Treasure

Coral went to pack her saddlebags again as Chase worked with Rori on a pair of letters to the Council. He gave her the papers and the memory card when she returned. Her eyes got big as she read them before she tucked it all into the leather saddlebag. “Alpha Forrest isn’t going to like this at all,” she said.

“That’s what we expect,” Chase said. “We can’t go in there with our hands out, or a ‘please may I’ approach. There will be enough people, likely led by my father, that will want to shut our Pack down before it even starts. I need you to kick ass and chew bubble gum,” he said.

“And I’m all out of bubble gum.” They bumped fists, it was something they had started saying when they were first starting combat training. He had to say that Coral saying it was a lot better than Rowdy Roddy Piper in ‘They Live.’ “Don’t worry, I’ll represent.” They talked about a few more things, then she was ready to go. “Are you sending word ahead?”

“Nope. I want you to make a splash when you arrive.”

“Wonderful. What do I do if they ask me how many people are in our Pack?”

“You don’t have to answer that, but you can talk us up to people who might want to join. Give them my number.”

“Yeah, it’d work a lot better if you were an Alpha, bro. You too need to get busy and mate.” Rori turned red and buried her face in his side.

“She’s not healed or ready for that yet,” Chase said.

“I know, but the longer she goes unmarked the more dangerous it is for both of you. You are not an Alpha until you mate her, and she is still an attractive choice mate if you are out of the picture. Remember what happened to her mother.” Chase looked panicked as Rori looked at him. “You have the trials available on your laptop, you should show her. She deserves to know what happened.”

“You’re right, but I was hoping for a more fun day that that.” Chase hugged his sister, then she hugged Rori. “Have a good drive.Rattler is waiting for you outside.”

“Why?”

“He’ll be escorting you to Missoula where he’s going to visit his parents. I don’t want anyone doing anything to prevent you from getting there, and riding with a human gives us a little extra protection.”

“It’s going to be a long day.” She walked out to her motorcycle, placing the saddlebags on and firing it up. She’d met Rattler the night before, he was in his twenties and had been a Marine. He drank a lot, partied hard and hit on anything with a vagina, but he took no for an answer when given. He was ready to go. “Just keep up,” she said. The drive was going to take her about ten hours, then it was another nine back to Seattle. Luckily, werewolves had the stamina to go for days without sleep if they had to. She put it in gear and roared out of the clubhouse.

They made good time, stopping only for gas, food and bathroom and averaging close to eighty on the road. It was almost six when she waved to him as he broke off to go to his parent’s house. She drove another ten minutes until she reached the border of the Bitterroot Pack. The gate guard waved her in, he recognized her and her motorcycle since she was on staff there. “I guess the news of my rogue status hasn’t hit here yet,” she thought with a smile. Technically, she wasn’t a rogue, she was a Pack Beta, second in command to the Alpha pair, and she was going to act like it.

She pulled her motorcycle into the garage, gassing it up for a quick getaway if needed. She left her helmet, jacket, gloves and chaps laid out on the bars to dry. She pulled the letters and memory card out of the saddlebag and put them in her back pocket as she walked towards the dining room. She was tired, her butt and arms were sore, and her stomach still ached from the healing that was nearly complete.

The conversation in the room stopped when she walked in the door, and she ignored it as she went down the buffet line. Even the omegas looked shocked, but they smiled at her as they picked up on her scent. The Pack scent was unique, and hers wasn’t the Bitterroot or Cascade. She loaded her plate with a big Porterhouse steak cooked rare, garlic mashed potatoes and corn, plus a big glass of milk. She found an open table and sat down, almost wolfing down her food. The peace and quiet couldn’t last long, and it didn’t.

Beta Carlson came over, carrying a piece of pecan pie and his coffee. “Mind if I join you?” She had a full mouth, so she just gestured to him. He took a good sniff as he sat down. “What’s going on, Coral?”

“I need to talk to the Alpha. I just got off my motorcycle after driving ten hours here, and I’m hungry and tired. Can you see if you can fit me in?”

“You can’t link him.” It was a statement, not a question. I had been a member of Councilman Forrest’s Pack until my injury, and the scent he picked up wasn’t that of my father’s Pack. “And you’re not mated either.”

“You’ll have to wait for the story with everyone else,” I said. “By the way, I found Rori.”

