The Genius Delta
Chapter 11 - Silvercloud

When we stepped out of the elevator, I'd been excited to leave and spend time with Persephone farfrom the office. But, of course, that was impeded by Shikoba. The other staff that saw her snag meby the collar probably assumed I was in trouble for something. While no one in the building butShikoba and now Persephone knows who I am, they all know that Shikoba is the eyes and ears ofthe mysterious Silvercloud.

"Want to tell me what's going on with the intern?” Shikoba signed as she narrowed her eyes at me.“Not really.” I shrugged and signed back to keep our conversation private.

Usually, if she is dealing with someone, it's done through a text-to-speech device I designed for her.I'm working on a side project at the moment, which, if Shikoba is down, would involve an implant inher brain that would instead take her thoughts, and the computer would speak them, eliminatingher from even having to type. It will be groundbreaking once I get it perfected.

“Right, because you randomly make out with women in your lab.” Shikoba rolled her eyes beforelooking at Persephone. “Does she know your secret? Can she be trusted?”

“Okay, so I don't randomly make out with anyone,” I tell Shikoba many things, but the one thingshe’s not allowed to know is that I'm a werewolf. “And yes, she knows who I am, and I trust her. It'stough to explain.” I sighed.

“Try to explain it.” Shikoba was giving me a serious all-business look. “If you can try to explain stringtheory to me, you can explain to me why the intern you asked to have assigned to you knows yoursecret and was playing tonsil hockey with you.”

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. “It's a cultural thing. Sort of like how Logan ended up withAurelia and John with Sarael. Persephone is my person.” I tried to explain, hoping she would leave itat that.

“Great, so some weird cult leader arranged this.” Shikoba rolled her eyes.

“It's not a cult.” I shook my head.

“It is till you tell me what the real reason is.” Shikoba countered. “But I'll drop it for now. Just makesure you two keep your relationship private. I don’t need to deal with an HR uproar over an internsleeping with her mentor.”

“We will keep it professional in the office. And oh fuck. I need to go rescue Persephone.” I groanedas I noticed Mila.

“Pull everything you can about the new intern named Mila. I don't like her and don't trust her. She'san HR problem waiting to happen, and if she touches me again, Persephone might kill her.” I added,not waiting for Shikoba's reply before hurrying over to intervene before blood was shed.

The more Mila spoke, the more I didn't trust her. Shikoba will pull what records she can replace. I'mgoing to do some research of my own as well. Logan had to sign off on her being in the territory sowe would have more information on her back home. At least I got her off my back and away frommy mate. I don't want Persephone in a bad mood. I want her to be in a good mood, and based onher shocked smile, she was in a better mood.

“You... you have an Aston Martin DBS.” Persephone gasped, eyes wide as she took a step closer tomy car. “I've never seen one outside the Bond movies my papa, and I would watch.” Her voice wassoft, filled with nostalgia and the pain at knowing her dad was gone.

“He would have lost his mind to see this car.” She smiled sadly, running her fingers across the hood.We're both orphans, but it feels different for us. I barely remember my parents, so I don't have thisache and nostalgia about them. She was a teenager when she lost hers, so that hurts deeper. Istepped closer and put my hand on her back.

“Then he'd have lost it if he realized it's got more gadgets than any Bond vehicle.” I grinned.

She spun around to look up at me, those green eyes full of wonder and curiosity. Shit, we are likepeas in a pod. If John thought my office needed more insurance, he would have to tell Logan thepack needs it because Persephone will be our new Delta female.

“Can I drive?” She asked eagerly.

“As hard as saying no to you should be... no.” I shook my head and laughed as she frowned.“Maybe another time when you're familiar with the area. While the onboard computer can navigateyou to Mount Hood, I'd rather not on your first day.” I added so she didn't think it was a hard no butmore a not this time.

“Fine. That's at least a maybe. Alec, Katrina, and André are all touchy about their sweet rides backhome, which is ridiculous. I'm a far better driver than Katrina and Chesed. And okay, I drive moreaggressively than Alec and André, but still.” Persephone huffed.

I chuckled, glad that the mood had changed from the growing melancholy of memories of her dad.“I've never had to ride in a car with them. Interestingly, Alec's wolf has driven a vehicle whilecontrolling the human form. I don't think I know anyone else whose wolf has had that level ofcontrol before.” I commented as I unlocked the car and opened her door.

“Thankfully, Chesed has spent less time in control since Crista entered Alec's life. She put him in hisplace.” Persephone shrugged as she climbed in. “Not sure you're one to talk. While your eyes don'tgo full amber, some of your wolf's eye color swirls in your own.”

“Oh... yeah..” I bashfully rubbed the back of my neck as I went around to the driver's side. “Jaci and Iare kind of unique. John says it's because of my shaman heritage. My connection with Jaci is lessdivided than most werewolves. Our spirits are more entwined, I guess.”

