Dear Readers,
Things continue to upset the packs and Stephanie is having a hard time of it.
Enjoy,
KemMyst
*********
Randall called together his Betas for a meeting.
And they discussed changes to procedures. Discussed the fact that none of the other packs had had an issue. It was, therefore, not a coordinated attack against their kind.
Why them?
Was it someone who lived nearby?
Was it a targetted attack against the Wyeth pack? If so, why?
They went around a couple of times but got no closer to any answers.
Randall knew he had to speak to the pack. He dismissed his Betas and sat with his mate for a short time, trying to determine the best way to address them about what had happened.
It was then, when he told them what Mercy had disclosed about the attacker, that some of the wolves who had run evening sweep told them that they had seen a blue car at the second crossing. Since it was not necessarily unusual to see vehicles on the road, no one had thought to report it.
Questioning of the sweepers revealed that the car had been there the last three nights. The human male had been outside his car the night before.
Changes to routine were made and everyone was sent back to bed. Everyone but the Alphas, the Betas, and young Ross. They had set up surveillance cameras. It was time to see if they had recorded anything useful. Dawn was already coming.
The calls began coming in from the other packs. To offer condolences. To find out what had happened. To determine the risk to themselves.
Lyssa decided that it made sense to call an emergency council meeting. And the pack council discussed the situation, Lyssa with a steaming cup of dark coffee in her hand. No one else had noticed a blue car hanging around. Therefore, the attack seemed to be only against Wyeth, though no one understood why. Had he brought the gun on other nights? Why did he wait until last night to use it?
In the meantime, the bier that would hold Jamie's body was being constructed.
Mercy was crying.
Desiree was crying.
Emmaline was curled up in a ball, whimpering. Emmanuel cuddled up next to her.
The Severn pack was on high alert. Well, all the packs were on alert but Severn, many being police officers, were at another level.
Joanna called her mother that morning. Everyone was jittery and many reached out to relatives that had mated into other packs.
Stephanie, the Ross Alpha, had no family close by. And, being pregnant with her first pup and having just lost her mate and been made Alpha, was at another level of distress.
She was feeling ill, breathing deeply, trying not to vomit.
She was also trying, and failing somewhat, to figure out what to do now. While they were fearsome in battle, what could they hope to do against an overwhelming force of humans with guns?
Whereas an attack by humans had been a real threat, it had been abstract to all of them. After decades of living alongside them, and feeling smugly superior, the humans had shown themselves to be deadly as individuals.
And she was sick of Amanda going on about how everyone was feeling and what they all thought should be done.
Some of the pack actually wanted to pack up and run to some remote location. It grated on her horribly.
Sampson was quiet, listening, watching her.
Stephanie caught her midsentence. "Thank you, Amanda, I think I understand."
Amanda opened her mouth, intending to say more, but Sampson gave her a look. "Of course, Alpha."
Alpha. How long 'til she got used to being addressed that way?
Sampson looked at her as the door closed. "Alpha, should I call the healer?"
She glared at him and took another drink of ginger ale. "I'm only looking to the welfare," she lowered her head, looking at him through her eyelashes, as he tapered off, "of you and the pup."
Stephanie exhaled, loudly. "Bring me Phillip."
Sampson's eyes shot to her, wide, whites showing. "Alpha?" The pitch of his voice got a little higher.
She simply looked at him. Sampson stuttered slightly. "Of, of course, Alpha." He hesitated, and caught himself as he started to look back at her. He inhaled, squared his shoulders, and walked out.
Stephanie rubbed her forehead. Rising, she went to the window and opened it. She took a deep breath, grimaced, and closed it again.
Humidity wasn't helping. It smelled like rain.
She had brought a chaise, a lounge chair, into her office. She sat in it now, leaning back and gently rubbing her stomach. It was slightly swollen now and would only get larger in the coming months. She had to start wearing larger pants.
A small belch caught her by surprise. She hoped the sickness would go away soon.
She should tell her father. He would be happy.
But she couldn't possibly get away now.
A knock on the door startled her out of a doze.
She sat up, composed herself. "Come in."
Both looking nervous, Sampson and Phillip entered the room. She saw how Sampson took a protective stance, standing slightly in front of his mate.
"You are dismissed, Beta. I want to speak to your mate alone."
Sampson's chest heaved. "I'm not going to hurt him."
Phil stood, stiffly, as Sampson left the room. "Sit, Phillip."
He sat on the edge of the chair and put his hands on the arms of the chair, then laced his fingers together over his stomach, then clasped them around his knees.
"I want to ask you some questions." She held up a hand as he opened his mouth to respond. "I also don't want you to tell anyone what we've talked about here, except in very general terms."
