Were in the City

"Liam, why did you say I'm an alpha?"

As Liam continued to patch Jacob up after Jessie had torn a long gash in his side at the end of the training session, he took a quick glance over at Jessie and smiled. "You are showing all the signs - you've got a strength in you that simmers below the surface most of the time, but when pushed, it comes out. You take charge, you fear less, you don't bend to the demands of others, you fight harder, you command others and expect to be obeyed."

Jacob nodded, "I agree. Your other half is an alpha, you are an alpha - an inexperienced one but with more training and time, I think a good one, a powerful one."

"To truly step into that role though, you have to stop thinking of your other half as a separate entity.

She

is you, you are

her

. You'll become a better fighter as a gryphon, your senses even when in your human form will be keener, when you let all that

she

is support how you function and trust all the power

she

gives you - when you are truly together, you can draw on everything you both are for whatever you need."

Jessie sighed, "That's not easy to do! It's been such a short time since I've been aware of

her

and everything

she

is still seems so different, so weird at times, I sometimes feel this is all a dream and I'm waiting to wake up." (OMG, what a cliché!)

Both brothers laughed, Jacob wincing as he did so. "Hate to point it out ... but you are different ... and weird ..."

Jessie gave them a look, "Really? You had to go there did you?"

Liam smiled, "Too tempting not to ... don't worry Jessie, it will seem natural and normal soon I promise."

Liam finished taping a covering over Jacob's wound, picked up his medical bag and helped Jacob to his feet. Jacob nodded and they slowly walked back to their temporary camp in the trees.

It was much later in the day than they'd planned before they were finally back on the highway headed home. Liam was driving, Jessie in the front passenger seat and Jacob in the back seat where he could lie down as needed to ease the pain in his side. It was getting dark when a few miles outside the city limits Liam pulled off the highway headed for a gas station, following one of the important rules they'd made very clear to Jessie - always have a full tank in every vehicle just in case you need it.

They all had their hoods up and Jessie was wearing her glasses. Video surveillance was normal at gas stations. "I'll fill up, I need to stretch my legs" she said, and Liam handed her a prepaid credit card. She got out of the car, very carefully keeping her head down away from the cameras, registered the card and started to fill up. She practiced her situational awareness as she stood holding the pump handle, letting her other half help her follow cars and people. More than half way through, a black SUV pulled in three stalls over from where Jessie stood and both the front and rear doors opened as several men got out. Jessie let just her eyes move over them without lifting her head, and froze. Tony Richard was sitting in the back seat.

Come on! ... no bloody way! This couldn't be happening. Tony wouldn't recognize her, but those other men were probably werewolves and there was a breeze moving the air around. Any second, somebody was bound to scent something and then what? Jessie quickly stopped what she was doing, put the gas cap back on and grabbed the receipt. Jacob was lying down, dozing in the back seat - it would take too long to get in there and she didn't want to hurt him by jumping on top of him. As she moved around the back of the car towards the front passenger door, trying to look normal, she heard a loud growl. Crap!

A part of her wanted to panic, yank open the car door and yell at Liam "Get out of here now! Wolves in the black SUV!!"as she flung herself into the car. But that part of her was quickly smothered by something stupendous inside her that surged forward and made her hold her ground. Time slowed to a crawl as she saw what would happen if they ran play out in her mind.

Liam would react quickly, but it wouldn't be quick enough. As they pulled away at least one maybe two of those men could run up beside the car for a few seconds and get a good look at them. Jacob and Liam would be recognized, their safe place here would be compromised, and the three of them would have to abandon the city Jessie loved. Her home would be lost. NO! The ones she loved would NOT be forced to wander ever again! She would protect her family.

Jessie felt an intense awareness of everyone and everything in the vicinity. Her hand on the car door, she stared through the window at the twins and did something that wasn't normally possible in human form without a pack bond - she issued them an Alpha command, mind to mind.

Keep your heads down! Stay in the car!

