Treasure

The constant buzzing of the phone woke Rori up from her long sleep. Opening her eyes, she was confused by the surroundings; nothing smelled familiar except the man who was spooning her from behind. She moved her hand down, lifting his arm off her waist and his hand from around her breast. Even in sleep, he always seemed to end up with a hand on her tits.

Not that she minded. She loved the feel, the closeness and the love he shared with her via physical contact and their bond. It was all she had hoped for and more, finding a good man who would love her and accept her for what she was. She used to dream about having a man but didn’t think anyone would ever want such a broken, crazy woman. She was wrong, very wrong.

She sat up, putting her legs over the edge of the bed. They were much better now, sore, but she could move her legs and hip without the pain of before. Looking around, she saw they were in a recreational vehicle; through the windshield up front, she could see the lights of a Wal-Mart sign. They were alone in here, all other scents from the Club were stale. She had to go to the bathroom, bad. Standing up slowly as she tested her leg, she moved past the small kitchen to the door nearer the back. Opening it, a light came on and she was in the tiny room.

She’d taken a vacation in a rental RV when she was ten, so she knew how things worked. The room had a toilet, small sink with medicine cabinet, and a shower. She lifted the lid and used her hands to slowly lower herself down, keeping her injured leg as straight as she could in the small space. When she was done and washed, she opened the door again and was taken into a pair of strong arms. “Are you all right,” Chase said. “You should have woken me so I could help you.”

“I’m all right,” she said. “I managed it on my own. It’s not like there is room in there for both of us anyway.” She looked past him. “Where are we?”

“Bend, Oregon. I bought this from Switch so we could travel while you were still recovering.”

A look of panic came over her face. “My motorcycle!”

“Relax, it’s here.” He opened the door to the toy hauler area and flicked on the light. “I wasn’t going to leave mine behind either.”

She hugged him, it was the perfect solution. “How long have I been out?”

He grabbed his phone off the kitchen counter and looked at it. “It’s five in the morning, so maybe seven hours. You didn’t even stir when I carried you down and put you in bed here, you must have been exhausted.”

“Your phone woke me up.”

He looked at the screen again, he had over fifty missed calls and all kinds of text messages. “Jeez, someone’s been blowing up my phone.” He looked at his phone log; Connie and Coral had the most calls, but Beta Carlson and another number had almost as many. Making a choice, he called his sister first. “Coral, what’s going on?”

“Chase? Thank Luna, I was worried they got to you.”

“No, we’re safe. We’re in a Walmart parking lot in Bend, Oregon.” He moved over to the bed, putting it on speaker while Rori laid down again. “What’s going on?”

“You’re in danger, Chase, we all are. This whole time, the Council has been involved with everything, including the destruction of the Arrowhead Pack. They knew about it, and the fuckers covered it up.”

Rori stiffened behind him as he fought off the anger, his wolf pushing forward. “They knew.”

“Beta Carlson recorded their meeting. Dad was in on it somehow, they’re counting on Sawyer to kill him as he knows something they don’t want out. We emailed you the recording, you need to listen to it, but first you need to get safe. Later this morning they’ll be issuing arrest warrants for the both of you and setting all the Packs loose to find you. You have to get somewhere safe and complete your mating.”

He thought about it for a moment. “They want Rori, they want to mate her to someone and turn her into a puppy mill,” he said with a growl.

“Councilman Forrest, his son Daniel is Alpha of the Donner Pack in California. His mate died before she could provide him an heir. He made a deal with the other Council members to deliver Rori to him. They want you dead, Chase, dead before you mate her, so her fertility blessing is still intact.”

“I’m going to fucking kill him,” Chase said.

“Not yet, there’s too much to be done first. Are you running with the Brotherhood?”

“No, we left them behind. I bought an RV for the trip so we could bring the bikes and Rori could continue to rest.”

“That’s a good thing. Put some miles on, but don’t come through Montana. Too obvious, plus you’d have to go past our father’s Pack and the Bitterroot. Are you heading to Minnesota?”

“We are, Coral,” Rori said. “Sawyer says we need to see the lawyer there about the Arrowhead estate. It’s worth a lot of money, and if it isn’t claimed it goes to the Council.”

“And that isn’t happening. Rori is the rightful Alpha, and we are going to live there and build it back up,” Chase vowed.

“Yeah, that’s another thing. We couldn’t get ahold of you last night, and Ron Carlson told the Omegas they needed to get out of Bitterroot before things get even worse there. He and Charles Smith are on their way to Two Harbors to meet with Mom.” She laughed a little. “They are going to break the Pack bond at six, right when breakfast is supposed to start. There’s going to be a lot of hungry and pissed off werewolves this morning.”

“Good,” Chase said. “They never appreciated them, and now they can fend for themselves. No Pack is going to send them anyone to help, not after finding out what Forrest is really like. I bet a whole bunch of others leave too.”

