"Good-bye, old enemy," the Architect said as night fell beyond the window. "Let us see who attempts to fill your shoes." Because the Architect needed to kill that person, as the Architect needed to kill Anthony Kyriakus. The PsyNet could have no more great statesmen respected by enemies and allies alike. Not if it was to fragment and unknowingly hand power over to the Consortium.
Changeling, Psy, and human alike believed Trinity protected them from the Consortium's machinations, but the Consortium's attempts to sow discord between various groups and promote general chaos had been just the first salvo. At their next meeting, the Architect intended to suggest the group move strongly and purposefully into phase two within the next six months, once the world was even more mired in the politics of Trinity.
That phase wouldn't be scattershot. It had already been planned with clinical precision, its intent to purge the world of those who provided a foundation on which others could stand. Anthony Kyriakus was on the list for his charismatic ability to command attention from not just Psy but from humans and changelings as well.
In the Architect's eyes, Anthony was more dangerous to the Consortium's goals than Kaleb Krychek, because while Kaleb engendered fear in people that could be twisted if worked carefully, Anthony Kyriakus engendered heavily more positive emotions and responses.
He had become the trusted face of the Ruling Coalition.
Also on the Architect's phase two list was Silver Mercant. No one much talked about Silver, because she didn't seek the spotlight, but her quietly efficient management of the worldwide Emergency Response Network, or what the media had started referring to as EmNet, had gained her the trust of parties worldwide. There was also the little known fact that Silver Mercant was the scion of the Mercant family, Ena Mercant having skipped a generation when choosing her protegee.
The Architect had only recently realized the latter fact, after a passing comment by a Mercant who thought the Architect was an ally in a certain limited sense. And why not? After all, Ena Mercant herself considered the Architect a valuable connection and had maintained an open line of communication even when the Architect's fortunes fluctuated over their decade-long relationship.
Some would say such a gesture of trust was a thing to be treasured. The Architect had other priorities. Do this right and the Mercants would never know the Consortium had gutted their next generation. Then, once the Consortium gained control and began to flex its shadow power, all it had to do was wait. Sooner or later, it would be offered access to the Mercant intelligence network in exchange for a percentage of that power.
That network would be worth the price.
As long as the Architect gave Ena Mercant no reason to believe her granddaughter's death had been a political assassination, that death would soon be forgotten. A freak vehicular crash perhaps. For while the Mercants' vaunted loyalty to one another was a clever bit of manipulation that made the family appear an impregnable unit, when it came down to it, Ena Mercant had always been a pragmatic woman.
The Architect didn't foresee any problems if the plan was carefully executed.
Silver's death would crash EmNet long enough for the Consortium to create emergencies where confusion reigned and promised help never arrived. The resulting cracks would be difficult to fix when the Consortium would be throwing chaotic event after chaotic event into the mix.
On the changeling side, Lucas Hunter was a problem. His Psy-Changeling child remained a symbolic threat, but the leopard alpha himself was an actual one. It was regrettable that the attempt to abduct the child had failed because had the Consortium had control of Nadiya Hunter, the Architect would've used her to control her father.
Because the most recent reports from the Consortium's spies in Trinity showed that Hunter was steadily gaining the support of not just a dangerous number of changeling groups, but that he had the ear of many powerful Psy families as well.
Bowen Knight and Devraj Santos were also irritants to the Consortium's goals, the reason the same in both cases. Humans had always been easy prey, partly because they weren't united under any one banner. Bowen Knight was changing that far faster than even the Architect had predicted. With his passionate belief that humans deserved to stand alongside Psy and changelings on the world stage, the so-called security chief of the Alliance had a magnetism it had taken the Architect too long to understand.
As for the Forgotten, Devraj Santos was the vital force that kept them united. Without him, and given their geographic spread and disparate bloodlines, the Forgotten would dissipate into small, powerless cells. The Architect knew that because the Architect was no fool. There was a Forgotten in the Consortium's inner circle, a cold-blooded individual who cared nothing for the Forgotten as a people.
