The Porch Wolf

Alpha Leo Volkov’s POV

The wolf was bleeding and badly limping as I circled him. I faked an attack on his rear leg; when he moved away, I had already shifted directions and put my shoulder into his. The impact knocked him on his back, and my teeth were at his throat before he could recover.

“Don’t kill him,” Adrienne said over the link as my teeth closed down, his blood filling my mouth. I gave his neck a shake, and the wolf beneath me stilled. He moved his jaw back and exposed his throat to me. I accepted his submission and released him.

Trotting back over to my mate, I sat as she scratched at my ears. “I think he learned his lesson,” she said loud enough for the others around the challenge circle to hear. The medics arrived, moving the injured Guard Captain onto the stretcher. He’d live, but the scars would remind him that children were not to be silvered. Ever.

“Come on, big boy, let’s get you cleaned up.” I limped after her; the fight had strained my healing ankle, and I had a few claw marks and some torn flesh from bites. The Pack had an outdoor shower area for wolves to wash off mud and blood before coming in. She pulled her clothes off and hung them up before turning on the water. I let the spray soak my fur as she grabbed a washcloth and some scent-free shampoo. I loved the feel of her hands on me as she scrubbed the dirt and blood out of my fur. I hated the sting of the water and soap on my open wounds.

When she had me clean, she rinsed me off and turned the water off. I walked off to shake, then trotted back over the patio stones and shifted. “We need to get these stitched,” she said as she looked at my back and side.

We both dried off, her helping around the still-bleeding wounds, then I put on my sandals and pulled on a loose pair of basketball shorts. There was no point in dressing further before we got to the clinic. One of the visiting doctors cleaned and sutured the gashes before covering them with bandages. “Go on, get out,” he said.

“What’s left for tonight,” I asked Adrienne as I pulled my clothes out of the bag and dressed.

“There’s a challenge for a Wyoming pack, but nothing we have to be at,” she said. “The controversial issues were all handled before dinner tonight. Tomorrow morning will be announcements, Council elections for the Eastern and Mountain regions, and voting on proposed changes to Werewolf laws. The Summit ends at eleven so everyone can get back home.” Unfortunately, Chairman Sanders had two years left on his five-year term.

One proposed change dealt with the laws on banishments. Some Alphas were very upset after learning what had happened with us on arrival here. The proposal from Cascade-region Pack was to distinguish banishments for law violations from banishments for losing challenges. The former would still require other Packs to observe it, but the latter would only apply to the Pack expelling the losing wolf. I was confident it would pass.

Another potential change was less likely to pass, but one our Pack would support. It would require a Council member to officiate over trials for which the Alpha sought a penalty of permanent banishment or death. It was a restriction on their power that some Alphas resented, but it would ensure fair trials and consistent sentencing.

“Is there any blowback coming from your deal with Stillwater,” I asked. “Ivan is still in the cells.”

“I’m not sure yet,” she said. During the morning meetings, Adrienne drafted a statement in which she told the Council everything she had done at Marengo, Miesville, and Stillwater to contain the human interest in Vicki’s abduction. She couldn’t ignore Ivan’s involvement in the original kidnapping in the writeup. At lunch, we brought in Beta Fenwick, his lawyer, to read it over.

“If you swear to this in the presence of two Alphas, the Council cannot punish Ivan for the kidnapping and murder,” he said. “A Council mediator effectively granted him amnesty during the meeting at Marengo with him and Luna Brenda.”

“I don’t have the authority to grant amnesty,” Adrienne said. “Only the Chairman has that.”

“The Central Region Chairman told you to ‘resolve the situation’ and tell him when you had finished. You did just that. The resolution you reached did not require you to confess to the killing to the authorities; Mediator McInnis effectively shut that investigation down as well. Legally, the deal you mediated is binding as you were acting as the Chairman’s direct agent. Your involvement closes the issue with the Council; there is only one way to punish him for the kidnapping now.”

“What is that,” Adrienne asked.

“The aggrieved party or their champion could challenge him in the circle,” Lawrence said. “Olivia could demand justice, and Brent, you, or Adrienne could enter the circle with Ivan as their champion.”

That gave me pause; Brent would fight if Olivia asked, but Ivan would wipe the circle with him. She would refuse the challenge to keep him safe. I didn’t know if I could fight my brother for them if asked, not knowing what I did now. I didn’t think Adrienne would fight either.

I didn’t know what Olivia would want to do; she loved her Grandmother, but I think she understood what Ivan was trying to do. Vicki was too young to challenge, and I didn’t know if she would ever meet her father. The best thing for everyone would be to let it go.