His eyes got big. “Is she safe?”

“Yeah, but she’s hurt bad. A grizzly bear took a swipe at her, and she’s got wounds that make what happened to me in that fight look like love bites.”

“There’s more you’re not telling me,” he said as he finished his pie.

“True. Tell the Alpha he should have his senior leadership there, and the Council on videoconference. I don’t like repeating myself.” She could tell it irked him that she didn’t pay him the respect of a superior, and it annoyed him more that his wolf didn’t see anything wrong with it. Her aura had changed. Her wolf had always been dominant but now it didn’t have to submit to him, and she wasn’t. Something told him he should leave that alone for now before he got in trouble. If they fought, he’d hold his own for a while before losing.

He got up with his coffee and walked out, leaving the plate. One of the Omegas, one who had suffered harassment until Coral showed up, almost ran over to clear the dishes. “You joined a new Pack,” Connie said quietly.

“I did,” she said. “It's a new Pack. Pass the word to the others, if they are interested in moving on, they can let my brother Chase know and he’ll set it up with our Alpha.” She wrote down his phone number and gave it to her. “It would be a fresh start for everyone.”

“If it is you in the Pack, I know I’ll be safe,” she said. “Please put me on the list. No matter how much they try to change things, I’ll never feel right here, not after what they did to me.” She scurried off, and Coral smiled. Connie had been enslaved for six years, her family was dead, and her old Alpha didn’t want her back. She wasn’t doing well here. This was one thing the Alpha would never fully understand; they couldn’t put a new Alpha in charge and call things OK when there were reminders of their abuse all around them.

She finished her food and her favorite dessert, chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream, appeared immediately as the Omega rushed over. “I want to transfer Packs as well,” Sally said. “I trust you, only you.”

“I’d be honored, and I’ll let the Alpha know,” she said with a smile as she walked off.

Beta Carlson walked back in, standing next to her. “The Alpha will see you in fifteen minutes. He invited the other Council members, but with the late notice he doesn’t know how many will make it.”

“Thank you, Beta,” she said as she went back to her dessert. “I’ll meet you there.” He walked off, and she took her plate back, going back to the kitchen where the Omegas gathered around her like a conquering hero. “You have questions. I’ll talk to you after I speak to the Alpha, so if you give me a list before I leave, I’ll bring it back to my Alpha.”

“Is it true? You’re inviting people to join you in another Pack?”

“It’s not another Pack, it’s a new Pack. It’s going to be an adventure, believe me. Nothing will happen for a few weeks, and those approved will have to go through the normal pack transfer process.”

“Are you taking in any of the men here who…”

“No. Never.” She smiled at them. “I’ll stop by for some coffee and snacks for the road, I’m leaving immediately after the meeting. I might be in a hurry or escorted, so can you leave them on my motorcycle?”

“I’ll take care of it,” Sally said.

“Thanks.” She walked up the servant staircase to the top floor, something none of the titled wolves would ever do. She made her way through the hallway until she got to the Alpha’s conference room, where Beta Charles was waiting for her. “Ready?”

He linked briefly, then nodded and opened the door for her. The Alpha was at the head of the table, and the screen showed the other Council members who had made it. The other senior leaders were seated, including Doctor Phillips. Their heads swung towards her as they tried to catch her scent, trying to figure out the puzzle. Councilman Forrest stood, the confusion clearly showing on his face. “What is going on, Coral?”

“Beta Coral Nygaard of the Arrowhead Pack, thank you for making time to see me on such short notice,” she said as she held her hand out for a shake. “Alpha Rori King sends her regrets, she is recovering from injuries with her mate and is unable to attend in person.”

Every jaw in the room and on television dropped as Coral sat next to their Alpha. “What?”

“I know, she took on a bear and caught a big paw across her flanks. She’ll be out of action for another week or so. She’s tough, my Alpha. Kicked my ass.”

“Back up a bit, I’m struggling here. You found Charlotte King, also known as Rori King and Treasure Olson.”

“Yes.”

“And Rori is injured.”

“Yes.”

“And has a mate.”

“She does. My brother, Chase Nygaard.” Eyes opened wide at this. “It’s all right, she’s eighteen now.” There was anger and disappointment on the faces of the men, and Coral knew why. Rori was the most desirable she-wolf to come of age in two decades, and she was off the market before anyone could meet her. There would be a lot of disappointed Alpha heirs when this news got out.