Aden Kai and the Arrows would always be a threat, but the Architect had decided to cut the Consortium's losses there for now. Eventually, when the Consortium held enough power behind the scenes, the Arrow Squad would either be made to see reason, or wiped out in a single, ruthless action.
In the meantime, assassinating Ivy Jane Zen would suffice. Aden Kai's second in command was bonded with her, the bond apparently one of love and devotion. So, he would hurt. In the best-case scenario, he'd fall apart, leaving Aden with no deputy. The attack on Ivy Jane would also strike a secondary blow: The Architect accepted that empaths were necessary, but they needed to be kept in their place. Ivy Jane was too well known and too much a hero after the people she'd saved during the outbreaks.
Those six weren't the only ones on the Architect's list, but they were at the top. The assassinations would have to be spread out, made to look like accidents or illnesses. The Architect didn't want credit. The Architect just wanted these problematic individuals erased from the playing board. As demonstrated by Zie Zen, a single strong-minded individual could change the course of the world itself.
When this was over, the Architect intended to be the only one standing.
All it required was patience and precision.
Chapter 30
HAVING POSTPONED NAYA'S visit to Nikita in the face of Vasic's loss, Lucas used the time to hold a much-needed meeting with his sentinels. Naya was on a playdate deep in DarkRiver territory, while Sascha was working at the aerie with a comm conference scheduled for later in the day.
The two pieces of his heart were safe, and all intelligence from the Rats, as well as other sources, pointed to business as usual in the region. No whispers of mercenaries or other enemy incursions. So his pack was safe. The hunt for the ship meant to have carried Naya away from her home continued, but despite his primal need to destroy anyone who'd tried to harm his child, Lucas had never expected that hunt to be an overnight operation. The searches were running, the information filters all in place.
He lost nothing by pulling Dorian from his duties so this meeting could happen.
The alpha and sentinel relationship was critical to the health of a pack and, snarling need for vengeance or not, Lucas had no intention of allowing his to be damaged by a lack of care. For obvious reasons, he'd decided to hold the meeting at Mercy and Riley's cabin. Mercy was not up to making the climb to his aerie, though he knew damn well she'd have given it a try had he been fool enough to schedule a meet there.
As for Riley, the lieutenant was nearby, having a sparring session with Indigo.
Now, Lucas called the meeting to order.
Mostly that involved telling everyone to stop trying to get Mercy to spill the beans on the number and sex of the pupcubs so DarkRiver people could win the betting pool.
Mercy, of course, wasn't budging.
Seated on a comfortable sofa with her legs up on an ottoman Lucas had nudged over and her body leaning against Dorian's--who had his arm affectionately around her shoulders and his plascast-covered leg on a matching ottoman--the redheaded sentinel just gave her fellow sentinels a feline smile and said, "Curiosity killed the cat, didn't you hear?"
The others responded with creative threats that made her laugh. Then the entire group naturally fell quiet, their
attention on Lucas.
He knew exactly what he wanted to discuss. "I'm fucking sick of people trying to hurt this pack."
Growls filled the room, every single one of his sentinels in agreement.
"Zero tolerance," Lucas said, making that call as alpha. "As of now, any individual caught planning or in the midst of trying to harm a DarkRiver child or adult will be executed. We might lose some intel in the process, but fuck that--I want these assholes to think a thousand times before they set foot on our land." Some predators understood only violence.
"The mercenaries we're holding, the ones who tried to snatch Naya," Clay said from his position in an armchair opposite Mercy and Dorian. "What're we going to do with them?"
"I'm not rational there," Lucas answered with blunt honesty. "I want to tear them to shreds."
Clay leaned forward with his hands between his knees, forearms braced on his thighs. "Sascha scrambled two of them. Permanently," he said quietly. "Tamsyn confirmed it just this morning. We can ship them straight to a secure psychiatric unit."
"Shit," Dorian muttered. "Don't tell Sascha. She'll feel guilty when she has no reason to."
