Abandoned Treasure

Council Enforcer Vic Knightly’s POV

Council Headquarters

Monday, September 17, 2007

“You’re quitting?” Mark Trestman looked at the paper like it was radioactive. “Why?”

“I’m not cut out for this work,” I said honestly.

“This is about the baby,” he said as he gestured for me to sit down. “Shit happens that you can’t know or control, Vic. You spin that car out a second earlier or later, or Nathan does a better job of steering, or that rock in the ditch isn’t there. It was bad luck that the car rolled, and it sucks, but it wasn’t your fault.”

I shook my head sadly. “I keep telling myself that, but it doesn’t change a thing. I held that baby in my hands, covered in her mother’s blood. I watched her take her first breath, and now she’s gone because of me. Every time I think of her, I think of my daughter and it rips my fucking heart out. You ever kill a baby?”

“No. I came close a time or two.”

“I’ve killed men before and slept just fine. I haven’t had a decent night’s sleep since that night.”

He tossed the letter on the desk. “You’ve got some vacation time left, and we don’t have much going on. Take a week or two off. Go see your daughter, get drunk, get laid, run through the woods until you’re exhausted! Get your mind off this shit. It’s not healthy to dwell on this.”

“I’ve tried, boss. Nothing helps.”

He put the letter in his drawer. “I can hold on to this for a few weeks. Get away from this case and get your mind right, Vic. That’s an order.”

I stood up and held out my hand. “I quit, Mark. I’m not yours to order anymore, and I’m not changing my mind. I appreciate all you’ve done for me, but I can’t do this job as you expect. Staying isn’t fair to either of us.”

He looked at me, then shook my hand. “You’re sure?” I nodded. “Fine. Let’s go see the Chairman and break the Pack bond.”

We couldn’t get in for another hour, so I returned to the dorms and cleared my room. Everything I owned fit into two large suitcases, which I left by the front door.

The Chairman wasn’t happy to discover why his Enforcer was coming to see him. “You’re quitting? You bring in the two most wanted fugitives, and now you’re going to QUIT?”

“Yes, sir.”

Chairman Gruber shook his head. “That’s a pity. Does Alpha Robertson know?”

“Not yet, sir. I wanted to finish my business here before speaking to him.”

He nodded. “I’ll speak to him. I won’t try to talk you out of this because I need Enforcers who are 100% committed to our mission. I’ll depend on my Chief Enforcer to replace you.”

Quitting like this wasn’t the proper way to go. The Chairman valued a wolf whose word was his bond, and I’d just walked away from four years I’d signed up for. There would be words with my Alpha, and my reputation would take a big hit. I didn’t care; it was more important to have my honor intact. “I understand, sir.”

He led me through the words to break the bond with him. The loss of the Pack link was painful, but I stayed standing as the connections ripped free in my mind. “Get out of here, Knightly.”

“Yes, sir.” I followed Mark out of his office and out to a waiting car. An Omega had my luggage loaded, the message clear. I wasn’t on the team anymore, so I didn’t belong here.

Technically, I wasn’t a rogue because my Alpha had released me, not banished me. I was Packless for the first time in my life. Instead of heading to Alaska, I bought a plane ticket to Minneapolis. It took me until Tuesday afternoon for my rental car to make it to the Oxbow Lake Pack in northern Minnesota, where I asked to see the Alphas.

The wolf at the gate recognized me, as I’d been there a few weeks earlier for my daughter’s mating ceremony. “Enforcer Knightly, I didn’t expect you.”

“Just Vic now, I’m no longer with the Council,” I said. “Please ask the Alphas if I may have a few minutes of their time.” I didn’t call ahead to ask permission to visit, nor had I called Denali to tell them I’d quit. I had an opportunity to change my life if the Alpha cooperated. “He can see you in thirty minutes. You can wait outside his office.”

“Thank you,” I replied. “I know the way.” I drove in, contacting my daughter on the link since family bonds are independent of Pack ones. She was surprised to hear from me and invited me to dinner when my business when the Alpha was done.

I sat in the office, the Omega at the desk eyeing me curiously. Finally, I could go in. I knocked on the door softly thrice, then entered at Alpha Ulffson’s command. Michael was sitting behind an enormous mahogany desk with Margaret on his lap. I stopped three paces from the desk, bowing my head to the pair. “Thank you for seeing me on such short notice, Alpha and Luna Ulffson.”