“And she’s claiming to be an Alpha.”

“She doesn’t have to claim a damn thing. She is an Alpha, by blood and birthright, and she is re-forming her Pack. A Pack that I am now the Beta of, and a Pack I’m proud to belong to.”

Finally, Councilman Waterman couldn’t hold back any more. “THIS IS AN OUTRAGE! We have already heard from Alpha Nygaard about his wayward children. I demand these rogues be arrested, and Miss King be turned over to the Council for trial. She exposed our existence to HUMANS!”

Coral laughed. “Oh, you mean her parents? The ones who have protected her while men like you tried four times to kidnap her? The two people that are only family she’s ever known?”

“They ARE HUMAN,” Councilman Forrest said.

“And she is their daughter, the one who just found out that she’s a werewolf after spending years thinking she was mentally ill. They didn’t abandon her when she thought she was crazy, and they won’t abandon her now that she’s not.”

“It’s against our laws! It cannot be allowed!” Waterman was pounding his fist on the table.

“I think the last thing my Alpha wants to listen to is rules from men who allowed a Pack to run wild for decades, resulting in the death of her parents and her Pack. Or a Council that ordered an armed abduction that almost resulted in her death. She doesn’t know you or your laws, and she will not consider herself to be bound by them until her position within your world is accepted.”

“I don’t take well to threats by rogues,” Waterman said.

“I’m no rogue. The Alpha here can verify, I have a Pack scent, it’s just one no one has smelled in seventeen years.” He nodded slowly, verifying the claim. “Alpha King demands the return of her Pack lands to her, return of all funds and investments, and recognition of her and her mate as Alphas of the Twelfth Werewolf Pack of North America.” She sat back in the chair, looking at each of the Council members in turn, daring them to turn her down.

Finally, Council Chair Gruber leaned forward. “Enough. Gentlemen, the Council needs to make some decisions. Send everyone else out of the room,” he said.

Coral got up and walked out the door, smiling as she greeted some of the former Pack members she hadn’t seen in a while. Her undercover assignments had kept her away for months at a time. “I’m happy your brother found his mate,” Dr. Phillips said. “How is she doing with her wolf?”

“Much better, I think. She finally integrated enough to stay with her during the shift, and Chase is helping her now.”

“He’s the expert now.” She talked with him for a few more minutes, then Beta Carlson came up and shook her hand. “Congratulations, Coral. It’s quite an accomplishment to be the second in command at your age, and you deserve it.”

“Thank you, Ron. I had to do it, my brother and I don’t like being apart, and he’ll be a great Alpha.” She got more nervous as time went on, and when a few Council Enforcers went in, she got even more nervous. Finally, she was called back in along with the Beta. “Do you have a decision, Mr. Chairman,” she asked as she walked to her chair.

“We do. Enforcers, take Miss Nygaard into custody on charges of defying Alpha orders, harboring a known Council fugitive, and intentionally revealing oneself to humans. The penalties for such offenses include confinement, whipping and execution.”

The Enforcers grabbed her arms, pulling them behind her where silver-coated werewolf strength handcuffs were fastened to her. “You’re making a mistake,” she said. “But, it’s one my Alpha expected you to make. In my back pocket is her response, you’ll want to see it.” The Alpha nodded at Beta Carlson, who reached into the back pocket of her jeans and took out two pieces of paper. As he unfolded them, a scan disk fell onto the table. “The one that starts with ‘Dear Council’ just formalizes the request I gave you before. The other one is the one I was to give you if you were as stubborn and fucking stupid as we thought you might be. Beta, if you’d read that one please.”

He went to the second page. “My Pack and my parents are not to be touched. Since you are thinking you can do whatever you want, you should watch the video on the memory card and look at the at the attached file first. This information is in the possession of a person unknown to us, with instructions to release it to the media if I, my mate and his sister, or her parents disappear or are killed. I may not have grown up with a Pack, but I understand history. What you hold in your hands is Mutually Assured Destruction. Don’t test me. Signed, Rori King, Alpha of the Arrowhead Pack.”

Their tech guy played the video, then they checked the word file. In it was the addresses and membership by name of every Werewolf Pack in America and Europe. “Release me or we all go down,” she said as they tried to recover.