“Ok, bro, we need to keep driving. I emailed you all the phone numbers I have, but you need to talk to people and quickly. We need to get to the other North American Alphas, at least ones we think we can trust, before the Council does. Stay safe, claim your mate fully and get to Minnesota as quick as you can,” she said.

Chase looked out the window, she was right, they needed to get moving again. He pulled up the list of numbers and left one on the screen. “I’m going to gas up and get us breakfast, why don’t you call your grandpa.”

She looked up at him, a little confused, then her eyes watered. “I have family,” she said.

“You do, and they are going to be there for us. Call Charles, he’s been waiting seventeen years to hear your voice. Saying your name before you shift doesn't count.” He got into the driver’s seat and started up the engine while her finger hovered over the button.

Finally, she pressed it. It rang twice before a deep voice answered. “Hello?”

“Grandpa?” She couldn’t say more with her stomach up in her throat.

“Rori? Is that you?”

“Yes,” she said as the tears let out. She tried to form words, but all her life she had thought she was abandoned, and now she knew she was anything but. So much pain pushed out, she couldn’t form words and couldn’t see through her tears.

Charles wasn’t having much more luck communicating than she was, and she heard the phone moving before a familiar voice picked up. “Rori, it’s all right. Charles is just a little emotional right now, he blames himself for you leaving the Adirondack Pack the way you did.”

“Ashley? Is that you?”

“It is. I’m so sorry about everything, Rori. I should have been there for you when you woke up, then all this mess could have been avoided. I was supposed to bring you home to us.”

The reality hit her like a slap, stopping her crying. Ashley’s presence in her life wasn’t accidental, she had been placed there to befriend her so they could get her back. She was her assignment. “Was any of it real, Ashley?”

“What do you mean?”

“They made you be friends with me, didn’t they.” There was a pause on the line, and she started to get angry.

Charles finally talked again. “Your uncle sent people to Florida to protect you until we could bring you home and show you what you really were, Rori. Ashley was sent down there to get close to you, yes, but she wanted to do it.”

“You’re family. and you were so hurt, so lost when I got there,” Ashley said. “I didn’t have to fake my friendship. You were family to my Alphas, and I wanted you to be my friend in the Pack too. You are the only girl near my age.” She didn’t say it, but the Pack didn’t have a lot of young and she loved having a friend like Rori.

“Are you all right, Rori? Happy?” Charles sounded like he was going to break down again.

“I am, Grandpa. A lot has happened, but I have my mate and he is amazing. I have a Pack, family and I found out I’m not all Looney Tunes.” She laughed a little. “I feel like a new person, except the whole torn up backside from the bear thing.”

“I heard about that,” Charles said. “It would be best not to do that again.” They talked the whole time Chase was filling the gas tank and running to McDonalds to get them breakfast. She finally hung up when he was back on the road, promising to call each other later on.

She brought the phone up to Chase, letting him plug it in and call his Mom. Rori sat in the passenger seat, reclining the seat way back so it was less stress on her injury. It also helped keep her out of sight. Chase called all the groups now moving independently towards Two Harbors, making sure they were all right. Most were driving straight through, splitting the driving to get there quickly.

Coral called him back, this time setting up a conference call with Charles. “We need to start working the Packs,” Charles said. “Ron has already talked to the Banff Pack and his Alpha, John Coffey, is solidly with us. He is going to talk to the Alphas of the Blue River Pack. I’ve talked to Martin, the Adirondack Pack is with you. We need you, Rori, to call your neighbors in the Oxbow Lake pack. Luna Margaret is your aunt, your father’s sister. They will join with us.”

“And just what are we doing, Charles?” She could understand getting ahead of the Council, but then what?

Ron Carlson spoke next. “The Council is the problem, and right now they have the authority. We have to take that away, and the only way to do that is to let people know just how out of control they have gotten.”

“I’m looking through the Council charter documents now,” Sawyer said. “The Alphas formed the Council, they are the ultimate authority. On a two-thirds vote of Alphas, the Council can be disbanded or replaced.”

“We have to remove them, then we can try them for their crimes,” Charles said. “If they sanctioned the attack on the Arrowhead Pack or participated, they deserve the same punishment we gave Alpha Todd and his leadership.”

“And what was that,” Rori asked.

“Later, you just ate breakfast,” Chase said instead. He’d watched the video with his father, and it was brutal. There was no way he would show her that yet, nor would he tell her just how bad the attack was on her mother.

They identified the next Packs to approach, and Ron sent an edited version of the recording they could play for the Alphas. They also identified the Packs they suspected were sympathetic to the Council. “I just got a text from Martin,” Charles said. “Arrest warrants have been issued for Rori King and Chase Nygaard. Rori is to be taken alive, but Chase… Chase is to be killed if he resists capture.”

Rori put her hand out, needing contact with Chase’s leg to calm her wolf. “We’ve got to go,” Chase said.

“What are you going to do, Chase?” Charles sounded concerned.

“I’m going to find a forest and mate with your granddaughter, Charles. My wolf and I won’t wait any longer to make her mine.”