Chapter 291
Chapter 291
AARON
We take the device back to the Rathborn mansion, but I think
it’s obvious to both of us what needs to be done about it.
The drive needs to be destroyed.
It’s too powerful, too terrible for anyone to have.
I honestly don’t know what the old Roberts Alpha and Liam were thinking when inventing this.
Well, actually I probably do.
They were thinking about money, and nothing else.
They were thinking about all those billions of dollars they would get paid from the military, and how it might make them the
wealthiest pack in Montana.
Still, it was a devil’s bargain.
How could any amount of money be worth your soul?
To know something you were responsible for creating would
be used to kill countless people?
Once we’re alone, Leah sets it on the desk and then looks at
me.
“I think we should destroy it,” she says, and there’s a hint of
apprehension to her voice, as if she’s worried I might disagree.
I smile at her. “I think you’re right, Leah. We can’t risk anyone else getting their hands on this. I don’t even want to imagine what
the military would do with it if we handed it over to
them.”
“Good,” Leah says with a nod. “So, what’s the best way to do
it? Do we just wipe the drive, or...”
I walk over to one of the cupboards recessed into the wall and
search around until I find a compact toolbox, filled with the
basics.
I get out a hammer and then take it over to hand over to Leah.
“Would you like to do the honors?”
She takes the hammer with a gleeful look on her face.
“I would love to!” she declares.
I step back and watch as Leah wields the hammer and
smashes the drive into a million little pieces.
Within a minute or two, what was once a solid-state drive
containing an Al program worth billions of dollars is reduced
to worthless pieces of debris.
Leah drops the hammer to the desk and turns to me with a triumphant grin on her face.
“That felt really good,” she says with a laugh, before throwing herself into my arms. “I can’t believe it’s finally over, Aaron. We can
put all that bad stuff behind us and begin our lives together properly now.”
I hold her tight, feeling the same relief and joy. What bits are left of the tech, I’m going to burn. Personally.
“We did it, Aaron!”
Yeah. We did.
We have each other, we have Ethan, the packs are safe.
I have a seat on the Council so I can make sure it doesn’t
become corrupt again.
And I even got back the sister I thought was dead.
“What do we do now?” Leah asks, leaning back to look up at
me.
“Now we get to live our lives the way we want, the way we deserve,” I tell her.
I lean down and capture her lips, loving the feel of her in my
arms.
My mate is everything to me, and I know the things she can. stir within me will never get old.
Leah breaks the kiss after a moment and pulls back from me.
“Oh! I know what we should do,” she says, looking happy and excited. “We should have a party to officially welcome Emily back
into the pack.”
I smile down at my mate, so happy and proud of the Luna she
has become.
That she would even think to do something like that for my long-lost sister, even though she knows Emily doesn’t like
her, is just the type of generous, kind-hearted thing my mate
would think of.
“That’s a wonderful idea, Leah,” I tell her. “And I think we
should do it sooner rather than later. If Emily can see and be reminded of all the people who missed her, all the pack members
who are so happy to have her back, maybe that’ll
help her.”
“I’ll go talk to the chef,” Leah says happily. “Let me know if there’s any favorite foods you think Emily would like to eat.
Oh, and I’ll get James to take me into town for some new decorations, so I’ll need to know Emily’s favorite colors.”
There’s a new spark in Leah’s eyes and a spring in her step
that wasn’t there before.
Destroying the Al tech-the last of her father and brother’s hateful legacy-really has seemed to take a weight off her.
“I’ll text you anything I can think of that might help,” I tell her and find amusement in the way she wiggles her fingers at me and
then disappears out the door, off to take party planning
to the next level it seems like.
Now, the only small issue left to address...
Telling the guest of honor in question.
Because while I told Leah I thought it was a good idea-and
I do think that-I know that Emily isn’t going to want to have anything to do with it.
In fact she’ll probably refuse outright.
But for the sake of the pack-for morale and a sense of
togetherness-this party is going ahead.
I’m not sure if it’s because we’ve been at war or battling so many problems this last year, but even with the peace and having my
mate and son and sister safe, I’m still feeling this low-level hum of dread.
We’ve laid all our problems to rest. Yet I can’t escape this feeling that we haven’t even seen the worst of them yet...