Authors: Tigertalez
Alphy cut in, “Paul, I’m afraid we really need to eat
and get going before those of us who are leaving have to leave with an empty
stomach. I’m sure you can ask them later, after we have eaten and left.”
That seemed to snap Paul and the others out of their
varied states of shock, awe, and confusion. “Oh! Yeah, right, sorry.” He gave a
sheepish grin.
“Good!” Betty said
cheerfully. “Everyone, supper is ready, and I made enough for you boys, too.”
She indicated the new pack members. Everyone took a place in line behind the
alpha, picking up a plate and walking along the counter, filling their plates
with whatever their palate coveted. Supper was a huge and loud affair, in spite
of full mouths. Abby refused to be held by her mom. She struggled until let
down, then ran to Dultyn and signaled to be lifted up. He wound up dishing her
up and entertaining her during the meal. Of course, where she was, so was her
twin, Danny. The gargoyle Stelios helped with him. Slate had to admit, they
were natural parents. It gave him a sense of longing for his own family. With
heavy-filled stomachs, the group said their good-byes and crowded into their
new pack vehicles.
Nix and Matteo drove them to the small private
airstrip, helped load the plane and headed back to the house.
Slate thought the Citation Longitude they were taking
was a beautiful and fancy jet. A nondescript painting design lined the outside,
but on the inside, it could seat all eight passengers comfortably, and
considering the leg room the men took, that was impressive. Four black leather
seats were near the front, seating for three on a black leather couch further
back, and across from the couch was a little loveseat niche next to a counter
space.
The flight was free from conversations as everyone
tried to rest through the four and a half hour flight to Prince George, British
Columbia. As they approached, Slate felt the flutter in his stomach at the
plane’s descent right around midnight. He and his lion always hated flying. They
were most comfortable on the ground, and most shifters felt the same. The
landing was smooth, however, and the plane taxied safely to a private hangar.
Normally, when an alpha took over a pack, they were in
the territory already, or if they did have to travel to it, they were greeted
by the next in rank. However, as Slate stepped out onto the top of the steps of
the plane, before his alpha, and looked around for a potential threat, he
noticed an older man and an older woman, who Slate guessed was the man’s mate,
standing by an old rusted pickup truck and a rental van. Looking around the
amply lit hangar, Slate didn’t see anyone else, so he descended the tiny steps
and waited for his alpha to join him. He made sure to stand between his alpha
and the old man as he approached them.
The couple tilted their heads, giving Alphy his due
respect. After Alphy touched their necks, they straightened up but kept their
eyes lowered. “Alpha, I am Frank, and this is my mate, Deloris.”
Deloris kept her sights on the ground as the two men
talked.
“Nice to meet you both.
Which rank in the herd
do you hold?” Alphy politely asked.
Slate thought having to ask was strange. Usually when
you introduced yourself to your new alpha, you also stated your rank. However,
what the old man said next, explained why, and it both alarmed and angered Slate.
The old man looked pained. “I have no rank, alpha. As
near as we can tell, once word was received of the alpha’s loss, the remaining
inner circle seemed agitated. The next day, they ransacked the alpha house and
their own, and disappeared. Others in the herd are still at the alpha house,
trying to make it suitable for you and your inner circle.”
Alphy gave a thoughtful look and grunted. “Thank you,
Frank. We appreciate you taking the initiative and time coming to get us.”
Slate thought it looked like the man didn’t expect
that response. He slightly inhaled to scent the air and smelt the sharp scent
of shock coming from the old shifter.
With sleep fatigued bodies, everyone helped load their
bags and the doctor’s medical supplies into the back of the old truck and then
loaded themselves into the rented van. It was a bigger van with seating for
twelve passengers, as opposed to the eight passenger van they had bought for
their pack. They planned on, in the future, buying a van this big, but they had
decided to start off smaller at first.
Their final destination was a large two-story colonial
revival home with red brick and white trim just a little way from Prince
George. Pulling up to what he assumed was the alpha house, Slate didn’t see
much out of the ordinary. His shifter vision allowed him to see well in the
dark, but with lights on in the house, lamp posts lit and a porch light on the
outside, even a human could see the area well. The house was big, but nothing
on the outside said there was any trouble on the inside. An athletically built
man with brown hair opened the white wooden door, and several solemn people
funneled behind him, spreading out onto the green grassy yard with their eyes
downcast. When the truck pulled up behind them, the very subdued people,
keeping their eyes lowered, silently headed to it and started unloading it
without being asked. Slate looked at Alphy, and the two shared a knowing look.
These shifters acted as if they were a defeated people.
The house only had five usable bedrooms, and with the
unknown dangers, Alphy insisted everyone stay together, meaning Tom and Connie
couldn’t sleep over at their house. Add in Seamus insisting on one for his “exam
room”, and it left everyone bunking together. The two mated pairs each had
their own rooms while Seamus and Ryker shared one, which left Slate bunking
with Kace. After everyone deposited their luggage, they gathered in the living
room for a quick briefing before heading to bed.
There
were only six of the herd
present. Alphy decided to get down to business. “Frank, how many members are
there?”
Frank shrugged.
“Maybe
twenty-seven.”
“Maybe?”
Confusion played over Alphy’s face.
Slate observed Frank’s eyes dart towards a younger
shifter, the one who had led the others out of the house when they arrived,
before he lowered his eyes to the floor. Slate also saw a glimpse of the
younger shifter’s brown eyes before they turned downcast.
Slate pointed to him.
“You.”
The man looked up, saw he was targeted, paled,
then
looked down again.
“Yes, sir?”
“What is your name?” Slate heard Ryker settling down
with his laptop, notepad, and a pencil. As tech as Ryker was, he still enjoyed
some things old fashioned. Ryker focused back on the man Slate questioned.
