––––––––

SILAS AND JASMINE WATCHED the monitor and listened as Alpha William relayed his report. Earlier several rogues had been apprehended near the Canadian line in Minnesota. Alpha William’s men held the rogues until he and his Beta arrived and could question them.

The small group claimed they had been given weapons as protection against humans but didn’t say who provided them or exactly where they were headed in Canada.

“Do you believe them?” Silas asked wondering what was really going on. Over the years, dissatisfied pack members often left the country seeking a place to live without rules or structure. Being armed raised several questions, who provided the weapons and why? Pack didn’t use weapons against humans, there was no reason. Unless subterfuge was the goal.

“I don’t know,” Alpha William said. “It’s definitely strange but I didn’t sense they were lying. Should we hold them longer or release them?”

Silas wasn’t sure. There was something odd about the whole thing. “How many have crossed your land into Canada this month?”

“Thirty males, a few bitches. No pups that we know of.”

“What do you think?” he asked Jasmine.

“Is that a high number? Who’s leaving? Full-blood or Breeds? I’m not sure I understand the root of your anxiety.”

“Full-bloods. No, the number isn’t high, it’s surprising for so many to leave together, with some kind of structure. Normally they migrate one or two together.”

“I see.”

“Maybe it’s nothing.”

“No, it’s something otherwise you wouldn't be concerned. Hold them overnight, sleep on it. Talk to the Goddess if you can. You need to have a peace about your decision,” she said.

Silas instructed Alpha William to hold them until he gave the word for their release. He also contacted Alphas Giovanni, Edin, Armando, Godfrey, Amos, Hollister, Jayden, Lathem, and Alfredo, all of their pack lands were near the Canadian border. They were to keep a record of pack leaving through their lands to Canada and to investigate what they were carrying with them. He also informed them Alpha William seized weapons from a group migrating to Canada when they crossed his borders.

Once he sent the warning he sat back and stared at the blank monitor for a few seconds.

“What’s bothering you?” Jasmine took his hand.

“Weapons. That smacks of a plan to harm humans and blame it on other humans or worse, pack gets blamed.” He kissed the back of her hand and covered it with his other hand. “Should I cancel David’s trip?” he looked at her.

Jasmine frowned. “What do you mean? I thought you were sending a group, Cain, and Knights, a lot of people. Why are you saying David’s trip?”

“Calm down, Sweet Bitch. I'm not comfortable with all this migration to Canada now that I’m thinking of moving into that area. Word’s gotten around, packs have been questioned, they know I’m thinking of expansion, so why are these rogues moving there ahead of me? To fight? A civil war? Do I want my son caught in the cross-fire?”

She leaned against him. For several seconds neither spoke. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but you have to let him go. David is a born Alpha. This will be good for him. If he’s caught in the crossfire of a war, he has several tools at his disposal. If not you, then his siblings, and his mother of course. This is one of those times we have to let go and allow them to walk their own paths.”

He looked down at her. “I can’t believe you said that either.” He kissed the top of her head and then rubbed his chin against it. “But I’m happy you did. I won’t coddle him, neither will Cain. They’ll all be briefed by what’s going on, so they’ll have an idea what to expect.”

Jasmine pushed away from him. “Have you heard from Jarcee? I can’t wait to meet his mate. I’m so happy for him. Will he invite us to dinner? Or maybe we can go to a restaurant or something, take them out. Jarcee’s special. I want to meet her.”

Silas agreed. “I entrusted your safety and the safety of my pups to him. He’s a good friend and loyal pack member. It’s good the Goddess has blessed him with a mate.”

“A human mate, a breeder,” Jasmine said grinning. “He’s in for it now. You think she has any idea what he is or about mates?”

“I don’t know, yet.” Silas looked at his mate, her eyes glowed with speculation.

“I can help her.” She met his gaze. “She’ll need some help. Being mated to a full-blood takes getting used to and time. Ask me how I know?” She winked at him.

“How do you know? I was good to you, very kind and understanding of your human phobias.” He grinned when she rolled her eyes.

“Good thing this isn’t about you, it’s about Jarcee and his human mate. We need to find out what we can about her to help with her transition,” Jasmine said with a determined glint.

“You’re sure she’ll accept him? She can turn him down, you know,” he said.

“Only if she’s into pain, not necessarily physical because there’s some of that. But emotionally and mentally she’ll be in a world of hurt.” She stared at him. “It's like nothing you’ve ever experienced. The more time they spend together the harder it is to break the strings or bond.” She shook her head. “I could never leave you.” She blinked several times and looked up at him. “Not that I’d want to, you own my heart completely.”

