Violet (The Silver Series Book 4) (12 page)

The table was full, Roger, Meg, and Mrs.
Carso occupied the counter, and an extra seat had been pulled up to
a t.v. tray table. “Do you know everyone here, Colleen?” Jaze
asked. When I shook my head, he nodded at his friends. “You know
Jet, Taye, and Nikki. Mouse drove when we came to pick you guys
up,” the scrawny werewolf kept his eyes on the floor from his seat
at the t.v. tray. “And Brock gives my mom a reason to keep cooking,
though Jet's a quick runner-up. Brock and Mouse used to scour the
city looking for signs of werewolves, and he never knew that his
best friend was one.” Brock rolled his eyes at Mouse and a smile
touched the werewolf's mouth.

“
We're going to need a
bigger house if you keep bringing home strays,” Mrs. Carso
joked.

Jaze grinned, his brown eyes bright. “Then
we're gonna need a bigger house.”

She opened her mouth to reply, but Jet stood
up and stared intently toward the front door, his muscles tense and
body completely still. The other werewolves slowly rose. I strained
my ears and heard the slight creak of a foot on wood before the
doorbell rang. Jaze tipped his head toward the back door; Jet and
Kaynan slipped out the sliding door into the backyard. Jaze met his
mother's eyes for a brief second, then went to answer the door.

The man on the porch made no effort to be
quiet. “Mr. Jaze Carso, we need all the occupants of your house to
come to the porch immediately.”

“
What is this
about?”

“
Government business.” The
sound of leather followed as someone flipped open a
wallet.

“
I need to know details
before I'll let my family come out.” Jaze's voice was
firm.

The porch board squeaked as the man shifted
his weight. “It's a matter of national security.” When it was
obvious Jaze wasn't fazed by his stern demeanor or his badge, he
sighed. “You are harboring a female by the name of Colleen Anderson
and a male by the name of Kaynan Anderson. I'm here to arrest
them.”

My blood ran cold and I rose slowly from the
table. Nikki put a hand on my arm and gave me a reassuring look.
“Jaze won't let them touch either of you, trust me,” she said
softly.

“
What makes you think
they're here?” Jaze pressed.

“
We've had your house under
surveillance for the last several weeks. We know that both
individuals are eating dinner in your home as we speak. At least,”
he turned around, “One of them is in the home.” His voice rose. “I
have a dozen armed men in strategic positions around the premises.
Your occupation here isn't exactly legal, and I know you know what
I mean. If the individuals inside and those sneaking around the
back refuse to come to the porch for a polite discussion, we will
be forced to open fire.”

Mrs. Carso's hand flew to her mouth. Meg
touched her shoulder and they exchanged wide-eyed stares. Roger
motioned to the rest of us to go to the porch. Taye took Grace's
right hand and I moved to take her left, but Roger shook his head
to indicate that I should stay at the back with him. I followed the
others to the porch and hung near the door.

Kaynan and Jet were already on either side
of the porch. Jet glared at the armed man next to him, and I could
see him sizing the man up. Five men stood on the lawn, guns trained
in our direction, two waited on the porch, and the man who had
spoken to Jaze held a pistol casually in his hand.

“
Now, which one of you is
Colleen?”

My heart skipped a beat, but no one moved.
The man cleared his throat. “You can make this easy or hard, I
don't care. I'd prefer for things not to get messy, so we'll do
this the easy way.”

Before anyone could move, the man grabbed
Mrs. Carso and pressed the gun to her head. “Now, which one of you
is Colleen?”

Movement caught my eye and I glanced over to
see Jaze push a button on his phone hiding in his palm. His eyes
were on the man holding his mother hostage, and his jaw was
clenched so tight I could hear his teeth grind. I had to buy him
some time.

I pushed through the others. “I'm here. Let
her go.” My voice shook, but I gave him the meanest glare I could
muster.

His voice softened. “Colleen, darling. Why
don't you be a good girl and come down here.” He stepped slowly
backward down the porch steps and pulled Mrs. Carso with him.

I took a deep breath and followed.

“
Good. Now, where's your
brother?”