She knew Jacob and Liam would not disobey her for a little while, no matter how much they might want to put themselves between her and the wolves approaching from the SUV. They were both too strong though - eventually they'd be able to resist her command. She didn't have much time to keep them out of it.

Turning slowly, she looked at a large, well-muscled man standing about six feet from her. He was the only beta in the group. The other two walking up behind him were a lower rank and answered to him. Jessie knew not any one of them, not even all three of them together, were a match for her Alpha gryphon's presence.

"How dare you growl at me!" she said, her voice deeper and more forceful than she'd ever spoken before.

She could see all three were confused and concerned. As pack wolves they were conditioned to obey an Alpha. Even one they were not bonded to was a person they were required to respect. A very strong Alpha was especially intimidating.

"Who are you?" the beta asked.

"I'll ask the questions" Jessie responded. "Who are you? You don't belong here."

"I am Ron Lalonde, Beta, Algonquin Pack. We are just passing through. We are all headed to the airport to return home tonight."

Jessie was trying to think of a way she could end up getting skin to skin contact with the three of them to compel them to forget everything about this encounter but nothing useful came to mind. She didn't expect they'd want to shake hands with her. They were all wearing short-sleeved shirts - all she needed to do was grab their arms for a few seconds.

She saw they were all breathing heavily, scenting her. She laughed silently, realizing what she must smell like right now. She hadn't had a shower for a couple of days, had done a lot of heavy exercise, and had had some really good sex this morning. Her scent must be a mother-lode of "desirable female", hopefully masking any scent of Liam or Jacob that might be clinging to her. She could use that. She just hoped that what she was about to do wouldn't cause the twins, who had to be watching, to go completely off the deep end and disobey her command too soon.

How to charm three werewolves at a gas station? Hum ... If she was going into heat what might she do? She'd certainly be sniffing and touching, checking out potential partners - perfect. Jessie, normally rather quiet and reserved, had never done much overt flirting but her other half was raring to go.

She went for the beta first, stepping right into him and took a deep breath, slowly running her hands down his arms. His eyes went wide as she stared at him. "You look like you work out a lot ... so strong ... lovely ..." Jessie gripped his wrists, skin to skin, leaned in and whispered "You will not remember you were here at this gas station tonight. You need to go now, you are late. I'm delicious. Invite your two friends to kiss me before you go. Forget me when you get to your car." She gave him a hard kiss, then stepped back and smiled at him.

He looked disoriented for a second before saying "She's delicious. Give her a kiss and let's get going."

The other two looked baffled, but Jessie walked right up to the first one and leaned in for her kiss. He hesitated briefly, but obliged. She gripped his wrists, and as their lips parted she whispered "You will not remember you were here at this gas station tonight. Forget me." She did the same thing to the third man, smiling as she backed away.

The beta was looking at the others, "Let's go, we are late." They walked back to the SUV and got in. Jessie could see Tony Richard hadn't moved, he looked asleep, probably under the influence of pain medication from the looks of his bandages. Good. She stood watching as they drove away, then sauntered casually back to her ride, all her fingers and toes crossed that the two men waiting for her there were not about to tear her head off.

She opened the car door and leaned in first to check on them. Two pairs of furious eyes stared back at her. She also noted that the warrantee on her new car was null and void. Coywolf claws had torn long gashes in the upholstery on all the seats and the instrument panel was heavily scratched. She didn't think her insurance covered damage when wild animals got trapped in the car ... damn! Jacob was on the phone describing what had happened to someone, maybe Helen. He finished with "We are leaving now and should be back home in about an hour. We will find out what Jessie has done and call you back later."

Jessie got in, buckled up her seatbelt and sat quietly. Nobody said anything as Liam pulled out of the station and onto the highway. The silence lasted about 10 minutes before Jessie couldn't stand it any longer.

"It will be alright. They won't remember anything about the gas station, about you and me. I told them to forget. We are safe."

Liam just grunted and shook his head. Jacob ground out his words in a low voice, "That is not possible."

Jessie didn't know how to explain so that they would believe her. "It is possible. I just know it will happen ... I told them to forget and they will. They'll never remember."