Lucas was tempted to follow the sentinel's advice, but keeping secrets from his mate wasn't ever going to be on the agenda. "She'll handle it." It would stun and disturb her, but Lucas's mate was strong and she understood what had been at risk. She'd used her claws in defense of her child and no one, not even Sascha herself, could see a crime in that.
Returning his attention to Clay, he said, "The others from the mercenary team?"
Clay shrugged. "I'm okay with an execution order." His tone was cold, that of a man responsible for the safety of a little girl not so much older than Naya. "They did this for money, took the risk with open eyes."
"Fuck, I want to do that, too," Vaughn said quietly from his chair opposite Lucas, Mercy and Dorian on one side, Clay and Nathan on the other. "But news of the kidnapping attempt went international. Everyone's waiting for the other shoe to fall."
The jaguar pushed back the unbound amber of his hair. "We have to decide what impression we want to make on the world. There's a fine line between fear that keeps our children safe and fear that turns DarkRiver from harsh but fair, to monstrous. You know most Psy and humans have difficulty understanding our laws."
Lucas growled at his best friend, who, right now, was showing an acute grasp of politics. "We'd be handing our enemies a victory by alienating a massive swath of the world."
Vaughn nodded. "The same doesn't apply post-warning. At that point, people will blame the assailants for digging their own graves. Pre-warning . . . well, the mercenaries came knowingly into leopard territory. I say we claw them up enough that they'll always bear the marks"--his own claws sliced out--"then we turn them over to Enforcement. Playing nice with local authorities while making it clear this is the last straw."
"I like it." Mercy nodded. "It'll also calm anyone who might be worrying about our growing power in San Francisco."
The reality, as demonstrated by the citizens who'd called DarkRiver rather than Enforcement when they saw the truck smash into Dorian's vehicle, was that DarkRiver could rule San Francisco if it so wished. Lucas wasn't interested in setting up a fiefdom, but he did want this city to be known as a leopard city, a place only the stupid would attempt to hurt.
Vaughn's suggestion would achieve both those aims.
"Done," he said. "I'll mete out the punishment."
Any one of his sentinels would've done it in a heartbeat, but these men and women had threatened Lucas's cub. "Mercy, you set up the press conference. We're going to make a statement tomorrow morning."
No one would see an out-of-control leopard there. No, what they'd see would be a deadly predator in a suit. Smart and ruthless and no one you wanted to piss off--rather, a man you wanted to keep as a friend. Because he looked after his own.
Mercy made a note, her expression approving and her hand on the curve of her belly. There was no one on the planet as dangerous as a dominant predatory changeling woman whose cubs had been threatened.
Calmer now, he was about to move on to another matter when Nathan brought up Trinity. "Luc, what's the response been to Ming LeBon's proposal?"
Lucas smiled and, leaning back in his armchair, put his feet up onto the same ottoman as Mercy. "You should ask our communications expert. She helped me draft the official Trinity reply."
Mercy bent her head and moved her hand in a flowery gesture, as if taking a dramatic bow. "While we laud former Councilor Ming LeBon's initiative," she recited in a deep voice, "Trinity is unique in its tri-racial structure and world-spanning network. Of course, those European signatories of Trinity who prefer to do business only with other local Psy groups are welcome to join what may well be a very useful entity in its own way."
Dorian whooped and began to clap. "Tell me if I got the translation right: Hey, if you want to turn your back on changeling and human contacts, as well as on all contacts outside Europe, feel free to join this amusing little group formerly important Ming LeBon is trying to cobble together. The rest of us aren't interested in those who aren't fully supportive of Trinity."
"Perfect." Mercy winked.
Nathan was the only one who didn't smile. "It's a lot of power to have, Lucas," his most senior sentinel said in a quiet tone that held a potent clarity. "Yes, Ming's a monster, but it's a slippery slope if the core members of Trinity start picking and choosing who gets to sign the accord and who doesn't. That'll lead eventually to a world divided in two."
