Treasure

The man sat silently in front of the grave, tears rolling down his face and his eyes closed as he prayed. His focus was such that he didn’t hear the wolves running towards him. It was only when he heard the bones crunching as one shifted that his wolf recognized the danger and he looked up. He turned around in panic; he was a rogue, being here on this land was dangerous even if the Pack no longer existed. He was going to run until he saw her; she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, young and strong, tall and athletic with blonde hair and piercing blue eyes.

Eyes that were staring into his as his wolf went nuts. “MATE MATE MATE,” his wolf told him as his jaw dropped open. He was frozen, staring at her as she did the same.

She took in the strange man, her wolf pushing her to go to him as her human side wanted to make sure he wasn’t dangerous. He was handsome; he looked to be in his late twenties, with shoulder-length shaggy brown hair and hazel eyes. His face was rugged, a short beard over tanned skin, and it was obvious he spent a lot of time outdoors. Broad shoulders and chest were covered by a blue flannel shirt that was tailored to taper to a trim waist. The shirt tucked into faded jeans; his thighs were thick and powerful, his whole body screamed power and sex appeal. “Who are you,” she said softly as she stood there naked.

“Keith. Keith Sexson,” he said. He looked behind her, seeing the big male wolf he pulled off his shirt and handed it to her so she could cover up. “Please, I will not hurt you, I could never hurt you. I am your mate.”

She reached for the shirt, their fingertips touching as she grabbed it. She felt the shock, then a tingle ran up her arm and shot straight to her core. She gasped, pulling back she quickly pulled his shirt over her as her brother ran up. The scent of the flannel called to her wolf, it calmed her and helped her relax. Her brother was growling as he approached. “Cut it out, he’s my mate,” she said.

His growl immediately stopped, and he shifted into his human form. “He’s a rogue, we don’t know anything about him,” he said. “What are you doing here?”

“Visiting my sister’s grave,” he said. “I’ve done it every year since I lost her.”

Rori came running up, sitting at Chase’s side. “He is her mate? Congratulations, Coral,” she sent.

Chase wasn’t convinced. “How did you become a rogue?”

“I never had a chance to join a Pack, my mother could not bring me here,” he told them. “It’s a long story.”

“It’s a long walk,” Coral said. She moved forward and stepped into his body, wrapping her arms around his sculpted chest. “I don’t care if you’re a rogue as long as you are willing to join our Pack. This is Alpha Rori King and Alpha Chase Nygaard of the Arrowhead Pack.”

He froze as she said the name of her Alpha Female. “It can’t be, their only daughter was Charlotte,” he said as he looked closely at her wolf. “She died in the attack.”

“She escaped that night. A lot has come out in the last year about that night, but since you aren’t Pack you would have no way to know,” Chase said.

“It’s really her?” He got down on his knees and Rori approached so he could get a good sniff of her. “It’s the Pack scent, by Luna I’ve missed that,” he said as he hugged her neck. “I can’t believe you are really here.”

Rori shifted to her human form and stood up, and Keith was struck by the similarities with her mother. “I was found on a road a few miles from here by a pair of humans who adopted me,” she said. “I grew up among humans, like you, but I did not know what I was until about a week ago. I have claimed her birthright and my land, I found and mated Chase, and now have a Pack of over twenty-five wolves. Coral here is our Beta, and my mate’s twin sister.”

It took him a moment to soak all that in. “How did you get away? How were you the only one who escaped?”

“We found out last year when we discovered the Pack who did it that they chased a female this way before raping and killing her,” Chase said. Keith sat back on his heels, his eyes wide. “She carried the Alpha’s child to safety before going back to fight the men chasing her, knowing that if they found the child they would both be killed. She gave her life to save Rori’s, we know she was killed out here somewhere, but her body was never found.”

Sobs racked his body, and Coral moved into his arms and started to hug and comfort him. “Cheryl… sweet Cheryl, thank Luna you didn’t die in vain,” he cried out. They let him exhaust his sorrow, and when he moved back from Coral’s embrace, they both stood up. “Come here,” he said as he took her hand.

“I was born in 1972 at a hospital in Minneapolis. My mother was the daughter of Arrowhead Pack Warriors, and when she turned eighteen, she didn’t find her mate among either of the area Packs.” He walked them to the pile of stones. “She had grown up with my father, he was the son of the Pack Betas. He was handsome and charming and attentive, and when neither had found their mate they turned to each other in secret. Their relationship went on for five years, and then he went to the Banff Pack for training with their warriors.”

“Your parents were Arrowhead?”

