BirthMark by Sydney Addae Page B

residual sunlight. He slid back in his seat and typed a few keys on his keyboard. The screen he used for Alpha conferences rolled down and clicked into place.
    A few minutes later, the interior of a large room filled with people appeared. The initial picture quality was poor. After playing with the keys for a while, the picture quality improved well enough that you could see the various eye colors of the people milling about the room.
    “What was the date you were at the club and the time?” Silas asked Tyrese, who stared at the images on the screen.
    Tyrese told him and Silas typed in the dates and the blocks of time. The screen went black and after a minute or so, the picture returned. Silas used the knob to pan the room and stopped on Tyrese and Boggs. They watched in silence as the black female with the long braids walked up to them.
    “Hold on, can you check and see what she was doing before she met them, was she talking to someone?” Tyrone asked.
    Silas split the screen so they could watch what she was doing while Tyrese and Boggs were talking.
    “She’s talking into a head piece and laughing. You see that.” Tyrone pointed to the screen.
    “Hold it,” Tyrese said. “That’s Leonidas. He was in the club, standing not too far from her and I never saw him.”
    “Do you see any of the others?” Silas asked, searching the room.
    Tyrese quickly identified the four other wolves. “I didn’t see or scent them inside the club and I was constantly filtering scents. In the corridor, I knew there were wolves outside but they were unfamiliar.”
    Silas panned to the conference room and the first discussion. “Seriously, Boggs was a joke,” Tyrone said, listening to the conversation.
    “Watch this,” Silas said. He zeroed in on Tyrese’s and the female’s faces when she mentioned killing the breed during the Alpha challenge. Tyrese’s eyes flashed gold, and although the woman was facing Boggs, she noticed the flash and her lips pulled up at the corner in a grin.
    “See that?” Silas asked. “She was deliberately baiting you. Look at this when you mention the pups.”
    Tyrese’ jaw was so tight it was amazing the words passed through his lips. But her eyes glowed. “They knew who you were,” Silas said. He fast forwarded to the fight and was impressed by the speed and agility Tyrese displayed as he whipped five full-blooded wolves.
    “I should’ve killed them,” Tyrese said in a tight voice.
    “No. You did right. They overplayed their hand. And even though they backpedaled at the end after identifying you, they spoke words of treason and I will now deal with them,” Silas said as a burst of satisfaction flowed through him. He rewound the tape and placed the cursor on the face of each person Tyrese identified and immediately the screen filled with data about that person. Silas saved the information and sent it to his computer.
    “I’m creating a file on these six people. I want to have a conversation with them. They have a problem with how I am governing, they think I’m soft.” He chuckled. “Maybe I am, but they will never know.” He typed in the dates from the two previous nights and had the computer search the crowd for the five faces.
    “No results” flashed across the screen.
    “They have not returned to the club since that night, but I am certain they have others hanging around watching. Neither of you are to visit that place until I clear it, is that understood.”
    “Yes, Sir,” they said simultaneously.
    “I sent their files to your tablets, open them.” The curtains slid back and the blinds opened so that natural sunlight flooded the room. There was a knock on the door.
    “Come in, Rose,” Silas said, looking up as she entered the room balancing a tray filled with food.
    “Jasmine sent this.”
    Honeyed warmth filled him. He hadn’t eaten anything since this morning and seeing the platters of steaks, chicken and ribs, he was suddenly ravenous. “Thank you.” He pulled the