Treasure

Coral glared at the Council members as the Enforcers held her in place by the conference table. Tensions were high, both in the room and in the video conference. The threat of mass exposure was like bringing a nuclear weapon to a gunfight. Men who had been in power for centuries did not appreciate such threats. “This is MADNESS!” Alpha Forrest slammed his hand on the table, causing the fancy veneered table to split down the center.

“We will not be blackmailed!” Chairman Gruber said. “I have to agree. This is madness.” He looked at the other Council members on the call. “I also will not negotiate with a Beta. Take her to the cells. Gentlemen, our meeting needs to go private again.”

The guards took Coral away, the two letters still sitting on the table in front of her spot. As Coral walked out the doors, she heard gasps of shock. “Coral, what is going on?” Beta Carlson was at her side instantly.

“I’m under arrest. The Council is just as pigheaded as my father.” He walked alongside her as the Enforcers marched her through the outer part of the Alpha’s office suite. “Can you contact my brother and let him know?”

“Of course,” he said. He stopped as Coral was taken out the double doors and into the hallway with the offices of the other Pack leadership.

Coral walked with her head tall; she didn’t think there was any way they would follow up on their threats after they rationally discussed Rori’s bombshell. Werewolves were not ready to come out openly in human society. It was too risky, and they were too low in numbers. She knew the Council was stubbornly holding on to the same laws and traditions that had worked in the sixteenth century, but times were rapidly changing. They needed to as well.

When they reached the large staircases heading down to the main floor that anyone said anything, and the scream was VERY familiar. “CORAL! OH NO! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!”

Coral saw her mother rushing up the stairs towards her. Her father was on the floor below, and he wasn’t moving. Her father’s face was angry, and he stared at her like she was his enemy.

Mom’s legendary anger wasn’t directed at her. Instead, it focused on the guards. “Stay back, Luna Nygaard,” one of the Enforcers said as she reached the top of the stairs.

“I will NOT,” she said, rushing forward and embracing her daughter as she stood between the two large men. One attempted to pull her away, but she snapped her head over to him, her wolf forward and protective. She stared at him, and the Enforcer’s wolf wisely backed off. Few things in nature were as deadly as a she-wolf protecting her cub. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine, Mom.”

“You are NOT fine, they’ve got you in silver handcuffs! I can smell your skin burning from here!”

“Mom, I can handle it. I’m a Pack Beta, and I’m not going to be stopped by a stay in the dungeons,” she said. “Walk with me. These men have a job to do, and I don’t want anyone else getting in trouble.” They started moving again as Mom fell in alongside them as they started down the stairway. “Chase and Rori are in trouble, too. They aren’t letting go of the charges. Your Mate down there filed them. He accused us of defying Alpha orders, harboring a known Council fugitive, and intentionally revealing our nature to humans.”

“I’m going to peel his fucking balls off with my fingernails,” she muttered as she glared at him. The anger was palpable as they walked by. Coral didn’t even look at her father; he didn’t matter anymore. She looked at her former friends, students, and Pack Mates. Her father had betrayed her, and now he was dead to her. Her mother was a different matter, and she wished she could make things right. “I can’t believe he brought you to the Council. We could have handled this within the family.”

“We’re not his family anymore, Mom.” She stopped walking, tears flowing down her face as she watched her mother fall apart. “If he knew what family meant, he never would have told Chase to take that walk. How could he expect him to do that to his mate before he even claimed her? Dad was going to kill Rori’s mother and stepfather. Losing them to our kind would break her, and she would never forgive him. She’d reject him for being gutless, and he would have deserved it. He will do ANYTHING for his mate.” She heard a crash; one of the Omegas had dropped her tray of coffee, the china shattering on the granite floor. “Your mate didn’t even think of his son’s future. Mom, he was disappointed that Chase hadn’t killed them himself.” They had reached the front door, and a different Omega was holding it open for them, tears streaming down her face. “I love you, Mom.”

“This isn’t over, Coral.”

“You’re right. Tell Chase I love him, and not to do anything stupid to get me out of here. They need to stay out of the clutches of these evil men.” She walked out between her guards. People stopped and stared at her as she walked to the detention facility.

The building was square and windowless, a concrete bunker with one entry and exit. Coral was processed in, her phone and jewelry removed and placed in a bag. Tina, a young female Enforcer from the Katahdin pack in Maine, performed a strip search. “I’m sorry,” she said as she gave her a plain orange jumpsuit to dress in.