Jacob exploded. "My god, you are such a naive, foolish CHILD! You can't compel like that. And even if you could, all you did was create a significant inconsistency in their day that will get noticed. Nothing is so simple that you can just tell someone to forget something and it all goes away. Why did they stop there? Whatever it was for, it didn't happen - that will be noticed. Did they tell anyone they were stopping? Video will be erased where it can be, but there is bound to be something somewhere we can't get to. Nothing can be erased neat and clean in this modern world!"

"And don't you EVER ... and I mean EVER ... push an Alpha command at either of us ever again! We are not pack wolves, we will NEVER submit to anyone. We do not accept you as Alpha over us. This time it took us by surprise but it will never work even briefly again. We reject you."

The pain from hearing those last words stung Jessie deep down in her soul. She could sense her other half howling in sorrow. She turned her face to the window and said nothing more. No one said anything more. When they reached home, she just got out of the car and walked into her basement suite, locking the door behind her.

******************

Jessie couldn't sleep. She'd had a long shower after getting home, scrubbing every inch several times over. She couldn't forget what she'd felt when she'd touched and kissed the three werewolves. The beta was not a good man, enjoyed the pain of others, had hurt and killed many - an enforcer for his alpha. He would have killed her and the twins without hesitation and had been within seconds of trying to do just that, no matter what the consequences. One of the other two was much the same. The third would have felt some regret because he loved his mate and she kept trying to get him to choose a better path, but he felt trapped and would do as he was told. Jessie knew what she'd done was the best option even if, as Jacob had pointed out, there were going to be side-effects. She was also well aware now of just how risky it had been ... death had been a mere breath away.

A little after 2 a.m. she got up, dressed, and went for a walk. The cemetery was only about six blocks away. She sat by her mother's grave in the darkness, remembering how hard it had been to live with someone who was afraid all the time, who rarely left the few blocks surrounding their home, who never trusted anyone. Jessie knew her parents had loved each other, she'd seen it every day, but she wasn't sure her mother had even trusted her father. He'd known what her mother was, Jessie was sure of that because he had to be the one who had covered up the details of her death, but how much had he known of the reasons for her secluded life? He had encouraged and aided Jessie to break free from her mother's smothering watchful presence as much as he could.

Jessie didn't want to become like her mother. She couldn't live in fear, couldn't hide and run for the rest of her life. What good was a very long life if it was miserable? If she couldn't help make some positive difference in the world, if all she did was exist, what was the point?

"Mom" she whispered, "forgive me, but I can't be like you. I want to live my life in the open, in the sun not the shadows. Maybe it will be a short life that way, but I'm not going to run ... I'm going to fight."

Fighting for what she wanted didn't scare Jessie or her other half, who was happily agreeing with her decision. What terrified her was that she would have to leave Jacob and Liam to do it. They were hiding and her decision would endanger them. Their safety was everything to her, if she could change their circumstances she would find a way to do that. She would learn everything she could about the Were world she was now part of, and she would find a way to free the two she loved from price on their heads so that they could live where-ever and however they wished. They didn't want her anymore, Jacob's words made that clear, but she could still care about them and try to help.

She would sell some of the jewellery (

she

moaned at that thought, but Jessie told

her

firmly that it had to be done) to become financially independent, find someone to teach her what she needed to know, and then make a plan to make a difference.

Jessie pulled her phone from her coat pocket and turned it on. She saw a message from Paul saying there was a report for her to read that was uploaded to the secure server - she'd look at that later. She called Helen.

"Hi Helen."

"Jessie, why are you calling at this hour? Are you ok?"

"Yes, I'm fine."

At that moment, a siren sounded in the distance and the pack in the golf course behind her started to howl back.

"Jessie, where are you?"

"I couldn't sleep and went for a walk. I'm sitting in the cemetery right now. I wanted to talk to you alone if I can, is that ok with you?"

"Yes, ok ... go ahead."