“Thanks for that clarification,” he said in a dry tone.

She chuckled. “It’s just... Jarcee’s always been here for us. Always. I want this to be perfect for him.”

Silas rubbed her arm and pulled her close. “It will be. Whatever it takes, we’ll make sure they’re together. Now smile and kiss me.”

Jasmine grinned as she moved closer and kissed him. They broke apart on a gasp.

“I love you,” she murmured outlining his lips with her fingertip. “You’re my heart.”

“I know and I love you. You own my heart.” He patted her on the butt.

“Silas you need to see this,” Jacques said.

“What is it?” Silas didn’t spend nearly enough alone time with his mate and wasn’t ready to let work intrude.

“A message, more like an order from the White House. You need to see this on a secure channel,” Jacques said.

An order? His beast rose to the surface.

“What’s wrong?” Jasmine asked.

He told her what Jacques said.

“Patch it through to my office, Jasmine and I will look at it,” he told Jacques.

“Done.”

The monitor flicked on. A letter on official letterhead filled the screen. He and Jasmine read it.

“He wants a count? A census of all pack members,” Jasmine said, disbelief apparent in her voice. “What’s this about a land dispute? Are they threatening to take pack lands? Plus a penalty of $100,000 dollars a day after 30 days? What the hell’s going on?”

Silas read the letter again and again. Each time he fought down his beast to remain calm so he could think. Did this Administration think he’d allow them to take land from the pack? Penalize him for not jumping through their hoops?

“I’m not sure about the land disputes. It’s possible the government will challenge some of our purchases or rights to ownership. As far as the penalty, I’ll get Lyle on it.” He tapped his finger against the table while looking at the letter.

“What happened to the Liaison Office in the White House that was supposed to work with the President and us?”

“It’s there in name only, it’s not staffed with pack,” Silas said.

“This is about the Knights isn’t it?” she asked sounding disgusted. “Retaliation of some sorts. We won’t give them our people to experiment on so they order a census, next they’ll ask for names, addresses, and social security numbers so they can single them out. It won’t matter that our people are citizens of this country. We won’t give them any numbers or real information about the pack.”

Silas agreed and appreciated how upset she was over this issue. “Why now?” he looked at her. “Why are they playing this hand now? They know I’m not going to do this, and I’ll never let them take our land or pay a damn penalty. We’ll win in court, so what’s the real end game here?”

“Hurt feelings because we didn’t go to dinner? Never accepted their invitations?” She shrugged. “I don’t know. Can’t we ask someone?”

Silas nodded and reached out to General Miller.

“Sir?” General Miller answered.

Silas told him of the contents of the letter.

“What? A census? Penalty? They can’t be serious,” Miller said. “On the other hand, maybe they are. Things have changed in the past year.”

“Are our people in any kind of danger?”

“No. But there’s talk about some kind of an identification system. Several companies, some with our people and some without, have been ordered to some kind of testing. I didn’t give it much thought until now.”

“What kind of tests?” Silas asked.

“I don’t know, Sir. But I’ll find out. Since they cannot determine pack members by blood, they may have developed something else. No one’s talking, which means this goes to the top.”

“Find out what’s in the tests. I won’t have pack members treated as guinea pigs,” Silas said aggravated they constantly had to revisit the same issues over and over again.

He sat back in his seat staring at the blank monitor. What are they up to this time? He didn’t think the President had the authority to do this. He’d reach out to the Senators and Representatives in Congress to get an idea of what was going on. They would shed light on the matter. In the meantime, he was concerned over the safety of his pups. Renee’s wedding was on the horizon. Adam would be leaving the country again, this time without Jarcee. In the next week, David would be heading to Canada, and the twins and Cameron were going on vacation to Jamaica with their mates.

The timing of this order concerned him as well. Granted, he hadn’t accepted any of the invitations to dine and meet with the President at the White House. With the Knights being kidnapped and the addition of Storm and Razor to the pack, his plate had been full. He should’ve expected some kind of push-back but a 30-day mandatory census surprised him

“I want a meeting with all the Alphas,” he told Jacques.

“When?”

“Now, as soon as possible.” Silas looked at Jasmine. “There has to be a connection. Mass migration to Canada, a ridiculous demand for a head count in 30 days and an underlying threat to steal our land. What’s the common thread? What am I missing? There’s something going on here.”