“
He left,” I said before
Kaynan could move.

The man shook his head with another sigh.
“No one left. You forget, I've got this place under surveillance.
You've been staying over with that wild animal, while Kaynan stays
here.” His voice turned ironic. “It's so nice that Hunters and
werewolves can live right next door and take care of each
other.”

He backed up to the corner of the house
where the porch light ended and gestured with his gun. “Kaynan,
Colleen, in the cars and no one gets hurt.”

Kaynan moved away from the others and walked
slowly down the porch.

“
That's right. Just do as I
say and-”

“
Drop the gun.”

Rafe's low growl sounded loud in the dark
night and my heart leaped. The man holding Mrs. Carso froze, then
lifted his hand and tossed the gun to the lawn. He let Mrs. Carso
go and she hurried back up the steps to Jaze's side. Jaze put an
arm around his mother and held her close, outrage coloring his
face. Meg put a hand on her arm, her face tight.

“
Tell your men to put down
their guns and retreat to the vehicles,” Rafe continued.

The man rolled his eyes, then hissed as
something was shoved into his back. “You heard him, move!” he
yelled to his men.

The guards around us threw down their
weapons and backed to the three cars across the street from the
house.

“
All of them,” Rafe
growled, a tight note of warning in his voice.

The man grimaced. “Haskel, Dawn, you
too.”

One man climbed down from the porch roof and
another I hadn't seen extricated himself from a tree in the front
yard. They both threw angry glances Rafe's way before heading to
the vehicles.

“
Now tell us what the
government wants with Colleen and Kaynan.”

The man's jaw tightened. “I told you. It's a
matter of national security.”

I glanced to the right in time to see a dark
shadow melt into the trees at the corner of Jaze’s lawn. The scent
of strange werewolves touched my nose the same time that a shoe
scuffed quietly across the gravel near Meg and Roger’s house;
Jaze’s reinforcements had arrived.

“
Enlighten us,” Rafe said
blandly.

The man grumbled something, then winced.
“Colleen and Kaynan are the only two successful werewolf DNA fusion
specimens. We cannot allow additional copies to be made, so we need
to destroy them.”

His words brought my attention back. “By
copies you mean clones,” I said, feeling sick.

The man nodded. “Cloning was attempted at
Dr. Edward Tannin's facility, but no sustainable duplicate was
achieved.” I glanced at Kaynan to see if he had known about the
clones. The apologetic, nauseous look he gave me confirmed my
suspicions. I swallowed the hard knot in my throat as the man
continued, “My job is to make sure it never happens.”

“
By killing them?” Rafe
pressed.

“
Do you know of a better
way?” the man replied with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. Rafe
said something quietly and the man winced again. “I didn't want it
to come to this,” he said in a tight voice. “It was supposed to be
smooth; easy in, easy out. Nobody gets hurt but the
anomalies.”

“
My way, nobody gets hurt
including Colleen and Kaynan. I want you to return to your
government, tell them we feel national security should include
protecting its inhabitants instead of sending teams to kill them,
and let them know that we won't allow any cloning or experimenting
to be done with either Colleen or Kaynan.” Rafe sounded winded and
I wondered how long he could keep it up, but it was obvious by the
suited man's stance that he still had strength.

“
It doesn’t work like
that,” the man said. “We’re on a clock. If we don’t report back
that our mission is successful, attack teams will be on your house
like ants at a picnic.”

Jaze stepped forward. “Give your report and
call your teams back. You obviously know who I am, or you wouldn’t
have reinforcements on call.” He glanced back at Jet. “Although we
haven’t had a fight in a while. It might be nice.”

Jet opened and closed his hands with a
dangerous smile on his face that said he would welcome a
battle.

The man shook his head. “I know who you are,
and I don’t want trouble. This can be a peaceful transaction
between two respected members of society.”

Jaze’s gaze darkened. “As far as I’m
concerned, peaceful doesn’t mean holding my mother hostage or
storming my house with demands that I let you take my visitors
prisoner. You will leave now, or I’ll call in the werewolves and
Hunters who are surrounding my house and your men as we speak.”