Lucas wished the sentinel wasn't right, but even as he celebrated Ming's slow downfall, he'd been struggling with the long-term ethics of the situation himself. "I don't think we'll ever get agreement on Ming." The telepath had murdered too many, hurt too many, made too many enemies. Having him in Trinity would poison it.
Nathan nodded, his black hair threaded with a few rare threads of silver. "I know and I know Trinity is in the process of being built. But think about the foundation you lay."
This was why Lucas was so damn glad Nathan had chosen to give Lucas his loyalty when Lucas became alpha. He'd lived longer, seen more, had a bone-deep maturity. He made Lucas think about his actions. "I've been considering proposing an adjunct status for cases like Ming's." Not for the ex-Councilor's benefit, but for the reason Nathan had pointed out.
"It'd give the individual or group access to business contacts," Lucas continued, "but they wouldn't be considered a full signatory, would have no voting rights. Their adjunct status would be based on the fact that multiple other signatories have grave concerns about the sincerity of their application." He breathed out, forced himself to continue, though his panther was growling and clawing at him.
This time, the human side had to take precedence. "If, after five years, they've upheld the values of Trinity and not caused any other signatory criminal harm, they would become a full member."
Mercy was the one who broke the silence. "Will the others accept something like that?"
"I don't know." It'd be a hard battle, but Lucas would fight it. He had to or, as Nathan had pointed out, Trinity would be built on a foundation of exclusion rather than inclusion, negating the very reason it had been created. "I think the fact that Ming is too arrogant to ask again should make it easier." No one else in the world was apt to incite this depth of negative reaction.
"We can fix any damage already done by making it clear that even when multiple current signatories have problems with an individual or a group, that individual or group will still be given a chance to prove their authenticity."
Dorian was staring at Lucas. "I always knew you were tough, but you're about to try to take on the wolves, the Arrows, the Forgotten, and God knows who else, all at once." A sudden grin. "Forget brass balls. Those things are goddamn titanium!"
Laughter tore through the tension, and when Clay got up to make some coffee, Lucas asked for a double shot.
"Can you get me a glass of warm milk?" Mercy asked, then pointed a fin
ger at a spluttering Dorian. "Not a word. I happen to have developed a taste for it." A pause. "It's weird."
Nuzzling at her with the affection of a man who'd known her since they were children, Dorian said, "Dude, you're growing tiny people inside you. You can be as weird as you like." He rose to his feet as Mercy smiled. "I'll get your milk."
Only after everyone else was caffeinated did they return to pack business. Which happened to once again be connected to Trinity--but this time in a far less fraught way. One of the most basic tenets of the accord was that all parties could contact one another and open lines of communication existed for people across racial, pack, and family lines.
An unfortunate side effect had been a barrage of calls offering DarkRiver various "amazing" business "opportunities," the offers made by Psy, humans, and changelings alike. Lucas had put Nate in charge of the flood because he not only had the most even temper of them all, he also had the experience to glean real opportunities from the dross.
"It's died down a little," Nate reported after retaking his seat, coffee in hand and the sleeves of his blue-and-red-checked shirt folded up. That shirt was clean except for a smear of purple near the collar where one of the twins had gotten jam on it while hugging him good-bye that morning.
"I've actually got two good ones to share."
The first was from a tiny human company founded and run by a couple out of their own home. "Scratch-proof coating for wooden floors," Nathan told them after introducing the founders. "They swore it'd work against changeling claws, so I had them send me a sample, put it on over a miraculously unscratched part of an upstairs room, then had the boys go to town on it."
"I don't have a cub," Vaughn drawled, "but even I can tell that might not have been the best idea."
Nathan grinned. "No, the twins understood this was a special treat. Any rampaging through the house and they'll be facing their mother's wrath."
Saluting Nate with his coffee cup, Vaughn took the organizer the other man passed over, then moved to sit on Mercy's other side. "Wouldn't have expected a human company to come up with this," he commented as he, Mercy, and Dorian studied the images on the organizer.