Chapter Twenty-Two
Grant’s face became ashen after he watched the video. Beside him, Alynna and Alex looked distraught. While Nick’s face was its usual cold mask, the burning anger in his eyes was unmistakeable.
The Alpha too a few seconds to compose himself before he turned to Killian. “Thank you for trusting me with this. I swear to you, on my father’s grave and the life of my unborn child, that I had no idea that this was happening.”
“I believe you, Alpha,” Killian said. “Do you know why the Council would do something like this? I thought they were tasked to protect us?”
“It couldn’t be the whole High Council, could it Grant?” Nick asked, his face grave. “Could it be just one or some of the members? Or an insider? If Archie met with someone from the Council, that means they came to New York without your authorization.”
“That would be easy enough for any Lycan,” Grant admitted. “You know we can’t monitor all Lycan activities in the city. Permission is merely a formality, but the reality is any Lycan can come to New York as they pleased, and wouldn’t get in trouble as long as he or she didn’t run into one of us.”
“What does it all mean?” Alynna asked.
“We need to know more,” Killian replied. “Whoever killed Archie must have done this because he knew too much about the Lycan children.”
“There’s something else you need to know about the Council.” Grant massaged his temple with his fingers and relayed to everyone what happened when he met with the Council and about their concerns with Daric and the True Mate pairings.
“Looks like New York’s getting some heat from the Council,” Killian remarked.
Alynna frowned. “Could they really dissolve your territory?”
Grant nodded. “I’m afraid so. If they deemed us a threat.”
“That’s ridiculous. And our kids would never be a threat. We’re ensuring the survival of our species!” Alynna said, throwing her hands in the air. Alex frowned at her and wrapped an arm protectively around his wife’s middle.
“We must find out what the Council is up to,” Nick said.
“Or if it is the Council doing this,” Alynna interjected. “Hmmm…I always thought that Lljuffa wasn’t trustworthy! She’s also kinda creepy.”
“They all weren’t happy with the recent events,” Grant said. “It could be any of them or all of them. This won’t be easy, and we need to tread carefully,” Grant pronounced. “If we make one mistake, then we not only risk getting our territory dissolved, but also have the rest of the Lycans after us.”
“Wait,” Meredith chimed in. “There’s a way for us to get the information we need without risking New York, Grant.”
The Alpha frowned. “How?”
“We could get it. As Lone Wolves, we’re not pledged to New York,” she said. “If we were caught, you could deny everything.”
“Absolutely not,” Grant replied in a serious tone. “I don’t want you risking your lives or freedom.”
“It makes perfect sense, Alpha,” Killian said. “Besides, the main mission here is to find out what happened to Archie and those children the Council may or may not have deliberately ripped from their clans.”
“Fine,” Grant relented. “What do you propose?”
“A little trip to Switzerland,” Killian said.
***
The Lycan High Council headquarters was located in Switzerland, in the pretty city of Lausanne, located right on the shores of Lake Geneva. They were housed in a modern building not far from the center and looked like any office in the area. The Council headquarters was disguised as a think tank (cheekily named Le Loup Institute) and anyone who passed by it simply thought it to be an ordinary office building. However, it had a security system as tight as any Swiss Bank, and if this didn’t scare would-be thieves, then the heavily armed Lycan security guards outside probably would.
Of course, the Lone Wolves weren’t just ordinary criminals trying to break in. All four of them were trained by one of the world’s best thieves. The plan was to distract the guards, hack into their security system and install a backdoor into their server room so Quinn could get into their files. Simple enough, but they all couldn’t agree on how to move with the first part of their plan.
“You know, I could just try and seduce the guards,” Meredith said.
“No,” came the resounding disapproval from Connor and Daric.
“Yeah, what makes you think they’d be interested in you?” came Quinn’s reply which earned him a slap on the head from Meredith. “Oww! I meant, what if they played for the other team? They’re European, right?”
“You’re-a-peein’,’” Meredith snapped back.
So, they had to devise a plan to distract the guards. Daric was the obvious choice, as he would appear like any normal human to the Lycans, but he couldn’t do it himself. So, thanks to some glamour potions from the New York coven and a heavy blast of French perfume, Meredith came along to help him.
Daric put his arm around Meredith, and they casually strolled in front of the Council headquarters. The warlock whispered some French in her ear, because, of course, Daric spoke the language. Trying not to get distracted by the heat pooling between her legs, Meredith searched her brain for the little French she did know.
Once they were in front of the guard house, Meredith let loose. “Va te faire foutre!” she screamed at him. “Fils de pute!” She hoped that was convincing because “go fuck yourself” and “son of a bitch” were the only French phrases she could recall right now.
Daric answered back in rapid-fire French, begging and trying to touch her, but she kept batting him away. From the corner of her eye, she could see the two guards in the booth looking at each other, wondering if they should intervene in the lovers' quarrel.
“Grab me and slap me around a little,” Meredith hissed.
“What?” Daric whispered. “I cannot do that.”
She rolled her eyes. Making sure her back was turned to the guards, she gave herself a loud smack on the cheek. Ow, that stung. She let out a shriek and cry, forcing the tears from her eyes. Turning around, she ran to the guardhouse and started shrieking, hoping she was unintelligible enough so no one would notice she didn’t speak a lick of French.
The two Lycan guards seemed distraught as if they didn’t know what to do. Daric chased her into the guardhouse, shouting his apologies. One of the guards ran toward him, trying to stop him and he struggled as he begged and pleaded for Meredith’s forgiveness.
With the guards properly distracted, Killian snuck into the building. Quinn had already hacked into the cameras some time ago and had been playing a loop of the footage showing no signs of activity.
Meredith and Daric continued their lover’s quarrel, and each time the guards tried to make them leave, she would put on the waterworks and cower behind one of the guards, as Daric played the part of threatening/repentant boyfriend. This lasted another ten minutes, and it was a good thing that Connor flashed the all-clear signal from across the street (a mirror he had hidden in his pocket), indicating that Killian had made it out of the building.
The guards were threatening to call the police (a word Meredith recognized), so when Daric got on his knees, begging her for forgiveness, she quickly embraced him, made out with him with lots of tongue, and they reconciled.
“You didn’t have to squeeze my ass in front of those men,” Daric said glumly when they were out of earshot. “Or shoved your tongue down my throat.”
“I know,” she said cheekily.
He frowned when he saw the palm print on her cheek. “You shouldn’t have done that, either” he said, touching the redness.
“It’ll be gone in a few minutes, but that doesn’t matter anyway. We have what we came for. Or we will.”
They rounded the corner and met up with Killian. A black car pulled in front of them, driven by Connor and they all hopped inside.
“Are we in?” Killian asked Quinn.
Quinn stared at the screen, his frown turning into a smile. “Yes! We’re good to go.”
“Great,” Killian said. “Let’s head to the airport.”