"I want to know if there is any way to get Jacob and Liam a safe place to live. I don't understand why no pack can take them and why they can't come live with you. I was thinking about it and I need to know - is there a way to protect them from the Richards and get that death sentence removed?"

Helen explained, "No pack can accept them. They are rogues under a death sentence - the Alphas Council has declared them so, which means all pack Alphas are tied to it. The Richard family has offered a large bounty to have the twins returned to them for their justice, which just means they want to be the ones to kill them. If they step onto any pack's land they must be killed or taken prisoner and turned over to the Richards. Off pack land, anyone can try to end them any time."

Helen sighed, "No pack Alpha can defy the Council. They are all part of that group, there are all sorts of deals and commitments, they are all so tied together after so many years that the price is too high to go their own way. To get the death sentence removed all the remaining Richard men would have to agree to that and enough Alphas would have to vote to change the sentence - I don't see how any of that could ever happen."

"My group has sheltered them at various times in the past, even though where we live is not official pack land. Unfortunately, Jacob and Liam were a huge problem during a war that started two decades ago. In order to achieve a cease-fire and save many lives, we had to agree never to provide them shelter on our land ever again."

Jessie sighed, "Helen, I don't know how this would work exactly, I don't understand all the issues yet, but I have an idea. I know it will take time to do this, probably a long time, but tell me if this would work. Jacob and Liam say I'm an alpha, so if I create a pack, join the Council, and get enough council members to vote no to their sentence, doesn't that remove it? I could make the Richard men change their minds - all I have to do is get in physical contact with each of them. I could tell them to remove the bounty, to leave Jacob and Liam alone. They would do what I told them to do, I know it."

There was silence for bit before Helen responded. "Honey, it would be easier to get the earth to spin around the other way than to do what you are thinking of! I have well over a century of experience working within the Were system, I have significant influence in many places, and I haven't been able to get them free of their burden. Believe me, I have tried."

"It takes more than just being an Alpha to have any impact on the Council. You need power, influence, friends, supporters. You'd have to reveal yourself and then survive while building all those things, which means you need to be a very strong Alpha with a lot of protection. A small pack can't offer you enough safety."

Helen sighed, "Jessie, I'm still not convinced that it's possible for you to compel any Were you are not bonded to, but what you are talking about is compelling 6 betas - you'd have to be really strong to do that. You couldn't be caught - it would have to seem like they'd changed their minds on their own or no one would accept it. And you'd have to get to them before they or their warriors killed you - I have no idea how you'd do that."

"Helen can you think about it and see if there is some way to do it? I will work hard to become stronger. Could someone could teach me about the pack system, the Council, the way it all works? Maybe there is something I can do to change things for Jacob and Liam. I want to try, I need to try to help them."

"Honey, I care about them too, but what you are suggesting is really difficult, probably impossible. I promise to think about it though, ok?"

"Yes, thank you."

Helen wasn't finished, "Jessie, there is something I have to say right now. Jacob told me what you did - you tried to compel them with an Alpha command. That wasn't a good idea."

Jessie interrupted, "Yes, I understand that now, but there was no time and I had to stop them from showing themselves. They are very angry about it, I know. They don't want me anymore because I did it, I get that. I will go away. That doesn't change my wish to help them though, just so you know."

Helen sighed, "Honey, they will never be pack wolves, not in the traditional sense. They will never consent to be ruled by anyone, even if that rule is just and benevolent. They've seen too much, done too much, to ever submit to anyone. And they are too strong to be coerced, I think you know that. You need to talk to them. They did not reject you, only what you tried to do to them. Don't leave, talk. Ok?"

Jessie shook her head, sounding uncertain, "Ok ... I will try ... but they are very, very angry."

Helen laughed softly, "I'll bet they are. You are still so new to all this Jessie, you have so much to learn. Compelling them was one thing they'd hate, but you also forced them to watch you face danger alone. What if you'd been hurt or killed, and they unable to help? Do you have any idea what that would have done to them? They don't show the depth of their feelings easily. Their anger comes from their fear of losing you."