Enemy of my Enemy

𝕱𝖔𝖗𝖙𝖞

Present Day

Six months had passed since the Blackburn and Briare pack had become one, six months since Bianca and Grayson had unquestionably become the king and queen of the state. They had celebrated Grayson's twentieth birthday on a cruise ship overseas, luxuriously tossing around the money that had been left to them in the wake of Lorenzo's death.

As they reigned, Reyes took charge of most of Lorenzo's assets. At Bianca's request, he had people dig through some old files to find what Bianca was looking for.

"The Quinn Project," Reyes tossed the paper file onto Bianca's desk in the Redwood House.

"And you're sure none of your people looked in here?" Bianca asked.

"Absolutely. Even I don't know what's in there," he said. "I don't suppose you want to tell me?"

"Bye, Reyes."

"Sure," he nodded. "Will you at least tell me who or what a 'Quinn' is?"

Bianca shooed him out the door. "My mother's name," she muttered, before slamming the door in his face.

She stared down at the file in her hands. It had never been digitized; Lorenzo had made sure of that. Bianca flipped through some of the pages, sighed, then shoved the file into her safe of titanium alloy. Acquiring such a safe had been no easy feat, but in a house full of people with supernatural strength, having a safe made of the same stuff airplanes were made of was the only way to ensure true privacy.

Several days later, a call came for Grayson.

"Mister Briare? It's Alaina Vargas," spoke the infamous member of The Six. "I'd like to talk with you. Could we meet?"

Since no one, save for the other five alphas, could refuse a request from New York's werewolf queen, Grayson accepted the plane ticket she sent him, and flew all the way to Manhattan to meet with her.

"I need something from you, Mister Briare," Vargas greeted him. "Information that might change the fate of the supernatural world for centuries to come: The Quinn Project."

"The... What?" Grayson frowned.

"A pet project of Lorenzo's, one we'd only heard rumors of until a few days ago."

"What happened a few days ago?"

Vargas smiled. "We received confirmation that the project does, in fact, exist. An informant of mine saw Mister Roman handing over all the information to Miss Blackburn."

"An informant?" he snapped. "You've been spying on us?"

"That's besides the point, Mister Briare," Vargas shook her head. "I want the files. Bring them to me."

Grayson nearly burst out laughing. "First of all, I have no idea what you're talking about. Secondly, the fact that I follow your rules doesn't mean I'm your errand boy. And lastly, if you're asking me to steal from her-'

"We can offer you anything, Mister Briare. What will it take for you to agree?"

"I already have money, strength, and power. I'm not going to go behind Bianca's back, all for some file I don't even know the contents of-"

"Bombs."

Grayson stared at her.

"And not just any bombs, Mister Briare. Lorenzo has been buying and developing explosives that are powerful enough to level entire towns."

"Level entire... You want me to hand over that kind of power to you?"

"So that we may keep it safe. And yes, to use it in ways that we see fit."

"No," Grayson stood up. "No. Obvious reasons aside, my answer is 'no' because your informant is giving you the wrong information. Bianca doesn't know anything about this 'Quinn Project'. If she did, she would've told me."

"Why? Because your relationship with her is so healthy that you never keep secrets from each other?" Alaina laughed. "Alright, how about this, then? We'll let you be a part of our group."

Grayson was taken by complete shock. "A part of your..."

"The Six will become the Seven," she clasped her hands together. "Get us the file, and we'll offer you a throne."

Just how powerful were these explosives, for The Six to all be willing to cut off a piece of their power and give it to him and Bianca?

"We'll offer you, and only you, a throne, Mister Briare," Alaina said, somehow reading his mind. "Our generosity can only go so far."

"I'm not going to betray her like that-"

"You will have a say in what all the wolves spread across fifteen states do. How they act, how they live, what wars they rage, and so forth. I'm not saying you have to betray Bianca. Simply... Convince her, that this is the right thing to do. It shouldn't be too hard."

But Alaina didn't seem to realize that, in the aspect of killing, Grayson and Bianca were worlds apart. Grayson had caused a massacre in his own home before he'd even become a legal adult. They hadn't been clean kills, either- He'd tortured and tortured, until his victims had been begging for death. While doing so, he'd felt nothing at all.

Bianca, on the other hand, knew how to feel remorse. She'd only murdered once in her life, and even then, the her delivering the killing blow had been inevitable. She'd needed to kill Lorenzo to save herself, but other than that... Her heart was still pure, unlike his. She would never agree to handing over such weapons of mass destruction to the six of the most bloodthirsty werewolves in the world.

"You'll make me one of you?"

He hated himself for sounding so hungry, but that was just who he was. He'd craved power all his life. He wanted to keep going up until there weren't any higher places to step onto.

Another thing he hated was having to take orders from others. No matter how powerful he and Bianca grew or how much they expanded, they would still always have to answer to The Six.

How would it be, if that wasn't a limitation for them anymore? If they had a place in the innermost circle of the supernatural hierarchy?

"The choice is yours, Mister Briare. A secret for a crown."