomorrow.”
Az couldn’t help the growl that escaped his throat. “I have the same instincts as everyone else. I don’t need to be protected from my mate’s displeasure. She’s not here because this is her father. However, that does not mean she is under any illusions about what is going to go on in here. Cullen isn’t going to be able to get what he needs from him.” Az walked over to the cabinet that stood on the left side of the interrogation room.