Chapter 7

(Chapter song ‘I Wanna Be Your Slave' by Maneskin)

GRAHAM It’s funny. There’s people in this world who are the absolute worst. Evil to the core, but there are people that would give their lives just to be them for a single day.

I’m one of those people that would pay that price.

As I stand with the council, I watch Oliver Fredericks walk from the helicopter landing pad like a King with his new Queen by his side toward us. Four men, dressed in black, walk behind them. Dire Shifters.

His chest is puffed out and square jaw is held high as he adjusts his suit jacket. He holds out his hand and Ezra puts her tiny hand in his. He kisses it and hands her off to one of the men behind him.

The guys fucking smooth, I’ll give him that.

One of the other men hands him a silver briefcase and they close the distance between us.

Owen makes himself big and stands in front of council.

“Oliver. Welcome to Phoenix.” He holds out his hand.

Oliver raises his hand and then Sykes Owen out. He adjusts his sunglasses and looks out to the city. The breeze picks up as the sun bakes us all on the tarmac.

He turns back to Owen. “Let’s make this quick. I hate the fucking desert.”

I adjust myself as his deep voice vibrates my chest. This guy, man.

Owen arches a brow and lowers his hand. “Follow us.”

We turn around and lead the Fredericks into the Unit.

People stop and stare as the Falcon group commands presence and the vibe hits everyone.

Oliver eyes the groups of scientists that are dotted with Ops and office workers. “A lot of geeks here.” He grumbles.

“Yes. Phoenix tends to attract the more brilliant minds of the Alliance.” Owen smirks as he looks back at Oliver who shoots a snarky look back.

“Will you be looking to add an army to yours?” Ezra asks as she joins Oliver’s side.

“No. They won’t.” Oliver side eyes her.

Owen glances back. “I’m sure an agreement can be negotiated.”

“We'll see.” Oliver raises his chin.

We open the council room door and usher the Fredericks in.

“Please. Sit.” Owen offers.

We take our usual seats and Oliver sits at the end of the oval table. Ezra sits on his lap. She’s wearing an open backed, long dress which seems pretty formal for a council meeting. He leans his elbow on the table and rests his chin in his curled fingers. His other hand runs softly up and down Ezra’s spine. It must be a coping thing. From what I hear, she’s quite disturbed and easily agitated.

Oliver scans the seats. “Where’s Jake?”

“He has Royal business to attend to. I can handle the exchange.” Owen says.

“Good.” He taps Ezra’s ass and she stands. He motions to another for the briefcase. He drops it on the table and opens it. Spinning it around, we see four tubes of what looks like blood set in black Styrofoam. “Four vials of catalyst. Should last for the entire mutation of approximately 500 rogues. What about you?”

Owen nods to Sawyer. Sawyer opens his vest pocket. He pulls out a vial of clear liquid. Venom. He walks it over to Oliver. Oliver stands and goes to take it, but Sawyer pulls it back. Sawyer arches a brow. “You only get one. My mate isn’t a milk cow. Got it?”

“Whatever.” Oliver snorts and puts his hand out.

Sawyer looks to Owen who nods and he hands it to him. Oliver pushes the case his way and Sawyer takes it. He walks it over to Owen who collects it from him.

Oliver holds up the venom.

Sawyers mate, Damica, is what we call, a neutralizer. Her venom can destroy the supernatural part of any being, making them human. We’re guarded about how we use her and who we give her venom to. If it ended up in the wrong hands, thousands could die.

The trade was for enough venom for the Falcon Ridge prison to use on those unredeemable prisoners. For Oliver, one in particular. His brother, Andrew. Last month, we processed his court martial of over 50 assaults over 13 years on she-wolves in both human and wolf form. We agreed to have his wolf destroyed and he will then be sent to a human military prison. The removal of a shifters wolf is akin to removing your soul. You’re a shell of your formal self. Andrew will be lucky if he survives the psychological damage from it.

Clearly, Oliver isn’t shedding a single tear and neither are we. Some monsters just don’t deserve life.

Oliver pockets the venom and sits back down. He snaps his fingers and Ezra coyly slides back into his lap. “The catalyst needs to be added to the third dose of Croak-R at a rate of 1 to 5 concentration. Follow it with three more doses. The first full shift will happen after the second dose.”

Owen nods. “When can we expect to train them?”

“Oh, you’re not training them. I am.” He says sternly.

“If you’d like to observe and consult, we can certainly provide housing for you and your Luna.” Owen offers.

“No. All the dires you create are mine. As soon as the last dose is administered they are to be loaded up and sent to me.” Oliver commands.

“You’re joking.” Owen scoffs.

“No, I’m not.” Oliver eyes him with a solid poker face.

“We aren’t subjecting these people to your psychotic behavior. No way.” Sawyer scowls.

“I’m not psychotic.” Oliver’s dark face gets darker.