“It’s your job, Tina, and it was my choice. I won’t give you trouble.” They went back out to the office, where an Enforcer secured a silver collar with a black box around her neck. The detention collar was lined with leather to keep from burning her skin. The silver would prevent her from shifting or mind-linking anyone. The box contained a GPS tracker and a shock device; if she misbehaved or tried to leave the preset area, it would deliver an electrical shock that would knock her on her ass. She was led back to a cell, a concrete box six feet wide and eight feet deep. It had a mattress on a concrete slab, a stainless-steel sink, and a toilet.

She laid down on the thin mattress and fell asleep almost instantly.

--

Luna Colletta Nygaard had never been so angry in her life.

Her mate was standing by the stairway, unrepentant. “She’s a grown woman, love. Coral made her choices. Now she has to live with the consequences.” He crossed his arms over his broad chest and waited for her to come to him.

Collette stood by the door, glaring at him. “You made my children ROGUES,” she said icily.

“They left on their own. Chase and Coral renounced us, and the Pack. I didn’t force them.”

She just shook her head. “Our son finds his mate, and you turn what should be joy into pain. You DID force him out; no REAL man would hurt his mate to please his father. Now they have no father.” She walked up to him, and he started to think he had her. She had always submitted to him in the end, but this time was different. “Go up to the Alpha’s office, withdraw your charges, and get my daughter released.”

He stared her down. “No.” Tears started flowing down her face; he knew she was about to give in, so he doubled down. “I will go up there, but only to get volunteer Enforcers to work with the Council to find and arrest Chase and this crazy mate of his. There will be a reckoning.”

Something snapped inside Colletta. Her shoulders slumped as she talked with her wolf, then she made her own decision. She straightened up, looking directly into his eyes. “There will be a reckoning, my mate. I, Colletta Elise Nygaard, hereby renounce my position and membership in the Cascade Pack.” She fell to her knees with the pain. The Pack bonds had been in place for a century and a half.

Will felt the bond rip from him. It felt like he a heart attack. “No, I won’t allow it.”

“Not everything is in your control, Alpha Nygaard.” She shifted, ripping her dress in the process. A white wolf with a black left ear and black socks was left in her place. She ran out the door, past the shocked Pack members and towards the woods.

“What the fuck just happened here,” Alpha Forrest said from the top of the stairs. “Why is Luna Colletta a rogue?”

“It’s a family matter, Councilman Forrest. I will take care of it,” he said.

“Your family matters have been a real pain in my ass lately, Alpha Nygaard.” He looked back to see Beta Carlson. “I can’t have a rogue running free on my lands, Beta. Escort her. If she creates problems, arrest her and put her in the cell next to her daughter.”

“Yes, sir.” He linked a few other Enforcers as he pulled his clothes off and shifted into his black and grey wolf. He ran down the stairs and out the door, two men following him. They ran towards the howl in the distance, a howl of pain and sadness that affected them all.

Councilman Forrest turned to Alpha Nygaard. “The trial of Beta Nygaard will be held here in one week, starting at eight AM. Arrest warrants are out for Chase Nygaard and Rori King; any Pack finding them must take them into custody and deliver them here.” He stared down the crowd below, gaining submission from all before turning and going back to his office wing.

The teleconference was over, and he had a headache. He walked past the conference room into his office, pouring himself a double-shot of whiskey on the rocks before sitting down on the leather chair behind his desk. He looked out the window at the Pack lands; it was a beautiful area of the country, and fall was coming quickly. “I’m getting too old for this shit,” he said to himself before he sipped his drink.

There was a soft knock on the door, and two Omegas came in with trays of coffee and desserts. The Alpha barely paid attention to them as they set the trays down. He was still looking out the window when he heard one speak. “Alpha Forrest?”

He turned to face them. He had seen them around, but like most Omegas, he never learned their names or their stories. They were efficient and capable, doing the job without being noticed, and that was all he expected from Omegas. “Yes, ladies?”

“Sir, we have received an offer to join another Pack and request to join them immediately.”

He set the drink down on his desk. “Of course, I won’t stand in the way of your future. If you talk to the Pack Accountant, he will transfer the remainder of your settlement into your private account. It should be a nice nest egg for your new life.” The private properties of the Bitterroot Pack leaders were confiscated and sold. The proceeds they split among the victims. “You have to say the words, and then you may go with my blessing.”

“Thank you, Alpha.” Connie and Sally said the words to leave the Pack, and they all felt the bond break before he dismissed them.

“What Pack are you going to join?”

”The Arrowhead Pack.” He dropped his drink on the desk, spilling it over his papers. “We’ll send someone in to clean that for you,” Connie said as they closed the door.