She placed her hands on his shoulders and massaged them for a few minutes as she thought through his question.

“That feels good,” he murmured and dropped his head as she continued.

“Maybe they simply don’t know how big we are, have no real idea of our numbers and want to know. I can think of several reasons why they’d want to know, but fear is right up there. Even though our pack is roughly 10% of the population, one-person commands 100% of their loyalty. One word from you will activate a cohesive army to rise up against them. Whereas, even if they were in agreement to fight against the pack, they’d never receive 100% cooperation as you can.” She sighed. “Not to mention we’re much better fighters and more difficult to kill. I can see why they’d want to know.”

He looked at her. “Good points, I’d want to know if I were in their shoes. Here’s the thing, we need our human counterparts. As large as we are, there are not enough of us to hold this Nation against a foreign threat like Russia or China. I have told the Joint Chiefs over and over we have no interests in taking over or rising up. We simply want to live in peace.”

She kissed the top of his head. “I know but they don’t believe you because they’d never be satisfied if they were you. Understand, you’re being judged by their moral compass and personal barometer. They can’t believe you don’t want everything because they do.”

He sighed, knowing she was right. “I’d never trust or expect an honest accounting unless I had my own people verifying the data. So why bother? I’ve worked with the Joint Chiefs long enough that they know I won’t give numbers or allow the government to take our land. We’ve been here longer than they’ve been alive.”

She bent forward and kissed the top of his head. “When you put it like that, none of this makes sense. Why send such a letter when they know you won’t agree?”

“I don’t know and that pisses me off,” he said.

“Are you going to answer the letter?” she asked.

He released a stream of air. “I don’t know. Lyle’s our attorney, I’ll see what he says first and then wait to hear from General Miller.

“Alpha conference in ten minutes, should I contact Angus, the twins, Hawke, and Asia?” Jacques asked.

“Yes. I want Cain and Abel here as well.” He thought about it a few seconds. “Storm and David as well. I’ll contact them.”

“Yes, Sir,” Jacques said.

“Meeting in ten,” Silas told Jasmine. She headed to the bathroom. Silas contacted the others. Storm seemed surprised but agreed to attend.

Jasmine walked toward him, they left and headed toward the main conference room. Tyrese and Tyrone met them in the hall. Each kissed Jasmine on the cheek.

“You doing okay, Mom?” Tyrese asked.

Jasmine nodded. “Let’s go inside.”

The twins walked behind her and Silas. Angus, Cain, and Abel stood around the large table while Jacques prepared the equipment. Moments later a blank screen appeared.

David and Storm entered the room together, looked around and sat next to each other at the far end of the table. Silas nodded at them both. “I’m ready,” he said to Jacques. The screen flickered, one by one Alphas appeared on the screen.

“Full accounting,” Silas said.

Each Alpha greeted him with their name and territory. “Alpha Theron, the great state of Texas, Sir.”

Silas smiled but didn’t say anything until every Alpha spoke, then he linked with all of them to gauge their thoughts on the information he would share with them.

“Within the past hour, I’ve received troubling information from the U.S. Government. Jacques will read the letter.”

Jacques read the letter.

Silas absorbed the shock of every Alpha and those seated in the room. He allowed them to argue, state their outrage and anger before calming them down. Pleased by their reactions he raised his hand.

“First, there will be no census,” he said. Truthfully there was no reason for a census, Silas already had the information.

The Alphas cheered.

“We will not share any data on any pack member with them now or ever. So be at ease over that issue.” He looked at David and then the others at the table. “Next week I am sending a small exploratory group to Canada and Mexico. There has been increased migration to Canada recently, I suspect something is going on but have not discovered a plot or direct mischief toward us yet.”

“Have they recruited rogues or rebels to the Military?” an Alpha asked.

“It’s possible and another reason to be vigilant, watch your borders. Asia and Angus,” he looked at those two seated at the table, “will inform KnightForce of possible threats and prepare them for whatever is necessary for an added layer of protection.”

“Why are they doing this?” an Alpha asked.

“We’ve never had this problem before,” another Alpha said sounding as confused as Silas felt.

“The only reason to want to know our size is to prepare a defense against us. My mate made a valid point if we gave them a number, then they’ll want names, addresses, Social Security Numbers. I won’t do that,” Silas said.

More cheers from the Alphas and the people in the room.

“They change leaders too fast. It seems as soon as things settle they play musical chairs. The humans could learn a lot about governing from us,” Alpha Theron said.

