Final Extraction by Julie Trettel

Silas

Epilogue

 

 

 

I walked into Patrick’s office and was surprised to find Jacob Winthrop there. No one had warned me he was coming into town.

“Jacob.” I nodded to him.

“Silas, it’s good to see you.”

“What brings you to town?”

He shared a look with Patrick that made me uncomfortable.

“I got word last night that Stephen Daniels’ wife passed away.”

“I really am sorry to hear that.”

He nodded.

“After everything that went down a few weeks ago in Canada, the Verndari have been uncomfortable with where things stand. Several have noted concern over the work Westin Force is doing which is being spearheaded by Stephen and his son. I’m sure it will blow over and I’m working closely with our people to make them understand. I just thought you all should know.”

“I’m sorry they feel that way. I can’t speak for the entirety of the Force, of course, but I will happily voice my own concerns with the Verndari.”

“Excuse me?”

“You allowed this. Your organization’s sole purpose of existing is to protect shifters and you failed. Point blank, no mincing words, failed!”

“Silas, that’s enough!” Patrick warned.

“You want to push back with idle threats that the Verndari disapprove of us? Well I disapprove of you and the job you’re doing.”

“Silas!” Patrick shot me a glare.

“No, I’m not playing politics here, Patrick. My mate was locked in there being researched and experimented on for nearly a decade. This wasn’t a new situation that arose as you led us to believe. The Verndari knowingly turned a blind eye to it. That’s not protecting us, it’s the exact opposite,” I yelled.

Vada and I’d had a lot of deep and often dark conversations about her time there. I had a better grasp of what they were doing in there and it disgusted me. I was furious and I’d be damned if I was going to sit by and have Jacob Winthrop preach his displeasure over us when we were the only ones to step up and fix their wrongs.

Maybe it was a little self-righteous of me, but I didn’t care and I wasn’t going to back down.

Jacob rose to stand. “I’m sorry we let you down. You’re right. We didn’t protect you. We did fail.” The older man nodded his head. “But you should have killed them when you had the chance. Make no mistake, Silas, Trevor Daniels is coming after you and this time he has his father’s open support with the backing of many sympathizers. They’re spinning a good story to their advantage. My biggest fear is that they will rise and seek revenge.”

He turned and said a hasty goodbye as I sat back staring at Patrick.

“What the hell was that all about?”

“What the feck did you think you were going to accomplish by lashing out at Jacob like that?”

I shrugged. Jacob was of little concern to me. The only take away I got from the conversation was a need to step up training. If a war was coming, we’d better be ready and waiting for it.

Patrick was furious over how I’d handled things so the meeting ending pretty quickly.

As soon as I left there, I went to the lab area we’d set up for Martin. I wasn’t even certain if Jacob knew he was there.

I knocked and then let myself in.

Martin looked down at his watch and frowned. “You’re late.”

“Winthrop showed up to make some ominous threats, or warnings, or whatever you want to call them. Sorry, I’m a little worked up right now.”

“Where’s Vada?”

“She’s at home. Do you need her today?”

“Yes.”

I sent off a quick text asking her to come down.

“What’s this all about?” I asked while we waited.

“I’ll tell you both together instead of having to repeat myself.”

There was another knock at the door. “That was fast,” I mumbled as I went to open it.

I expected to find Vada, but instead it was Jake.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

“Look, we need to talk,” he said.

I groaned. I knew he’d been building up to this chat for over a week. Baine had been keeping me up to date on it.

“I really don’t have time right now for this, Jake.”

“Just two minutes of your time. You can give me that.”

“How about I just put you out of your misery once and for all?”

Jake gulped and stared up at me with a determined look on his face.

“I know what you’re doing here.”

“You do?”

“Yes. And I really do not have time for this. Vada’s on her way down for some of her test results. Now just go see Patrick and sign the damn papers already.”

“Huh?”

“You want to beg for a permanent position, right?”

“How’d you know?”

I smirked. “Wouldn’t be very good at my job if I didn’t, now would I?”

“So you’re taking me on officially?” he asked looking like he was about to explode.

I snorted. “You’ve been officially on payroll for two weeks. I’ve just been messing with you. You really think my mate was going to let me get out of hiring you on after you helped her? Now just get out of here and see Patrick to sign your paperwork or you won’t get paid, but you’re damn well gonna still do that job either way.”

Jake hugged me. “Thanks man. The boys had me convinced I was going to have to grovel for this.”

Vada walked in mid-hug. “Am I interrupting something here?”

“We’re just having a moment,” Jake said.

“He finally told you, huh?”

Jake pulled away from me. “You knew? And you didn’t tell me?”

“What fun would that be.” She hugged him. “Congratulations. You earned it.”

“Thanks. I’m going to go sign those papers now. I could really use a paycheck.”

With Jake gone and Vada present, I turned back to Martin. “Okay, talk.”

He smiled. “The tests we ran the last few weeks have been interesting.”

“Interesting? What does that mean?” I asked.

I was so nervous I thought I might throw up. It had been nearly a month since we’d shut the Raglan down and Vada had taken me as her mate. Life was pretty damn near perfect.

I had everything I could possibly want in life and we had just turned in the blueprints for the home we were building together after weeks of arguing over it.

One thing I knew for certain was there was no one I wanted to argue with the rest of my life more than her.

The big question was—how long would that life be?

“So, I know you’ve been looking for answers to questions that are difficult. We know that Trevor injected you with something. Despite what he said, I still can’t find any validation of what exactly he injected you with. The results are still inconclusive.”

I groaned in frustration.

“But, the tests are still coming up clear.”

“That’s good news, right?” Vada asked hopefully.

“Yes, and we will of course continue to monitor you, but right now, I have no signs or symptoms showing any type of cancer in you, Vada. However, and you might want to take a seat for this one.”

I sat down hard and pulled her into my lap. I thought I was going to throw up.

“You did find something, didn’t you?”

I could feel the dark cloud closing in around me as I braced for bad news.

“I did,” he said.

Vada grabbed my hand and squeezed it tight.

“You’re pregnant, Vada.”

 

*****

 

If you loved Silas and Vada’s story, just wait, there’s still more to come in the epic finale releasing January 2022.

You can preorder your copy of Waging War today!

 

If you are new to this series, You can go back and start from the beginning with Grant and Taylor’s story. Fierce Impact is available now and free on Kindle Unlimited.

 

And if you are new to this Paranormal Romance World, I highly recommend jumping to Kyle Westin’s story in One True Mate.

 

All books in this series, and in this PNR world are always FREE with KU!

 

Keep reading for more information on awesome Julie Trettel books and a Very Special Announcement from Jake!