Page 131 of Blade's Battle
“You want the answer? Come back with me.”
That awful glimmer in Drake’s eyes would normally make her stomach rebel. At the moment, however, it was Blade’s disbelief, his desperation to get her away from Drake that had her insides all twisted. While she hated stressing Blade, Anna had to this situation around, and that meant dealing with Drake directly. Neither pack could afford a war, not with the real enemy still out there, the enemy Drake threatened to bring to their very doorstep, the enemy that had already crossed into Damien’s, Liam’s and Drake’s territories without their knowing it.
“Fine, don’t tell me. It’s moot,” Anna said, waving a hand casually as she circled Drake. “I wouldn’t give up Blade or our pack for the world. But you, Drake, you’re not going to tell the WSSO where I am.”
“Why is that?” he challenged. His voice hadn’t lost its growl yet.
“Because I’m the only one who can return your shifters’ ability to shift, to access their wolves. How many of your pack contracted the virus and survived? Last I heard you had thirty shifters down with the virus. So, with an eighty percent cure rate, that means you probably have at least twenty-four shifters who can’t shift.”
“Twenty-six,” one of his guards behind him said.
That was good. She had hoped his shifters behind him were listening. Let him try to keep that little tidbit about a fix from spreading through his pack. Surely some of them had family or friends crippled by the virus. Dissension in his pack might force him to cooperate.
“That’s impossible. The virus destroyed their abilities,” Drake said.
“I was the first to survive the virus, remember, Drake?” Tess said. “The virus left me unable to shift. I’m sure you remember that too. You cornered me in a cave and made a pass at me when we first met.”
“What?” Damien said, his eyes suddenly tearing into Drake. Tess grabbed hold of him by his arm. “I’ll tell you about it later, Big Guy. I have a little demo to give first.”
Anna smiled as Tess shifted in seconds, as fast as Drake had. Her wolf, a beautiful red and brown pranced around, earning her a growl from Damien as he physically nudged her away from Drake. “You’ve proved your point, Tess.”
“She’s proved nothing,” Drake said.
“Then bring me one of your shifters and I’ll give him or her the treatment so there’s no question. You choose. And I warn you, Drake, the treatments are ongoing. One shot required every six months to repair the genes until they finally stabilize. After that, there will be yearly maintenance shots. It’s a long and tedious process to correct the damaged genes, and if anything happens to me, to Blade, or to this pack at your hands, or the WSSO comes after us, you’ll lose the ability to keep your shifters healthy because that knowledge is all up here.” Anna pointed to her head. “And it’s not something you can pry out of me unless you have an advanced degree in genetic engineering and years of research on the subject with the ability to make the necessary adjustments your shifters will need along the way.”
“You can’t hold me responsible for what the WSSO does.”
Liam was chuckling somewhere behind her even as Blade’s hand rested on the small of her back. She didn’t dare take her eyes off of Drake to look at either shifter. The second she did, she’d lose her momentum and appear weak.
“I certainly can. Call it an incentive for you to make sure they don’t come after Damien’s or Liam’s packs for any reason. After all, you are all allies, right? What could be in your interest more than protecting your allies?”
“Concede, already, Drake,” Liam said. “And let us focus on the real enemy instead of fighting amongst ourselves.”
“Maybe he hasn’t heard,” Damien said. “Three more packs, north of here, have contracted the virus.”
“And we still have no idea how it’s spreading,” Liam added.
“Fine, keep the female, Damien, but I better never see that scout of yours in my territory again.”
“Agreed,” Damien said.
Anna gripped Blade’s arm, to keep him from protesting. Drake and his pride needed a win, and it was a minor concession for Blade to avoid Drake’s land.
“The WSSO is infecting the salt licks with the virus,” Anna said. All eyes turned to her again. “At least that’s my theory. I’ve only tested one salt lick.”
“On our land,” Blade added. “But we saw other licks on Drake’s and Liam’s property too.”
“I haven’t tested those, but my guess is they’re all infected.”
“But we don’t touch the salt licks,” Tess protested. “Those are for the. . .”
“The deer,” Damien finished for her. “Hell. Infect our food supply, infect us.”
“That’s my theory, but I really need to test some of the local game to see how widespread this is.”
Now everyone was talking at once. About notifying other packs, how to check which deer would be virus-free, and whether to avoid hunting deer altogether. Blade pulled Anna away and Tess followed.
Tess waited until Drake and his guards shifted and took off toward their territory. All that remained were Liam and his guards as well as Damien’s shifters. “Do I really need shots every six months?” Tess asked.