His nervousness was dissipating, but now he looked confused. "Of course, Alpha."
She listened for a minute to the pacing outside the door. "I want you to tell me how the pack is feeling."
"But, Alpha..."
"I see you, Phillip. I was you." Confusion painted the young male's face. "Quiet. An outsider. Someone who watches. Someone who hears things. Now, I need to know the mood of my pack."
Phil took the chair arms again, took a deep breath.
Stephanie glanced toward the door. "And tell your mate you're OK." The pacing stopped as Phil relayed the message to Sampson.
When his mind returned to the room, she raised an eyebrow. "They're worried. Some of the Omegas are really scared. I guess nobody ever really thought the humans would come for us." He stopped.
"What about me?"
"They're not sure you can do it." Stephanie sat back, exhaling. It was what she expected. And feared.
"Do they have anyone else in mind?"
"What? Uh. Oh. No. You've got the Alpha's pup in there." Of course, they still thought of Calvin as Alpha.
"OK. One last question," she paused, looked at the young male, "what does your mate think?"
"Uh, wait. Um. Why don't you..." he stopped himself, coughed. "You could ask him, Alpha."
"I want to hear what he's told you. What the two of you talked about."
"I, I.. Alpha?"
"Sampson is a loyal member of this pack, a good Beta. Indispensable to me. However, if I ask him directly he will be politically correct. I want to hear his thoughts, unfiltered."
Phil looked perplexed, and afraid. "These are extraordinary times, I wouldn't ask otherwise. I'd like you to help me help the pack."
Phil swallowed. "He's worried about you. Worried what you might do." He looked pointedly at her belly. She reflexively placed a protective hand on it. "He thinks you're overwhelmed."
She gave a short, explosive laugh. "Thinks?"
Stephanie sat thinking. Phil watched her, staying quiet. Finally, she exhaled and and asked. "Stay or run?"
Caught off guard by the question, he blurted, "Stay."
"Thank you, Phillip."
As a smaller pack, it might be easier for them to pick up and move, but to where? What would they take? What would they do for money? No electricity, running water, as wolves 24/7? Humans were everywhere; they'd never escape them for long.
No, leaving made no sense at all.
She wished she could talk to Calvin.
So, OK, stay the course. Keep watching the perimeters. What else could they do?
While Ross just surrounded the weak and vulnerable with circles of stronger warriors Wyeth had a bunker. Maybe they should build something like that. Of course, she could think of ways that humans could still get in and kill them. It was the same for the den. But it would slow them down and probably make some in the pack feel safer. She'd have to check the accounts, find out what it would cost.
Okay, now, just a little nap.
********
The clouds built quickly and piled high. They grew dark and angry-looking though this was hard to see at night. Occasional flashes lit them up. Then, around dawn, the first groundstrike shook the Wyeth den.
Mercy woke screaming.
Jamie's body had, by this time, been reduced to ash. As the rain came down with a vengeance, the ashes washed away and mingled with the earth. The last embers of the wood were quickly extinguished.
*****
She made her decision, she would go.
Stephanie talked to Sampson as he would be in charge while she was gone. She hoped that things would be alright in the meantime, that the attack on Wyeth was not a prelude to an all out assault. But she felt she had to go home, if only for the last time.
She didn't have her license, or even her learner's permit, so Trevor would have to drive her. Because of the distance, they would be gone overnight.
They left right after lunch. He looked at her occasionally in the rear view mirror. And worried. She was huddled in the back seat, looking small and scared. It was not a vision he wanted to carry of his Alpha. Trevor hadn't questioned any of it. Calvin had been a good leader, a good Alpha. He had led the pack for decades. His son had been a piece of work and had, pretty quickly, started to make a mess of things. It had taken a little over a year for them to recover after he'd died. The Alpha, Calvin, had then courted and mated the most unlikely wolf. But, he had been happy again. He had put a resolution before the council that made her Alpha at his death. Their new Alpha Ross had not been born to the pack or any of the others in the council. She had been an Omega, abused by rogues, rescued by Wyeth. In repayment for her rescue, she became a warrior. Now, she was elevated to Alpha, and carrying the Alpha heir.
He was taking her miles away, to her family. While she had never intended to see them again, Calvin had found them and staged a reunion. Now, in the midst of chaos and uncertainty, she needed to see home.
That, he understood.
*****
She fell asleep, for a while.
They were over half way there when she woke. She stared out the window, brooding. He almost missed it when she asked the question, "Am I doing the right thing?"
"Um. Which thing, Alpha?"
She exhaled. "Any of it. All of it."
"I don't think I..."
"Never mind. Forget I asked."
There was silence again for a time as she watched the landscape pass by. Houses. Businesses. Fields. Woods.
