A Scientific Rejection, Book I: The Making (On Indefinite Hiatus)

Chapter Eight (D): The Past Has Presence

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Chapter Eight (D): The Past Has Presence

Maltheod stared at the king, his vision narrowing its focus to the man who now held his future in his hands. His mouth was moving again. What was he saying? Was he telling Eli? His ears rang, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t focus hard enough to understand the words. How had he been found out, anyway? He’d worked hard to ensure that he hid their family’s dishonor, and then it was gone. As the centuries passed with no word of discovery, he had finally relaxed, thinking himself free of the heavy burden that his son had left for him to carry, but from the look that Raymond was now leveling upon him, that was far from true. As the king’s gaze intensified, Maltheod’s fight or flight instincts kicked in. His breathing became rapid, his heartbeat increased and he could feel a fine sheen of sweat beginning to coat his skin under his now uncomfortably tight uniform as adrenaline coursed through his system.

            “We will kill them both!” his wolf declared, deciding that he would rather fight than flee, Ever the strategist, Maltheod wrestled with his beast, forcing him into submission. He then soothed him with the understanding that even knowing this, his most damning secret, Raymond had still promoted him. What had he called him, again? “An ass who gets the job done?” Maltheod nodded to himself slightly. “Well,” he thought smugly, “pragmatism wins out over idealism yet again. He must still recognize that he needs me. How can I work this to my advantage?”

Suppressing a small smile of satisfaction, the General took a deep, cleansing breath as his senses again began to operate at optimal levels. Both Eli and Raymond were looking at him with an air of expectancy. “Well,” he sighed, adopting a guise of heavy contrition, “where shall I begin?”

Raymond narrowed his eyes upon the power hungry wolf in front of him with absolute dislike. He knew that the other man felt no remorse for his actions. He still felt justified. Only the elite few that had ever held the title, Alpha Rex, knew the full extent of his powers as king. An especially well guarded secret was the ability to read the minds, the emotions and the intent of other beings. He had tensed, ready to defend himself and Eli, when Maltheod’s wolf rose up with murder in its heart. However, the other man had quickly tamed that impulse by assuring his wolf that working within the system would continue to work for them. That remarkable measure of self mastery was one of the main reasons behind Maltheod’s inexorable rise up the ranks of the Corps. “That,” he thought, “and a strategic mind that made Machiavelli look like a rank amateur. If he didn’t screw up too badly, within a very few centuries the shrewd older wolf would become a major contender for the rank of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Enforcers, thereby serving as Chief Military Advisor to the reigning king. He shook his head slightly, turning his lips inward and biting them as he sat back to watch the show.

“Son,” said Maltheod, ignoring the tension that entered Eli’s body with the use of that title, “as you recall, we argued bitterly over your mating. I truly believed that Samantha was the one for you, and I was concerned that you were allowing a youthful infatuation to stand in the way of your future. You see, I knew,” he stressed, turning to look into Eli’s eyes, “just how successful a mating between compatible weres who were not natural mates could be from personal experience.”