Before the Fall

Chapter Forty-Seven - Cracks

Li

I swiveled back and forth in Namjoon's chair. My eyes were continually focused on that ugly tree branch he kept in the corner. Pathetic how he held on to such morbid memories.

That boy had always known how to test me. He was smarter than the others, quicker to learn, and quicker to test the limits of his knowledge and my patience.

Sometimes I regretted saving him from that druggie of a mother. Other times, I took great pride in the luck I had that day. He doesn't know I took him from a mother who didn't care, and also saved him from a life of forced sex, disease, and a complete waste of him as a human.

I really had lucked out with Namjoon. I mean, when you end up with a child that young, you really don't know what you're getting.

I didn't really know with Jin and Yoongi either. None of them for that matter. But Namjoon...I needed a leader and surprisingly, he proved to be just that.

But right now, I needed the little bastard to stop defying me. I thought we were past the rebellious age? I suppose current events proved we were definitely not.

It was really no matter. My first seven sons were proving to be too independent in their thinking. As much as it bothered me to perhaps cut them out of the proverbial will, for the good of everything I might have to. If they didn't acquiesce to my desires and will, I would have no choice.

A knock on the door briefly got my attention as my two newest and most loyal children walked in.

"General," sad Sana, walking in front of Xander.

I wanted to laugh. He looked so uncomfortable in his military fatigues. The way he shifted and fidgeted amused me. Clothing always ruffled his fur. It was amazing to see how different he was after his hybridization.

I thought back to the hours of hidden camera footage I had watched of him and his wife, Aster. The way they lived and worked, even the way they made love; I had seen it all. Some would say it was a blatant invasion of their privacy. I chose to think of it as thoroughly studying the things I wanted to enhance and change.

I found Xander to be rather tenacious, tough, highly focused on whatever he had in his teeth. I needed that kind focus once again working for me, not against me.

I allowed the couple to live through the Extinction. Most of my top scientists' families hadn't even gotten that privilege. I can't say it didn't anger people in my organization, but I write their checks. I allow them to live. Can they really say one thing against me?

Xander was an easy target. He loved his wife so very much, it was almost nauseating. I had never had that kind of love. I was too focused on my research. I didn't have time for frivolous and potentially pointless endeavors like love. If I could have guaranteed the outcome of a relationship, I would have definitely had one. But I couldn't, so I didn't.

"General, the officers are still in the clinic. We've heard nothing from them over the last day."

"No whining? No pleading for help? No screaming? Nothing?" I can't say I was as surprised as Sana over the lack of groveling, but I did train them to be very tough and self-sufficient.

"No, sir. The guards say it's been relatively quiet."

"They do have several wounded," I hummed to myself. "Xander?"

"Yes, General?"

"Now that you've seen your wife-"

"She is not my wife," he growled.

I thought to snap at him for daring to interrupt me, but I let it slide. "Well, I mean, she was."

"I don't even remember her."