Silently Silas agreed with him. But their Nation was led by the Goddess and they all believed in her. He glanced at his mate, well most of them, which made it easier to lead.

“I don’t know what their next move will be,” Silas said into the heated debates flying around. They all quieted.

“But a gauntlet was tossed at my feet, I have no choice but to pick it up on behalf of my pack.”

The Alphas cheered.

“Keep this in your inner circle for now. I want everyone on alert, there’s a good chance they’ve sent spies among us. Rogues, rebels, those disloyal to pack.” The very real notion that a pack member could betray them sent a shaft of pain through his heart. Granted, Silas could eventually find and destroy them, but the damage would be done.

“Death to the betrayers,” an Alpha shouted. The rest took up the chant until Silas held up his hands.

“I would have them interviewed first by a member of my team, is that understood?” Silas glanced at Asia and then Angus. He would have them use the chameleon bracelet to sift through memories to find out the nucleus of the plot against them.

“Yes, Alpha.”

“This warning is for you to be more vigilant. I believe the Government has all of your names and the lands you own. They may track members by addresses, that cannot be helped.”

“Most pack don’t live on our lands, but they do shop at our stores on pack land. If they recorded license plates, that’s another way to identify pack,” another Alpha said, drawing others into agreement.

“What should we do for those who’ve already been identified?” an Alpha asked.

Silas looked a Jasmine for a few seconds. “Good question,” he said to her. “I hadn’t thought of that. There’s no telling how long they’ve been watching and identifying our people.” The idea pissed him off but this wasn’t the time to allow his beast freedom, he needed a clear plan of action.

“Tell them. Tell the pack so they’re aware. They need to know there’s a threat to our way of life,” she said. “I’ll pass the information to the women so they can be on alert for more humans in the area, although a lot of surveillance is done by satellite. A lot depends on how bad they want the information and how much they’ve already done. Also, this could be a ruse to hide something else.”

He thought it over, calculated the damage from the fallout and faced the Alphas and the others in the room.

“Change of plans. Since we don’t know how long they’ve been documenting pack members or if they have started, each of you will inform your members of this new threat.”

All eyes were on him. “Earlier I said to keep the information close and not share with the pack but thinking about this type of scrutiny everyone should be told. Parents will need to decide what to tell their pups. Increase security in our schools and pack lands.” He looked at Hawke. “Make sure our databases are impenetrable. Lock them down. Go as deep and high as you want, send those fuckers around the world to catch a disease they can’t shake.”

Hawke smiled and nodded. “Yes, Sir.”

“Will you run checks on our systems as well?” an Alpha asked.

“Yes. Jacques’ team will start today while Hawke's building his arsenal.” Silas exhaled. This was getting old. “We have access to a satellite and will do surveillance ahead of our exploratory teams arriving in Canada and Mexico. We haven’t had to use it for this purpose before, but we can.”

“Sir, it sounds as if you’re preparing for war,” Alpha Jayden said.

Silas looked around the room. “For the information, they demanded with a 30-day ticking clock, I have no choice but to prepare for war.”

###

AN HOUR AND A HALF later, Silas disconnected from his Alphas and sat back in his chair, looking at the faces in the room.

“We’ll cancel our trip, head out after all this is settled,” Tyrese said.

“No. That’s not necessary. Just be vigilant. They already know of my den, go and have a good vacation,” Silas said, not wanting to disappoint his daughters-in-law who had been talking about the trip for weeks.

“We can go anytime,” Tyrone said. “I can help Hawke lock down the database.”

Silas shook his head. “No. Go on the trip. There’s always a problem of some kind to deal with. No doubt when you return there'll be something else, something different. You’ll be refreshed and able to jump right in.” He looked at Jasmine for support.

She smiled. “We’ll be fine, Rone. Damian is coming to cover for Cameron. You and Rese go, have fun.” Her voice held a ring of finality that stopped the back and forth.

“War?” Storm said sitting forward in his seat, watching Silas. “You’d go to war with the United States?” He sounded incredulous and Silas knew he didn’t understand.

“They gave me 30 days to do something they know I won’t do and added a financial penalty. If they take it that far and if I have to, yes I will. Why do they want to know our numbers?” He paused and looked at everyone in the room. “One reason. To prepare a defense or offense against us. There’s no other reason. Plus, no matter what number I give them, they won’t believe me, why should they? So what’s the real end game here?” He looked at Storm.

“They want to destroy you?”

“No. But they believe the odds are stacked against them and believe they can even the playing field in case I or an Alpha decides to attack them.”