Brody crosses his arms. “Dude. Even your coffee needs therapy.”

The room snickers. The Fredericks aren’t impressed. Ezra starts to growl at Brody.

Brodys eyes go wide and he leans back in his chair.

“Shh…” Oliver side eyes her and rubs her back. Her glowing eyes fade.

He looks to Owen. “They have an instinctual attachment to me. Only I can control them. So, unless you want 20,000 people to die, I would hand them over.”

I lean on the table. “The scientific breakthrough alone is remarkable and needs to be researched. We would like a few to be studied. We promise they will be treated with the upmost respect and will be well cared for. The biological record of this would be beneficial to us all.”

“Baby?” Oliver turns to his mate.

She’s looks around the room. “They feel trustworthy. When the pups are brought to light, I can choose ones who would be the best. Until then, we must include the new Dires into our pack for the most proper games.”

“Training, baby.” He kisses her shoulder.

“Excuse me. Training.” She glances at Oliver who smiles at her and pets her hair.

“She still has scars that interrupt speech, but we’re getting better each day.” Oliver preens.

“Fascinating.” I admire her progress from wild rogue to Luna.

Owen nods. “Ok. I can agree to that.”

They stand and Owen walks around the table to join their circle. They shake hands. “You know, Oliver. This tough guy act. We all know it’s a defense mechanism used to protect yourself from seeking normal human interactions.”

Oliver narrows his eyes. “Don’t psychoanalyze me.” He rips his hand away and stuffs it in his pocket.

“I apologize. It’s a bad habit, I’m afraid. My Luna says I’m insufferable.” He chuckles and looks around the room. A few of us quietly chuckle, but stop. I can tell we’re all thinking the same thing. Owen has huge ass balls. I guess to be a Dom you kind have to. “But. When I see an obvious cry for help, I feel it’s my duty as a therapist to serve.” He raises his hand and flicks up a black card with a white ‘O' on it.

He's really bringing O to Oliver? You can’t make this shit up.

Oliver takes the card and turns it over in his hand. There’s a number on the back. Owen eyes him. “Call me. I think you could use my techniques.”

I side eye Owen. “I really don’t think Oliver is your type of client, O.”

Owen bounces a bit on his toes. “Nonsense. My practice is open to all walks of life. There’s always places inside that need to be freed. I can do that for you with a unique style of therapy.”

Oliver looks at the card and back up at Owen who’s smirking. It’s no longer a secret what Owen does for a living. Sex therapy is actually popular here. I’d never do it, but I don’t judge.

Oliver gives the card one more look.

In a split second, he grabs Owen’s nape and lands a solid punch right into Owen’s gut.

Owen loses his air and doubles over. He falls to one knee as we all cringe.

Oliver stands over him. “You’re right. That was therapeutic. Thanks Doc…I'm cured.” He snarls as he tears up the card and sprinkles the pieces over Owen. “Let’s go.” He motions to his entourage.

They leave and we stare at Owen on the floor.

“O?” Darcy asks, fighting laughter as we all are. “You ok, bud?”

He coughs. “Just…fighting lunch…I’ll be good.”

The room chuckles and we leave him to relish in his stupidity.

****

“Well. It’s blood. Who’s, I don’t know. Did Oliver say where he got it?” I spin in my chair after analyzing the catalyst.

Owen crosses his arms. “Only that it’s a family secret. What ever that means. Is it what he says?”

“Comparing the fossil record, it is Dire blood for sure. It’s mixed with something else that I’m trying to match. What’s more important is the DNA contains the lycan gene. An Alpha gene.” I lean back on my table.

“The barrier.” Owen says wide eyed.

I nod. “Yep. The Alpha gene will collect the Rogue virus and isolate it. They encapsulate it back into its barrier. I’m guessing that will trigger the Dire DNA to replicate and the mutagen can work. There’s also one other thing.”

“What?” Owen says.

“The gene for flight.” I eye him.

“Excuse me?” Owen cinches his brows.

I turn around and punch the Double Helix up on my computer. “While I was searching, I did get a match, but it wasn’t from what I was expecting.” I pull up the match.

I point to the screen. “On the left, our mystery blood, on the right…”

“Night flyers.” Owen whispers.

I nod. “This blood has the capability to mutate into night flyers under the right conditions.”

“What conditions?”

I shrug. “A well placed bite. A successful mating. Any opportunity where the genetic material can merge.”

“Night flyers are lycans.” Owen states.

“Lycan/shifter hybrids. What do you want to bet, one of them was bit by a dire and that bite started the mutation.” I offer.

Owen crosses his arms. “It’s possible. We really don’t know much about the other side. Keep on it. I want to make sure we know all the details.”

“Right.”

The lucky thing for us is there’s not a lot of hybrids around. In fact, I think Gideon and Hunter have the only ones. I’d have to recheck the registry. Unless there’s an unregistered pack out there, night flyers will be the least of our worries.