Beyond the Were War

"Remember when you were young,

You shone like the sun.

Shine on you crazy diamond.

Now there's a look in your eyes,

Like black holes in the sky.

Shine on you crazy diamond.

You were caught on the crossfire

Of childhood and stardom,

Blown on the steel breeze.

Come on you target for faraway laughter,

Come on you stranger, you legend, you martyr, and shine!"

-Pink Floyd, "Shine On You Crazy Diamond"

Johnson Pack Camp

Alpha's office

"What do you mean you can't find Renee?" Derek jumped up from his desk, his Beta had called from the parking lot of the Babies 'R Us. "When was she last seen?"

"About an hour ago, sir. The women split up to do their shopping, she was last seen going back to the dressing room. No one saw anything and no other werewolves have been in the store."

"Did you follow her scent?"

"Yes, it was difficult, but we found it going through the back of the store and out the back. There was a human smell mixed with her. We are talking to the manager right now, trying to go through the security footage, but the trail is cold. They must have had a car waiting outside."

"Anyone able to make mental contact with her?"

"No, the other women of her Pack can't sense her. She's either too far away or unconscious. No one felt a bond breaking, so she is still alive. There was a syringe on the floor, the police have it now. We didn't have a choice, the store called them when we found the evidence she had been kidnapped."

Derek sat down again. "That may be to our advantage. Get the word out to the media that she is missing, that will give us the best chance of someone spotting her. Don't do it yourself, use some of the other women from the Pack. I want Amanda and the other women back here now, though. Load them up and send them back, I'll send someone to get you later."

Fuck. He had promised to keep Renee and the other women safe and she had been kidnapped right under their noses. This wasn't going to be a fun phone call. He lifted the phone and dialed his brother in law. He went straight to voice mail. None of the Betas answered either.

Cartel Safe House

Outskirts of Albuquerque

"GODDAMMIT, REPORT!" Juan thundered over the cellphone, his legendary temper starting to get the best of him. Carlos was working through the video footage of their vault, trying to figure out what had happened since the alarms had gone off. It wasn't good, it looked like a professional job- men dressed in black, faces covered, gloves on. He watched as they entered and opened the vault, his eyes refusing to believe what they were seeing. They didn't use explosives, or safecracking equipment- they just opened the damn door!

Juan's pacing was not getting any better. His men had arrived at the vault, only to be blown apart by another ambush. Half his men were killed, most were injured. They were forced to abandon the dead and flee from the sirens they heard coming, the explosions had attracted too much attention. They didn't even have time to check out the vault. Juan crushed the phone under his heel and kicked a hole in the wall. He couldn't believe what was happening. It took a few minutes to calm down enough that he could join Carlos in watching the security footage. The thieves were numerous and efficient, the vault was emptied out in mere minutes. "It has to be the Gulf cartel- no one else is that well trained. How long since the alarm?"

"Six minutes twenty seconds right here." Carlos was impressed as well. It wasn't for a few minutes when they saw what was being brought back in that they figured it out.

"MOTHERFUCKERS!! I'll kill them ALL!" As the men carried the bodies past the camera, he could clearly make out the uniforms and faces of his assault team. The fucking wolves were bringing his men back to the near empty vault!

"Boss, the police are arriving at the vault. Anything in there is lost. It's too late." He could see the emotions in Juan's face, he needed to kill someone for this and quick. "Boss, you need to know something. The people who did this knew the combination to the vault. We have a traitor among us."

"How many people know that combination?"

"Other than the two of us, only three people." Juan stared him down. "I'll get them here. We'll figure this out and people will pay for what they have done."

"Them... and their families. I want vengeance of biblical proportion."

Enrique's Apartment

El Paso, Texas

Anna picked Enrique up and set him on the bed, moving pillows to keep his head up. She tore off a pillowcase and used it to press to the front of his chest, hoping to staunch the blood. She checked his back and didn't find an exit wound. "Enrique you can't die on me! Hold on!" Brett was in contact with Pack members, but the shots in the apartment building won't go unnoticed.

"We've got to get him out of here, we can call 911 and get an ambulance."