“Henry Ashland, sir.” Henry’s voice was clear enough
to be heard, but there was no mistaking the placating tone. He didn’t sound
meek, but more like a man who just didn’t want any trouble.
“Henry, I saw Frank take a glance your way. Who are
you hiding?” Slate moved closer to scent the man. Shifters could pretty much
tell when someone lied. But usually because the scent was more subtle than many
others, they had to be scenting for it.
The elk shifter shifted from foot to foot, and the
scent of fear started to congest the air. Alphy moved closer. “Henry.” Alphy’s
voice was calm and soothing. “We know your former alpha was a piece of shit,
but he’s gone now. If you are hiding members, we need to know about them. We can’t
help them if you hide them.” He gestured for Seamus to come closer. “This is
Doctor Seamus Rossi. I brought him here to help the herd.”
With that introduction, Henry’s head shot up.
“Doctor?”
His voice was filled with hope, filling the air with
a lighter, more pleasant scent.
Alphy nodded and placed a hand on the man’s shoulder.
“Yes. Now please, tell us who we need to help.”
Henry shared a look with the older shifter. The older
man nodded and spoke. “Alpha, we have twenty-seven members, thirty-two if you
count the ones who ran before you arrived. However,” he paused and took a deep
breath and let it out, “we have been hiding some members that aren’t on the
books.”
“Let me guess. They are something else other than elk
shifters.” Alphy said it calmly, but the man visibly tensed. “You should have
recognized our scents and know we aren’t elk either. We have no issues with
other paranormals, or humans even. My mate is human, and was from this herd.”
He held out his hand to her and brought her in next to him then looked back at
Frank.
“I’m sorry, alpha, we meant no disrespect.” The man’s
eyes went downcast again.
“None taken.
You have been through a lot, and trust is something
earned over time.”
“I remember your mate, sir. She is a kind young lady.”
The man seemed to have gathered his resolve, for he looked up when he spoke to
the alpha, “The former alpha would commonly single out humans and half-breeds
to focus his abuse on. More recently, he wouldn’t even allow mixed
matings
. We have seven others we are …
were
hiding
. Henry has an adopted daughter who is human.”
Henry turned to the doctor. “Yes, she’s human, and I
believe she has a medical issue
.
Her scent is off. I’m worried she has what her mother
died from. Would you please take a look at her?”
Gale spoke up. “If she’s human, why couldn’t you take
her to a regular doctor?”
“I have, but their methods can’t detect it yet and the
doctors are pretty careless. And even if they did find something, I can’t
afford treatments for her.”
Frank cut in. “The alpha took near everything we ever
earned, and we don’t have a shifter doctor.”
“Bring her in straight away. I’ll be happy to help in
any way I can,” Seamus answered.
Henry lit up. Slate could see tears in his eyes that
threatened to escape. Henry looked to Alphy with an obvious, eager hope to be
dismissed to run and get his daughter. Alphy gave it.
“Go ahead and get her. In fact, I think we should have
a mandatory physical for everyone, so spread the word that I want them here in
the morning. And we can get their information while they’re here.”
Nodding his head, Henry turned around and scurried out
of the house. Alphy turned to the others and gave his permission to leave.
After everyone had left, Slate turned to Ryker. “Didn’t you say you froze the
herd’s bank accounts?”
Ryker’s fingers made tapping noises as his fingers
easily grazed over the buttons. “Yes,” he answered without looking up.
“How much were their total assets?” Alphy asked.
A few more moments of tapping and a few clicks of the
mouse and Ryker looked up at Alphy with a little bit of surprise. “I’d say he
seriously raked these poor peeps over the coals. He’s got over forty-three
million total.” A few of them whistled, and everyone cringed. “And that’s not
including the value of the property and items he has.”
Slate rubbed his chin. “How much you
wanna
bet those other five got pissed you had that money
locked up?”
Alphy grunted. “It would explain their rampage. They
probably took anything of value when they couldn’t empty the accounts, and then
left.”
Tom’s face took on a guilty look. “I kept so distant
from the pack, because of my family, that I didn’t realize I wasn’t the only
one who he robbed.”
Everyone turned their attention on Gale’s stepdad.
Looking around at everyone, Tom continued. “He kept demanding fees for one
thing or
another,
and I would have left, but I had
just met Connie and it wasn’t a time in her life to move.”
Connie gasped. “Why didn’t you tell me this?”
Tom had his eyes downcast, and he shrugged. “As I
said, it wasn’t a good time for you to move. I wasn’t going to pressure you or
guilt you, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to leave you. By the time you and
the kids would have been ready, he had already taken everything.” Tom looked up
at his mate. “I don’t blame you or the kids, so please don’t be upset.” He
reached up and stroked the back of his fingers down her cheek. “I don’t regret
a moment of it. You and the kids are everything to me.”
Slate didn’t want to break the moment, but a thought
came to him. “With David as controlling as he was greedy, I bet that was his
way of keeping his pack members from moving away.”
Gale scrunched her brows.
“But why?
If he was so hateful of us, why not let us go?”
Slate opened his mouth to answer, but Alphy beat him
to it.
“Money.
Whatever any pack-member makes, a
percentage goes to the alpha, just like in any government. Alphas in bigger or
richer packs usually don’t work because it takes so much time to run it, but
many alphas do work aside from being an alpha. However, if you’re a lazy piece
of shit alpha no one wants anything to do with, then you’re a financially poor
alpha.”
Slate added, “So he stole everyone’s money, which could
be substantial because of the long lives we live, forcing everyone to stay here,
which
in turn provided a continuous income to add to
it.”