The Porch Wolf

Ivan Volkov’s POV

I spent another day and night in the cells before they came back for me. This time, I was allowed to shower and put on sweatpants and a shirt before I was shackled again. “Where are we going?”

“Your hearing,” one of the guards said. He tossed flipflops on the ground, and I put them on. I was taken upstairs and escorted back across the lawn to the Pack House. The barrage of smells from earlier was gone; now Sunday night, almost all the guests were gone. Cleanup crews were everywhere as we walked into the house.

The trial room was no longer since there wasn’t the audience. Instead, the guards brought me to the hallway outside the Alpha’s conference room. I smiled at Beta Lawrence Fenwick, my lawyer, as he stood by the door. “Ah, Ivan, good news,” he said. “The Council has dropped charges against you for the kidnapping attempt on Vicki and Olivia.”

“Already?” I thought we were in for a fight on this one.

“They didn’t have much of a choice after I raised the issues, and they spoke on the phone with Mediator McInnis. To say they weren’t happy would be an understatement. They chewed her out pretty bad, at least until she hung up the phone on them.”

My eyes got wide. “Luna Adrienne HUNG UP on the Council?”

He just shook his head. “Yes, right after she told them off for challenging how she did her job, told them where they could shove said job, and told them to kiss her furry red butt. Not on the left side, not on the right side, but right down the middle.” Now this made me laugh, and the guards couldn’t keep a straight face either. “Suffice it to say they will need a new Mediator.”

“She’s a Luna now; she doesn’t need the job. It’s too bad; she was good at it.” Her reputation was excellent, and I’d seen first-hand how she could find or force an agreement as needed.

“If I’m in the clear on the kidnapping, why am I here?” I hadn’t done anything else wrong, and I hadn’t violated the blood oath I’d made.

“I don’t think they know what to do with you.” My eyes got wide at that, but there wasn’t more time. The door opened, and the guards escorted me into the room.

The Council sat around three sides of the table; Lawrence took his seat, and guards placed me next to him. “What the hell should we do with you,” Chairman Sanders said.

“You can start by letting me out of these shackles,” I responded. “I’ve done nothing to justify this treatment, and I am an Alpha.”

“That is yet to be determined. Guards, remove his bindings and leave us. I think we can handle this without your help.” No one said anything until they were gone. “Your Betas were cleared of any charges. They arrived at Marengo Lake this afternoon with Steve and Carla Ingalls; those two are taking over the Pack.”

“You’re taking MY Pack from me,” I said with a low growl. My hands gripped the side of my chair as I pushed my wolf back.

“Yes,” Chairman Sanders said. “We’re taking actions to stabilize the leadership of both Packs involved. Stillwater is a lost cause; we’re cleaning house there. We’re here to figure out whether you can go back to Marengo or we get someone else.”

“Marengo isn’t my home Pack, but it is MINE,” I said. “It is my children’s birthright.”

“Your birthright went elsewhere when you fucked a college kid,” Chairman Platt said. “It went to Miesville. You only have a mantle because you got it from your mate.”

“And I would do anything, hell, I HAVE done everything, to protect that daughter as well as my other children. Brenda couldn’t handle how it went down, and she paid the price. I wasn’t involved; I would have stopped her if I had known.”

Chairman Wolfe leaned forward. “That is the problem we’ve found up in Marengo. The Pack is irrevocably split; some side with you, others would never accept your leadership after what you did to your mate and the Pack. It is Alpha Ingalls’ opinion that allowing you to run Marengo would be a failure.”

I sat back; since the blood oath, I had been around the Pack, but I never integrated back into the Pack. Brenda kept me away and poisoned the well against my leadership. “I could take it; no one there could defeat me for the position,” I said softly. “What do you propose?”

“We believe you were once a good Alpha and could be again,” Chairman Sanders said. “We’d like you to take your son and daughter with you, and take over Stillwater instead. The Council will find a new Alpha for Marengo.”

I sat back; it was brilliant. I’d still be a mantled Alpha with a Pack, but I’d be back in Minnesota, less than an hour from my brother. My problems in Marengo would go away. In their place would be far different problems in Stillwater. There, I’d have to guide an entire Pack where criminal activity was accepted. “What about Vicki?”

Chairman Wolfe spoke next. “If your daughter does not take over Miesville? Vicki is a mantled Alpha; she could take over Stillwater instead. She’s young, and a lot could happen in the next decade.”

He was right; with Leo mating again, if Adrienne got pregnant, his mantle would pass to his child. “It would be good to be around my brother again,” I said. “I agree in principle. What is next?”

“You return to Minnesota and meet Alpha Larry and Luna Donna at Stillwater Pack,” Sanders said. “You would take over as their Beta, learning the Pack and helping to put it on the right path. When they believe you are ready to take over, they will inform the Council.”

“And my children?”

“Their nanny will bring them to you when you are ready,” Wolfe said.

“I’d want to bring the nanny into the Stillwater Pack if she agrees. I need help with them, and my children will need the comfort of a familiar face.”

“I’m sure we can work something out for them,” Wolfe replied.

I thought about what a move to Stillwater would represent. “Is Leo Volkov in agreement with this plan? I don’t know how he feels about me since the kidnapping.”

“Leo has not been in contact with us; he is trying to track down four members of his Pack who left here under unfortunate circumstances,” Sanders said. I raised my eye; there was something more. “They believed Vicki was in danger when Leo’s death announcement came out, and they ran.”

“I’ll talk to him when I can. I don’t want things to be awkward between us.” I looked around the room. “Anything else? If not, I need to book a flight.”

Lawrence reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. “You’ll forgive me for using your credit card? The flight leaves at five-thirty in the morning. Your ride will depart at two AM.”

I looked at the clock; it was almost ten. “I better eat and pack, then.” Lawrence and I stood. “Thank you, gentlemen. I am grateful for your wisdom in this situation.”

“Do not make us regret our faith in you, Alpha Volkov,” Chairman Sanders said. “Good luck.”

Brent Lawrence’s POV

Never in my life had I gone from elation to a gut punch so quickly.

Leo called and told me he’d found them. Then he called back to say they were on the way to the hospital. I ran back to my room, packing and calling the desk to check out and get a ride to the airport. The whole way there, I searched in vain for a flight that could get me there tonight. I’d already missed the last flights to Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston, and the connections to Corpus Christi were on puddle-jumpers. It was a fourteen-hour drive there, so that wasn’t happening either. I tried my best at the airport, finally settling for a pair of flights that would get into Corpus at nine in the morning.

I tried calling Leo back, but it went straight to voice mail. I called Adrienne instead. “Luna? It’s Brent.”

“Oh, hello, Brent! Isn’t it great news?”

“What do you mean?”

“That Leo found them,” she said. “He called me a while ago. He was supposed to call me back, but he must be busy. He isn’t answering his phone.”

He hadn’t called his mate back? He was going to pay for that. “Luna, there’s been an accident. Olivia fainted and hit her head on the pavement outside the aquarium. She was taken by ambulance to the hospital.”

I heard the phone drop, then more noise as she picked it up again. “Brent?”

“I’m here. Leo told me to get there as soon as possible, but I can’t get there until nine in the morning. They were at the hospital when I last talked to him.”

There was a pause. “It’s a six-hour drive from Dallas. I’ll be down there as soon as I can,” she said. “Olivia is in good hands, Brent. They’ll keep your family safe.”

“I know that,” I said. “Have a safe drive.” I ended the call, walking towards the departure gate for my 0515 flight. I may as well get some sleep.