36. Jax

36

Jax

We all piled into London's office. His second, Cruz, and third, Deanna, were there. My whole pack was there, minus Cindy. Lunessa and Irene were there as well, although I noticed that Lunessa had put as much space between herself and Ava as possible. It was a large office, but it sure as hell didn't seem large now.

And Amelia looked nervous as hell.

Normally, I would have fed some calming vibes through the bond, but I still hadn't replaced the bond, so I put my hand on her shoulder. Even without the bond, she could feel the effects and immediately relaxed. "Thanks," she whispered.

"Just take your time," I told her. "Whatever you've found, it's not your fault."

London cleared his throat. "I think we're all here. Where did the drugs come from?"

"It's not just the drugs," Amelia admitted before she cleared her throat. "Anna, Jax gave me your parents' names to see if I could dig anything up. Based on your age, with five years of buffer because your memories aren't that up to snuff, I should have been able to pull their names up on a roster. Most packs have digitized their census going back almost a hundred years to account for the oldest of their pack members. Without a last name, I pulled up a few Danes in all the packs. There were no mating ceremony records to a Katherine, but I'm not even sure there would be a mating ceremony between a wolf and a witch."

"I'd do it," Jax said with a shrug. "Why wouldn't I? There's still a wolf bond to be honored."

Lunessa and Irene both immediately looked at their feet, and even London looked uncomfortable.

"Anyway, I did find one year where there was a Dane on record, but none of the other years. That only makes sense if the infant died or the whole family left the pack, but the date of birth was given, so this Dane only appeared once when he was seven years old. So, either a child appeared and disappeared…"

"Or someone tried to delete records of him and missed one," I finished darkly. "Whose pack?"

Amelia rubbed the back of her neck. "It's not concrete proof of anything, but just suspicious. And I'd already run this pack for suspicious activity and came up with nothing, but since I had just a little crumb of suspicious activity, I thought I could dig a little deeper. I hacked into their financial records. For the past five years, there have been very large untraceable transactions."

"Amelia," I said softly. "It's okay. Just tell us who it is. We know better than to make any accusations without more proof, but we need to know where to start."

"I'm so sorry," she whispered. She was looking up, but I had no idea who she was looking at. Who did she need to apologize to?

Just then, the computer screen went black. Amelia growled, and a figure appeared on the screen.

"So, this is my little hacker. A little tiny bug that needs squashing," a voice sang out. Cold eyes met mine. "Hello, Jax."

Now I knew exactly who Amelia was apologizing to. The whole room had gone tense. "Hello, Maeve."

Finn went pale, and London came to stand with me. I nudged Amelia out of her seat, and she ran to Finn. Anna walked around beside me and took my hand.

"Isn't this cute," Maeve said darkly. "Hello, London. I hear you've been having some problems with your wolves controlling themselves."

She cackled with laughter, and I saw what was always lurking just beneath the surface. I had wanted it to be strength.

It was insanity.

"What have you done, Maeve?" London growled. "And why me?"

"Oh, London, darling, it was nothing personal. Your pack was the easiest to try to drug. I've been waiting months for your brewery to make a special order. That part of the plan didn't exactly work, but I figured eventually curiosity would win out. The results have already been sent out so the drug can be perfected. I don't suppose there are any volunteers for the second round? Perhaps that healer of yours, Jax. I'm certain his curiosity is piqued. I'm certainly interested in how you're still alive. What did that healer of yours do?"

Saul had been ordered to keep all communications on paper and locked away as he worked on the cure. It was certainly not his favorite moment, but I was glad that he did. The last thing I wanted was for Maeve to realize that Anna's blood was part of the cure.

As if she could read my thoughts, Maeve's eyes landed on Anna. "Hello, my dear. I hear you've had a nasty few days. You should know that I never wanted this for you."

Shit. If Maeve knew about Anna, then there was still a mole in London's pack. He stiffened as well.

"Wanted what?" Anna asked softly.

"Why, the life you had, of course. Your traitorous mother. Your murderous father. Oh, how I searched for you. My little Andrea. Imagine my surprise at finding you mated to Jax. You landed on your feet, didn't you? Why don't you and I schedule a lunch sometime. I'll fill in the holes of your memory." Then, as if that was the funniest thing she ever heard, she threw back her head and cackled.

Anna didn't even flinch. "You were the reason that they ran," she said mildly. "What were you trying to do to me, Maeve?"

"I have to admit, you were quite the little creature. Part wolf, part witch, and part null. Nulls were their own species at one time."

My eyes widened, and she noticed. "Oh, you didn't know that. I'm not surprised. Witches do an excellent job of erasing certain parts of their history. During the ancient world, nulls were a species. Of course I believe they were called blood suckers then. They defended the wolves against the witches until they were wiped out by magic users. Then, rather miraculously, a single null user appeared in a witch line. Not every generation or even every other generation had one. It was rather sporadic and kept quiet because everyone wanted to study them. There are some very interesting theories about what a null can do."

The way she looked at Anna was worse than the way that Emerson looked at her. There was a naked need, but it wasn't sexual with Maeve. It was more intense.

"Blood sucker? As in vampire?"

Maeve waved her hand. "Some variation of it. It no doubt spurned the myth of vampires. When the null gene regenerated the need for blood did not, unless you really are keeping secrets. Did your father kill to feed you, my dear?"

"Fuck you," Anna hissed.

Maeve didn't even look offended. "You were so special, my dear. You are so special. So I ran a few…experiments on you. They didn't hurt you. You laughed right through them. Such a sweet magical sound. Katherine and Dane didn't need to run. You were safer with me."

"You're lying," my mate murmured. "You scared me. I told my father that you scared me…he said he would protect me."

Maeve's whole face darkened. "Idiot wolf. I took him in when no one else did. Do you think anyone wanted that pussy of a witch in our midst? But he loved her, and I let her stay. When I wanted you, what did he do? He took you and ran. I lost everything because of you. I lost my mate. I stood there and watched for hours as he bled out, drip by drip, all because he wouldn't lead me to you. I sent my own child to find you, and he never returned."

No wonder Maeve was insane. She killed her mate. Just like Dirk did.

"What?" Anna demanded. "He was just a child!"

"He was powerful and protective of you. All I had to do was send him out to find you, and he'd lead my wolves right to you. Instead, he fucking disappeared."

Finn. He would be old enough to remember, but when I looked over him, he looked just as dazed and confused.

"I searched for years, and then Emerson just fucking waltzed up to me one day and promised to give you over if I'd help him take Blood Moon. Fucking alpha was an idiot anyway, and I wanted someone that I could control, but he betrayed me. I would have killed him years ago, but I realized what he was doing. I've watched his every step, learned from his mistakes. There is no one and nothing that can stop me now."

"Stop you from what?" I demanded. "What the hell is worth all of this?"

Maeve cackled. "She's your mate, and you don't even know! I do love that. Whoever has the ternary takes the mountain. Enjoy her while you can, Jax. She'll be mine again soon enough."

Ternary.

An element of three.

Null. Witch. Wolf.

Anna sighed. "Well, fuck. I kind of liked her, too."