After Lawrence left, we had two Alphas witness her signature, and she gave it to Chairman Wolfe during the lunch break. Chairman Sanders was furious when he found out, that much we knew. No one said anything to us during the afternoon or dinner.

We walked back to the Pack House, exchanging greetings as we passed the others. Many were outside enjoying the warm Georgia weather. Few Packs stayed in the deep south, the heat and humidity challenging their wolf forms. As we walked in, we saw the doors to the Council room closed and a guard outside. “I guess we won’t know tonight,” I said.

“The worst they can do is fire me,” Adrienne said as we walked to the stairs. “That’s not the worst thing. I was thinking about quitting, honestly. I can’t see how I can balance being a Luna again with a Council job that involves lots of travel.” She leaned into my side and wrapped her arm around me. “I don’t want to be apart from you, either.”

“I love you, Adrienne.” I opened the door to our room, and she was stripping off her clothes before the door closed again.

Naturally, my new cellphone rang. It was a TracFone that one of the guards had given me, so we had a number to go with the message the Council put out to help us find Vicki. I pulled it out of my pocket; I didn’t recognize the phone number or the area code. “Leo Volkov,” I said.

“Alpha Leo, this is Marge Johnson of the Atchafalaya Pack in Louisiana,” the woman said. She sounded like a grandmother. “My mate and I think we saw your girl and the others at the International House of Pancakes in Baton Rouge about seven o’clock this morning.”

“Baton Rouge?” I waved to Adrienne; she opened up a laptop and went to Google Maps. “Are you sure it was them?”

“I didn’t get a good look at the girl because her mom was shielding her from us. I could smell the mantle on her as they passed, though. How many five-year-old girls with Alpha mantles are there? When Marvin and I saw the picture our Gamma had, I knew it was them.”

I had to know for sure. Looking over Adrienne’s shoulder, I saw the driving distance. They must have driven all night to be there by then, but it was doable. “Did you talk to them?”

“No, but I talked to their waitress later. I told them I thought the mom might be my neighbor’s daughter. The server said that little girl packed away a whole chicken-fried steak breakfast with extra pancakes on her own! Can you imagine? Her little belly looked like she swallowed a balloon!”

Now THAT was my Sharkbait. “Did you see where they went?”

“No, but the IHOP was right off Interstate Ten, east of town.”

Adrienne was already moving the map, seeing where they might be going. “Marge, thank you for the call. You’ve been very helpful.”

“I’m glad I could help. You bring that girl home safe, you hear?”

“Yes, Ma’am. Goodnight.” I looked at the map. “If they were in Baton Rouge fourteen hours ago, how far could they have gotten?”

“No farther than Texas,” she said. “I can’t imagine they’ll drive for days non-stop with a five-year-old wolf. They probably wanted to get far away from Augusta before they stopped.”

I called Brent as she worked on a circle that represented that drive time. “Brent, we got a hit on them. This morning at seven, an IHOP off Interstate Ten near Baton Rouge.”

“Louisiana? Why would they be down there?”

“Not many Packs, and a lot of open territories to hide in,” Adrienne said. “They drove past the exit for New Orleans, so they are probably still going west. That means they are heading for Houston, San Antonio, or points further south. Worst case, they are going to head through New Mexico and Arizona to Los Angeles.”

“Being on the road has risks; I don’t see them driving for days,” Brent said. “Maybe they are making a big loop to head back here? Interstate 35 goes right through San Antonio. They could head north there and come back to Minnesota in a direction no one will expect.”

“They’re going to ground with Sharkbait,” I said. “If you were going to hide somewhere AND keep a little girl happy, where would you go?”

“Fogo de Chao for unlimited meat,” Brent said with a laugh. “No, it would be to aquariums. Sharkbait LOVES aquariums. She could spend all day at one.”

“Adrienne, look up aquariums in Texas. Brent, you look up aquariums farther West, all the way to southern California.” That list was pretty extensive. “All right, to narrow it down, eliminate any aquarium without a large shark population.”

Ten minutes later, we had our list. The most likely suspects were in Corpus Christi and Dallas in Texas, Long Beach in California, and Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

We decided to split things up. I would go to Corpus Christi, Adrienne to Dallas, Brent to Las Vegas, and Ron Temple would go to Long Beach. Hopefully, their blocks would be down so we could contact them with the Pack Bond; if not, we’d smell them.

Either way, we’d bring them home.