“Yes.” He looked down at the stones. “He was gone for six months, but when he arrived, he found his mate. She was a Beta’s daughter and had just turned eighteen, and they fell for each other hard as all mates do. They completed the mating, and the Pack celebrated the discovery, promising a big party when he returned. My mother was heartbroken, but they both understood the danger of being together when they started having sex, and she had to let him go. Three weeks later, she learned that she was pregnant.”

“Oh shit,” Coral said.

“Indeed. He was a Beta, she was not, and she couldn’t greet him and his new wife on their return with a baby on board. His mate might leave him, and if she found her mate, he might reject her. The pregnancy could ruin both of their lives.”

“How,” Rori asked.

“Their Alpha had warned against such relationships for just that reason, he would not allow a choice mating unless you had been unsuccessful in finding a mate for thirty years and had visited all the Packs. He could lose his position, and she would sent off in disgrace to another Pack.” He reached down and moved one of the rocks. “Instead, she enrolled in college at the University of Minnesota, telling everyone she was working on her nursing degree. She remained a member of the Arrowhead Pack, but rarely visited. She waited until I had graduated from high school and joined the Marines before she returned to the Pack full time in 1989. By that point, my father and his mate had gotten pregnant and Cheryl was born in December of 1981.”

“What about your Mom,” Rori asked.

“My mother never found her mate, she died in the attack. Cheryl and my father was the only other family I had, even though I had never met them and could never join the Pack.”

“Why?”

“The family bond would snap into place if I got too close to her or my father, and he and the Alpha would be able to tell. I was all right with it; I had grown up without a Pack and didn’t want to cause them problems. My mother had told me about her, had shown me photos of her, and I wanted her to be happy. She was a good kid, loving and caring. She was happiest working with the children.” He stood back up, pulling Coral into his side. “I did two tours in Iraq, then got out of the Marines and moved to Grand Marais. I started an outfitting service, bringing fishermen and hunters into remote cabins in the region.”

“Wait, weren’t you worried about running into werewolves up there?”

“No, werewolves avoid the Boundary Waters and Superior National Forest because of the wild wolf packs in the area. They don’t want to disturb them, and that worked to my advantage.”

“Huh. So. what happened that night?”

“I had gotten back from a trip and saw the fire on the news. As soon as I saw the aerial view, I knew it was the Arrowhead Pack. I drove down, but the place was crawling with Council and Pack wolves. I couldn’t get anywhere near the compound itself, not for two weeks. I hung out on the fringes, hoping I could sneak in there when no one was around. I was taking a long run back to my parked car when I smelled it. A full week after the attack, the smell of death and decay was unmistakeable.” Tears ran down his face. “I found her right over there, in the gully and covered by broken branches and rocks. She had been beaten and raped, even after all that time I could smell them on her. I memorized the scents I could find, hoping that someday I would have a chance to kill them myself.”

Chase shook his head no. “The Council was in on the cover-up, Keith. They made sure the killers would not be found, at least until it couldn’t be hidden any more last year. The ones who killed her did suffer for their actions, I can promise you that. I can show you the videos of their trials and punishments.”

“Good.” He took a deep breath. “I didn’t have much I could do with all of them around. Even though I was fifteen miles away, I was still a rogue on Pack lands and would be killed on sight. I returned to my car and the next day I brought a shovel. I spent the day digging her grave and covering it with rocks. Everyone else had died at the Pack House, and I never got to say goodbye. Since then, every year on this day, I come back to be with them. I visit my sister’s grave, and the place where my mother died.”

“You’re a good man, Keith,” Chase said as he clasped his shoulder. “I can tell.”

“So, he can join?” Coral didn’t want to have to leave her brother, but she would to be with her mate if he wouldn’t accept a rogue.

“Of course. I’m thrilled you found him, Coral. I was worried you would find a Next Alpha somewhere in Europe and leave us.” He embraced his new brother-in-law as Rori hugged Coral. “Welcome to the Arrowhead Pack, Keith.”

“Welcome home,” Rori told him with a hug of her own.

He pledged his allegiance to them and felt the Pack bond snap into place. It staggered him a little; never having been in a Pack, he had no idea of what it would mean to his wolf. “You’ve got family, my love,” Coral sent him.

“We need to head back, I’m sure Alpha Michael is getting anxious,” Chase said.

“Can we run together as wolves,” Keith asked. “I never got to run with anyone but my mother, and it would make my wolf happy.”

“I’d love to,” she said. Rori and Chase shifted while Coral pulled the shirt off and rolled it up, putting it in her mouth as she shifted. She watched as her mate stripped, rolling his clothes up around his shoes before shifting and picking them up with his teeth. They turned and followed Chase back towards the Pack House, running hard two-by-two through the woods.