“
You’re bluffing,” the man
said, but there was uncertainty in his voice that let me know just
how dangerous Jaze’s men could be.

“
I never bluff,” Jaze
replied with an edge of steel.

The man’s face paled and he tried to look
around, but Rafe tightened his hold. Jaze looked to the right and
roughly a dozen werewolves and Hunters stepped from the various
shadows into the light of the porch. Another dozen or so surrounded
the two cars the men had begrudgingly disappeared into. Footsteps
and breathing marked many more spread throughout the backyard and
Meg and Roger’s. I was amazed at how quickly they had gotten
there.

The threat that laced through Jaze’s next
voice sent a shiver up my spine. “I can have you out of a job in a
few phone calls to certain senators sympathetic to werewolves for
their own personal reasons. This is my house and these are my
friends. If I ever see you near them again, you’ll be stationed in
the North Pole searching for Santa Claus.”

The man looked like he wanted to argue for a
moment, then he let out a slow breath. “We'll leave you alone for
now, but you're forgetting one thing.” The man met my eyes. “You
aren't the only ones who bear your DNA.”

He shrugged out of Rafe's grasp and walked
slowly back to his car, Jaze’s silent guards pacing him on either
side. He got into the first vehicle without a word and they drove
away.

I ran down to Rafe. He leaned against the
side of the house in the black shorts I had bought at the gas
station, his bare stomach still loosely wound in bandages from when
he was in his wolf form. Blood trickled from several stitches that
had torn when he phased.

“
Do you have a gun?” Jet
asked cautiously from behind me.

Rafe gave a weak grin and tossed something
green to the ground. “Sorry about your garden hose,” he said. “I
couldn't find anything else.” He stumbled forward and Jet and I
caught him before he could hit the ground.

“
Bring him inside,” Mrs.
Carso said; a slight tremble in her voice was the only sign of how
badly the situation had shaken her.

Jaze and Kaynan helped Rafe up the stairs
and to a couch in the living room. I took his hand and he kept his
eyes on me, his face pale and grip weak. Meg took off the bandages
and began to examine his wounds.

“
Surprised?” Rafe asked
softly. I followed his gaze to Roger's lifted eyebrows and half
smile.

Roger nodded. “Extremely.” He peered at the
werewolf as though he was a prize specimen. “Why didn't you talk at
the rehabilitation center? It would have saved you a great deal of
unnecessary discomfort.”

Rafe winced at Meg's prodding. “I didn't
like you,” he said in a tight voice.

Jaze chuckled and Roger gave a slight frown.
“How about now?”

Rafe tried to push himself up to a more
comfortable position, but at Meg's look, he gave up and held still.
“Not sure yet,” he forced out from between clenched teeth.

Roger nodded. “Fair enough. Serves me right
for making rash judgments; won't be making that mistake again.”

Rafe gave him a small smile. “Then we might
be okay.”

Roger's face lit up with relief.

“
You need a couple of
stitches,” Meg said in a chiding tone. “Lucky you didn't do worse
given the shape you were in.”

“
I heard talking and
thought I'd better take my chances,” Rafe said dryly.

“
We're glad you did,” Jaze
replied. He exchanged a look with his mother. “We're in your
debt.”

Rafe gave a true smile. “You got me out of
Tannin's werewolf torment center. Let's call it even.”

Jaze nodded, but his brow was furrowed.
“Mouse, sweep for bugs. This house isn’t safe until we can talk
freely.”

Mouse nodded and left the room.

“
They know we're here,” Jet
said quietly.

“
They seem to know
everything about everyone,” Kaynan agreed, his red eyes deep with
worry. “What did he mean by we aren't the only ones who have our
DNA?”

The realization hit me. “Mom and Dad.”

Jaze tossed a phone to my brother. Kaynan
dialed the number we had both memorized by the time we were old
enough to speak. Mom and Dad only had a house phone. They said they
were too set in their ways to learn a cell phone.

Each ring sounded loud in the still kitchen.
Everyone held their breath, but after the eighth ring, Kaynan
finally gave up. He tossed the phone back to Jaze, his face pale.
“We've got to go.”