Enrique had lost consciousness, his face was pale and she could hear his heart starting to slow. "He won't last that long." Making her decision, she partially shifted her jaw and lunged forward, biting him deeply at the junction of his neck and shoulder. It may not work, but she knew deep down the change was his only chance. She released his neck, licking the blood clean as she moved slowly back. "Grab some clothes, we've got to get out of here. Have your Pack doctor meet us at your territory." She waited for Brett to pull on a T-shirt and basketball shorts before she switched places with him, finding clothes for herself she tore off a length of sheet and tied it around his chest to keep the makeshift bandage in place.

"Go into the spare bedroom, grab the laptop computer and the files and bring them with you. I'll meet you downstairs." He quickly left as she wrapped her mate in the dark sheets. He was still breathing, there was still a chance. She stepped around the bodies of the Cartel hit men and out the door, ignoring the looks from the residents who were poking their heads out. She made it out the front door, she could hear the sirens, they didn't have much time. She ran as fast as she could while carrying her mate to the SUV parked just down the street.

Brett sprinted past her, opening the rear door and helping her lay Enrique on the back seat. She hopped in and he ran around to the driver's side. Anna kept pressure on the wound as he took off. "Brett, drive like your life depends on it." He did.

"I contacted Alec, he will go to the apartment and talk to the police. He will tell them that Enrique is a werewolf and is being taken for treatment." He went quiet again as he talked over the mental bond. "Our Alpha is already making phone calls. He is friendly with the chief of police. I have asked that he have the police secure the crime scene."

"Good, but we don't want them searching the apartment. If they ask about the locked room, stall them, make them get a search warrant." She focused on her mate, checking his vitals, before continuing. "Did you tell him about me biting him?"

"Yes, I had to, the doctor needed to know. Why?"

"I was under Alpha command not to bite him. I shouldn't have done it, but... I had to. I can't lose him after just finding him."

"Don't worry about that right now, let's get him help." Brett focused on the driving for a while, they were tearing down the highway outside of town towards the Pack lands. "Why would hit men want him dead?"

"He's the one who tipped us off to the Cartel attack. They must have figured out he was the source." Enrique started to cough, blood spraying from his mouth onto his face. Anna lifted him up, cleaning the blood from his face with her shirt, then moved him so he was lying on his side with his head in her lap. "He's starting to breathe easier, the healing has started." One interesting thing about turns into werewolves was that healing was one of the first signs of a change. It was a survival mechanism, first to stay alive and then... "You don't have any sedatives in the car, do you?"

"Why?"

"He's starting to get warm, the turn will be on him soon. He could come out in a rage, he needs to be sedated heavily to allow himself to fully heal first."

Brett was silent for a minute. "We're still twenty minutes away from the border of our Pack lands. Our doctor is coming out to meet us, she's a few miles away." As soon as they saw the vehicle cross the median and pull to the side, they slowed down and pulled next to it. The door opened and a young woman jumped in carrying a black bag, and they were off again, followed by the other vehicle.

"I'm Doctor Julia Jones, I need you to move into the front seat while I take care of him." Anna hesitated for just a second before complying, forcing her wolf down as she didn't want to leave her mate with a strange woman. The woman examined Enrique for a few minutes, using a light in her mouth and the interior lights of the car. "Brett, I need more light. Got any flashlights?" He went to hand one back but she shook him off. "Give it to her. Anna, I need you to keep that light focused on the gunshot wound, all right?"

She opened her bag and removed a large syringe, pulling out a bottle she drew most of the liquid into it before plunging it into his neck. Anna was concentrating to force back her wolf, she knew he needed to be sedated but this was hard to watch. That was nothing compared to what she had to watch next.

The doctor cleaned his chest area with a betadyne pad, then made a horizontal incision with a scalpel. She ignored the blood, placing a clamp in the opening she spread the ribs apart as she cut through to his lungs. Still holding a powerful flashlight in her teeth, she moved her gloved hand into his chest until she found the bullet and tossed it on the floor. She kept moving around until she had found the source of the bleeding and had brought the torn artery into view. She pulled out a stitch kit, closed the hole in the artery, then moved things back into place. She used tape to hold the skin together and keep air from getting in, then inserted a chest tube and portable vacuum device into the side of his chest to reinflate his lung. Anna was relieved as his breathing returned to normal.