He gestured to one of the leather chairs, and I sat down. “I did not expect to see you so soon,” Michael said. “I was on the call when you took care of those rogues. Great job.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “It was blind luck more than anything, sir. I came out of the store as they came out of a fast food joint.”

“You are too modest. You found a dangerous pair of killers and tracked them until they were away from humans, then took them out without backup? That was heroic stuff. That’s why I was so surprised to hear from my gate guard that you were no longer with the Council.”

“Yes, sir. I quit yesterday.”

“So I heard. So did Alpha Robertson, and from the Chairman first! He’s not very happy with you over that. My ear is still ringing from our phone call.”

Shit. I wouldn’t have any advantage here. “Alpha, when I was here, you raised the possibility of joining Oxbow Lake when I finished with the Council. I’d like to make that change now, if possible.”

He shook his head. “If you’d have honorably completed your service with the Council, I might have been able to convince Alpha Robertson to let you go. The way you left changes things, Vic. The Denali Pack reputation is diminished because of your actions, and your Alpha isn’t happy about that.”

“I did what I felt was the right thing, sir.”

“You made him look bad. I spoke to the Chief Enforcer as well. He told me you quit because of that rogue baby who died?”

“Yes, sir.”

“It’s sad when innocent life is lost, but it does happen. I hear you like the ladies, Vic. Human and werewolf.”

“I’m no monk, sir.”

Luna Margaret spoke next. “What happens if one of those affairs results in a human getting pregnant by you?”

“We take the child after it is born.”

“And if the human learns what you are while she is pregnant?”

I didn’t respond; I didn’t need to. The law was clear and would act to eliminate the threat to our species. The woman would be killed to protect us. “I ask a lot of my warriors in defense of the Pack. I can’t risk one disobeying me because they don’t like my order.”

“I understand, sir.”

“Your request for a Pack transfer is denied. Take today to visit your daughter, but your Alpha expects you back by tomorrow night.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you for your consideration.” I stood up, bowed to the pair, and left the room.

It sucked to be told no, but going home would be worse. I made my flight arrangements in the waiting room, then drove to my daughter’s house in the woods. I explained what happened and how I’d been denied as she cooked dinner. “I love you, Dad,” she told me.

“I love you, too. I won’t give up on a transfer. I want to be closer to you, especially if you give me grandchildren.”

She buried her face in my chest. “I want that too, but it may take some time. Show the Alphas what kind of wolf you are. Once you retire, they won’t have a reason to keep you in Alaska.”

“Hopefully, it won’t be that long,” I said as I kissed her.

The next day, I faced the wrath of Alpha Robertson. “You fucking QUIT, and I had to hear about it from the fucking COUNCIL CHAIRMAN?” I didn’t say a thing, my head down. “I signed your fucking application! I recommended you for the Enforcer program, and you up and QUIT? Then you try and get Oxbow Lake to take you in without talking to me FIRST?”

“I was doing what was best for me, sir,” I said quietly. “I apologize for the way I went about it.”

“Well, isn’t that big of you, Knightly. You make me and the Denali Pack look bad to the Council, but it’s all right because it is the best for YOU? When the FUCK is the Pack about what is best for YOU?”

“It’s not, sir.”

“You’re damn right! You should have called me FIRST.”

“You would have told me to stay to the end of my commitment, Alpha. I couldn’t do that.”

He walked back and forth until he calmed down. “You are Denali Pack or a rogue, Knightly. What is your choice?”

“I’ll take the Pack, sir.”

He brought me back into the Pack link, but he wasn’t happy about it. “Your job went to another when you left for five years,” he told me as I stood at attention in his office. “You can’t leave a job suddenly and expect your old one to be waiting.”

“I understand, sir.”

“I’ve got half a mind to make you an Omega,” he told me. “You’re busted down to Apprentice Warrior. You’ll have to earn your rank back and my good graces. I don’t know if that’s still possible at your age, but we’ll find out. Dismissed.”

“Yes, sir.”

With that, I was back where I’d been almost eighteen decades ago. I didn’t have a home anymore; that had been assigned to another couple. I got to stay in the Warrior Barracks with the trainees, I got stuck with the shitty patrols, and I had to go through training with kids I used to train.

It sucked, but I did it anyway.