Chapter Thirty Two

Helix Five dominated the windscreen as they drove down the street, heading towards the car park that spread out in front of the gleaming building.

The building itself was strange, obviously added to over the years it was a mix of different shaped buildings.

Some were circular, some square others rectangular, all pushed together to form the giant complex that sprawled out in front of them.

The car pulled in front of the main doors, Jacob slowly climbing out and walking around the car, pulling his suit jacket closed and buttoning it before he pulled Sarise's door open and helped her from the vehicle.

"You still haven't told me why we're here." Sarise pointed out, smoothing her pencil skirt down before wrapping her arm in Jacob's.

"All in good time." Jacob replied with a gleam in his eyes and Sarise snorted.

"Goddess I hate that look on your face right now." She snapped lightly and Jacob chuckled as they walked towards the main doors.

"What look is that?" He questioned.

"That 'I know something and you don't' look." She answered, giving him a light shove. "It's fucken annoying."

Jacob laughed again, turning from her to the people standing at the door waiting for the two to walk up.

"Alpha Marcon." The elderly man called, walking forward and bowing to Jacob. "Luna...forgive me we don't know how you wish to be address."

"Marcon." Sarise answered as Jacob's arm wrapped around her waist, his hand trailing down to squeeze her backside.

"𝘏𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴." She told him through the link, smiling at him and Jacob chuckled

"𝘐'𝘮 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘥𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘰𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦." He answered, giving her a squeeze again before his hand found her waist. "𝘠𝘰𝘶'����𝘦 𝘯𝘰 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘺 𝘪𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘮𝘦.

"Luna Marcon." The man answered, smiling and bowing. "My name is Henry Largo." before turning to the people behind him. "This is the team that has been looking into the Hersemed."

"You mean the weed that's completely useless." Sarise stated, hearing Jacob chuckle again beside her and Henry turned to look at her, giving her a questioning glance before he turned to Jacob.

"You haven't told her?" He asked and Jacob shook his head. "Maybe we should go inside then."

Jacob waved his hand towards the door, indicating that the team go first as he gently pulled Sarise towards the doors.

"What haven't you told me?" She snapped through the link and Jacob chuckled.

"In due time love." He replied, leading her into the foyer.

"𝘋𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘢𝘯." Sarise called, poking her tongue at Jacob as Donovan touched both their minds.

"𝘚𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦."

"𝘋𝘪𝘥 𝘑𝘢𝘤𝘰𝘣 𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘸𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘹 𝘍𝘪𝘷𝘦?" Sarise questioned as they walked through the corridors of the complex, hearing both Donovan and Jacob laugh through the link.

"𝘍𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘓𝘶𝘯𝘢 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘭𝘱𝘩𝘢." Donovan stated, tactfully trying to avoid the topic.

"𝘚𝘰 𝘕𝘖𝘞 𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘈𝘭𝘱𝘩𝘢." Sarise grumped, frowning at Jacob and giving him a shove.

"𝘋𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦?" She pointed out and Donovan laughed.

"𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐'𝘮 𝘑𝘢𝘤𝘰𝘣'𝘴 𝘉𝘦𝘵𝘢." Donovan answered, Jacob's laughter behind his words. "𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘐'𝘥 𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘚𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐'𝘮 𝘑𝘢𝘤𝘰𝘣'𝘴 𝘉𝘦𝘵𝘢, 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘮."

"𝘈𝘴𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘦." Sarise snorted, severing the connection through the pack link and felt Jacob squeeze her backside again.

"𝘛𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘳, 𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦." Jacob breathed in her mind through the bond and Sarise huffed at him, pulling from him as she followed Henry into a room.

Jacob laughed as he walked in behind her, pushing his hands into the pockets of his pants.

"Everything okay Alpha?" Henry asked and Jacob turned to him, throwing him a smile.

"The Luna is merely getting upset that she's not privy to what's going on." Jacob answered, throwing a wink at Sarise before he walked forward.

"You mentioned you had something to show me?" Jacob added and Henry nodded, turning excitedly and waving them into the lab.

"We did some testing like you asked." Henry stated, pointing to the tables were dried the Hersemed sat, some pulled apart others still whole.

"But discovered nothing useful." He added and Sarise turned to Jacob.

"Told you." She said with a smirk and Jacob smiled, shaking his head at her and nodded towards Henry.

"I had some technicians go into Zone Four to get some fresh samples." Henry stated, indicating a hydroponic station that was growing Hersemed.

"Initially we didn't find anything useful." Henry continued and Sarise looked at Jacob.

"He said initially love." Jacob pointed out, throwing her a wink and turned to Henry.

"We discovered something by accident though." Henry stated, his eyes lighting up with excitement and he waved them to a table.

"Liquid Silver." Sarise frowned, looking into the Petri-dish on the bench.

"Like I said it was much by accident." Henry said again, reaching over and taking a bottle, pulling the stopper from it.

A smell permeated from it instantly letting them know it was Hersemed and Henry put an eye dropper into the bottle, filling it and stopping the bottle again.

Putting the bottle back he turned to the Petri-dish, putting a few drops of the Hersemed onto the liquid silver.

Sarise gasped as she watched the silver slowly disappearing, looking up at Jacob who was smiling at her.

"Seems it's a counter to silver." Jacob said lightly, a smile on his face.

Sarise turned back to the Petri-dish that was clearing of the liquid silver and shook her head lightly.

"But it's just a weed." She stated, looking at Jacob. "We could never find a use for it."

"Probably because you would dry it first." Henry pointed, smiling. "Apothecaries tend to dry their herbs out for usage and when dried out the Hersemed is completely useless."

