Claws and code

Evil genius

Hi there, Angel, you asked for another chapter (early) so here it is 😘
Remember, if you you are reading this anywhere, other than on Wattpad, it's been pirated.
Now, more Cloe
***

I'd smacked his nose. My big, bad Lycan was a bad puppy. He snarled and shook his head, no. I pushed at him and his growl turned into a whine. "It's going to bust my stitches if I try to get you off me, but I damn well will!" He instantly sat up and I slowly tried to sit up but it hurt too much.
"A little help here?!" I snapped with a weak push at the wolf. I had learned from living in the beta family. Women weren't soft and compliant. Women were tough, practical and bossy. If they wanted something done, it got done instantly by the one they asked or everybody suffered. The wolf whined and tried to lick me, I glared. "You help or you leave."

The room was filled with the sound of cracking and the wolf transformed. His hands were gentle as he immediately tried to help me up. "I stay."

The short, growled sentence and the intense colour of his eyes told us all that his animal side was still in charge of their body. Before I could ask, someone threw him a pair of pants and he slid them on without leaving my side. Then he looked at me again. His hands stretching to touch the bandages. "I stay. Took too long for kill. You hurt."

Their animal side didn't speak often when they took control of the human side, generally that only happened during extreme stress. For some reason this animal had decided I was his to protect and he obviously found the human part lacking. I grabbed the hand that gently touched the edge of the bandage around my torso. With my other hand I touched his face. "You are a fierce and beautiful beast. Thank you for protecting me. Now you need to let me talk to these people and help protect both our packs and many others."

"Mate is... important." He purred as I ran my hand over his cheek.

I swallowed at the word mate. That confirmed Jack's animal had claimed me. A big part of me was ecstatic but a well-trained part of me was cautious. The well-trained part won and I linked with my family as they stood near the wall. "What the fuck is happening to him?!"

Several people started to reply but our Alpha shut it all down with one word, out loud. "Report!"

My back straightened and I started telling him what I had encountered. David filled in what he had found in his information grab while I was out. "I only speed read what we were stealing but every pack name I have ever heard was in their files and more I didn't know. There were also files on covens, nests and unaffiliated sups. They had files on something called the Enforcers but I only glanced at the file names not the documents. I tried to prioritise the targets so that we know who to warn. We were attacked as I started the dive into their contacts."

Several growls rang out and I flinched. Jack's animal side growled impressively, from the human body, at the others in the room and slid closer. He got on his knees and I understood that he was placing his body in a position that would be able to attack faster.

"Jack?" I said softly when everyone fell silent at his change in posture.

His bright animal eyes glanced at me. "Not frail side." He snapped dismissively.

My voice raised sharply and I snapped at him. "You are the other side of the same body. You are Jack too. You have a choice. Sit your ass down and put an arm around me or leave. Give the body back to the frail side, you big furry bastard. This needs to be done. I need to protect the pack." I was pleading to the beta animal that would understand protecting pack.

"Frail side can wait. Big furry bastard stays with mate." He stated proudly as he sat back on his butt and wrapped an arm around my shoulder. There were several chuckles and my mother giggled. "That's my girl."

"No. This my girl."

Erik stepped forward. "Jack, brother, you will never live this down! Big furry bastard indeed!!"

The animal beside me grinned dangerously. "Jack tells me to say. We big furry bastard. You mangy mutt."

I laughed and the bright eyes looked at me lovingly and pleased with himself. I took the opportunity to continue with my brief. "The contacts we recovered are encrypted and I assume that David is already attempting to break it. I hope you made multiple copies because it looks like a destruction encryption. One wrong line of code and the whole file will self destruct."

"The tech guys found out already. They are continuously cursing up a storm down there. One guy is permanently copying the file for everyone working on them. We haven't touched the original."

The stranger spoke up. "My people down there have said that whoever invented the self destruct encryption is an evil fucking genius. They can't get an inroad on that shit and our best people are on it."

David linked in the pack link to everyone. "It seems like this outsider's saying that our Mowgli is an evil fucking genius." My pack snickered out loud and even our stoic Alpha smirked.

"I'm sure we'll crack it." Daniel said cheekily winking at me from behind the stranger.

"Even the top hacker in this pack hasn't cracked it yet. But then again, we don't know if he's making inroads either as he's staying hidden from everyone." He shot an aggravated look at Daniel.

I smiled sweetly. "Not my problem Mr...?"

"Castellino. Peter Castellino. My coven was highest on the list with attack plans and we were informed just in time to prevent them from destroying our whole family. We had a traitor in our midst. I came to thank you for risking your life to get all the information, not just the information that would save the Lycan packs."

Feeling Jack tense at the man's words, I realised he didn't like to be reminded that I was hurt. I put my hand on his leg and rubbed small circles with my thumb. He relaxed and snuggled closer without jarring my injuries.

"Your pack's grounds have become central command for a lot of different species Miss Smith. That's probably why the animal of your mate won't let the human be in charge."

I smirked arrogantly. "Why my big furry bastard does anything isn't your concern, Mr Castellino. If you have nothing else to discuss with me, I would like you to leave. I'm sure my Alpha will inform you if there is anything else relevant to your situation."

The stranger shot Daniel a look that spoke volumes but he left without a word when almost a minute had passed and nobody countered what I had said.