“No, absolutely not.”
“You sound awfully sure.”
The corner of Max’s right eye twitched. “I am.” He drew up his shoulders. “Every text we have says that the ability to create a cur is rare. What are the chances there were two Sarvari of equal strength in the same place who created curs and sent them on a rampage?”
“Improbable but not impossible.”
“If you believe that, you should re-think allowing the Varu to reclaim their wolves,” Max said it like a challenge.
“We already made that mistake once and look where we are.” Laura’s ancestors had been fools to think destroying the Varu was ever the right path. Especially after making enemies out of the Mah.
But both the Senate and the Wardens had tried. Whittling down the Varu until there were only a few thousand.
The Senate had been more than prepared for them when they fought back, turning them on each other by punishing the weakest. But they’d only focused on the human side and not the wolf.
“Yes, let’s look at where we are, Laura—”
“WardenPhillips.” She smiled when she said it. “Since we’re sticking with formalities.”
He glared. “This isn’t a joke.”
“Am I laughing?”
His glare hardened. “Grey did this.”
“Based on what evidence.”
“He’s directly responsible for the Utah Facility.” Max made a show of looking around. “And this is the exact kind of chaos he will inflict on the public. This is exactly why we need to act now.”
Laura lifted her chin. “With all due respect, yourhonor, no one even knew the Anubis project existed until the Utah Facility incident. That took meticulous and extreme measures to keep it hidden. Someone capable of that wouldn’t be careless enough to set loose a horde of curs and draw attention to themselves.”
Laura followed the claw marks, cutting through bloody house-shoe prints.
“Are you saying Grey had nothing to do with the research?”
“Considering he’s spearheaded the revival of his kind, I’m sure he did. The Varu are a desperate people trying to reclaim what we took from them.”
“I’m beginning to think you have sympathy for Grey.”
“I understand his motives. I don’t agree with them.” Nor did she trust the Mah to remain peaceful. Varu had the fight stripped from them long before they lost their wolves. Whereas the Mah refused to yield. Abandoned, they had only their anger to keep them warm. And centuries would give it more than enough time to transform into rage.
“Is that why you haven’t disposed of Nash Kelli?”
“You saw the remains of the compound in Canada. He’s stronger than we thought. He just hasn’t figured it out yet.”
“And how long will that take? How long before he conquers us like before?” Max made his way beyond the ring of debris.
“The Anubis never conquered. It destroyed.”
“You say that like there’s a difference.”
“There is. To conquer is to take what you want from your enemy. To destroy is to keep the enemy from taking from you.” She went back to tracking Dr. Dante’s panicked retreat documented in tile fragments kicked across the floor, sheetrock dust, and an overturned coffee cup next to a butcher block with a vacant spot between the knives. “If Isaiah ties Luca to his pack, the Varu have hope of reclaiming Fenrir. If we go after Nash and Luca gets in caught in the crossfire, the Varu will have no reason not to take the VrK.”
“How do they know it will even work?”
“They won’t care. The wolf is everything to them. Best-case scenario is they manifest the Fenrir. Worst, they manifest the Sarvari and the Mah grow in numbers. Only this time, they won’t be controlled by the Anubis. So even if we manage to kill it, they’ll continue to multiply.” Laura stepped over a crater in the floor. “Isaiah is our best chance at killing Nash and not provoking a war we could very well lose.”
“We have weapons.”