She pulled the surgical gloves off and tossed them on the floor. "Shit, that was close." Pulling an IV kit out of her bag, she hung it from the panic bar and put the needle in the back of his hand. "This will help restore from his blood loss until we can get back and start a transfusion."

"He'll make it?"

"We'll know in the next 24 hours. It was a bad wound, and then you have the stress of the change. I'll keep him sedated for a few days, but when he turns we have to keep him from turning feral. You are his mate, right?"

Anna blushed. "Yes, but we hadn't really talked about any of this. I... I just bit him because I thought I was losing him."

"It's a good thing you did, he would have bled out before the ambulance arrived if you didn't."

"Doc... he needs to be dead." She saw her confusion. "Look, he works for the government in a top secret job that he used to help us. When the cops go through his apartment, it's going to get out what he was doing- or the NSA will just send their people over. He told us that if they ever found out about what he was doing it wouldn't mean being arrested, they would just 'disappear' him. What he knows is far too dangerous. Plus, the Cartel tried to kill him and lost two men doing it, they won't fail a second time. We need to make it look like they got him, or he will never be safe."

"How many people know he is alive?"

"Right now just us. We need to make everyone think that he died on the way here. I'll have my pack mates help me prepare the body, and we will return him to our pack for burial. We need to be convincing or it will get back to them that he might be alive. Not even the Alpha can know. Doc... can you do this? Can you sign a death certificate for us?"

Julia sat back and thought about it. If she was found out she could lose her license, but she was Pack first and Pack protected their own. "Yes, I can do it. I'll fill it out when I get back to my office. I'll also have to fake an autopsy report and treatment record, but I can do that too. Just make sure he never surfaces again." She paused for a second, closing her eyes. "Alpha Marino, I'm sorry, but Anna's mate didn't make it. The wound was too severe for the change to take place." She was silent for a few minutes. "Yes sir, we are a few minutes out. Can you ask my nurse to meet me at the infirmary, and to bring a body bag and a gurney?" Another pause. "No, Anna is not doing well. They didn't fully mate, but she's... she's not responding right now. I'm going to give her a sedative to help her through this. She needs to be back with her Pack as soon as possible, you know how tough this will be for her. He died in her arms..."

She opened her eyes again. "So here's the deal. The other members of your Pack will meet us when we arrived. I'm going to give you a fast-acting sedative to knock you out, that way you don't have to try and act out the loss of your mate. Brett and I will transfer him to the body bag and I'll take him in to do the paperwork. It will take about an hour, then I'll have your pack mates load you both up and take you home."

Anna paused. "Will he be all right on the drive?"

"It's a chance you'll have to take, the fewer people that know the better. He's stable now, the change should help him heal. I'll put a syringe and drug in the bag for you, he will need another shot in six hours. After that your pack healer can take over. Again, the fewer people that know the better. Pick out a new name for him before you get there."

"I've always like the name..."

"Don't tell us. We don't want to know. Just keep him safe. He can't get fingerprinted, he can't contact anyone from his previous life. It would be best if he never left Pack lands." Anna smiled, her job was in the Pack house, she could keep him close, there was work for him there and they could be happy and safe.

Cartel Safe House

Outskirts of El Paso

The cargo van pulled into the garage, the door to the suburban home closing before the men got out. Four men entered the van and used crowbars to take the top off of the transport box. Two stood by with tasers while the other two removed the unconscious woman. She was carried feet first into the kitchen, then down to the basement.

The pregnant female was taken into a cell, her arms and legs shacked to a steel bed frame with silver cuffs. The men locked the door as they left. She was in an 8 by 8 foot cage with a concrete floor and back wall. The rest of the room was bare except for a steel chair fixed to the floor and a wall with various torture equipment on it. The men left without speaking, they were highly paid to keep quiet and ignore what happened down here.

Pack SUV

I-25 south of Albuquerque

Robert checked in with each of his men, thanking them for their efforts. Their plan had gone off without a hitch, they were in and out before the Cartel could respond and they had left their message behind. They were operating under strict radio silence, cellphones had been left behind and all communications were by Pack bond, so nothing could be intercepted. Maria was right, this felt really good- they had dealt a huge blow to the Cartel. "Joe, turn on the radio, let's see if they are saying anything about us."

