might
actually be your mate, John. She's not really your daughter any more than she is mine. I understand why you've been so careful... even if she doesn't."
"Beth, I've never been able to decide how I feel about this, either way, I'm proud of her. I just wish I knew which direction to lean; is she my mate...or my daughter. I've been taunted with possible mates so many times, so I've always been terrified to get too close to Florence one way or the other. With my luck with women, she would have grown up calling me 'Daddy'. The Goddess has been nothing less than perverse to me; I'd have a mate that called me 'Daddy'.
Beth couldn't help herself; she laughed out loud at this, even though it caused a look of discomfort on John's face. "See John, you've managed to keep your sense of humour through all of this. How long has it been for you now?"
"Four hundred and eighty-five years."
"Maybe the Lady needed you to remain single so you could defend all of the wolves in America, rather than focusing on just protecting your own family?"
"How could I do that? I have the smallest pack of all?"
"Yes Alpha, we are small, but there isn't a single Alpha in this hemisphere that didn't grow up in your pack. You are the Alpha's Alpha; if you call on them, they'll come. You know they will. You have been the model for all of them. You say that you don't have any children, but you do—you have dozens of them. There isn't an Alpha in America who doesn't consider you their second father, and you never ask anything of any of them. They all owe you a great debt of allegiance."
"Do you think the Goddess will ever give me a mate? How long do I have to carry this burden?"
"She only knows John; I guess she'll probably reward you when your job is done."
"How do you stand it Beth? It has been almost as long for you."
"You know my story Alpha; you turned me in order to save me from what white men had done to my life. They had treated me so badly; I think I might have needed a few centuries to work the anger out of my system. Who knows? Maybe it'll be you and me. Maybe Goddess has given me a job as well."
Then Beth went quiet for a minute before allowing, "...or maybe Florence will be yours; you know that she's just waking up now. Or maybe Tristan will be for her; you know he is interested in her. He has been busting his tail just to impress her, although I don't think that she's buying it, he's too pretty for Flo.
"He won't ever pass her. He isn't dominant enough. He's strong enough to help a leader, but not enough to become one. He'll be a damned fine Beta one day."
"Yeah, that's what Flo said too."
"Don't doubt her Beth; she might be the most talented Beta that I've ever had. If she were a man, she'd already be pushing for her own pack. She's strong; she's determined, and she's a protector of the first order. Maybe she will be the first female Alpha, but I doubt it Beth; wolves just are not biologically set up for that. Human women, as poorly treated as they sometimes are, can become leaders in a technological society. But that's not us, we're wolves; it just doesn't work that way. We males are expendable; the women must be protected to take care of the cubs; Apaches lived the same way."
"So boss, what do we do about the human?"
"Hell Beth, I brought you in here so you could tell me."
"You are willing to listen to what I have to say on this one?"
"C'mon Beth, I almost always listen to what you say, and then do what you suggest. You know this. When was the last time that I ignored your counsel?"
"The Apache cousins," she responded dryly.
"We agreed not to talk about that."
"Sorry Alpha, but you asked me a question... and this lowly pack member was obligated to answer you honestly."
John changed the subject, "So...Florence?"
"I told her to go for it. She went to meet him for a jogging session; she dressed in her human clothes, but she came back as a wolf with a big smile on her face and carrying her shoes in her teeth. I'm not sure what happened yet, I came here to talk with you before I had my chance to debrief her."
"Debrief her? Seriously?"
"Love is a battle-field; some human woman said that."
"We might have to kill him, Beth. You know there's no way that we can have a road going through our land, we have little enough privacy now. With a road going through here, we'd have to kill more and more humans as they discovered what we are. There just isn't any room left for us to go farther west."
"I know that John; I think she knows that too. She's a proud warrior and if the time comes to put him down, she'll insist on doing the job. But why couldn't we take Waters out instead? If we kill him, maybe this will go away peacefully. We could strike first before he gets smart enough to put his defenses up."
John considered this for a moment before saying, "Maybe...but he'd be a tough target to take out. Even if we managed it and got out safely, we might draw the Government down on us. You know he's deeply embedded into the private military complex, and getting those people involved would be even worse for us. You've met William, and he's one of the relatively young and uncorrupted ones, the rest are worse, much worse."
"Tomorrow, I'm going to do what William suggested and call the Water's legal team to see what the situation is. I'm not necessarily afraid of a legal fight; there are a few corporate lawyers in the Virginia pack and I'm sure that they'd be more than willing to fight for us. I want to hear what Waters has to say first; there is no sense in exposing our business until we must. I want to know what we are up against."
~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~
Monday morning was a typical work day. Florence was up before the sun again; No one knew where Beth had spent the night, and John and his Betas were there to direct the pack's activities. Everyone was happy and busy, and all was right in their world.
The boys noticed that Florence seemed a bit agitated this morning, but she was at work on time and didn't seem unhappy, so they said nothing to her. Beth was gone again, so they had no one to ask about Florence's posture, so they did what men normally do when they miss a woman's signals, they just ignored them, figuring that they wouldn't have to react unless she finally said something—which she didn't. So they were happy; men are easy.
For her part, Florence was completely focused upon her upcoming dinner with William, even though she knew that the most important part of the day would be the upcoming phone call with the legal team of Kristol, Rice, Lieberman, and Feith. She was eager to get that over with, she wasn't stupid, and she knew that the tenor of the upcoming call would have serious impact on her ability to have any sort of relationship with Will. He was gorgeous, but the pack and its land would always come before anything else, even her own happiness. So Florence engaged in her typical Monday morning routine, and did her best to remain calm until nine A.M. when John would summon his Betas into his office to make this all-important call.
The switchboard operator at Kristol, Rice, Lieberman, and Feith was friendly and professional, handling John's call with dispatch. He was soon connected to a mid-level solicitor who had been directly tasked with the Waters case by one of the firm's partners.
He introduced himself as Jebidiah Walker and he was as smooth and as polished as a holy icon in a monastery. He opened the call by roundly praising John for his timely call, before he quickly segued into apologizing for the fact that these questions were being raised. Surely John must be worrying through this stressful time. Pre-statehood title laws were most complex, especially with regard to tribal rights and easements. Now he was certain that something could be worked out that would protect the rights of all involved, before allowing that a negotiated settlement was almost always the easiest and most profitable route for everyone.
John sat back and listened, biding his time, letting the man run his opening gambit. His three Betas also sat silently, listening to the two men talk. When Mr. Walker slowed his pace, John quietly began pushing for details.
"You say 'pre-statehood title law'... this means that you've done your research and found that my land was deeded to my family by the Spanish Crown before this area was ceded to the United States. Of course, you realize that the American Government recognizes all pre-statehood claims."