"Huh... that's pretty cool. Almost as cool as this car...” She grinned as she ran her hand across thedash. She gasped as the dash opened to show various buttons and as I started the car, the inside ofthe windshield lit up with displays associated with the controls

"Whoa... you were serious about this being tricked out more than a Bond car.” She whistled as shereached to touch a button. I quickly stopped her, letting out a sigh of relief.

"Disable all combat programs,” I commanded.

"Combat programs disabled.” The computer confirmed, and several of the icons went dark.

“Holy shit, this car has combat programs. What was I about to hit?" Persephone asked, peering atthe buttons with intrigue.

"A headlight missile.” I chuckled.

"Daaammmn.” She exclaimed. “That is awesome. And Alpha Logan and Beta John just let you drivearound armed and extremely dangerous?”

“They may or may not know about everything my car can do.” I grimaced as my mate laughed.

"Oh wow, that's priceless.” She smiled, shaking her head as she slowly stopped laughing, and Ipulled out of the parking garage.

"Do you have a manual that details everything in this car and how it all functions? I would love toread it.” She asked as she looked at all the buttons like she was trying to figure them out.

“Not a physical one. I have a data file on my local server in my bunker of everything I've done to mycar. You're welcome to peruse it.” I offered.

She's my mate and also a brilliant person in her own right. So no reason to keep anything from her.When we mark each other, she'll be able to get in my head directly if and when I let her. I don'tknow if our mating was the Goddess punishing or blessing Bloodmoon, but I'll take it as a blessingnow that our pack will have two very talented Deltas.

"Wait, you have a bunker? Is that where you were last night instead of the packhouse?” Persephoneasked.

"Yeah. After the incident with blowing up part of the packhouse, Logan and John decided my labshould be far enough from everyone not to cause damage. So they built me a bunker. It's a littleover ten miles from the packhouse.” I explained.

“Holy shit, that explains it.” She blinked as something clicked in her head. I, however, was lost.“Explains what?" I asked.

“Last night, I was jet lagged, and Sara picked up your scent and shifted while I was still asleep. Iwoke up ten miles from the packhouse when David found me. Sara said she'd followed our mate'sscent but went around in circles, unable to replace him.” Persephone explained.

"Oh, and now it makes sense why Jaci picked up your scent when I left the bunker.” I chuckled.

“Do you often sleep there?” She asked.

"Sometimes. It beats needing earplugs to drown out Logan and Aurelia fucking or on the heirscrying.” I chuckled.

“I can relate. I wish there were a bunker back in Incubi I could escape to. Having to listen to mysister and Alec fucking is beyond cringe. Especially when they go into the dark room.” Persephoneshuddered.

“Yeah, I could see that being a problem. Are your nieces the fussy type? Light sleepers? Or can theysleep through all the noise their parents make?” I asked.

“They were fussy as newborns, but after they started being able to sleep through the night withoutneeding to be fed, they've been great. And I don't know how they manage to sleep through Cristaand Alec going at it. I know a she-wolf only goes into heat once, but it feels like Crista never got outof it.” She sighed.

“I think that means their relationships physical side is strong. Logan and Aurelia are the same.Thankfully I can't speak to how much John and Sarael have sex as they never lived in the packhouseas a couple. Charles and Sybille weren't exactly quiet either before they moved out.” I shrugged.“Honestly, I should have moved out when Aurelia moved in. I wasn't in a hurry and slept in mybunker more often than not.” I shrugged. “Though now that we've met, I should look into movingout sooner than later.”

"Speaking of that. How do you think your pack will take the news that you are moving to Incubi?”Persephone asked.

I slammed the brakes in shock and confusion at her question. “Ahhh... Jonathan...” Persephoneyelped as she held the door handle.

“I don’t want to sound like some weird sexist here. But are you fucking with me right now? Whywould I move to Incubi? I'm the Bloodmoon Delta. I wouldn't leave my pack.” I shook my head,hoping she was teasing me.

She must be fucking with me. There is no way that she would expect me to abandon my role in thepack to live in Incubi. She holds no rank, and her hereditary title in Nebrodi was void the day shetook the Incubi oath, not to mention when Tiberius and Katrina swore in their new ranked members.So she has to be messing with me or nuts.

Persephone looked at me with this serious expression for half a minute before she started to laugh.“The look on your face and the reaction were priceless. But please never slam the brakes on such aniconic car again.”

I could finally breathe. Persephone was messing with me. “As long as you don't pull shit like thatagain.”

“Fine.” She assured me. “And don’t worry, I didn't think you'd give up being Delta to come to be anobody in Incubi.”

“That's a relief. After we let the others know we found each other, we can discuss livingarrangements.” I smiled and continued driving.

For the rest of the drive, we mostly talked about what I do in the pack to help her understand whatAurelia and the other ladies might expect of her as the female Delta. When we arrived at the packhouse, we'd just walked in when I cringed hearing Hana.

“Silvercloud! I missed you last night!” Hana greeted me as she went to kiss my cheek. Before I couldmove to dodge like I ALWAYS do and tell her to knock it off, Hana was yanked back by the collar toland hard on her ass in the foyer. Hana yelped in pain, bringing all the Kinsleys running to see whatwas happening. Oh crap.