"Sure, Alpha. Nothing much on the police scanner now, anyway. They haven't even gone in yet, they have the perimeter secured and are waiting for the Bomb Squad and ATF." It took a few minutes to get to the top of the hour on the news-talk station, and the news was sure interesting.

"KALB news talk, our top stories tonight. Albuquerque police have not released a statement yet on an explosion involving several vehicles outside a commercial building on the 1400 block of Mesa Avenue. Initial reports are that multiple men were killed when explosions tore through a pair of SUVs. The killings are suspected to be drug related. In other news, the car bombing death of Albuquerque DEA Agent in Charge Michael Miller this afternoon remains under investigation, DEA officials believe it was related to his work and vow to bring his killers to justice. Three people injured in the blast remain hospitalized."

"Fuck, who the hell can I trust at the DEA now?" His thoughts were cut short by the next piece of news.

"Local Were leader and symbol of the Were War, Renee Johnson-Hastings, was kidnapped shortly after 8 pm from a Babies R Us store in Billings, Montana. Video surveillance footage showed masked men injecting her with a drug then carrying her to a waiting vehicle. The FBI is requesting anyone with information regarding this abduction to call their hotline at 1-877-FBI-TIPS."

The roar let loose by Robert nearly deafened everyone in the vehicle. "GET US BACK HOME NOW."

Cartel Operations Center

Las Cruces, NM

Juan walked into the interrogation room, following Carlos. Both were pissed. Three men were blindfolded, naked and bound in the room, their hands tied to eye bolts on the rafters above. "Boss, as you requested they have been kept ignorant of why they are here."

"Good." He looked with disgust at the formerly trusted men he had before him. All were senior in his organization and had been with him from the early days, but one of them was a traitor. "OK, boys, this is how it is. One of you has worked with the werewolves to steal my money out of the vault. If you admit to it now, I'll make your death quick and your family will be spared. If not," he looked each in the eye, "they will not be."

He turned to Carlos. "Cut them down and leave them in here. You have one hour to figure out who the traitor is. If no one admits to it, I'll assume you are all guilty."

One of the men dared to question him. "Boss, please, I've done nothing!"

Juan pulled out his gold-plated .45 caliber pistol and pointed it at his face. "Those bastards came into MY place!" He moved the pistol down and shot him in the left leg. "They opened MY vault!" He shot his right leg. "They took MY money!" He shot him in the left hand. "And someone in here gave them the combination!" One more shot, this to the right hand. The man writhed about on the floor, scared to even look at the man he once considered a father figure. Juan pointed the gun at the others, all immediately lowered their eyes. "You have one hour to figure it out."

Carlos followed him out of the room, the door locked securely behind them. "Boss, you know you won't get a solid answer out of this."

"I know. See what they say, then kill them all."

Gila Pack House Garage

New Mexico

The caravan of vehicles arrived and parked in the underground garage. They should have been ecstatic at their successful raid, but the mood was somber and angry.

Their Luna had been taken from them.

As soon as they were back on Pack lands, Robert was on the phone with Derek. The news wasn't good. They had no clues as to where she was, but the police and the Pack warriors and trackers were still out there looking. Derek had placed the rest of his pack on lockdown, including the remainder of the mates and children from the Gila pack. They were in the safe area with his own pregnant women and children, protected by him and his strongest men. Robert had already mind-linked with his Betas to find they had already taken that action and all were safe. It was back to protecting the vulnerable and his lands.

El Paso Pack Clinic

Texas

The SUV pulled into the Pack driveway and slowly moved towards the clinic. The road was lined with El Paso Pack wolves, some shifted, some not, but all there to provide support to a woman who just lost her mate. Their wolves knew instinctually that their support, their touch, their presence might help the widow from spinning into darkness. The loss of a mate usually meant such a deep depression that the person became suicidal or gave themselves completely over to the wolf side, becoming a danger to everyone. It didn't matter to them that the widow wasn't from their Pack, she was under their protection.