“Would you attack them? Would you order the pack to turn on their neighbors?” Storm asked.

“Not unless pack lives were at stake. If we’re going to be systematically eliminated I won’t lie on my back or wave my tail while they do it. I’ll take as many of the bastards as I can. Starting with those in positions of power first.”

“I see,” Storm said watching Silas. “Will this be settled before the wedding?”

“Storm, we’re always being watched,” Jasmine said. “They’ll know about the wedding, the people who attend and probably tag them as pack members. That can’t be helped. What we won’t ever do is give an accurate accounting, so they can use that against our most vulnerable.” She shrugged. “This may never be settled. It could be a ploy to rattle our cages, or to see how we respond, a game or it could be serious. We don’t know.” She held up her finger. “But they keep underestimating us and our determination to survive. Renee will have her wedding at the museum and it will be the one she’s dreamed of, believe that.”

“Yes, ma’am. Thank you,” Storm said.

“What did Miller and Crall say?” Angus asked.

“I’m waiting to hear from Miller, he was surprised. Crall is on leave until next month.” He asked Silas for a couple weeks off to spend time with his family and Silas had agreed.

“Anybody on the Joint Chiefs we can tap?” Angus asked.

Silas thought about it. “No one I can tap personally, Miller knows several of them and is our best shot at getting information.”

“Don’t they know he’s pack?” Cain asked.

Silas nodded. “Yes. But he’s got a high clearance and has a good relationship with a few of them. So far, they haven’t held it against him. If that doesn’t work, his hearing is excellent and the way we get the most information.”

“Got it,” Cain said.

“Is it possible they’ve recruited rebels? Rogues?” Abel asked watching Silas closely. “Might explain them having weapons.”

“Weapons? What weapons?” Tyrese asked sitting forward, looking at Silas.

Silas explained the migration and questioning of the rogues.

“The timing is suspect,” Angus said. “Maybe a quick flight up, touchy conversation and return to base are in order.”

“If I thought any of these guys knew much, I’d have sent you or Asia already. We need someone with Alpha status, the person who’s organizing them,” Silas said.

“Jackie mentioned a guy,” David frowned in concentration. “Judah? Joe?” he snapped his fingers. “No. Jonas. She and Quinn burned down a medical facility of his, he had a big operation. They haven’t heard much from him in the past year, it’s possible he moved and set up a base in Canada. Quinn’s uncle might know something about it or know someone who might know.”

“Jonas?” Silas said trying to remember Jackie mentioning him and couldn’t recall.

“I think he’s the one who wanted her to do something on his behalf, she said no, not sure what happened after that, if anything,” Jasmine said.

Silas couldn’t recall. “Look into that, David. Find out what you can about that guy. If he’s building a pack in Canada, I want to know about it.”

“Yes, Sir,” David said.

Hawke stood. “I have some ideas I’ve been wanting to test for a while. Our system is solid since we host our servers here and with very little internet access. What I plan to do is set up a few dummies, some trails that’ll counter hack anyone looking for information. I have a couple, but I’ll beef them up. Should be fun.” He grinned.

“Make sure my network is secure,” Jasmine said. “The women of the pack give us the first notice of trouble since I can’t link with them, the network is critical.”

“Yes, Ma’am. We own the cloud storage your network and the ones every Alpha uses, that was one of the first things I did before we set up the database for breeds. Most of the Alphas still don’t understand how it all works, but they’re good. I’ll run another system-wide check today, just did one four days ago. I try to do it once a week to make sure we haven’t been compromised.” He paused. “Personal information is on secure intra-net servers and cannot be breached.”

Glad for the reassurance, Silas nodded. “Thank you. Let me know if there are any problems.”

“One of the by-products of having a computer chip in your brain for so many years,” Asia said watching Hawke leave. “He processes information faster than I can talk. It’s annoyingly, sexy at times.”

Jasmine laughed.

Angus leaned forward. “With hostile packs forming in the places you’ve recently decided to ... consider expanding, there’s a thread there. I don’t think this is in reaction to what you’re doing because you can still pull the wolves of those rogues. Which means it’s possible they’re working for someone, possibly with some type of behavior modification device. What about the collars they placed on the Knights in Honduras? It interrupted their ability to communicate.”

“What?” Storm said, leaning forward. “How’s that possible?”

Angus gave him a brief update on the trip.

“They ran tests on soldiers? Enlisted soldiers?” Storm asked, frowning.

