The Lycan Rebirth (The Flux Age Book 3) by Steven J Shelley Page B

She had been receiving substantial donations ever since Mischa’s recruiting drive. A vast sum had come from the Odessa family, but there was a surprising amount of old money in the wild mountains of Romania. Yasmin suspected there were ancient treasure troves there that only the Maramurians knew about.
    Once Yasmin’s small army were comfortably installed on the tenth floor she reached out to Lionel Talbot, the city mayor, and received an interview almost immediately. The mayor came to Yasmin, his sweaty, pallid face revealing the stress he had been under.
    “I can’t tell you how relieved I am to see you here, Yasmin,” he said. “There’s something cooking here in New York, we can all feel it.”
    “You know what I am, don’t you?” Yasmin asked.
    The mayor lowered his eyes and nodded his head. “I know you’re a friend of the lycans, and that’s enough for me.”
    The mayor sat opposite Yasmin and looked at her urgently.
    “I’ll level with you, Miss Silver,” he said. “Since the lycans were all killed we’ve felt particularly vulnerable here. There are rumors of ghouls marching through the tunnels under the city. Tunnels that the lycans used to patrol.”
    The mayor’s eyes had welled up with tears. Yasmin could empathize with the man’s desperate situation. Flux creatures would soon be tearing up the whole city. It was imperative that she reassure the mayor.
    “That’s why we’re here,” Yasmin said soothingly. “I’ll put my people on the streets to get a feel of the city. Once we’ve done that we can set up a defensive line. I’ll advise you on that later. In the meantime I want you to pool all state troopers and bring them into Manhattan. This is important, Lionel.”
    The mayor sat back in his chair and sighed heavily. “You expect some kind of attack in the next few days?”
    “You can bank on it,” Yasmin said confidently. “Work with the police commissioner and make sure there’s plenty of protection in the city.”
    “I can do that,” the mayor said tiredly. “Are there any, you know, lycans left?”
    “One that I know of,” Yasmin replied. “I’m hoping to see Jack Foley quite soon.”
    The mayor’s eyes lit up momentarily. Yasmin couldn’t help but smile, glad to bring a little warmth to his cold, lonely job.
    “Lycans make good figureheads,” Lionel said by way of explanation. “I respect them, the police revere them, and most importantly of all, the people fucking love them.”
     
    After Yasmin had exchanged details with the mayor and seen him to the door, she took a moment to sit quietly and send a message she’d been thinking about for days now.
    She keyed in Jack’s cell number and typed in the following - NEW YORK. COME.
    It was simple but effective. No one had been able to risk cell phone communications since the Lycan Society had been attacked. In this day and age it was simply too easy to trace. With Jack and Florence in such vulnerable positions, there was no way for Yasmin to see if they were OK, and that killed her. She was thrilled to receive an immediate reply from her lover - C U SOON X.
    Yasmin chuckled out loud, delighted at the playful sign off. Now that they all knew - hopefully - where the Berlin Club would attack, the risk of communicating with Jack had decreased. Still, Yasmin wished she had more time and opportunity to talk to the man who had won her love. There was no doubt she wanted to do more than kiss him when they finally caught up with each other.
    Stretching in the dreaded morning sunlight, Yasmin commanded the curtains to draw together and crawled into bed.
    As she drifted off into the restorative sleep of the vampire, she ticked off all the things she’d need to do on the morrow.
    Her first task was potentially the most difficult - reclaim the lycan chapter house.
    Surely there was no better base for her dark army.

7
     
    Grand Providence, Bahamas
     
    Gustav and his hideous detachment of arachne guided Florence’s ragtag party