"However, when it's fresh and stripped it bleeds a clear pungent juice." Henry continued, nodding at the bottle. "Which we harvested for testing."

"You said you discovered it by accident." Sarise stated, looking at the Petri-dish then back to Henry.

"As you know we've been trying to find a counter to silver poisoning for a while." Henry stated. "While we're able to treat mild poisoning that may occur, anything too serious is fatal."

"One of my technicians was testing some of the various theories we had that may help with silver poisoning and accidentally knocked over a bottle of Hersemed fluid." Henry stated. "The bottle smashed and it went everywhere."

"Initially we were concerned with cleaning it up, given Hersemed smells like..."

"Horse shit." Sarise stated and Henry nodded, throwing her a smile.

"The technician spotted the Petri-dish she'd been working with and noted that the silver had dissolved." Henry continued.

"So, you did some more testing." Sarise stated, looking back at the Petri-dish.

"Yes." Henry answered. "We wanted to make sure it was actually the Hersemed and not something else that had caused the silver to disperse."

"And you're sure it's the Hersemed?" Jacob asked and Henry nodded.

"Very sure Alpha." He answered. "We've performed thousands of tests and all have come back conclusive, Hersemed dissolves silver."

"How easy is it to grow?" Jacob asked, turning to the hydroponic unit.

"Sadly, it is extremely hard to grow." Henry replied. "We're having trouble finding a way to keep it alive for very long."

"Have you tried synthesising it?" Sarise asked and Henry nodded.

"Sadly, anything we create is not effective." He answered. "And the Hersemed Fluid does not store very well. We need a continuous fresh source."

"And there are only limited places it grows in The Zones." Sarise said lightly.

"Yes, the old Alpha cities it seems." Henry answered.

"I've never seen it anywhere else." Sarise stated, walking towards the hydroponic unit.

"It stands to question why it's the only place it grows." Jacob pointed out, looking at Henry. "Is there a difference in the PH level of the soil?"

"Quite a significant difference." Henry stated. "However, we're loath to remove anything other than the plant, given the importance of the growing locations to those within The Zones."

Jacob turned to Sarise, seeing her shoulders slump lightly before she turned to him.

"It's considered sacred land." She said lightly. "Consecrated ground."

"The people of The Zones surely would have taken the materials within the cities and..." Jacob began but Sarise shook her head.

"Consecrated ground Jacob." She said with a smile. "No one will live within the old city; none will build in it, none take materials from within it. It's been left to rot and remind us of who we once were."

"That explains why Requite only houses the regulator and his guards." Jacob said lightly.

"No one descended from the packs would want to live there." Sarise answered, wrapping her arms around her slightly. "We are told tales of the spirits that walk the streets, that the victims of the war howl at night for peace. How they were left in limbo as punishment."

"You believe the tales?" Jacob asked and Sarise looked at him, her eyes flashing aqua for a moment.

"There was a tale I was told as a child that turned out to be truth." She pointed out and Jacob inclined his head, knowing she meant the tale of The Cull.

"Shit." Jacob snapped, turning to the hydroponic unit and staring at it.

"How long does the Hersemed last in here?" He asked, turning to Henry.

"A week tops before it begins to dry." Henry answered.

"Have you tried synthesising the PH levels of the soil?" Jacob asked and Henry nodded.

"That's how it's currently lasting a week." Henry answered, looking at the unit. "Before that it would last a day, maybe two before it began to dry out."

"Fuck." Jacob growled, slamming his hands against the base of the unit and turning to run his fingers through his hair.

"I'll talk to the King." He growled, taking a deep breath in order to being himself under control and turned to Henry.

"See if I can get your permission to travel freely within The Zones to research more."

"That would be helpful." Henry answered bowing his head.

"Why not set up research stations." Sarise stated, walking up to Jacob. "You could place them on the outskirts of the cities, with the workers going in during the day."

"That way they could look into a way to extend the life expectancy of the Hersemed once it's been removed from the site."

"I thought the Alpha Cities were consecrated ground." Jacob pointed out and Sarise frowned at him.

"Honestly I swear you only hear half of what I say." She snapped, pinching the bridge of her nose and Jacob laughed.

"I heard you love." He joked, walking up and kissing her temple. "I just like messing with you."

"Ass hole." Sarise snapped, giving him a shove and turning to Henry. "How soon can you have a team ready to go into Zone Four?"

"Zone Four?" Henry asked, glancing at Jacob before turning back to Sarise.

"Zone Four houses the bulk of the former Alpha City does it not?" Sarise asked and Henry nodded.

"Liberty was in the centre of Independence Pack." Henry answered, turning to a map that was one the wall and walking over to it.

Jacob and Sarise followed him, seeing the former Alpha Cities marked on the map along with the concentrations of Hersemed that had been found so far.

"But yes, you're right that the bulk of it lay within Zone Four." Henry answered, tapping the map. "The Alpha Mansion lies inside Zone Four."

"Given Intelligence Pack governs over Zone Four its easier to start there until we get permission to go into the other zones." Sarise stated, looking at Jacob. "We can clear it off with Regulator Barnes."

"We huh?" Jacob asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Well you." Sarise added with a brilliant smile. "After all you are..." She held up her hands in quotation "The Alpha."

Jacob chuckled, turning to Henry as he spoke.

"Have a price put through to me for construction and installation of transportable modular units that we can put up in The Zones." He stated. "I'll contact the Regulators to tell them we have researchers coming in."

Jacob turned to Sarise, wrapping an arm around her waist and giving her a peck on the cheek, whispering in her ear.

"See, everything has a use." He breathed and Sarise snorted, giving him a shove.

"Ass hole."