“Yeah,” Angus said. “It wasn’t pretty.” He glanced at Silas and changed the subject. “It’d be nice to know in advance if there’s a chance for more surprises, that’s all.”

Silas and Jasmine had agreed not to discuss Honduras, it brought back too many bad memories. Maybe Angus forgot, or Silas hadn’t made it clear to his brother the subject was taboo around his mate, he’d correct that shortly.

“That’s a good point, any ideas?” Silas looked around the room at his inner team.

“I made some decent contacts at the Pentagon while we were there with the Knights,” Cain said, slowly. “I could ask around, see what’s going on.”

Silas nodded. “Do it. Also, find out about these random tests they’re now giving. Miller mentioned it but isn’t sure it means anything. My concern is if they have a device similar to what they used on the Knights, they may be able to discover who are pack members. From that, they may use them for testing and other things. I’ll pull them out first before I allow that to happen.”

“Bastards,” Cain muttered. “Harassing soldiers who only want to serve their country. Ought to be a law.”

“There is but they’re not obeying it.” Silas looked at Jasmine. “We haven’t thought of that.”

“What?”

“Using their laws against them.” He smirked. “Rone, get me the names of every person currently serving in any branch of government, every level. I want to talk to them.”

“What are you thinking?” Jasmine asked.

“Pack members are law-abiding, tax-paying citizens of this country whose rights may be infringed on. I’m going to alert them in particular to the likelihood of them being targeted and insist they record meetings, take notes, gather as much evidence as they can for future lawsuits. Also, I want them to corrupt the information if they can, mess up the samples so the results are false.” He smiled. “They think we won’t challenge them openly because we don’t want to draw attention to ourselves.”

“We don’t,” Jasmine said, frowning.

“No, and we won’t. What will the judges and juries see in the courtroom?” he looked at David and Tyrese.

“Humans,” Tyrese said.

“Citizens like themselves being targeted, and having their rights violated by big, bad, government,” David said.

“Exactly,” Silas said looking at Jasmine, waiting for her opinion.

“It’s a bold move,” she said.

“It’s offensive, just in case our people are targeted. If they are tested once, no problem. But if they’re called back in, tests intensify, we take them to court,” Silas said, digging in.

“Will they report to their Alphas? Or you?” Cain asked.

“The fastest way will be to contact their Alphas, especially if they need help,” he said, once again looking at his mate for her input.

“It feels good being on the offense for once instead of defense,” Jasmine said.

Silas smiled and kissed her briefly.

“I need to brief the women on what to look for,” she looked at him. “I’m thinking to notify them of the threat, add another layer of verification they’ll receive from their Alphas.”

“Sounds good,” Silas said, his beast preening from her praise.

She stood and placed her hands on his shoulders. “I really hope this is mostly talk and they don’t do anything stupid like use our people as test subjects again.” Her voice hardened at the end. “The next invitation we get to the White House, we should go. You may hear something, or I could...” she stopped. “I like the idea of offense, Wolfie. Let’s roll the dice, shake things up.”

He really didn’t want to go anywhere near that place, he might erupt in anger and start kicking asses left and right. “How many people can we take?” he asked Jacques.

“Take?”

“Like an entourage.” Silas looked at Jasmine.

She winked.

“I don’t know, I’ll ask. How many do you want to take?”

Silas thought about it. Hawke for sure. Asia. Angus if they were still here. Possibly, Mélange, since she had experience with this kind of jobs and Renee, wanted her to spend more time with him. He grinned. “Minimum of four would work.”

“I’ll dress in black like the male in the Matrix, coat and all. You’ll dress as his mate dressed. Sexy in black leather,” Silas told Jasmine.

“That would be so fun, totally unexpected. They have this warped view of us anyway, we could play it out.” She grinned. “It’ll make them think... well who cares what they think. Let’s do it.”

“I’m sure that’ll work.” Jacques looked at Silas, and then Jasmine. “What are you two planning?”

Jasmine’s smile brightened.

“We depend on you Jasmine to keep his beast mellow, I can’t imagine what would happen if both of you were flying free,” Angus said, with a slight grin.

“Order our outfits today,” he told her.

She winked and looked at the others. “Is that everything?”

“You tell us,” Angus said, his gaze flicking between the both of them.

Jasmine walked around the table. Asia stood and followed her out the door.

“Whatever you’ve got planned, count me in. I haven’t seen you this excited in a long time,” Asia said as they walked down the hall.

Jasmine nodded. “Okay, let’s get you measured.”